Dangdut: The Indonesian Folk Pop Genre Influenced By Bollywood

It only takes a quick google search to find out how popular Bollywood is.

One can find love find love for Shahrukh khan, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and many others among Indonesians in many forums, blogposts and even many popular travel vlogs done by Indians in Indonesia.

At the heart of Indonesia’s love for Bollywood is Dangdut.

Dangdut is a popular form of Indonesian folk music that is a mix of Hindustani, Arabic, Malay and local folk music.

It is the most popular form of music in Indonesia. Dangdut’s Indian roots can be heard in Ellya Kadam’s Boneka dari India (A doll from India) which uses the melody of Sama hai Bahar Ka from the film Ashiana.

Released in 1956 it is considered to be one of the very first Dangdut songs.

The genre was properly established by Rhoma Irama in the 70’’s.

Since then, Dangdut has come a long way, with artists like Siti Badriah and Via Vallen adding house and R&B elements to the genres signature Tabla and Gendang (Indonesian percussion instrument) sound.

One thing has remained constant however, that is the profound influence of Bollywood.

Be it in the use of the Tabla rhythms or the Yash raj like vocal harmonies, Bollywood has had a massive impact on Dangdut.

Its peculiar then that Dangdut is pretty much unheard of in India.

One can only imagine the cultural confluence that will happen once the genre comes to India.

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