Filled Noisy Screams from Balikpapan
Musicians in Balikpapan City immortalize the situation where they live through music with critical lyrics.
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We once painted love in the sky
But factory smoke rose upwards
then delete it
City people, including artists, show concern and concern for the surrounding environment in various ways. In the city of Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, the poem by Samsir Marangga above is the opening song of the music group Monkey Mangkir entitled "Hantam". After a line of poetry, they combine keyboards and distortion to accompany critical lyrics, describing various inequalities and problems around Balikpapan.
La Dores (30), the guitarist and vocalist of Monkey Mangkir, explained that the poem excerpt was his band's response to a tragic incident in a village in East Kalimantan: a palm oil factory worker died at his workplace.
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The worker lives with his partner and has not yet had children. Dores tells the story that his music group sees the aspirations and love of factory workers that have been shattered due to palm oil company exploitation.
After poetry and music lull, lyrics describing the irony of the environmental conditions in Kaltim are sung. They highlight the coal mining dust that disturbs residents' respiratory systems; muddy floods during rains; and even touch on the problem of unemployment.
We are increasingly prosperous / eating dust and mud // In our fertile land / we are idle
Dores stated that the lyrics were consciously written to document the environment of their residence. Rain, for example, is often associated with something romantic and beautiful by some people.
"But rain in Samarinda, for example, is not beautiful because of floods. Our motivation for writing the lyrics like that is simply to be honest," he said some time ago.
For Monkey Mangkir, music is a tool for communication and documenting their place of residence. It can be a medium to voice the concerns and issues that they encounter so that more people can hear them.
According to Dores, this was born out of discussions and readings that inspired them. Political poems by Pablo Neruda, for example, resonate and resonate with the members of Monkey Mangkir. From within the country, they mention the works of poet Saut Situmorang as one of their reference readings.
According to Dores, the works truly reflect honesty in their creation. Therefore, through the medium of music, they embody the spirit of creativity without having to hide the social, economic, and political situations around them.
They also used the poetry and song format in another song, "Hutan Limbung". They highlighted how the exploitation of natural resources in Kaltim has put a burden on the lives of the residents in the surrounding area.
All of this is very visible in the lyrics: The forest was cut down, the land was hollowed out, we were thrown away in the mine hole.
Generator to fire
The spirit of documenting residential events through works is also carried out by the Balikpapan rock band, Infact. In the song "Tangis dan Bara", they created a guitar riff and drum rhythm inspired by the sound of a generator engine.
Adi Kresna Yusanta (46), the guitarist of Infact, stated that when the song was created, around the early 2000s, electricity in Balikpapan had not yet been available for 24 hours.
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Therefore, generators are almost present in every resident's household when there is a power outage. In fact, at that time, there was chatter about "Balikpapan, the City of a Thousand Generators."
Through this song, directly or indirectly, they immortalize the memory of a city. At least, through rhythm and guitar riffs, they describe the noise of generators that once played in Balikpapan, a city experiencing an electricity crisis in a province where coal is dredged for electricity generation.
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Although electricity in Balikpapan is currently much better, the song can serve as a sort of self-documentation of a place done in a unique way by musicians in Balikpapan.
"For the lyrics, Infact was inspired by the big fire incident at the Balikpapan Vegetable Garden Market, around 2008," said Adi.
They captured scenes and the inner atmosphere of fire victims in lyrics that were sung with hoarse screams: Screams of crying and anger/Burning disturbs the soul//Destroys evenly/This is disaster.
The music and lyrics, if interpreted in the context of Balikpapan today, serve as a reminder: a major fire once occurred here; let us learn from it to prevent it from recurring.
Policy impact
Other annoyances come through the lyrics of the Balikpapan grunge band, Superego. In the song "Buying Air", they respond to government policies that are upsetting and felt by residents in the regions.
Rendy Asra (42), lyricist and drummer for Superego, said that the lyrics of the song "Buying Air" respond to the increase in prices of various basic and important commodities.
In addition, based on observations, nowadays residents are increasingly faced with various capitalization by the state. As a result, in order to obtain basic needs, residents are forced to buy them.
What's dangerous is if the song lyrics about social criticism are still relevant. This means there is no change
This anxiety can be seen in the lyrics: Brain your brain / slow your movement // Colonized until you are forced to buy air
"Perhaps in the future, even air will be bought and sold. Air is just a term. It can be considered a matter of pride, a place to live, or anything else," said Rendy.
Referring to the aforementioned issue, currently, several regions in Balikpapan are facing a water crisis due to the decrease in dam volume caused by El Nino. Consequently, PDAM water flow to households is not available 24 hours.
Some residents even have to buy water tanks for Rp 100,000-Rp 150,000 per tank. As described in the song "Buying Air", residents are forced to buy water at a higher price to meet their basic needs.
Live music
Interestingly, the musicians in Balikpapan do not make a living from music. They are professionals in various fields. Dores is a researcher at a non-governmental institution, Adi works in the property industry, and Rendy works in the field of consumable goods.
Other personnel in their band also have their own professions. Even though they do not rely on music as a source of income, they bring music to life in Balikpapan through melody, rhythm, and passionate screams.
Hoarse voices, screams, noise, and distortions that they recorded are the voices from below that provide a different perspective on their place of residence. They convey overlooked concerns.
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They give critiques that are sung by a number of their music listeners and hope to spark change. "What is dangerous is if lyrics about social criticism are still relevant. It means there is no change," says Rendy with a laugh.
Through music, neglected criticism is continually expressed in Balikpapan's air. Hoping that everything will become harmonious for the city's better future.