Nastasha Abigail (left) and Dimas Ario. (Courtesy of Nastasha Abigail)

Cassettes were an important part of the music industry for decades before its sudden drop into obsolescence at the turn of the 21st century. Initially it co-existed with the slimmer CDs that were offered at higher prices, but it finally withered along with the closures of record companies.  

Former musician Dimas Ario and his partner, radio DJ Nastasha Abigail, had organized a day to remember its heyday by holding Cassette Store Day on Sept. 7 in Kemang, South Jakarta.

Dimas and Abigail managed to glue some memories from the past during the event. The Sastro, a very stylish band from Jakarta reunited to perform their music on stage and also release an unreleased outtakes EP on cassette. Another indie pop collaborative Efek Rumah Kaca also made their debut album available for the very first time in cassette form.

'€œThe cassette is a very familiar music format in Indonesia. Most people in the record industry nowadays grew up with it. It'€™s a rare item now but for us, it still deserves a celebration,'€ said Dimas.

'€œWe want to let people know about this part of history in our music industry,'€ Abigail added.

'€œIf you listen to cassette, you have to listen to the whole song. If you want to jump to the next track or repeat the previous one, you need some extra effort. This fact makes the whole process seem harder. And for me, it makes me pay more attention to the songs and it makes me feel devoted to the good ones,'€ he continued.

The event also provided a space for second hand record shops around Jakarta to sell their items and hosted a thoughtful discussion with Imran Amir from Prambors Radio, Koseng from Spills Records and Jimi Multhazam from The Upstairs.

'€œWe also host an exchange market where people can bring their own cassette and see if it can be exchanged with other people'€™s cassette at the venue. It'€™s fun, isn'€™t it?'€ said Nastasha.

 '€œBy doing this thing, we want to remind people to the physical medium of music. Music is more beautiful in that format, not only in cassette form, but anything physical,'€ tells Dimas.

More stories about Cassette Store Day can be found at cassettestoreday2013.tumblr.com.

'€” Felix Dass

*) At a Glimpse is all about the local music scene. Give us a shout at sundayglimpse@gmail.com and follow us on twitter.com/sundayglimpse.

Popular

Java airports grounded by low demand, poor planning

Trump says Indonesia to face 19 percent tariff under trade deal

ASML warns it may not achieve growth in 2026, shares drop