Mbah Surip

Since the beginning of this year, several new musicians made their debut in the Indonesian Music world, one of them is a Reggae singer Mbah Surip (50) with his hit song " Tak gendong " (Javanese for I'll carry).

Unlike the other musicians who appeared well groomed, Mbah Surip appeared just like any other Reggae musicians, eccentric with Jamaican style long curly hair, colorful hat and clothes. The song itself is actually not so special compared to other hit songs, as a matter of fact it is very simple. Although the title is in Javanese, but the lyric is in Indonesian language which is confusing for me. The song was first recorded in 2003 but only became very popular in recent months, and has provide him with a Royalty of Rp 4.5 billion for Ring Back Tone from Telkomsel alone.

The real name of Mbah Surip is Urip Apriyanto, born in Mojokerto, East Java, on 5 May 1949, education : Chemical Engineer. Details about him can be read in Bahasa Indonesia by clicking here, here, here, and here.

Considering the above, I believed that Mbah Surip and his song became popular because they provide alternative for the usual hit songs which are more sophisticated and performed by musicians who appeared well groomed. Such alternative is necessary if people felt the same way as I do in the last 12 months i.e. very sick and tired with the social & political conditions in our country which is filled with too much political campaigns for the Parliamentary and Presidential elections.

Photo: Facebook