Word: indonesian
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...have spent two weeks in Thailand reporting on a tsunami that has transformed its famous beach resorts into corpse-strewn ruins. One night, exhausted, my clothes reeking of death, I try calling a colleague in the hard-hit Indonesian province of Aceh. I simply misdial, but the recorded message gives me chills: "The destination you have dialed...
Visitors today to the Indonesian capital might find Pram's take extreme. True, men and boys still relieve themselves in Kebon Jahé Kober's sewers. But the small neighborhood, in the middle of Jakarta's bustle, is an oasis of quiet lanes with socks drying on bamboo poles and friendly bakso (meatball) vendors sucking on spicy, crackling kretek. They'll smilingly guide you to the still standing, ramshackle house of its most famous onetime resident, at No. 8, Gang (Lane) III - although Pram didn't really do much to deserve local affection. Not only did he quickly tire...
...valley of rice fields at the heart of Ulu Masen. It is famous for its fertile soil and the gold sometimes found in its rivers. Raked by clouds, it is also famously wet: some people joke that the name Geumpang is a contraction of gerimis panjang, the Indonesian for "constant drizzle." A no-go area during the conflict - GAM rebels passed through there on their way between Aceh's east and west coasts - it is now a peaceful place. Children walk to school past paddy fields of ripening rice, while glistening water buffalo wallow in pools...
Participants at U.S. labor rallies tend not to draw inspiration from Indonesian divas - but Kartika Jahja was asked if her jazzy scorcher of a protest song, Mayday (sung in English), could be used by a coalition of writers and journalists at a protest in Detroit. "And we are the ones who work their fields/ And we are the ones who fight their wars," the track goes. "And we are the ones to cut this crap." The passionate defiance is signature Tika (as she's more commonly known), and something that sets the 28-year-old singer-songwriter apart from Indonesia...
...sophomore album, The Headless Songstress, Tika and her band - the aptly named Dissidents - file slow-burning postcards from the Jakartan edge. Recorded in a mix of English and Indonesian, these are songs of cynicism ("My midlife crisis was at its peak that Friday night"), urban ennui ("My dad's religious, my mum's a bore/ Can we talk about something else?") and modern manners ("Harry loves Betty .../ But daddy wants Betty to marry Eddy/ But Eddy loves Larry"). Classic jazz scoring - for piano, acoustic bass and drums - steeps the work in an atmosphere of late nights and darkened rooms...