Jakarta Keras

Quotation

«An adjective with layered meanings,it can refer to material hardness, toughness, and also conceptual loudness. People would say that Jakarta is keras in a way that it is a tough city to survive in – high living costs, high demand and pressure at work, and so on. Jakarta is a city that never sleeps, where people are striving to make a living amid the hustle, bustle, and ubiquitous loudness where silence is a luxury.»

This quote is excerpted from Rugun Sirait’s essay «Jakarta Keras» . It is part of the digital publication Norient City Sounds: Jakarta, curated by Gisela Swaragita.

Biography

Rugun Sirait works in digital ethnography, film programming, film producing, and whatnot. She is a firm believer that the media cannot escape from its context and the issues that surround it. Rugun recently joined ANTHROFUTURE, a project at the University of Vienna as a PhD researcher, trying to understand the future through arts. In 2024 she took part in an art residency at Ruang Mes56, and got a fellowship to attend the 69th Flaherty Seminar. Rugun used to be based in Jakarta and Yogyakarta, but now is based in Vienna and the internet. Follow her on Instagram.

Published on August 27, 2025

Last updated on August 27, 2025

Topics

Affect

City

Encounter

Listening

Perception

Soundscape

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Norient City Sounds: Jakarta

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Whispers 3

Playlist

by Rugun Sirait

A Jakarta-born-and-bred music enthusiast compiles representative songs and sounds of her hometown. In the process, she is surprised to find that the signature sound of her city seems very «masculine».

This is a playlist of songs that I found to be representative of the tough, rough, and loud city of Jakarta, as perceived through the textual plane. These are songs depicting the struggles of a repetitive life, commuting, and running errands. In doing so, they show a certain pattern of a rough energy, or signs of persistence in the act of working, running, and resting.

Interestingly, songs from this list with lyrics explicitly mentioning Jakarta are written by male-led bands championing the Art Institute of Jakarta (IKJ). Since the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, IKJ has become the breeding ground for notable bands in Jakarta.

The first song, «Jakarta Motor City» by Sir Dandy, is about the sound of motorbikes, which are ubiquitous in the city – all day, 24/7. Meanwhile, the next three songs were written in the early 2000s, representing a time when public transport was not as developed in the city as it is now.

Texpack (including Edo Wallad, their collaborator for the song) and Swellow are bands from Bogor, a satellite city located 50 km to the south of Jakarta. Bogor residents make up a huge portion of the Jarakarta workforce. Aside from Bogorians, people also commute from the cities around the megapolitan area of JABODETABEK (Jakarta Bogor Depok Tangerang Bekasi).

Jirapah and Rekah come up with a different tune, singing about the tales of working people rushing to catch the last train.

Lastly, the final two songs are classic odes to Jakarta written in the nostalgic era of the 2000s.

List of songs:

This Playlist is part of the digital publication Norient City Sounds: Jakarta, curated and edited by Gisela Swaragita.

Biography

Rugun Sirait works in digital ethnography, film programming, film producing, and whatnot. She is a firm believer that the media cannot escape from its context and the issues that surround it. Rugun recently joined ANTHROFUTURE, a project at the University of Vienna as a PhD researcher, trying to understand the future through arts. In 2024 she took part in an art residency at Ruang Mes56, and got a fellowship to attend the 69th Flaherty Seminar. Rugun used to be based in Jakarta and Yogyakarta, but now is based in Vienna and the internet. Follow her on Instagram.

Published on August 27, 2025

Last updated on August 27, 2025

Topics

Sound

Listening

City

Encounter

Desire

All Topics

Special

Norient City Sounds: Jakarta

print as pdf