Worlds of Sparkling Lights: Popular Music and Youth Cultures in Solo, Central Java

Jul 6, 2026

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Chapter Seven examines how popular music shaped youth culture and social distinction in Solo, Central Java, building on and revising earlier scholarship. It contextualizes mid-20th-century “youth culture” as tied to dissatisfaction with tradition and ambivalent attitudes toward the West, linked to a broader national-art complex. Drawing on prior arguments about taste (selera) and the emergence of the teenager, the chapter emphasizes the need to study youth cultural worlds as actively co-created, exploring restructuring of self, agency, and authority.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages33

Reading Time51 min

Introduction

Youth Culture and the National-Art Complex

Earlier Ethnographic Accounts of Youth Music

Taste, the Teenager, and Agency

Rethinking Youth Cultural Worlds

Chapter Title: WORLDS OF SPARKLING LIGHTS: POPULAR MUSIC AND YOUTH CULTURES IN SOLO, CENTRAL JAVA Chapter Author(s): Lars Gjelstad Book Title: Sonic Modernities in the Malay World Book Subtitle: A History of Popular Music, Social Distinction and Novel Lifestyles (1930s – 2000s) Book Editor(s): Bart Barendregt Published by: Brill. (2014) Stable URL: [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctt1w8h0zn.11](https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctt1w8h0zn.11) JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [support@jstor.org](support@jstor.org). Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at [https://about.jstor.org/terms](https://about.jstor.org/terms) This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) . To view a copy of this license, visit [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) . Brill is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Sonic Modernities in the Malay World This content downloaded from [152.118.150.186](152.118.150.186) on Wed, 23 Oct 2019 08:43:54 UTC All use subject to [https://about.jstor.org/terms](https://about.jstor.org/terms) PART THREE NEW SUBJECTIVITIES AND UNOFFICIAL IDEOLOGIES This content downloaded from [152.118.150.186](152.118.150.186) on Wed, 23 Oct 2019 08:43:54 UTC All use subject to [https://about.jstor.org/terms](https://about.jstor.org/terms) This content downloaded from [152.118.150.186](152.118.150.186) on Wed, 23 Oct 2019 08:43:54 UTC All use subject to [https://about.jstor.org/terms](https://about.jstor.org/terms) CHAPTER SEVEN WORLDS OF SPARKLING LIGHTS: POPULAR MUSIC AND YOUTH CULTURES IN SOLO, CENTRAL JAVA Lars Gjelstad Introduction In his The Religion of Java, Clifford Geertz described the emergent ‘youth culture’ of the 1950s as ‘the most vital element in contemporary Indonesian society’ (C. Geertz 1960:307–8). It is associated with ‘a group of restless, educated, urban young men and women possessed of a sharp dissatisfaction with traditional custom and a deeply ambivalent attitude toward the West’ (C. Geertz 1960:307). According to Geertz there is a close connection between their strong national identity and their appreciation of popular songs, orchestras, movies, novels and other popular forms belonging to what Geertz calls ‘the national-art complex’ (C. Geertz 1960:302–3). These popular forms are regarded as national because they are not confined to the island of Java; they are expressed in the Indonesian language and they are mainly spread across the archipelago through the radio, movies and magazines (C. Geertz 1960:302–3). Neither Geertz nor others have, to my knowledge, provided any substantial ethnographic accounts of the first waves of youth cultures in Java. From his fieldwork in Surabaya in the early 1960’s, James Peacock (1968:102) briefly notes that ‘rock ‘n’ roll or mambo-samba-like music played on electric guitars and bongo drums is a pervasive and audible part of youth culture in Surabaja’. Peacock then mentions that he at a circumcision ceremony was astonished by the contrast between the refined ethos of elderly Javanese men and the rather expressive aesthetics of a rock ‘n’ roll band performing there.‘Such music’, Peacock comments, ‘does seem to break down the formality of traditional etiquette’ (Peacock 1968:102). The decisive significance of the rise of pop music for the restructuring of self and the flattening of Javanese hierarchies has been most thoroughly argued by James Siegel: With the rise of popular music the connection between s

FAQs

How does the chapter connect popular music to youth culture in mid-20th-century Java?

It links popular songs and related popular forms to an emergent youth culture characterized by dissatisfaction with traditional custom and an ambivalent stance toward the West, alongside strong national identity.

What gaps does the author identify in previous accounts of Java’s early youth cultures?

The author notes that existing work provides limited ethnographic detail on the first waves of youth cultures, offering only brief observations rather than substantial accounts.

What is the chapter’s main argument about studying youth cultural worlds?

It argues for a paradigm shift in youth studies: instead of relying on overly essentialized categories, youth cultural worlds should be studied in their own right as complex and actively co-created through engagement with popular music.

Jul 6, 2026

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