BaBe KonDang, The First Online Dangdut Contest In Indonesia

Launching of a dangdut contest called Babe KonDang (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Baca Berita content aggregator application (BaBe) spreads its wings by launching a dangdut contest called Babe KonDang. This program captures dangdut singers using the first online system in Indonesia.

BaBe KonDang will be held from February to March in ten cities, namely Jakarta, Banten, Cikampek, Indramayu, Cirebon, Tasikmalaya, Cianjur, Bandung, Kuningan and Sukabumi.

In holding this dangdut contest, BaBe collaborated with Portrait Artist Management and 10 local radio stations in each city. Portrait Management is the management of dangdut artists and musicians such as Evi Masamba, Sarah Rizkia, Sendy Ariani, Lia Cicilia.

BaBe Senior Business Development, Shelly Tantri, explained that BaBe KonDang focuses on online activities. They worked on an online audition concept to save on the registration process.

"First, contestants can download the BaBe application to register online. Then, they are asked to upload a cover video of singing dangdut songs," Shelly said in a press conference in the Kebayoran Baru area, South Jakarta, Tuesday, February 4.

BaBe Senior Business Development, Shelly Tantri (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

BaBe KonDang limits the songs sung in the audition process. Not all dangdut songs can be sung by the participants. They must sing songs belonging to a dangdut singer under Portrait's management. In addition, the age limit for participants is 17 to 35 years.

"There is clear information about the procedures and provisions on how they upload videos in the BaBe application," he said.

Seeing the online-based audition process, Shelly did not deny the possibility of contestants cheating. For example, by adding special audio effects to polish his voice to make it sound more melodious.

However, said Shelly, his party would look at the original and edited videos. "Later, we will first screen each radio and BaBe. You will definitely be caught. Even if you use effects, you will find a good sound or not," he explained.

After the audition videos are collected, the contestants will be screened into 20 participants. They will be invited to perform live in front of commentators.

"These commentators provide advice and contributions on how they should become dangdut singers," said Shelly.

There is no jury in this online dangdut contest. Instead, the participants are selected using a voting system (voting) from the community. Everyone who wants to vote must download the BaBe application and create an account.

"The voting process is free. We limit the voting process for each account user to only once per day," he said.

Furthermore, the contestant who gets the most votes and is selected to be the first winner will receive a prize of Rp. 20 million, a contract with Portrait management for 2 years, and get a new song to sing.

Meanwhile, the second winner will receive IDR 10 million and is contracted by Portrait. Then, the third winner received IDR 5 million.

In addition, the Head of the DKI Jakarta Tourism & Creative Economy Office, Cucu Ahmad Kurnia, welcomed the BaBe KonDang dangdut contest. Cucu views that dangdut is one of the creative industries that is favored by people from various backgrounds.

"We really support events like this because it raises the creative economy in DKI. Where the music world is one of the existing creative economy types. We hope that things like this can stimulate the economy in Jakarta," he said.

With the right support, continued Cucu, the dangdut music industry is expected to be loved by the country's young people and be able to replace Korean Pop (K-pop) music which is loved by young people today.

"I hope the music industry like this can shift the K-pop fever, because we are concerned that young people are now being adored by K-pop," he said.