Indonesian Rock – A Documentation of Change
By: Chandra Drews The story of the development of rock music in Indonesia is tightly related to the cultural and political changes the country faced in the last 50...
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...
Indo-Rock: An Indo-European Hybrid
By: Chandra Drews Never mind Elvis Presley and Bill Haley, the Tielman Brothers and their fellow Indo-rockers really rocked Europe in the 1950s. Pretty much forgotten...
Diaspora power
The main cry of the second Indonesian Diaspora Congress was ‘hidup diaspora!’ – long live the diaspora. It rang out in session after session in Jakarta from 18 to...
Floating World
Indonesian cruise ship service workers have a kind of cosmopolitan experience at sea. They seem to be good candidates for the development of a cosmopolitan outlook. They...
Impossible ideal?
Cosmopolitanism might appear to be a concept tailor-made for Indonesian conditions. Diverse peoples have lived side by side in the region for ages. Linguistic difference...
Subaltern cosmopolitans, Riau Islands
When people think of cosmopolitans, they think of jet-setting elites or the chattering classes, flitting between countries and consuming the ‘global’ through food,...
Defining the Nation? Indonesian arts
Indonesia’s participation in the Venice Biennale in 2013 sought a place for Indonesian contemporary art within the international dialogue of cosmopolitan art...
Rain Stoppers in Bali
May to October is Indonesia’s dry season. By the end of October, though, the rains are approaching and the pressure mounts. Last year in Bali, the sun stung our skin...
A river changes course: a film by Kalyanee Mam
“Today,” remarks Sav Samourn, “everyone needs land.” Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at Sundance, A River Changes Course tells the story...
