in July 1960, Allan Williams, Liverpool club owner on a trip to Hamburg, wandered in a club off the Reeperbahn, and saw, "an Indonesian band performing Elvis Presley songs in German. "
Williams was involved with rock bands in Liverpool who took the music a step further than Elvis, with rumbling bass amplified percussion and bronchial song of what was to become known as "Merseybeat ". One of these groups was originally known as the "Silver Beetles", and in the coming months factored Williams his group on stage in Hamburg where the Beatles cut their musical teeth in the scene, emerging during the coming years, the world's most famous rock band.
But who were these bands "Indonesian" show in Hamburg clubs?
They were practitioners of what is still powerfully recall, particularly in continental Europe, as "Indorock." The families of these young men to Ambon, Timor and Sumatra were expatriate in the Netherlands that the political fallout following the Indonesian revolution. Stuck in the Dutch refugee camps, bored, they improvised instruments and drew on their own rich heritage of strong vocal harmonies and sophisticated rhythms, applying these to the new sound exciting American rock that was easily accessible on Radio Luxembourg and the American Forces Network radio.
bands Indorock on to become star attractions in clubs and dance halls in the Netherlands and Germany, including clubs of US forces, not long after the sergeant Presley drove a tank there. And far from being carried away by the groups of Liverpool, Indorock musicians and singers continued to enjoy European success well into the late sixties.
Ironically, Indonesia, rock music was considered decadent by the regime of the old order, resulting in the notorious jail sentence given in 1965 to Koes Plus, the main Indonesian Beatles-type group.
The band were the keynote Indorock Tielman Brothers, whose leader, Andy Tielman, is known as the "godfather of Indorock." Andy and his five siblings were Indo-European, originating in eastern Indonesia. They were already popular musicians at the time of the independence of Indonesia, even running for President Sukarno, but as anti-Dutch sentiment spread in Indonesia during the 1950s, in 1957 they joined the thousands of refugees who move to the Netherlands.
In the above quote from Allan Williams, it seems disdainful of Indorockers, which is understandable given that he had access to a stable bands in Liverpool with new exciting sounds that took the music a step further than Elvis. But Indorockers, especially Tielmans, were far from copycat Elvis clones. Many native Ambon and North Sumatra, which continues to provide a disproportionate number of Indonesian popular singers were gifted with fine natural voice. Andy Tielman were five octave vocal range. And if you think that Jimi Hendrix was the first rocker to play guitar behind his back, see the Godfather Indorock on YouTube. Moreover, Indonesians were familiar with the guitar, the rock boss instrument, since the Portuguese introduced in the 16th century.
As the popularity of Indorock remains high in the Netherlands, in Indonesia? Enter Awan Garnida, Paul McCartney of Indonesia, who plays bass guitar left hand and is involved in three groups: Sore (contemporary eclectic rock); G-Pluck (Beatles tribute), and now the time travelers, whose mission is to revive and promote Indorock. The Time Travelers line-up covers the generations, as its Dalimonthee includes Rio, one of the original Indorockers, now re-domiciled in Indonesia, guitar and Pepeng, from contemporary band Naif, battery.
And we come to the "reconciliation" potential Indorock. There is no nation on earth that has not committed crimes or atrocities against other people. Reconciliation - "forgive but not forget" - is happening all over the world, and must, if we want to manage this land in harmony. Having worked in Timor Lorosae just before independence, I am amazed at the Timorese and Indonesia, capacity for forgiveness. And the popularity of Indonesian artists like Ebeit G. Ade and Sheila on 7 was a constant reminder that music heals where politicians and their corrupt cronies wound.
Music is a powerful force for reconciliation. And God knows there are enough of tragic incidents in the 400-year-interface between Indonesia and the Netherlands to try to come to terms with. And here it would be inappropriate for a Brit like me to even begin to pass judgment.
However, in the case of Indorock, we must recognize that :.
• The Indorockers who fled to the Netherlands as refugees in the 1950s, were in the main innocents who were torn between their two heritages
• In Europe, they found the freedom to play the music they loved, and won the love, respect and admiration of European public.
• Meanwhile, in Indonesia, rock'n'roll was banned by a more authoritarian regime.
The Indorockers never denied their Indonesian heritage; rather, it has improved the quality of their music, and is always a factor in the enduring popularity of Indonesian culture in the Netherlands.
Let's hope Indonesia can recognize his son and indigenous girls, who produced this child, Indorock, born in Indonesia, fostered in the Netherlands, and given to the world as a unique contribution to the history of rock, and, with its mix of western and eastern elements of world music.
References
MUYS, Piet, 1999. The history of Indo-Rock, http://indorock.pmouse.nl/story.htm, accessed May 17, 2012
NORMAN, Philip 1981 Shout: the True Story of the Beatles, Hamish Hamilton, London