Kota & Ingatan Talk About Opression and Social Injustice through “Peluru”
Kota & Ingatan are a five piece band hailing from the cultural city of Yogyakarta. They have just released their newest single called “Peluru” on 20 January 2017 via Soundcloud. The band often talks about social issues and put a little bit of metaphor and personification on their songs. Aditya Prasanda (vocal), Maliq Adam (guitar, vocal), Indradi Yogatama (guitar), Addi Setyawan (bass,vocal) and Alfin Satriani (drum) have released a single back in 2016 called “Alur”. Their songs are heavily inspired by the oppression of the people during New Order regime and social injustice that are happening now, including the single “Peluru”. “Peluru” is part of their five compositions that they were working on during 2016.
It is said that their releases are a part of trilogy, containing three chapters of script that are based on Permanent Performance of Violence. “Peluru” itself went through a lot of re-interpretation whether in its musical arrangement or lyrical composition until it becomes like what we listen to today. The song is a mid-to slow tempo indie rock piece which has deep lyrical context that one should understand further. While “Alur” talks about horizontal violence among people, “Peluru” talks about the relation between people in power and those below them, which sparks the horizontal violence. Judging by the explanation, we would instantly reminded by the strong military-styled dictatorship that the government applied during New Order regime. The people in power exercised all their sources to keep the society in order and thus induced fear among those who were against them.
Historical distortion which was applied to those who were dead or missing in the hands of New Order’s military regime, human right’s violation and land dispute inspired Kota & Ingatan to create such meaningful lyrics. This song is not an easy one to digest, since it bears such message and we’re sure that they want to convey a kind of protest through it. A bullet through the head, will always find those who try to rise against the tyrant. The powerful words could be found while you are listening to “Peluru” by Kota & Ingatan below. The single is also available for download here.
