The Anak Merdeka - Indonesia's radical punk rockers

December 1, 2014 4:02 AM

Indonesia is home to one of the biggest underground punk scenes in the world - a place of chaotic, frenzied moshpits filled with screaming 10-year-old punks and collective punk communities that make art and teach street kids how to busk with their ukuleles. An hour-long radio documentary written and produced by Karli Munn, from queer feminist punk group Scum System Kill

The soundtrack for the documentary includes music by Marjinal, Antiseptic, Punktat, Turtles Jr, Pretty Riot, Jollyty Joy and Gedebac Gedebuc. For more Indonesian punk, try MORFEM, Teenage Death Star, ZOO, The Upstairs or The Bikinies.

posted by beijingbrown (6 comments total)

As a random throw in, I'd also suggest Superman is Dead, whose album I picked up on a trip in Bali. Good melodic punk in a language I can't even begin to understand.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:23 AM on December 1, 2014 [2 favorites]

I'm fascinated by the resilience of punk. Decades after its heyday, it's still a totemic, inspirational image.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 8:28 AM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

This popped up in the English press a few years ago when police in Aceh interrupted a concert to detain & shave 64 people before sending them off to a school for re-education. The implementation of sharia to non-Muslims in Aceh (only Aceh) as well certainly makes it sound like an interesting place for punk.
posted by Winnemac at 12:56 PM on December 1, 2014

Sweet. This post reminds me of this snippet from a feature length tour documentary (I think), of the Philly band RAMBO playing in Jakarta (the sound is horrible, sorry).

a bunch of friends who were in hardcore/punk bands would tell me that some of their most dedicated fans were from Indonesia...
posted by nikoniko at 3:06 PM on December 1, 2014

nikoniko: As a regular gig-goer across Southeast Asia, Indonesia's crowds are by far the best, and most passionate. I love that Rambo video - brings back some good memories of watching fantastic bands in improvised Jakarta venues.

Ghidorah: SID are great! I've been digging into some older Indonesian indie that inspired the current generation, and this compilation - Those Shocking, Shaking Days - is my favourite.
posted by beijingbrown at 5:36 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

This was such a lovely radio documentary! It gave me a little bit of insight into what Christians get out of long reports about how other Christians do Christianity in far away places. I don't really get much out of it, because I'm not Christian, but I get a lot out of reports about punks in parts of the world I've never visited, because basically I'm a punk true believer (denomination: DIY indie) and it was nice to be given a tour of Indonesian punk by another true believer.
posted by Kattullus at 6:54 AM on December 2, 2014