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Dialita Choir and the struggle to fight the nation’s amnesia
Through songs and music, these women recount their gripping life journey while in prison without trial and a heartbreaking life full of wounds and trauma for decades afterward.
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Enduring voices: Members of the Dialita choir, who are all survivors of the 1965 tragedy, rehearse for their concert, which was held on Dec. 20, 2017 at Taman Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta to commemorate International Human Rights Day, which falls on Dec. 10, and Women’s Day in Indonesia, which falls on Dec. 22 (JP/Ben Latuihamallo)
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n 1965, millions of people accused of being communists were arrested, killed or exiled. To survive, some of those who were exiled sang and wrote songs while in prison. The songs are about mothers, children, hope and love stories.
More than 50 years later, a group of 1965 tragedy survivors founded the Dialita Choir, which deliberately chooses to sing songs they composed in prison and songs that had been banned during the New Order era, in the hope of telling the younger generation about Indonesia's dark, unfinished history.
I got to know the all-female Dialita Choir in 2016 when its first album Dunia Milik Kita (The world belongs to us) was released. As a millennial, I am amazed at the vital elan of the mother singers who survived the 1965 tragedy, Dialita is an Indonesian acronym for “over 50 years”. Even though they are in their old age, they are passionate about retelling the dark past through the interweaving of tones and rhythms.
Time flies. Dialita Choir and the album Dunia Milik Kita have recently returned to being heavily rotated in my music playlist after I watched a documentary movie titled Lagu Untuk Anakku (Song for My Children) by director Salahuddin Siregar.
Lagu Untuk Anakku is also the title of a song sung by the Dialita Choir, the main focus of this film, which can be watched for free on YouTube.
Through songs and music, these women recount their gripping life journey while in prison without trial and a heartbreaking life full of wounds and trauma for decades afterward.
“From behind bars my heart is tested, am I real gold, or an imitation?", so goes the opening line of the movie, which is taken from the song “Ujian” (Life Test), the opener of the album Dunia Milik Kita.
