Biography
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Born
3 September 1961 (age 63)
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Born In
Jakarta, Jawa, Indonesia
Iwan Fals, born Virgiawan Listanto on 3 September 1961 in Jakarta, is a charismatic Indonesian singer/songwriter remembered as Indonesia's "most dangerous singer" in the '80s and '90s.
He was popular for his gritty-witty ballads accentuated songs on life of Indonesia's marginalized groups or political satire on the troubled Indonesian social/political scene during the Orde Baru (New Order) period under Soeharto.
Some of his socially aware hit-songs includes: "Oemar Bakri" which tells the story about a "Oemar Bakri", a fictional teacher who represents the hard-work and efforts teachers put into educating us, "Lonteku" is a love story between a criminal and a prostitute, and "Wakil Rakyat" is a song critiquing members of the parliament, specifically their laziness and inability to do their job.
After the Reformasi movement in 1997 which leads to democratisation of the nation as a whole, he was kind of losing the edge for political satire, but his mature musical experience kept him on the Indonesian pop chart with inward-looking songs about personal relationships and social events, and even to this day, he is still making music, some of his latest releases includes "Kanjuruhan", a song about the tragedy that unfolded during a football match in Kanjuruhan.
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