Dangdut Music Guide: History and Characteristics of Dangdut

Dangdut, or musik dangdut, is a popular music genre in Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia. It is a hybrid of several diverse musical styles, including Indonesian and Malay folk music, Arabic pop music, Western rock and dance music, and the colorful soundtrack music of Hindi cinema, commonly known as Bollywood. Traditional dangdut was the most popular music in Indonesia from the late 1960s to the 1990s, but has been supplanted by the faster tempo of variants such as dangdut koplo, which draws on influences such as K-pop, rock, and reggae.

“Dangdut” is an onomatopoeic term that references the sound of the gendang (or kendang), a two-headed drum featured in many forms of traditional music throughout Southeast Asia.

The history of dangdut music begins in the 1950s with the orkes Melayu, or orchestra groups from Malaysia.

• Orchestra groups introduced the new sound. Orchestra groups gained popularity in Indonesia, Java, Sumatra, and other provinces in the Sunda Islands with a sound that combined Malay music, Western and Middle Eastern instruments, and melodies adapted from songs featured on the soundtracks of Indian films. The popularity of the orkes Melayu groups led to recordings like 1956’s “Boneka Dari India” (“A Doll from India”) by the “grandmother of dangdut,” singer Ellya Khadam, which borrowed the melody from a musical number featured in the 1952 Hindi film Ashiana. Within a decade, tracks like “A Doll from India” would serve as the foundation for traditional dangdut songs.
• The first wave of dangdut kicked off in the ‘60s. The introduction of Western rock rhythms and instruments to Indonesian popular music in the 1960s helped usher in the first wave of dangdut. These early efforts shifted away from the pop sound of the orkes Melayu and anchored the sound around Western instruments merged with the tabla-like beat of the gendang and a bamboo flute known as the suling. One of the first dangdut artists to take full advantage of this new approach was singer Rhoma Irama. With his group Soneta (“sonnet”)—which featured future dangdut superstar, singer Elvy Sukaesih—Irama embraced “RockDut,” which echoed the aggressive attack of Western hard rock groups like Deep Purple, and added twin electric guitars and keyboards to the dangdut sound.
• The genre splintered into dangdut koplo. This new sound would yield numerous hits for Irama until the mid-1970s when a pilgrimage to Mecca spurred him to abandon Western influences and embrace traditional Islamic tenets in his music and personal life. He also became an outspoken critic of a new form of dangdut that emerged from Central and East Java in the 1990s. This variant, called dangdut koplo, featured a faster beat and greater influence from Western music, especially regarding the subject matter: singer Inul Daratista raised eyebrows for performing a suggestive, gyrating dance called “goyang ngebor” (“drilling dance”) during a televised concert in 2003.
• The third wave explored new influences. Though aging veterans like Irama decried this new form, the emergence of dangdut koplo signaled further changes to the Indonesian music industry. A third wave of dangdut singers, embodied by such young performers as Via Vallen, have explored a host of new influences in music and dance. These new influences include everything from K-pop and reggae to the Javanese crossover music known as campursari and gendang koplo, which substituted electronic beats for traditional percussion.

Several characteristics define the sound of dangdut music:

1. 1. Southeast Asian and Western instruments: A traditional dangdut band features a singer backed by musicians playing Western and traditional Southeast Asian instruments. These instruments include guitar, bass, synthesizer, the two-headed gendang, often featured with the Indian tabla, and the suling, a bamboo flute. The gendang and suling are often featured along with other traditional Indian instruments, such as the sitar. Newer dangdut bands may replace some of the percussion instruments with drum machines.
2. 2. Traditional pop themes: During its heyday, dangdut songs addressed themes that were similar to their Western counterparts: romance, the pursuit of happiness, and heartbreak. Singers like Mansyur S. specialized in ballads, while rockers like Rhoma Irama and pop-dance acts like Daratista sang the praises of hard living and unlimited fun. Some dangdut songs tackled more serious matters, like morality and social inequality. Traditional dangdut songs were invariably sung in the Indonesian language.
3. 3. Stage presence: Western rock and pop wielded considerable influence on the look of dangdut on stage and in music videos. Mainstream singers embraced a well-dressed look, while Rhoma Irama’s RockDut phase was accompanied by jumpsuits, leather, and other forms of rocker garb. Modern dangdut singers often dress like other international pop singers, from kawaii styles favored by J-pop and K-pop vocalists to clothing suited for clubbing.

There are many notable dangdut songs in the history of the music genre, including:

1. 1. “Gula-Gula” (1998): A saucy ‘90s-era single from singer Elvy Sukaesih, who began her career in the 1960s as a member of Soneta with Rhoma Irama, the title “Gula-Gula” is a play on the Indonesian words for “sweets” and “mistress.” Like Inul Daratista’s early tracks, “Gula-Gula” allowed Sukaesih to play an object of desire and a confident woman.
2. 2. “Sembako Cinta” (1999): Singer Thomas Djorghi’s 1999 single “Sembako Cinta” took its cue from the look and sound of Western male pop singers of the period for this upbeat dance number but also retained elements of traditional dangdut. Djorghi sings nimbly over an R&B-fueled melody with plenty of vocal inflections from the boy bands of the period, though the music is rooted equally in modern beats and the gendang and suling that define the dangdut sound.
3. 3. “Goyang Inul” (2003): The title track from singer Inul Daratista’s 2003 debut album, “Goyang Inul,” helped to introduce her signature gyrating dance, the “goyang ngebor.” Though decried by traditionalists like Rhoma Irama, Andrew Weintraub, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh and author of the book Dangdut Stories, noted that Daratista’s music signaled a move towards female empowerment and independence.
4. 4. “Sayang” (2017): Singer Via Vallen, who took her stage surname from the title of American rock band Evanescence’s album Fallen, scored a huge hit in 2017 with the romantic pop ballad “Sayang” (“Dear”). The single is indicative of the new direction of dangdut: the traditional percussion is replaced by electronically created beats and pushed to the rear of the mix, while the melody and rhythm are firmly in line with Western pop and especially reggae.

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