Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/03/17/surfing-set-to-indonesian-60.html
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Nice! A tribute to “Drive My Car,” obviously. Or maybe the other way around???
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Odd choice. A feel good tune from the dawn of the Suharto administration (Lyrics are “we’re happy, move left to right” etc.). Recorded a year after the deaths of about a million Indonesians. A more authentic tune might overlay screams of dying “Communist” sympathisers making way for the new regime.
EDIT: From what I can tell, the “Flower Girls” were anti-Sukarno (detained for a month as well) - however Oppenheimer’s documentaries on Indonesia would seem to suggest that Indonesian (and western) popular culture acted as a psychological lubricant for pro-Indonesian / pro-Suharto death squads. Just bizarre choice - interesting, lifting a piece of popular culture from its historical context and inadvertently sanitizing it. I’m not saying the Dara Puspita had anything to do with the cultural, racial and political turmoil of 60s Indonesia, but I find it odd how we can consume culture without any reference to its background or significance - not a gripe - just noting. Check out - https://bitchmedia.org/post/adventures-in-feministory-dara-puspita-the-first-indonesian-all-woman-rock-band-draft
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