Y-DRA
“HOREG”
Horeg is a Javanese term to refer to the sound vibration, in certain cases, it can break window glass or knock off the rooftop. The term was popularized by the speaker competitions in East Java, Indonesia. They travel from village to village in a convoy of trucks while playing very loud electronic music tracks. Horeg is a festival of sound by the grass root people, to occupy public space and amplify their voices that are mostly unheard.
The grass roots are often expunged from society and deprived of all rights as citizens. They are sacrificed for the interests of the ruling class, from political interests to control of natural resources. Nowadays, the class differences are becoming clear, for example in the hierarchy of death which determines who can be sacrificed for the benefit of the higher class. Homo sacer* among us; millions of lives were taken, land seized as if it were normal. The ruling class supremacy is constantly maintained above the others’ suffering.
Horeg is a celebration of sound, sound of rage. Horeg is a homo sacer, who puts up a small resistance in a party. Although by no means anything, it continued to become louder, while planting the seeds of resistance.
The music on this album started from the ideas of grassroots communities party/celebration in Indonesia. From Dangdut, Jathilan, Sumatra’s Orgen Tunggal to Margondang’s funeral party. The music is then placed at another alternate time, in a series of furious noise compositions.
*Homo sacer is defined in legal terms as someone who can be killed without the killer being regarded as a murderer; and a person who cannot be sacrificed.