Dangdut Songwriting Competition Held Again, Rhoma Irama Becomes The Jury

Dangdut Songwriting Competition

JAKARTA - Dangdut Songwriting Competition (LCLD) by the Central Executive Board of the Indonesian Dangdut Malay Music Artist Association (DPP PAMMI). The competition, which gave birth to popular dangdut songs, was first held in 1979 as the forerunner of a national level competition.

In this first event, Junaedy Sam's song entitled Tak Berdaya was chosen as the first winner. This song was arranged by Sonnet and popularized by Rhoma Irama, followed by the song "Cemburu Buta" by Ottip Marissa, popularized by Rita Sugiarto.

At the 1986 National Level LCLD I, the song Anak Yang Malang created by Fauzan B became the winner, the song Tujuh Purnama by Alwi Hasan sung by Noer Halimah became the best hit song at that time. The success of this competition increased the enthusiasm of the community to participate.

In 1991, the competition was held again by awarding the song Bali Teronim written by Mochtar B as the first winner, followed by three other hits, namely Tanda Cinta, composed by Yus Yunus, arranged by Hendro Saky and popularized by Meggy Z, Si Kecil, creator Ottip Marissa, arranger Mara Karma and singer Rita Sugiarto, and the song You're Still a Mystery composed by HB.Faizal, musical arrangement for Hari B and sung by Riza Umami.

This 1991 LCLD also produced two other hits, namely Bali Teronim by Denny Albar. This was followed by the National Level III LCLD which was held in 1994 which brought Kuntet Mangkulangit as the creator with his hit Anak Abad.

In 2013, the LCLD IV Jury won the song By-Oleh, which was sung by Rita Sugiarto and created by Nanang Suwito, as first place. The arrangement of this song was well processed by Alik Ababil.

"In 2022, we are grateful that the National Level V LCLD can be held again. We are challenged to provide a place to work for songwriters, music artists, and the wider community," said Cici Faramida as the Chief Executive of LCLD V in Jakarta, Monday, June 13.

As a requirement, the public can submit song material in the form of MP3 accompanied by only one musical instrument that can be selected, namely guitar, piano, drum, violin or other musical instruments. The song material is the result of their own work, participants are not allowed to adapt or plagiarize the work of others and of course they must not contain elements of SARA.

"The lyrics of the song are in Indonesian and even if they contain other languages, we limit it to only 10% with a maximum duration of 3 minutes," he added. The singer of the Wulan Merindu song added that the allowed theme songs are Love, Social Culture and Tourism, Humanity, Nationality and Peace, and Religion," he continued.

LCLD 5, which has a total prize of hundreds of millions of rupiah, will invite several senior dangdut musicians and dangdut music figures as the jury. Among them were Rhoma Irama, Ikke Nurjanah, Rita Sugiarto, Hendro Saky, H. Ukat S, H. Mansyur S, and from academia.

Registration for this competition is free of charge and starting on June 13 to July 13 2022, participants can submit their song material online by clicking the link on the Instagram account @dpppammi. Winners will be announced in September 2022.

“We forbid the competition committee from participating. And, the jury's decision will be objective. There is no interest whatsoever," said Cici.

The daily chairman of the DPP PAMMI, Ikke Nurjanah, emphasized that the organization he leads is always committed to providing space for musicians, artists, and dangdut musicians to continue working.

“I think this competition is a real testament to our commitment. We know, dangdut is a genre of music that is now increasingly loved by the public. We want to contribute more in various forms,” said Ikke.