Our October 2023 fieldwork kicked off in style with the launch of the Jogja Sonic Index (JSI). Wok the Rock, Indra Menus and Hilman Fathoni and their team had organised a presentation at IVAA on October 5th from 4-6 pm. Creative and fancy Instagram-posts from the new Jogja Sonic Index Instagram profile had already announced the event, and we were both excited and proud to take part. We were curious to see if other people were interested as interested as we were. We were not disappointed.
Around 50 archival-noise-experimantal-music enthusiasts showed up for the launch. Wok gave some background to the design of the site. It is created in WordPress to keep the costs low and ensure the longevity of the site. WordPress also allowed the site to be interactive and dynamic by making it possible for users to add information about new artists and projects. Menus underlined the importance of this first online documentation of the experimental underground scene in Yogyakarta (a cultural hub in indonesia), while Hilman gave us a thorough introduction to the site, its categories, and possibilities.
Currently, the site contains information about 79 genres, 193 individual artists, and 116 bands and artistic projects from or associated with the experimental music scene in Yogyakarta in the period from 1969 until today. Each post contains lists of discographies, and links to relevant publications, zins, YouTube clips, and other online information sources.
Dynamic and continuously growing as more artists, projects, and publications are added, we hope the Jogja Sonic Index can serve as a source of inspiration for Indonesian and other artists, as a historical archive for the community in Yogyakarta, and as a ressource for researchers.
Explore the Jogja Sonic Index yourself!
In less than three days, the Jogja Sonic Index acquired more than 500 followers on Instagram.
Join Jogja Sonic Index on Instagram.
The launch of the site on 5 October concluded with a tumpeng, a traditional ritual offering of yellow rice, shaped as volcano, with chicken and snacks. Traditionally, a Javanese Muslim prayer accompanies the serving of a tamping. On this occasion, Hilman asked everyone to utter a silent prayer according to their own belief. After this, another “Java-futuristic” ritual followed: informal get-together (nongkrong) and a bottle of imported champagne at the local bar Substore.
We hope these ritual at the launch will ensure a good future for the site and that artists, archivists and audiences in Jogja will continue to feed the Jogja Sonic Index with the information and goodies they have on their mind and in their lap-tops.
