Indonesia: Keroncong in the 1960s (Mariati)
Keroncong is a genre of Indonesian music with a great deal of influence by the Portuguese, who dominated Southeast Asia in the late 1500s, and introduced to the local culture their indigenous styles and western elements of voice and instruments.
In its early form, Keroncong orchestras had the Indian sitar, rebab, gong, bamboo flute, and the Indonesian gamelan. Throughout the years, modern Keroncong gradually replaced those instruments with other western instruments and may even include, accordion, violin, cello, electric guitar, bass, and cuk and cak, which are respectively, 3-string and four-string ukulele.
These selections of Keroncong, recorded in the 1960s, were sung by the legendary Keroncong artist Mariati (accompanied by Orkes Chandra Ayu). During this musical period, Keroncong still had yet to fully incorporate the western instruments that are more prominent on today's style of Keroncong.
This program was produced by Lucy Simanjuntak as part of her Madyura radio series on Indonesian culture.
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