Indonesia

Dara Puspita (Flower Girls) was Indonesia’s most successful girl band of the 1960s. While there were many popular female vocalists in Indonesia at that time, they nearly all relied on the services of a backing band. Dara Puspita was one of the few girl groups who actually played all their own music as well.

Dara Puspita hailed from the city of Surabaya in East Java. They formed in 1964 with the line-up of sisters Titiek Adji Rachman (Titiek A.R.) on guitar & Lies Soetisnowati Adji Rachman (Lies A.R.) on bass, along with Susy Nander on drums & Ani Kusuma on rhythm guitar. In April 1965 Lies left the band for a month to finish school. She was replaced on bass by Titiek Hamzah. When Lies returned she took the place of Ani on rhythm guitar & Titiek Hamzah stayed on as bass player. It was with this line-up that the band set out to conquer the world.

In 1965 the band relocated to Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. They soon gained a reputation as a sensational live act, bashing away on their instruments, screaming out their songs, jumping up & down. Even though it was often hard to hear the songs through all the mayhem, audiences thought it was great. They often joined the band to dance around on the stage.

 

The band’s stage act as well as the songs they played were clearly influenced by contemporary British bands such as the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, whose music at the time was banned in Indonesia. The Jakarta band Koes Bersaudara (Koes Brothers) was actually put in jail for playing rock ‘n’ roll, but it seems that Dara Puspita was never seriously troubled by the authorities, although they were warned not to perform Beatles’ songs. Dara Puspita had a number of close connections with Koes Bersaudara: members of KB wrote a number of songs for Dara Puspita, KB’s singer Yon was romantically linked with DP’s drummer Susy, & the two bands sometimes appeared on the same bill. The bands actually appeared together on the night that lead to Koes Bersaudara’s arrest & imprisonment.

Why Dara Puspita was never targeted by the authorities is a bit of a mystery, but was probably due to them being still relatively new on the scene in Jakarta & not having yet released a record. In late 1965 the political situation in Indonesia swung 360 degrees. Rock ‘n’ roll could be played again with impunity, so when Dara Pupita’s first album, Jang Pertama (The First), was released in 1966 they had little to fear. There is no mistaking the influence of other bands’ music on many of the songs here, such as the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” riff in “Mari-Mari” (Come On, Come Here) or the Dave Clarke Five’s “Glad All Over” in “Tanah Airku” (My Homeland). Dara Puspita followed up their first album with the self-titled Dara Puspita later in the year. In 1967 they put out two albums, Green Green Grass & A Go Go. The title track from the latter album & the song “Believe Me” are good examples of the band’s beat garage rock credentials.

The band was a popular attraction in Indonesia & throughout the region, playing to enthusiastic crowds in neighboring countries such as Thailand & Malaysia. In 1968 they took the almost unprecedented move for an Indonesian band of trying their luck in Europe. They spent the next few years touring in England, Holland, France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, & Hungary. They even played in Turkey & Iran. While in England they recorded two singles for CBS. They recorded another for Philips in Holland. In late 1971 the band returned to Indonesia where they played a number of concerts, but enthusiasm was starting to wane. In April 1972 they played their last show. Susy was keen to keep going. Together with Titiek Hamzah they recorded a number of albums using the Dara Puspita name, but it was really the end. Today only Titiek Hamzah continues in the Indonesian music industry, where she has had great success as a song-writer, but the music of Dara Puspita lives on in the hearts of music lovers everywhere.

 Dara Puspita - A Go Go, El Shinta Records A 6708 Jakarta, 1967. 

decryption code in comments

Muka I –

A Go Go

To Love Somebody

Aku Tetap Sadar

Bhaktiku

Muka II –

Soal Asmara

Kerdja Kami

Believe Me

Kau Berdusta

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Here’s a little slice of tuneage from Sumatra, old spew eyes himself, Frank Sumatra that is. Well, really…

One man, but with a million ideas, Alig Pearce’s Family Fodder collective garnered cult status in the early eighties with a string of lo-fi, schizophrenic releases, all in The Residents/ Flying Lizards/ kitchen sink tradition.  However, unknown to many is the fact that within a month of releasing the first ever Family Fodder single, an Alig alter-ego appeared to put out this joyous EP.

Just why A. Pearce adopted a pseudonym for this release remains a mystery. The EP’s four tracks are typically eccentric & diverse. “Tedium” is a perfect slice of XTC guitar pop, with the added bonus of dreamy female backing vocals, jerky time signatures, & the most mind-blowing distorted solo you’ve ever heard (but is it a guitar?).  The song “The Story So Far” is another departure, it has Alig adopt a convincing Russell Mael falsetto for a hyperactive chanson that recalls similar efforts by The Red Krayola or Peter Blegvad’s Kew Rhone album.  Meanwhile, “The Blues” & “Telstar” (yes, that Telstar) are brief experimental, electronic excursions that are humorous rather than haranguing.

The song order on the back of the record cover does not match the order listed on the vinyl 'This Side' label.

 Frank Sumatra & The Mob - Te Deum, Small Wonder Records, 1979.

This Side –

The Story so Far

The Blues

Other Side -

Tedium

Telstar 176 All Out: W. Indies 180 for 3 Declared (J.Meek)

That’s Life…that’s what all the people say,

NØ