| Indorock | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 1950s, the Netherlands |
| Derivative forms | Nederpop |
| Other topics | |
| Music of the Netherlands | |
Indorock is a musical genre that originated in the 1950s in the Netherlands, formerly the colonial exploiter of theDutch East Indies. It is a fusion of Indonesian and Western music, with roots inKroncong (traditional Portuguese-Indonesian fusion music). The genre was performed byIndo community in the Netherlands. Indorock is one of the earliest forms of "Eurorock".[1] Its influence on Dutch popular music was considerable.[2] The term Indorock was used in 1981 to refer to the genre and period retrospectively.[3]
The guitar was imported to theEast Indies by Portuguese explorers in the 16th century. The traditional Portuguese song styles,saudade andfado, played with guitar accompaniment, later becamekroncong music.
Many Indorock musicians had a predilection forHawaiian music, which was popular in the Netherlands at the time. Other significant influences include Americancountry & western, and therock & roll repertoire played on radio stations in Indonesia via American (AFN) stations from the Philippines and Australia.[4] While Dutch audience were interested in Rock & Roll, white Dutch musicians did not perform the genre in the mid-1950s, and Indonesians and Moluccans filled the void at that time, and bands such as the Bellboys, the Room Rockers, the Hap Cats, and the Hot Jumpers performing to a mixed audience in venues such as pubs.[3]
TheTielman Brothers (Reggy, Ponthon, Andy and Loulou Tielman) are generally seen as founders of Indorock, even though other Indorock bands existed before them. Being ethnically Indonesian and playing black American music to white audiences in the Netherlands and Germany, their music exemplifies the complex background of the style, which, according toGeorge Lipsitz, is shaped by "the histories of Dutch and U.S. military combat in Asia and Europe" and by the "internalized racial histories of the United States, the Netherlands, and Germany".[5] Since the Dutch music industry offered few venues for Indorock artists, many of them went to Germany where it quickly became highly popular, at least until the advent of Britishbeat music.[1]
The Indorock scene had largely faded in the Netherlands by the mid-1960s, as it was superseded in popularity byBritish rock as a result of theBritish Invasion. However, it would continue to be an influence inIndonesian rock music. Indorock has also been considered by some to be an early form ofproto-punk, as some of its stylistic elements are similar to those in thepunk rock movement of the 1970s.[6]