“Popular music education is now more serious. In America, there are six universities that open popular music courses with course programs on The Beatles,” said Dr. Harsawibawa Albertus, Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, University of Indonesia (FIB UI). He stated this in the event “From Ngak Ngik Ngok to Dheg Dheg Plas: Book Discussion on the Journey of Indonesian Popular Music in the 1960s” held by the FIB UI Department of Literature in collaboration with the Jakarta Center for Cultural Studies (JCCS).
The book that is the subject of discussion is the work of Ignatius Aditya Adhiyatmaka which reviews the wealth and development of popular music in Indonesia in the 1960s. The book is a follow-up project from Irama Nusantara, a social foundation and music archive website launched in 2013.
Irama Nusantara focuses on preserving, archiving and documenting Indonesian popular music from the 1920s to 1980s. After nine years of being active, Irama Nusantara has digitally archived the releases of record companies from the 1950–1960s, such as Irama, Lokananta, Mesra, and Remaco.
According to Aditya, Indonesian popular music emerged in 1903, marked by the establishment of a British record company called The Gramophone and Typewriter Ltd. who released the first music recordings in the Dutch East Indies. The milestone of the popular music industry in Indonesia was seen in the early 1950s with the presence of a local music recording company called The Indonesian Music Company Limited (Irama).
The development of this music was hampered in the 1960s due to many regulations, but in 1965 there was a significant change, resulting in a relaxation of pop music. “The decade of the 60s became an important point for the development of popular music in Indonesia. If we talk about popular music, there are various issues regarding ‘what is popular?’ or what we call popular culture. This debate is still ongoing and popular music is one of them,” said Aditya, who is an alumnus of the master’s program at FIB UI.
Popular music is music that attracts the attention of the masses and is enjoyed by most people. This type of music has a strong melody and is easy to remember. The theme of popular songs is very diverse, some describe the joy and pain caused by love, some others are a social protest against injustice. Even so, the main purpose of popular music is to entertain.
The term popular music is used to distinguish it from classical music. Many find popular music light and entertaining, whereas classical music is serious, pure, and difficult to appreciate. The term popular music encompasses many different styles of music, such as American country and western music, jazz, music from musical comedies and other stage performances, film music, and the rock, soul, and reggae that make up modern pop music.
Dr. Harsawibawa, who argues that this view emerged at the beginning of this study of music. Popular music is considered not to require special skills in its creation and does not require certain knowledge to enjoy it. Popular music does not require knowledge, such as harmony, counterpoint, music theory, or orchestration. In addition, there are many things that cannot be measured in popular music, such as dynamics and tempo. Technological developments, economic factors, and fashion also make it easy to change.
The view that popular music is not serious is now starting to be refuted by the many scientific studies on popular music at various universities. In addition, with technological advances, the popular music industry is growing rapidly and entering various circles through various digital platforms. This shows that popular music can be approached “seriously” or not.
In line with popular music which can be approached from two sides, the book Dari Ngak Ngik Ngok ke Dheg Dheg Plas presents an impressive and expressive contradiction. The title of the book is taken from the onomatopoeia or sound imitation of music, namely “ngak ngik ngok, dheg dheg plas”. Meanwhile, the contents of the book are different from the title and cover of the book which seem “not serious or light” because the book reviews the journey of music in the ’60s era with detailed and “serious” discussions.