Indonesia

The song Adaik Bachinto, is sung in the Minang language, and while it is similar to Indonesian, it is a bit difficult for me to make out. ‘Adaik’ is probably the equivalent of ‘adik’ which means younger sibling, but can also be used by women to refer to themselves in relation to their male partner. ‘Bachinto’ probably has some relation to ‘cinta’, or love. Thus, the song would appear to be about Wirdaningsih’s love for a younger sibling or her love for her partner. Any Minang speakers out there who can help out on this?

There is a tasty fuzz break in the middle of the song. Wirdaningsih still performs in Indonesia and Malaysia. Her younger sister, Irni Yusnita, was also a popular performer in the 60s and 70s.

Wirdaningsih and Dorado Sound Unlimited - Adaik Bachinto

I knew next to nothing about her so I asked Steven Farram to fill us in:

Christina was a young singer from the city of Surakarta (also known as Solo) in Central Java, Indonesia. She is supposed to have made only a handful of records before she disappeared from the scene, but I have only ever seen this one, which probably dates from 1966 or 1967. Why Christina did not have a longer career, I do not know, as she shows on this EP that she was a fine singer. She is said to be a cousin of the much more famous Tetty Kadi, but I do not know if that is true.

The Irama (Rhythm) label that this record appears on carried many popular Indonesian artists during the 1960s, including Kus Bersaudaura (as Koes Bersaudara was originally known) and Lilis Surjani. Irama was already putting out records in the 1950s as 78 rpm discs.

On this EP Christina is backed by Orkes Variata (Variata Orchestra) led by Ido Sigarlaki. The first song is Bintang Tjitaku (My Star of Hope) in which Christina chooses one of the stars in the night sky to by her guide to help her find ‘the star of her heart’. The following song, Indahnja Panorama (Beautiful Panorama), has Christina telling us of the beauty of flowers, birds, mountains, the sea, rice fields and people working joyfully in the fields and fishing. Sounds like she is in love! Indahnja Panorama was also covered in the early 1970s by Singapore’s living legend, Anita Sarawak.

The flip side begins with Dewi Purnama (Goddess of the Full Moon) where Christina tells how looking at the full moon gives her hope and makes her forget all her restlessness and feelings of dejection. She asks the moon to never leave her and tells her that if she had wings she would fly up and caress the Goddess of the Night. The last song, Hanja Bintang-Bintang (Only Stars), begins with Christina sitting alone on a rainy morning waiting for someone to arrive. By the afternoon she is worried that her lover has given her up. At last the rain stops, but the night is quiet and lonely. All night she couldn’t sleep and had only the stars for company.

Christina - Bintang Tijtaku
Christina - Indahnja Panorama
Christina - Dewi Purnama
Christina - Hanja Bintang Bintang

I had actually seen a full album of Andriani’s with the same cover as this EP, as well as one other EP before I finally grabbed this one. When I got the record onto the turntable and dropped the needle into track one I heard a more than reasonable pop song coming out of the speakers, so I was fairly happy.

But Bandel (Stubborn), the second track? I almost didn’t believe it; a wailing garage guitar intro and a driving distorted lead-in. It calms down a bit after that, but the distorted guitar makes another appearance about half way through and the whole song moves along at a nice pace. The other side of the EP is another two okay pop-tunes.

This EP was put out by Istana Stereo, which I am fairly sure was a pirate record label based in either Singapore or Malaysia. It was a common practise for these pirate labels to take an album and turn it into a number of EPs, usually with the same cover, but often numbered volume 1, 2, etc.

My copy has absolutely no information about Andriani or her backing band, but I bet the album that this was ripped off from has at least one other garage-fuelled track lurking in there somewhere.

Andriani - Bandel

In 1980 he returned to the music industry working for a record company as a coordinator and supervisor of new singers. He also re-recorded a number of old hits. In 1992 he passed away as a result of diabetes and heart problems. His son Tonny, who is said to have a similar voice, has recorded a number of songs made popular by his father.
 
