History of the first outdoor music concert in Indonesia. Ends riot

Similar to Summer 28, a musical concert in Medan in 1975 also ended in turmoil. Photo: Sonata, number 43, medio June 1975. Source

Outdoor music concerts are often held in various cities. One of them is RockAdventure 2018 which is held in a number of cities and will end on May 5th. In the 1970s, similar music concerts were not less lively. Unforgettable is Summer 28.

Tens of thousands of people packed in a vast field of filmmaking center, a kind of film laboratory, in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. It's now exactly at the red lights, Pasar Minggu, before the Pejaten Village shopping center. They pranced, following the rhythm of the song that the music group was playing on the stage.

Summer 28-akronim Atmosphere before the Independence of RI-28- held on 16 to 17 August 1973. Bens Leo music observer said, Summer 28 is the first outdoor music concert in Indonesia. In addition, he is the first international pop and rock concert.

"For Indonesia, this is the first international music party. As far as I know, those who participate (other than Indonesia) have the closest neighbors, like Singapore, maybe Malaysia too, "said Bens Leo to Historia.

Denny Sakrie's music observer wrote on his personal page titled "40 Years Summer'28" mentions, Summer 28 involves 20 bands that have the names and qualities of various genres and subgenre music. Call it Koes Plus, God Bless, Idris Sardi & The Pro's, Young Gipsy, to Broery Marantika. Flybaits, a Singapore-based band, enlivened the event.

Summer 28, Sakrie continued, can be considered as the window of Indonesian music journey.

Of the dozens of music groups in attendance, The Rollies from Bandung received a huge appreciation from the audience. Bens said, the band's performance which was commanded by Wake Up Sugito aka Gito Rollies was very attractive. They combine gamelan with modern musical instruments.

"This is for the first time Indonesian musicians combine gamelan with modern musical instruments guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, wind instruments on stage. At that time, The Rollies sang 'Manuk Dadali', "Bens said.

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It was undeniable that Summer 28 was affected by the Woodstock Festival in the United States in 1969. The grand music festival was the culmination of the hippies' cultural festivities that infect young people. No wonder also if the Summer 28 referred to as Woodstock of Indonesia.

Bens Leo said the funder of the show was Njoo Han Siang. "At that time in Indonesia there was no such thing as sponsorship, which only had money that could take part as an organizer," said Bens Leo.

According to Njoo Han Siang's book: The Two-Flow Meeting written by the Center for Strategic and International Studies team, Njoo Han Siang was one of the founders of the National Commercial Bank, the first national bank in Indonesia. He is also the owner of PT Inter Pratama Studio Laboratory, the first color film studio in Indonesia. Summer 28 is held at the Inter Pratama Studio court owned by Han Siang.

Njoo Han Siang is not alone. Denny Sakrie called Summer 28 also initiated by film directors Wim Umboh and A. Soegianto from PT Intercine Studio. This idea came after all three traveled abroad, including to the United States.

Summer 28 was attended by around 100 thousand viewers - according to Prisma volume 7-11 in 1991, the number of viewers was only 20,000. Unfortunately, the concert which was planned to end on August 17, 1973 at 4:00 am, had to be stopped at 02.00, because of chaos.

According to Muhammad Mulyadi in his book Indonesian Music Industry, riots occurred as a result of the committee not keeping promises to hold concerts until 6:00 a.m. The committee was also accused of being broken because it did not display AKA rock band from Surabaya with the pentolon Ucok Harahap and Terncem from Solo.

Disappointed, the audience threw drink bottles and other objects on the stage. Ten minutes later, security forces drove the audience away from the stage.

The retreat of spectators even resulted in more widespread. They ruin food stalls, advertising banners, and four cars.

Bens said that such a commotion was normal, because at that time there had not been a layered security standard for security personnel.

"After Summer 28, the police are just beginning to perform the standard of securing art performances, especially music, because it is bulk with heterogeneous spectators of music," Bens said.

Stones Talk

After Summer 28, a similar music concert held in several major cities in Indonesia, such as Medan, Bandung, and Surabaya.

In Surabaya, the music concert that took place in September 1973 ended in a commotion. The audience went berserk after knowing AKA music group could not perform, because they can not permit local police. The mob became even more violent because the Terncem band, which was also a favorite of Surabaya youths, could not come because of transportation difficulties.

"The stones began to speak and the words were thrown at the committee. The audience did not want to go home, before the rocks floated, "wrote Sonata magazine, October 1973.

In Medan, rock music concerts titled The Open Open Air Music Party which was held on May 11, 1975 also ended in chaos. Originally, there were 12 bands planned to come from Banda Aceh, Padang and Penang (Malaysia). But the organizers' intentions did not work out. The concert only featured seven bands, including Destroyer, Brigif 7, Electone, Maranti Sisters, and The Rhythm King's.

The officers who guarded only 20 people, not comparable to the number of viewers who reached 1,000 people. The audience tried to approach the stage. Apparatus overwhelmed.

"This hit-and-beat event was welcomed by throws of sandals and stones, which caused several people to be hospitalized," wrote the May 30, 1975 edition of Midi magazine.

In Medan, according to Midi magazine, the concert does have security issues. At that time the security forces were sucked into the kart match which took place on the same day. It is impossible for the committee to mobilize the armed forces, because it will be more fatal.

The chaos also occurred in the rock music concert of the Dry Music Party in 1975 at Gasibu Square, Bandung. This music concert was initiated by Aktuil magazine, presenting top rock bands such as God Bless, Brotherhood, Blod Stone, Rhapsodia, Giant Step, Lizard, Rawa Rontek, and Voodoo Child.

Now, the organizers of outdoor music concerts are more professional. Security is well organized.

Read in Indonesian version here