Punk in Myanmar and Indonesia, conference report

This video is by Myanmar punk band the Rebel Riot.

This band was discussed at the Punk Scholars Network Indonesia conference day on 7 December. This is the second part of my report on that day; the first part is here.

Kevin Dunn from the USA discussed Rebel Riot in his contribution on Asian punk bands.

He had visited Banda Aceh and other Indonesian cities. It was easier to bring American punk bands to Indonesia than to bring Indonesian punk bands to the USA.

The situation with Rebel Riot against the military dictatorship in Myanmar has some parallels with Indonesian punks against the Suharto military dictatorship.

Punk in Myanmar had begun with the Ramones-influenced band Ghostwriter. Their record was illegal in Myanmar.

Rebel Riot played in Indonesia for the first time in 2013, later again two times. They support Food Not Bombs. Their album is Fuck Religious Rules.

This trailer of a film by Roberta Bononi says about itself:

No Spicy No Fun follows The Rebel Riot, a punk band from Myanmar formed under a military dictatorship, on a whistle-stop tour of the UK where they unleash their own blend of Buddhism and anarchy on the birthplace of punk rock.

On general release in 2022.

Note the Crass hat in the video. Recently, a female singer joined Rebel Riot.

18.20 – 18.30   Performance byYotam Ben Horin (Useless ID, band from Israel)

18.30 – 20.00   Panel 1, with Yuka Dian Narendra (Chair). This panel was in the Indonesian language, so my knowledge being defective, I, unfortunately, missed much of the content.

1.     Rudolf Dethu mentioned punk, and other music styles like rockabilly, in Bali.

2.     Stephanus Adjie‘s contribution was about heavy metal in Solo aka Surakarta in Java.

. Also mentioning pre-punk Javanese traditional music styles like gamelan and kroncong. 

3.     Hardinansyah Siji  spoke about music in Makassar, Sulawesi island. A city with a music history including early jazz.

20.00 – 20.30   Q&A Session

20.30 – 20.45   Closing Ceremony, with final words by Fakhran Ramadhan.

Again, a very informative conference day! Thank you, PSN Indonesia!