People who hung out there included the homeless, market sellers, contract laborers, prostitutes, criminals, gamblers, and artists. The process of Awab Haris adapting the tabla sound to dangdut by combining the qualities of a tabla and a bongo is described in the following quotation: The mursali [thin layers of black paste called sihai or shai] on an Indian drum is placed on the top of the skin, but Awab moved it to the underside. Throughout the book, I emphasize the central role of dance and movement in dangdut aesthetics and practice. Although Sukarno closed Indonesian borders to cultural commodities from the United States and Europe, he opened the door to popular music from India and the Middle East. Equally important to the early history of dangdut is the Surabaya-based band Sinar Kemala described in the following section.
nest...