BENGAWAN SOLO

BENGAWAN SOLO
was written and first performed by Gesang Martohartono in 1940, just before the Japanese invasion that lasted 3 years from 1942 to 1945.
While the lyrics were specific to the river of solo, the song brought imagery of an imagined, all-encompassing homeland, or tanah air, which translates to ‘soil and water’. Bengawan Solo’s tune certainly echoes those of a flowing river with the melody conjuring a nostalgic breeze to one’s soul and this stays true no matter which version of the song you listen to.
President Soekarno at the time felt the need to stress the national importance of the song and mandated radio stations to spread the song from village to village and city to city. He also instructed Indonesian ambassadors in overseas postings to promote the song throughout the 1950s.
Other versions of Bengawan Solo include Cantonese, Burmese, Tagalog, Thai, Mandarin, and Vietnamese. However, all of these countries and languages of the song have completely localized and interpolated the song into their respective national identity, somewhat forgetting its Indonesian origin.