On this date, exactly a decade ago, one of the biggest moments in my life, the very day I changed my title from “writer” to “author”, I officially launched my first book: BLANTIKA – LINIMASA.
I invited my dear friend, Soleh Solihun, flew him from Jakarta, to be the moderator at the launch party, to lead the discussion.
The book is about the history of Bali’s pop/non-traditional music, from the 60s till the millennium era. I have a team of writersâRobi Navicula and Anton Muhajir were two of themâto do deeper research and development & wrote for certain sections (pop Bali, indie music, etc).
Speaking of the format, well, it’s more of a pop journal, a coffee table book rather than a thick, serious, academic studies type thing. Two bottles of beer later you’ll pretty much have an idea how punk rock and underground scene got started in this religious island, around what year pop Bali (singing in Balinese language) was pretty permissive with soft-porn themes, why the hell that a Bali’s punk rock songâif translated into English would be titledâ”Fuck You” was welcomed nicely by the mainstream crowd, and so forth. A 100+ pages kaleidoscope of pop music in Bali since the 60s.
Any of you still own the book? I only have one left. I don’t know where the pdf version is, maybe saved somewhere in one of my old files.
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Photo, discussion session: Teddy Drew.
