Lokananta is the first

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

,The Jakarta Post: Surakarta Administration Ready to Support Lokananta
Based in Surakarta, Central Java, it was owned by the state-owned printing agency Percetakan Negara Republik Indonesia. Lokananta has over 40,000 recordings, which include some 5,200 commercial labels, in its collection. About 20,000 recordings are without cover. It currently has more than 5672 vinyl records of ethnic/

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

from all over Indonesia, and old Indonesian pop songs. Lokananta also has the biggest collection of

keroncong Kroncong (pronounced "kronchong"; id, Keroncong, nl, Krontjong) is the name of a ukulele-like instrument and an Indonesian musical style that typically makes use of the kroncong (the sound ' comes from this instrument, so the music is called ' ...

and gamelan orchestras recordings ( Javanese, Balinese,

Sundanese Sundanese may refer to: * Sundanese people * Sundanese language * Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...

, even Batak), together with the first recorded speeches of Indonesia's first president Sukarno and the original version of the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

.From Bolo to Solo: Lokananta Recording
/ref> They also have recordings of wayang performances, for example by , and Surakarta/

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

karawitan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

music. Many Indonesian performers were introduced from Lokananta, including the famous Gesang (and his ''

Bengawan Solo Bengawan Solo may refer to: *Solo River, Bengawan Solo River, the longest river on the Indonesian island of Java and site of paleoanthropology early hominid remains *Bengawan Solo (song), "Bengawan Solo" (song), a 1940 Indonesian song about the Jav ...

''),

Waljinah Waldjinah (born 7 November 1945) is an Indonesian traditional singer. She is most known for the song "Walang Kekek", which made Javanese keroncong music known throughout Indonesia. She has also worked with other Indonesian artists, including Ges ...

(and her '' Walang Kekek''),

Titiek Puspa Sudarwati (born 1 November 1937), better known by her stage name Titiek Puspa, is an Indonesian singer and songwriter. ''Rolling Stone Indonesia'' has selected two of her songs as some of the best Indonesian songs of all time. Biography Puspa wa ...

Bing Slamet Ahmad Syech Albar (27 September 1927 – 17 December 1974), better known by his stage name Bing Slamet, was an Indonesian singer, songwriter, comedian, and actor. During his career, he acted in 17 films and released "dozens" of albums. Shortl ...

, and .

History

''Lokananta'' was established on 29 October 1956 at Surakarta. In the beginning of its history, its primary function was that of offering a

transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...

service for RRI (''Radio Republik Indonesia'') radio network and manufacturing phonograph records and audio cassettes for broadcast by RRI stations throughout Indonesia; the master records were produced by the various RRI facilities and then sent to Surakarta for pressing. The word ''Lokananta'' means "

gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

from heaven", was suggested by R. Maladi, the head of RRI at the time, and Surakarta was chosen because of its long history of radio broadcasting. '' Solosche Vereeniging'' (SRV) was the first Indonesian radio station that was established in 1933. Lokananta is also the name of the pitch-black gamelan set of Kraton Surakarta (Surakarta's Palace). It had the most modern equipments of its time, including the then state-of-the-art ''

Trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other mari ...

Series 80B'' mixer, ''UREI 801'' speaker. Lokananta Studio

Nowadays, after the bankrupt of 2001, Lokananta is trying to renovate its image, working on the recording of new musical genres and on the re-mastering of its impressive archive on physical supports like CDs,

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

s and

WAV Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced "wave") is an audio file format standard, developed by IBM and Microsoft, for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is the main format used on Microsoft Wind ...

files: nineteen people still work here and Lokananta's main income is now the rental fee of some

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

space they were forced to create in the past three years.Jakarta Post: RI's oldest recording studio struggles to survive
/ref> During the controversy over the song '' Rasa Sayange'' between Indonesia and Malaysia, the 1962 record of the song from Lokananta proven that it was Indonesian song. The record of the Maluku's song was given to the

1962 Asian Games ) , Host city = Jakarta, Indonesia , Nations participating = 17 , Athletes participating = 1,460 , Events = 120 in 13 sports , Opening ceremony = 24 August 1962 , Closing ceremony = 4 September 1962 , ...

contingent (in the form of compilation ''Asian Games: Souvenir From Indonesia'').

References

*
Lokananta Music: Catalog
*
Rolling Stone Indonesia: Lokananta Saved Indonesian Music
(May 2010) *
Lokananta Solo
*
Tempo: Lokananta Will be Turned Into Music Museum
*

*

Lacking Government Support

Bibliography

* Yampolsky, Philip;

' Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, 1987

External links

''Lokananta Records'' official Instagram account

''Studio Lokananta'' YouTube channel
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Surakarta Indonesian record labels Indonesian music industry

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links