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Mosaic Music Festival
ArtJam: Why is your music described as Indonesian
dancehall-reggae?
Ras Muhamad: Reggae music has many styles and
sub-genres; you have the “Roots” that was popularized
by legendary artists
such as Bob Marley,
Peter Tosh, the
Abyssinians and
Burning Spear.
You have “Lover’s
Rock” that is
mostly romantic
tunes, then there
is “Dub Reggae”
that focuses
more on ambient
instrumental sounds
such as reverbs,
delays and echoes
with little or no
vocals at all. The
most recent style of
Reggae is Dancehall,
born in the late
1980’s. Some call
this style “Ragga” or
“RaggaMuffin” due
to the vocals being
closer to “rapping”
with a series of
melodies and a
distinct “riddim”
(rhythm), two kick
drums on the 1st and 2nd measure and a snare hit on the 4th measure.
I ‘m a “Roots” artist but I wanted to experiment with
“Dancehall Music” and explore the sound because
I found that no one in Southeast Asia was properly
creating Dancehall music the right way. At worst
Interview
Text: Audrey Lim
Photos: The Esplanade Co Ltd
For the upcoming Mosaic Music Festival, Club M.I.A will feature rising talents from Asia
who will be bringing a variety of music genres such as reggae, hip hop and rock to
the our shores. The three artists are Indonesian dancehall-reggae artist Ras Muhamad,
Taiwanese hip-hop band Kou Chou Ching, and Thai funk-rock band Apartmentkhunpa.
ArtJam speaks to them to find out more.
Dancehall music was relatively unknown and unfamiliar in
Southeast Asia and sometimes mistakenly categorized
as “HipHop and R&B”, many misunderstood that
artists like Sean Paul and Shaggy are Reggae artists
themselves. So, I
wanted to step up and
introduce Dancehall to
Southeast Asia without
forgetting to respect
the Jamaican people
but I know that I cannot
“copy and paste” the
whole style because the
Asian flavor has to be
there, I need to make it
more Indonesian.
ArtJam: Is there
something distinctly
Indonesian in terms of
your musical style?
Ras Muhamad:
Most of my Dancehall
compositions are in
minor and vocalized by
chanting and eastern
melodies, which are
influenced by traditional
Indonesian music.
I personally feel that
Indonesian Dancehall
lyrics have to be mostly
in “Bahasa Indonesia”,
our official National language. In my song, “J-Town
Rock”; I wanted to paint an audible picture of the hard
and street life of Jakarta. The melodies of this tune
are clearly eastern and the vocals are in a “Betawi”like
traditional chant that goes “HEY JAKARTA
METROPOLITAN! /HEY JAKARTA KOTA IDAMAN!”.