IJAPS, Vol. 9, No. 1 (January 2013) SOCIAL AND POLITICAL EFFECTS OF POP BALI ALTERNATIF ON BALINESE SOCIETY: THE EXAMPLE OF "XXX"1 Kaori Fushiki2 Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan email:
[email protected] ABSTRACT This article will clarify how the music genre "Pop Bali Alternatif" affects contemporary Balinese society, both socially and politically. The article focuses on the band "XXX" (Triple X), whose major hit "Puputan Badung" was released in 2006. Recent studies on the "Pop Bali" genre by Balinese researchers have divided it into two main streams: "Pop Bali Konventional" and "Pop Bali Alternatif." In contrast with the former, which is deeply connected with traditional Balinese music, "Pop Bali Alternatif" includes a variety of influences. For this reason, it exerts a powerful social influence, particularly on young people. The activities of "Pop Bali Alternatif" band members, which are covered extensively by mass media, are quickly imitated by their fans. How did this system come about? What kind of albums/songs produced by these bands have influenced the young and to what extent? Finally, how do the historical backgrounds and surroundings of "Pop Bali 1 A number of people and organisations gave me valuable assistance as I wrote this paper. I would like to thank Professor I Gusti Made Sutjaja of Universitas Udanaya (UNUD), Mas Rucitadewi of Bali Post, Made Adnyana of Bali Music Magazine at the time, I Gusti Ngurah Rahman Murthana of Jayagiri production and Otsubo Noriko of Setsunan University. The research for this paper was supported by API Fellowship 2006–2007 and the JSPS Institutional Program for Young Researcher Overseas Visits 2010.