
WakareKaraoke is a project about tracing a folk song that was used as format of dispute against the Japanese occupation of seven villages around Jatiwangi (West Java – Indonesia) area during Japanese occupation in 1942 – 1945. In the lyric of the song, there are some of history records such as the arrival year of Japan, the reason why the Japanese occupy these village, and names of the seven villages. After the Japanese left, Indonesian Air Force took over all the villages but the number is later increased into eight villages. At first, the song is an act of movement against Japanese occupation, and now the song become a history record where one of the villages, Wates is not mentioned in the song but somehow also ‘occupied’ (taken over) by the Indonesian Air Force.
At the moment, there is only one person in the village who still can remember half of the lyric and the tone of that song, which popular called “Wakare” song. Together with some residents, we try filling half of the lyric with new context. After being arranged by local musician, the song transform to karaoke video; to gives an opportunity for everyone to sing freely with their own tone, and at the same time this opportunity can be seen as a chance for every generation of that village to sing (or speak) about the problem that has been mentioned in the song with their own tone.
This project was part of Village Video Festival 2016 organized by Jatiwangi Art Factory, Jatiwangi – Indonesia (2016) co-curated by Ismal Muntaha and Bunga Siagian, and also presented as part of “Tale of Two Cities: Narrative Archive of Memories”, Gimhae Arts and Sports Center, Gimhae – South Korea (2018) curated by Sunyoung Oh.