Hip-Hop, what?

Sunday, August 17 was Independence Day here in the Republic of Indonesia. To celebrate, I headed to Malioboro, one of the main roads in town and also one of the main tourist areas. It’s right near the Palace and so there was a lot going on. Yamaha sponsored a festival where there were several stages and fair booths. There were also a few marching band performances consisting of super coordinated six year olds playing drums and twirling flags. Emma and I wandered around for awhile, enjoying the sight of touristy Indonesians coming together in a way that parallels America’s fourth of July. Neighborhoods had their own celebrations with food and games not so far off from our BBQs. Sunday night we went out to a concert with a pretty famous band from Jakarta. Like most concerts here, there were probably eight or so bands performing, each with very short sets. My favorite was a group called The Risky Summer Bee and the Honey Thief (a lot of bands here have English names). They had some really talented musicians with a blues, jazz, and punk vibe. The headlining band was okay. They didn’t seem to be anything too special, but they did succeed in doing something I hadn’t yet seen here. They got the entire crowd up and dancing, it was great! I’ve been to several concerts here and usually everyone just sits on the ground, occasionally nodding heads along to the beat. But this time, people were jumping around; there was even some crowd surfing.
But Monday night was really different. We headed out to a venue called the Padepokan who was hosting some sort of a Java cultural event. We had seen a flier for a hip-hop concert and headed out. When we got there, we realized we were in for something spectacularly different. Giant human and creature puppets were all over the place-hanging from trees, on top of buildings, and lining the sidewalk. A gamelan orchestra was preparing to play when we arrived. They played in the lower class style which is considerably faster than what I’d heard before which was the upper class style for the Sultan. Jahtilan (trance dance) dancers came on and performed a choreographed and fast paced Jahtilan dance that was not only men and women, but also included children. No one was actually in a trance here, but just demonstrating a Jahtilan style. Next, another style of Jahtilan incorporating masks was performed. This time an older man was really entranced and ended up eating a glass and a vase. After the Jahtilan, the crowd ran to a middle stage where there was a life-size puppet show. Unfortunately, it was all in Javanese, but the puppets were still entertaining. Next, we all moved to a third stage where there was a comedy act (also in Javanese). After that, everyone shuffled to the last stage where there was another music performance this time with electric violin, cello (plucked, no bow), keyboards, percussion, and vocalists. Finally, after all this, the Jogja Hip Hop Foundation came on. Almost immediately, all the families left leaving only the hip-hop fans. The first group rapped about the importance of traditional puppets as life moral lessons for the Javanese. The next groups, though, were much cruder- or so I gathered from their style. Again, it was all in Javanese, so I only understood what was told to me by our Javanese friend. Probably the most surprising, though, was when a dangdung singer came on stage and joined in. Dangdung is an Indonesian pop style that’s pretty racy. She was very scantily clad and danced in a way I never ever thought I would see here. Luckily, she only sang one song and then climbed back off stage. I think a small portion of the audience was as scandalized and surprised as we were; the rest of the crowd went wild. The hip-hop otherwise was pretty great. It was really interesting to see such a mix of the traditional and modern. Several of the hip-hop artists were dressed in batik shirts and using traditional headscarves as mock do-rags. Interestingly enough, the day before I’d seen those head wraps sold on the street and thought they were do-rags marketed towards tourists, only to be corrected by Emma... Just like the puppets, Jahtilan, and Gamelan, the Javanese hip-hop was included and recognized as part of Javanese culture, something to be proud of and to celebrate with on the birthday of the nation.