Musikator | Blog Direktori Musik Indonesia

“Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.”

As history has many times proven it, majority vote does not constitute the truth or the right choice. It mostly reflects a victory of persuasion by a dedicated group of people over an undecided masses. For the majority of people who are too lazy to do a research before deciding on their vote, submission to the majority voice is often the only solution because it gives them a sense of security, albeit false, that “a million of people can’t be wrong”. Such a scary manipulative phrase isn’t it? A million of people can be wrong!

A lie no matter how blatant can become the truth when repeated enough times in speech and writings. An excrement can be sold as gold when enough fools believe it’s gold.

This laziness in thinking for yourself, the knee-jerk reaction of choosing comfort over idealism, can be attributed to many disastrous moments in history. From the election of an incompetent president (too many examples, in and outside of Indonesia), the rushed creation of ridiculous laws that produce more setbacks than progress (educate, not censor!), the adoption of a set of medieval religious-based regional laws (stoning and a slew of discriminatory laws), and even as devastating as war and genocide.

Now, let’s talk music. In a smaller, less “life and death” scope, the same lack of individual thinking and sense of adventure also produces mediocrity in art. Mainstream trend will always prevail because of the power of numbers over quality. We can always rely on the music industry people to dictate the masses as to what they should be listening to. And sure enough those casual music listeners will yield to the mainstream trend. It’s not their fault. Music is as important to them as sneezing. But, when once-a-quality musician started to mimic what’s “in the now” to possibly boost or sustain his/her music career then it’s just not laziness anymore, it’s conscious stupidity. It’s forsaking one’s art over popularity.

Back to more serious matter. In life, how can you be sure which is the right choice? Who to follow?

Well, you can never be sure. But, at least be smart enough to research, question and confront. If your conscience whispers that something’s not right, then let doubt enter your heart. Don’t let the roar of the masses drowns your individuality. If you see something’s not right, speak up. So, even if later on your choice was proven to be wrong, at least you didn’t go in blindly and you can learn from the mistake. You made a smart calculated wrong choice. And that’s a win in itself.

Balas

Bee Reply:
June 12th, 2010 at 5:52 am

*Clap Clap* exactly why I believe in the quality of the song itself – mainstream or not mainstream.

Ironically, some underground people who were supposed to be the opposing side of what the masses are feeding, are starting to think like the masses themselves. Meaning, underground people who think themselves as ‘minority’ finds exclusivity in their status and boast how ‘indie’ they are, thinking only minority people are capable of producing great music and trashing all music made by the majority – despite how good some of these major musics are.

Then when that happens, music loses its core purpose – to be simply enjoyed.

Status behind a song become more important, like who create it (major or indie band), how popular it is, or even how well known the artist behind the song is. IMHO, this is such a sad thing. Music should be enjoyed – regardless of any ‘physical’ appearance that comes behind it. Music is colorblind. Or at least that’s what it was supposed to be.

When a song is good, a song is good – no matter what, who, when, where, how it was created. Hope to always remember that.

Balas

Nice topic. Menyegarkan otak gue kembali
Thanks, Robin!

Balas

Robin Reply:
February 19th, 2010 at 6:47 pm

Glad you like it put!

Balas

hmm. gue bertanya2 juga dengan apa yang lo tulis, Bin, ‘lantas apa hubungannya semua ini dengan usik dan band saya’.

i was expecting a politic and [and maybe] so-called democracy. satu-satu dan singkat, untuk demokrasi, gue percaya kalau selama edukasi tidak merata, tidak ada yang namanya itu demokrasi. kita orang indonesia setelah tahun 98 sepertinya ‘merasa’ merasakan demokrasi. tapi yang ada, demokrasi semu. pada akhirnya, tidak semua suara mayoritas itu benar disini. ada beberapa kejadian suara mayoritas, suara rakyat, terasa tulus dan mengalir, seperti kasus contoh yang paling dekat, kasus Bibit-Chandra dan Prita Mulyasari. tapi sejujurnya, there was never really a democracy. ironis karena masih ada sisi bangsa ini yang bisa menikmati musik dan fashion yang paling hip, tapi di sisi lain masih ada yang memakai koteka dan berperang dengan suku lain menggunakan tombak. wow.

i hate to admit it, tapi indonesia belum siap dengan demokrasi. we need to focus on education first. on everything, on every level.

tentang musik, justru gue berpikir bahwa tidak semua musik mainstream itu jelek, dan tidak semua musik non mainstream itu bagus. mainstream atau tidak, itu hanya cara alternatif, kalau kualitas, bisa diperdebatkan. kenapa tapi pada akhirnya musik mainstream itu selalu dianggap buruk, karena para pelaku industrinya tidak percaya dengan musik tapi lebih percaya dengan perdagangannya. that’s why musik non mainstream akan tetap sulit ‘diterima’.

Balas

dimanapun, rasanya tidak ada yang benar-benar demokrasi, selama politikus masih tukang ngibul, dan cuma berusaha mengegolkan kepentingan rakyat yang sejalan dengan kepentingan pribadinya…

dan gue setuju dengan Arian soal pendidikan… minimal kalo rakyatnya pinter, mereka bisa berjuang dengan lebih pandai (dan semoga ga licik)

music mainstream dan non-mainstream mana yang lebih bagus? selera aja itu mah…
buat gue musik yang bagus itu musik yang mudah dicerna, sementara buat orang lain musik yang bagus itu yang penuh tehnik ngejelimet…

Balas

Hmmm semakin seru aja yeah…
Aku ga suka politik n aku g maw berdebat, salut bwt kalian, satu yang pasti INDIE IS THE BEST, aku suka Band n lagu2 Indie….

Balas

maju terus dech…

Balas

“waduh berat nih, yang penting melalui musik kita semua bisa berbagi rasa derita, sneng, bahagia, ato yg lainnya,

ayo walau kita beda tapi tetep satu juaa, sama di mata Tuhan, minoritas maupun mayoritas, hehe

Bhinneka Tunggal Ika

Balas

sangat menarik sekali topiknya, salam \m/

Balas

mayoritas ga selalu bener…
dan minoritas belum tentu salh…

Balas

tidak semuanya musik itu jelek tergantung orang yang membawakanya,jangan khawatir. Kita ditipu oleh fenomena mayoritas = kebenaran ini. Kalau musik kamu tidak mainstream, bukan berarti musik kamu jelek. Karena pasar, mayoritas suara orang, belum tentu benar.

Balas

Musik is soul…..

Balas

buat saya semua itu boleh beda,karena beda adalah berwana…
yang penting tetep Bhinneka Tunggal Ika.

Balas

waw,,,begitulah indonesia

anyway,,Anyone,,check Bankeray new songs.. The old and heavy music from the young thrasher from Karanganyar, Solo INA http://shar.es/H7qkq

Balas