MARI BERSUKA RIA DENGAN IRAMA LENSO

This album was banned for decades, during the 32 year reign of the dictator Suharto because of the song Gendjer Gendjer. Talked about this many times on this blog... Music by Jack Lesmana and Orkes Irama with Bing Slamet, Titiek Puspa, Nien and Rita Zaharah.... Then President Sukarno was leading the band for the first song, Bersuka Ria... GET IT HERE Enjoy!

LILIS SURJANI & ORKES BAJU - LILIS.... IA TETAP DIATAS !!

I remember the first time I bought this album, Lilis Suryani's Ia Tetap Diatas!! album. It was almost like buying drugs or doing something other illegal thing, which, at the time it actually was as this album was still banned, and very much so. Because of 1 song on it, the song Gendjer Gendjer which is about an old and poor woman harvesting some water spinach (which is called gendjer in Bahasa Indonesia), eating some of it and going to the market in the hope of selling some.... Innocent enough... Thing is, Gerwani, the female wing of the Indonesian Communist Party would always play that song at their gatherings, and communism has been forbidden by law in Indonesia since 1965 (and still is).... When I bought it the guy who sold it to me was really nervous, we went into a toilet together, door locked, and he made me promise that I wouldn't tell anybody that I got this album from him.... At the time having this album could still land you in jail, torture, maybe worse so him being so nervous is understandable I guess.... It's a very, very good album, beautiful music..... GET IT HERE Enjoy!

KELUARGA KESENIAN DAERAH DJAWA TIMUR STUDIO SURABAJA

Here's a very interesting one, klenengan gending music from Surabaya in East-Java and it has a cover from the song Gendjer Gendjer on it. Some of you probably know the story already but I'll tell it again. In the early 60's two records came out with versions of this song. Lilis Suryani's "Lilis.... Ia Tetap Diatas!!" and Jack Lesmana's album "Mari Bersuka Ria" with Orkes Lenso that had Bing Slamet's version of the song on it. Both these albums were banned under the Suharto dictatorship, just having these albums could land you in jail for a long time, heavy torture very probable.... This was because Gerwani, the female wing of the Indonesian Communist Party, the PKI, used to play that song, Gendjer Gendjer, at their meetings.... The song itself has no political message at all, it's about a poor woman eating water spinach (gendjer) and bringing some to the market to sell... The song's composer, Mohamed Arif, was among the hundreds of thousands murdered when the Suharto regime took over in 1965.... I imagine this record must've been banned too.... GET IT HERE Enjoy!

KELOMPOK KAMPUNGAN - MENCARI TUHAN

Here's the cassette version from Kelompok Kampungan's 1980 album Mencari Tuhan.... I posted the vinyl version HERE this version has a few more songs.... The vinyl and cassette are extremely rare, they both start out with the song Bung Karno, about Indonesia's first president Sukarno and it uses parts of a speech he made in 1964.... The Suharto regime was not amused and ordered all copies destroyed and banned the album and banned the band from performing.... It's a fantastic album, mixing prog-rock with folk and some traditional music.... GET IT HERE Enjoy!

KELOMPOK KAMPUNGAN - MENCARI TUHAN

Fantastic prog-rock/fusion album from Kelompok Kampungan. This one is SUPER RARE, starts with a speech by Indonesia's first president Sukarno and the Suharto regime was not amused, they banned the album and all copies were ordered destroyed, the band was even banned from performing.... Sawung Jabo was also involved with this band....

Really a fantastic album, mixing prog-rock, folk, traditional music.....

It also came out on cassette with more songs on it.....

GET IT HERE





Enjoy!