Padang Moonrise: The Birth of the Modern Indonesian Recording Industry (1955-69)
Various artists
Soundway Records: 2022
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What comes to mind when you think of popular Indonesian music? Some sort of mutation of Western rock sung in one of the country’s many native languages? The melancholic sound of Melayu pop? Maybe the question should be whether it’s possible to attach a single musical identity to the world’s fourth most populous country, one comprising more than 17,000 islands and 1,300 different ethnicities.
Padang Moonrise: The Birth of The Modern Indonesian Recording Industry (1955-69), released by the UK’s Soundway Records, provides one version of an answer, shining a light on one of the most exciting periods in the history of Indonesian music. The twenty-seven recordings compiled here display elements of Islamic gambus, kroncong, Javanese and Minangnese folk as well as jazz, Latin dance and American rock. Padang Moonrise captures a brief period when Indonesia’s delicate political and cultural landscape encouraged its musicians to new heights of creativity as the country sought to create a post-independence identity.
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- Tags: Indonesia, Issue 30, Yudhistira Agato