Submitted by Steve Farram
 
Alfian – Semalam di Cianjur
Alfian – Relakan (Acquiesce)
Alfian – Andaikan (Suppose) 

Lilis Surjani (aka Suryani) was very popular in Indonesia and neighbouring countries from the early 1960s to the early 1970s. President Soekarno of Indonesia made life difficult for musicians and singers in the early to mid 1960s because he wanted to rid Indonesia of Western influences and wanted rock ’n’ roll to be outlawed. Lilis found herself in trouble in mid 1965 because of her stage attire, presentation and choice of songs.

In a newspaper article in August 1965 Lilis promised that she would no longer sing ‘Beatles-like’ songs and apologised for her previous ‘mistakes’. Lilis made her amends and produced a number of songs with an Indonesian nationalist theme that were more likely to be approved by the ruling regime. One of those songs is Pergi Perjuang (Depart Warrior), where Lilis is backed by guitarist Zaenal Arifin and his Zaenal Combo. This song is as about as close as you can get to rock ’n’ roll and not call it that. The song’s theme though is one that would have appealed to Soekarno with Lilis singing that she hopes the young warriors going to battle perform their duties as ‘defenders of the nation’ and return victorious.

This song reflects the fact that Indonesia and Malaysia were involved in an undeclared war from 1963 to 1966 as Soekarno viewed the newly created state of Malaysia as a British colonial plot and vowed to ‘crush’ it. Soekarno was particularly peeved that the former British colonies in northern Borneo had become part of Malaysia as the rest of the island was Indonesian territory. Indonesian troops carried out covert operations in north Borneo throughout the period, but were repulsed by Malaysian, British and Australian forces. Although Soekarno was sidelined politically in late 1965 the Crush Malaysia policy took a bit longer to wind back, but friendly relations between Indonesia and Malaysia had been fully restored by the late 1960s. What may seem surprising is that Pergi Perjuang was also released in Malaysia and seems to have been quite popular. It is the Malaysian release I feature here.

I also include Lilis’s post-Soekarno era song Perahu Bertolak (Ship Departs), probably from late 1966 or 1967, which has some good guitar work. This Malaysian release has no liner notes, but I have read that Lilis’s backing band here was Band Arulan led by Jarzuk Arifin. Lilis Surjani went on to record numerous other songs in rock, pop and regional styles. She still performs regularly although she has been battling cancer for the last few years.

Lilis Surjani - Pergi Perdjoang (Depart Warrior)
Lilis Surjani - Perahu Bertolak (Ship Departs)

Pergi Perjuang is only one of many songs from Indonesia that relate to the conflict with Malaysia. There must have been songs made in Malaysia with the same theme, but I haven’t come across many. One that I do have, however, is a good one. The song Bekalan Satria (Warrior Skills) by S. Mona Rita and the Kingstons from late 1965 or 1966 has the singer worrying that her soldier boyfriend (or husband) returns safely from the battlefield, but that he does his duty as ‘defender of the nation’. The nationalist theme is continued cryptically in the song Buat Tatapan (Observation) as the singer complains about a cheating lover and laments that she had ever forgotten her responsibilities to the homeland. What does it mean? I don’t know. The Kingstons were Ungku Safian – Lead Guitar, Mokhtar – Rhythm Guitar, Rahman – Bass, Ungku Fadzil – Organ, and Kamar Dean – Drums.

S. Mona Rita is a good singer and the vocal is mixed very high in the mix. The Kingstons are more than competent and add many flourishes to the sound. Buat Tatapan has an unusual drum and organ interlude towards the end that at first hearing doesn’t seem to belong there, but presumably it is meant to reflect S. Mona Rita’s thoughts that ‘love is false’. The other two songs on the EP are good too, but are slower and much more subdued.

Steven Farram

S. Mona Rita & the Kingstons - Bekalan Satria (Warrior Skills)
S. Mona Rita & the Kingstons - Buat Tatapan (Observation)

The Steps were from Indonesia and did instrumental recordings and occasionally backed vocalists. They're good players, but these two songs don't have much going for them. There's a theme they run through during the last twenty seconds of Kitjir Kitjir that's pretty interesting, if they'd stuck to that I'd like this better.

The Steps - Kitjir Kitjir
The Steps - Rasa Sayang