Ivan Zacky Nugraha

1607079
Cultural Studies

Hybridity in Via Vallen’s Kimcil Kepolen

Music is universal and it also needs to have identity. It is usually applied by

themusicians themselves. Many musician nowadays use more than one genre in their
songs, it implies that music nowadays use hybridity as a form of creativity of the
musician.

Hybridity is a post-colonialism concept that refers to a product of two

different cultures that is produced by colonialization. According to Bhabha (1996),
hybridity is a symbol of the colonial power of productivity that shifts power and
fixities. The notion of hybridity itself can take many forms, such as linguistics,
cultures, politics, races, etc. Other than that, it also focuses on the mutuality of
cultures in the colonial and post-colonial era. According to Wang and Yeh (2005),
Film is one of many examples about products of hybridity. Film uses many different
cultural background to make it great such as Mulan, Crouching Tiger, and Hidden
Dragon. This popular film were adapted from Chinese works The products of
hybridity in the post-colonialism is divided into several parts, namely the
combination of two cultures into one, two ideology into one, or two different food
into one. In this globalization era, the hybridity concept starts to enter a new scene in
music.

Colonialism affected many people who were colonized, as they were

colonized economically, socially, and politically (Wong, 2014). However,

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colonialism did not stop there since it started to enter literature, art, and also music.
Unconsciously, the colonized and the colonists affected each other in those fields,
especially in music. Several results of hybridity in music are the creation of new
music, new musical instruments, new music genres, and new musical styles.
According to Nettl (2010), music in this era is influenced by the western... It tries to
adapt the western technology or even the western products itself.

Music has many genres, starts from ethnic music which represents a region,
tribe, or country, to modern music which represents a scene of a culture. Music genre
itself is a concept of music classification in order to put each music into one specific
label. However, music nowadays is not restricted to one genre only. Such as Bondan
Prakoso with his Kroncong Protol, Linkin Park with their electronic and metal song,
and many more

Haryono (2004) in his article states that dangdut music, which also known as
dangdut or pop melayu, is the kind of music that first showed up with the premise of
Malay musicality and then influenced by the Hindustan tone and beat. In Indonesia,
Rhoma Irama is one of many dangdut musicians who popularized this genre.
According to Frederick (1982), Rhoma Irama is a genius musician who is able to
unite the poor and the rich since plenty of dangdut listeners mostly come from the
middle and the lower-middle class groups. Back then, dangdut was distributed
through movies, TV programs, radios, and many more. However, Sakrie (2015),
delineates that in the beginning of its popularity, dangdut is considered dirty and
vulgar, resulting to its banishment from the public in the late 1970s to early 1980s. In
the 1990s, the government started to support this music because this music is the
emblem of Indonesia. Other than that, dangdut can also breakdown the economic
boundaries between the societies because many used to love it. On these present day,
dangdut starts to rise again since many young artist try to contribute to this genre.

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 Via Vallen in his song titled Kimcil Kepolen combine more than one genre on
it. She took four different genres in her song. She took reggae, rock, ska, and dangdut
in her Kimcil Kepolen song.

Via Vallen’s music can be said as the new era of dangdut music. By
combining several kinds of genres, Via Vallen is regarded as the queen of dangdut
music nowadays. As mentioned before, her song titled Kimcil Kepolen has four
different genres in it. The beginning of the song presents a combination of rock and
dangdut while on duration 0:44 it changes to the combination of ska-reggae and
dangdut. This combination is recognized from the trumpet play in this part combining
with signature dangdut drum playing. On minute 1:52, the rest of the music still
consists of the combination between ska-reggae and dangdut. Therefore, it can be
concluded that there are four different genres and four different cultures in one song.

pancene koe pabu nuruti ibumu pisan pindo aku percoyo ro

jare nek ra ninja ra oleh dicinta
opo koyo ngene susahe wong kere
ameh nyandeng tresno kalah karo
bondo
ku ngerti sifatmu bedo karo
awakku iki
ono opo kok koe bedo karo aku
iki
opo aku salah nek aku tresno koe
po pendak dino atimu enenge
gelisah
mending aku ro koe koreksi dewe-
dewe
ojo waton tumindak nek kuwi ora
becik
mergo sak iki tresno enenge gor
bondo
menang rupo kalah rupo aku ora
popo  
omonganmu
jebul saiki koe wes keconangan
neng mburiku
koe selingkuh ro koncoku cerakku
iki
opo dumeh aku wong kere
langsung tok larani
jaremu nek ra FU koe ora i love
you
jaremu nek ra ninja koe ora cinta
nanging pie meneh aku wong ra
nduwe
kalah bondo menang rupo kuwi
yonek koe ra iso trimo opo enenge
gor isone ngoyak bondo kuwi ciri
khase
pancen koe konco neng atimu
wuto

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 menang rupo moto bondo kui sliramu
pancen koe ojo rumongso bisa nek koe ora iso
atiku wes ra kuat rasane pengen
aku wes ra betah ngrasake sifatmu njepat
mending aku tak pisah ninggalke

As seen from the lyric, Via Vallen tries to combine three different languages
in her song. She combines Indonesian, English, and Javanese to produce a form of
hybridity. She also uses code-switch in her lyric.

Via Vallen’s music is a modern dangdut music with various genres

incorporated in it, while the earlier form of dangdut only consists of one genre. Her
music is also regarded more down to earth than early dangdut since she has more
listeners than the previous type of dangdut.

It can be concluded that Via Vallen’s dangdut can be considered as a form of

hybridity by looking from some evidences. For example, the root of dangdut itself
came from Hindi music and that today’s dangdut is heavily influenced by another
genres. In addition, Via Vallen’s music is even influenced by many genres, such as
Hindi, rock, reggae, and ska. She also uses code-switching on her song’s lyric by
combining three different languages. From this song, it also can be assumed that Via
Vallen tries to introduce various genres ot her listeners, especially those from the
low-middle class group.

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References:

Wong, L. (2014, June 20) Hybridity and Postcolonial Music. Retrieved from
http://www.easybib.com

Wang, G., & Yeh, E. Y. Y. (2007). Globalization and hybridization in cultural

production: A tale of two films. In East-West Identities (pp. 77-98). Brill.

Harjono, S. (2002). Dangdut dan Eksploitasi Seks Perempuan. dalam Harmonia

Jurnal Pengetahuan dan Pemikiran Seni Volume 3 No 2/Mei-Agustus.

Frederick, W. H. (1982). Rhoma Irama and the dangdut style: Aspects of

contemporary Indonesian popular culture. Indonesia, (34), 103-130

Sakrie, D. (2015). 100 tahun musik Indonesia. GagasMedia..

Bhabha, H. K. (1996). Culture’s in-between. Questions of cultural identity, 1, 53-60.