Present Encounters : Papers from the conference of the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, 1996

sou rce from which cultural productivity emerges; ultimately, it is the capacity to process and refine that matters. Sources of Cultu re and the Cultural Processing Capacity In I ndonesia (although not excl usively in Indonesia, as similar situations may wel l exist in other Asian regions that are undergoing the process of modernisation i n stages of development that differ from those in the West) , we should seek out the phenomenon of popular culture not only in u rban areas. Other areas, too , have qualities that may be deemed popular, even if they do not represent the same popular qual ities dominant in u rban areas. If popular culture in urban areas seems stronger, and has an outward appearance similar to that in metropolitan areas overseas (i .e. 'Americanized') , it can perhaps best be understood as a manifestation of the dominant urban cultural discourse that serves to marginalise non­ u rban culture . A comparison o f the two d ifferent music forms o f dangdut 10 and rock in I ndonesia provides an i nteresting example of the connection between cultural sources and the cultu ral capacity to process these sources. Dangdut is a pop music genre specific to I ndonesia . It is often considered by I ndonesian i ntellectuals to represent things 'cheap and low class'. 1 1 But the reality is that this style of music is extremely popu lar and has qu ite an extensive and varied range of fans both in cities and in the villages. The view that dangdut possesses a vitality that is considered 'rural' is due to the music's capacity for processing various popular elements that are accepted by I ndonesia's lower classes, incl uding the thumpi ng beat of the gendang d rum and the dynamic style of dancing reminiscent of I ndian films, lyrics that contain 'erotic/sexy' connotations, but oftenly also religious (Islamic) overtones, and the variety of musical as well as performance attributes that also reflect elements found in rock music (colourful lighting, dry ice smoke, laser lights, strumming electric gu itar sound effects, towers of loudspeakers, etc.) . In contrast, I ndonesian rock musicians/groups conti nue to make their appearance on the Indonesian pop music scene by imitating the style of wh ite American rock music. However, in terms of the level of popu larity and the number of fans, there is still no rock group or pop music artist that can compete with the popularity of the I ndonesian dangdut musician, Rhoma lrama. Surely, it can be sai d , it is too much to expect that a rock musician i n I ndonesia will be daring enough to turn to dangdut as a sou rce of inspiration for creating new works in rock music. Or, in other words, with its capacity to refi ne and redefine itself continuously by processing various resources , in my opinion dangdut is a produ ctive and healthy cultural element in contemporary I ndonesia . I n visual art it is also evident in many I ndonesian modern pai ntings that qu ite a n umber of elements frequently referred to as 'traditional' actually serve to demonstrate the power of popularity. Considerable evidence of this can be fou nd in the way in which modern and contemporary fine art have developed in I ndonesia. In h is study of modem fine art in I ndonesia, Joseph Fischer has attempted to trace several traditional sou rces that have gained expression in a variety of ways. Gumungan (mountai n-like figu res in Javanese wayang shadow plays, symbolising the universe, pohon hayat (arbor vitae, or 'tree of life' , characters from wayang shadow plays, topeng (masks) , and I slamic calligraphy represent a numbe r of themes, icons a nd texts that frequently appear in such works. 12 Hence , Fischer's references to 'trad itional sou rces' i n modem I ndonesian fine art may j ustifiably be called 'popular sources'. The word traditional is often understood only in the narrow sense of something that has been bequeathed from a former time and received i n the present - as if society were locked into a position of passivity and experienci ng stagnation . If we can accept the assumption that the reader of the text actually possesses a capacity for creativity which is the same in magnitude as that of the creator of the text, then the act of inheriting 'tradition' can be seen as a measure that is both active and creative. And regardless of whether this act takes place slowly or rapidly, a number of changes in meaning a re bound to occu r. So, productive cultural processing capacity should not question where sources for new creations may be obtained : such sources may or may not be found i n pop. But, after all, is it not true that anything goes pop eventually? 1 35