Hello from Gdansk!

Just a quick log to say hi to all my ardent readers from Gdansk, Poland! Have been in this beautiful country since Tuesday (September 15) and am flying back to Indonesia today at 02:35 PM local time. As you probably have guessed, I'm here for a conference which was held by the University of Gdansk on September 17-18 2015, namely "The Fourth International Inter-Disciplinary Memory Conference." I presented a paper called "Indonesian Music Industry: The Road Back to The Golden Age and The Future." Other than Gdansk, I have also visited Warsaw to interview His Excellency Ambassador of Indonesia for Poland Mr Peter Gontha for my paper and Poznan. The latter takes the cake for being an addition to my list of favourite cities in the world.

Anyhoo, on to what I really wanna talk about. Woollim stans must be overjoyed about the comeback of Lovelyz with the single "Shooting Star". Lovelyz, who debuted in November 2014, is said by many to be set to dethrone A-Pink as the new queens of K-pop girl group basic. And apart from the sweet and innocent concept (which, of course, includes the ever-compulsory school concept) that they've hung on to since their debut, there's something else that cements their signature level of basic-ness (if there's such a word.) Take a look.









Ever noticed that all four videos were shot indoors? And that the last three videos might have been shot in the exact same location? That gives the impression that the girls are domesticated...and it's not a good thing on many levels.

A disco polo hit and its K-pop equivalence...

Hi guys!

I'm kind of crazy about disco polo lately! For those not in the know, disco polo is a genre from Poland which translates simply into "village disco." People wouldn't admit to liking it, but they play disco polo music at weddings and other merry activities - kind of like our own dangdut. This is why several disco polo songs are actually big hits, like this one...


I like the Ivan Komarenko version better...

When a friend showed me "Zono Moja" ("My Wife") for the first time, it reminded me right away of "Nal Bwa Gwuisoon" by Kang Daesung, a member of Korean boy group Big Bang. "Nal Bwa Gwuisoon" ("Look At Me, Gwuisoon") is Daesung's first solo single, out in 2008 and it's in the trot genre. Unlike disco polo, Koreans don't shy away from admitting they like trot. If anything, trot is merely considered old (in fact, many consider trot "the original K-pop") and this shows in the fact that the K-drama "Trot Lovers", starring A-Pink's Jung Eunji, is a big hit.


Please note that this is NOT a remake of an old song. "Nal Bwa Gwuisoon" really is Daesung's first solo single, written by - surprise surprise - his fellow band member G-Dragon!

Look up the entire translation of "Zono Moja" and you'll see why I think "Nal Bwa Gwuisoon" is its K-pop/trot equivalence, apart from a tinge of similarities in the melody!