Go global with Land Disco

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Jonathan Dorongpangalo (left) dan Everly Salikara

”Abang jago! Sorry bang jago! Ampun bang jago!” (Big brother Master! Sorry, big brother master! Forgive me, big brother master!) And the world dances to the beat of electronic music, as if immersing all its problems in the 16 bars of siren and whistle sounds blended with bass and drums. With this song, two musicians from Bitung, North Sulawesi, Jonathan Dorongpangalo (23) and Everly Salikara (22), succeeded in making millions of citizens in the real and virtual world dance.

At first, "Ampung abang jago "–means “Forgive me, big brother master” in English–was just a term used by players of PUBG, Mobile Legends, Garena Free Fire, and other online games to praise or mock each other. This phrase has become increasingly popular after appearing in a song entitled "Ampun Bang Jago", a land disco typical of North Sulawesi, which was released on September 12, 2020.

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"At first it was just jargon in the game to declare conceding, then we connected it to social life. If there are people who pretend to give statements saying they are more powerful than us, we just concede. Conceding does not mean we are inferior anyway, "said Jonathan, who is better known by the stage name Tian Storm, Tuesday (19/1/2021), in Manado, North Sulawesi.

The phrase appears in the lyrics of the second part of the song. "You feel superior, let me humble myself / You feel great, let me be the weak one / ... / The new kid is thirsty for praise, as if he is a champion".

We want to encourage everyone to focused on working and supporting each other, not knocking each other down.

With this song, Tian and Everly, who use the stage name Ever Slkr, want to inspire their listeners to work diligently in their respective professions. “From fried rice sellers to celebrities and musicians, there will always be people trying to knock them down. We want to encourage everyone to focused on working and supporting each other, not knocking each other down, "said Tian.

The ”Ampun Bang Jago” video clip has now been watched 28.2 million times, four months after being uploaded to Tian\'s YouTube account. The comments column is filled with expressions of the netizen\'s love for the song and how much the song keeps ringing in their ears. Praise also came from listeners in a number of countries, such as Algeria, Brazil, China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.

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Jonathan Dorongpangalo

Even so, Tian and Ever admit that they have never deliberately tried to make a song that famous, let alone one that goes global. "Ampun Bang Jago" is just one of the targets they have set themselves, which is to create at least one song every month.

However, Tiktok, the social media video sharing platform, opens new horizons for Tian and Ever. Since being uploaded to the China-based platform, "Ampun Bang Jago" has been used to make 2.7 million videos, ranging from videos of people dancing, Zumba exercises, to videos of students on the street protesting the omnibus law last October.

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A soccer club from London, England, West Ham United, even used the song to create content. "At first we thought it was the result of people\'s edits, but it turned out that they actually used our song on their official account," said Ever.

They also agree that Tiktok is the buzzer that made the song famous. "Tiktok had contacted us, they put the song in their headline. Of the six songs (Indonesian) that were used the most on Tiktok, only two were original songs, namely \'Lathi\' and \'Ampun Bang Jago\'. The rest is a remix song,” said Tian.

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A number of companies, from food flavorings to e-commerce sites, approached Tian and Ever to get permission to use their songs for advertisements. However, for them, the peak of popularity of "Ampun Bang Jago" is the use of the song in the YouTube Rewind Indonesia 2020 video at 05.29.

"We are very happy, proud to have representatives from North Sulawesi who can participate. This represents diversity in Indonesia. We are also proud because we can lift land disco to the national level," said Tian.

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The audience witnessed the appearance of Jonathan Dorongpangalo and Everly Salikara at an event in Manado, North Sulawesi, Tuesday (19/1/2021).

Land disco

In North Sulawesi, Tian and Ever are known as founders of the land disco group Bassgilano. The first single released in 2017, "Anjing Kacili" or Little Dog, was also a hit as it appeared when Tiktok became popular. The popularity of "Anjing Kacili" is marked by netizens\' use of the word "tetew", which resembles the sound effect of the drop part of the song.

Their YouTube-based music career began in 2015 from their respective homes with makeshift tools. The land disco was the path they chose. In the same period, other musicians appeared in the same genre.

According to Tian, originally the land disco was a habit for Bitung people to use large loudspeakers for various celebrations in the village. The focus is on modifying the loudspeaker system so that the bass is blaring loudly to accompany the people dancing. "In a broad sense, even though it is only in the village, on muddy soil, everyone can do bajontra (dance), not having to go to clubs or pubs. The land disco is for all people,” said Tian.

Instead of just remixing people\'s songs, why don\'t we just make our own songs?

Starting in the 2010s, the use of remix electronic music began to be widely used. Tian and Ever, already familiar with the notes and chords of playing guitar, keyboards, and kulintang (a gong-chime native to Sulawesi), started experimenting with electronic music creation software. That was when, said Ever, the initiative to compose his own songs grew.

"Instead of just remixing people\'s songs, why don\'t we just make our own songs? We started from recording using only cellphones. Slowly, we continue to improve the quality until we can produce songs that can be enjoyed now,” said Ever.

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Tian and Ever then created the land disco in its current form. Although the song structure is similar to electronic dance music (EDM), the hallmark of ground disco lies in the syncope of the chord strokes and the line of basses that form the arpeggio. The majority of land disco songs are written in Manado Malay.

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Jonathan Dorongpangalo and  Everly Salikara

The drop section, which marks the time to dance, is usually 16-bar long with just one chord to accompany a repetitive synthesizer melody or other sound effect. The listener\'s instinct to dance is stimulated by a heavy and strong bass boom.

Tian and Ever agree that land disco cannot be considered as its own genre, but only as the style they use to make EDM. However, they wanted to break the terms used by listeners from outside North Sulawesi, such as indobass remixes. "We want to raise and introduce land disco through our works," said Tian.

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Since starting their careers, Tian and Ever admitted that they couldn\'t count how many songs they had made. On the YouTube channel, Tian has 101 videos, while Ever 83.

From the pragmatic point of view of YouTuber musicians, said Tian, they depend on monetization from the platform. If no videos are uploaded, the video viewership from their account will drop. They even consider the target of one song per month to be realistic because writing music and lyrics and recording video clips takes a lot of time.

They believe the land disco has a unifying effect, as if it continues to ring in the ears of listeners. In fact, in the last three years, Bassgilano was asked to write songs with the theme of a government celebration, namely the 2018 Lembeh Strait Enchantment Festival, the 2019 Manado Fiesta, and the 2020 North Sulawesi regional election. Also in 2018, they wrote a campaign song to dispose of garbage in its place with the song "Buang di Dalam" (Dispose It Inside).

Jonathan Christian Dorongpangalo (Tian Storm)

Born: Manado, June 9, 1997

Education:

- State Elementary School (SDN) 1 Talawaan, North Minahasa

- State Junior High School (SMPN) 2 Talawaan, North Minahasa

- Vocational School (SMK) Yadika Manado

Music production studio: TS Home Studio

Everly Salikara (Ever Slkr)

Born: Bitung, 20 May 1998

Education:

- Christian Elementary School (SDK) Santo Andreas Tandurusa Bitung

- Bitung Adventist Junior High School

- Bitung Adventist Senior High School

Music production studio: Ever Slkr Home Studio

This article was translated by Stella Kusumawardhani.