Exemplary Centers and Musical Elsewheres: On Authenticity and Autonomy in Indonesian Indie Music

Authenticity and autonomy are two fundamental preoccupations of indie musicians worldwide. This article looks at how these preoccupations have influenced the sounds and styles of indie music in Indonesia, a place thousands of miles from the origins of indie as a genre. It examines the efforts of Indonesian indie musicians to demonstrate their authenticity and autonomy by pursuing one of two strategies: (1) establishing historical and aesthetic continuity between "authentic" foreign indie acts and their local variants, and (2) radically diversifying genre influences to make it impossible to place a band in any category other than "indie."