Keroncong: An Overview & Obituary to Gesang

By: Chandra Drews

Keroncong is a form of Indonesian music brought to the Indonesian shores by the Portuguese. Based on Portuguese fado, the music had its heyday during Indonesia’s struggle for independence. Today Keroncong only has a small but dedicated following. This article traces the history of Keroncong’s melancholy and its main composer Gesang Martohartono.

An Indo-Portuguese Marriage

The Portuguese presence in Indonesian culture has often been overlooked over the influence of the Dutch, Indians or Arab cultures. For starters the Portugese influence in Bahasa Indonesia is quite apparent, think of words such as jendela (Eng: window, Por: janela), pesta (Eng: party, Por: festa), meja (Eng. table, Por. mesa), in fact, over 60 words in modern Indonesian stem from 16^th century Portuguese. Yet its biggest impact on Indonesian psyche is perhaps the advent of keroncong, where before Dangdut music emerged, was perhaps the definite voice of the Indonesian working class. Indonesia’s Creole folk music, if you will.