release

A music group from Jakarta, Bangkutaman consisting of Wahyu Nugroho on vocals and guitar, Madava Nanda Rasika Sangga on bass and Christo Putra on drums has officially released a single entitled Humans in Question Marks. The religious single, which was previously released exclusively for free download, has now been officially released to music streaming services.

Released during Ramadan, Humans in Question Marks is a religious single that was introduced by this music trio from Jakarta in 2018. Six years later, Panggangtaman reintroduced this single to fans and audiences who were observing the holy month of Ramadan and welcoming Eid.

“The beginning of this song came from a recording session in Cibubur which happened to take place during Ramadan in 2016. We spent a week there to demo some new material. I happened to have just borrowed a Saz, a guitar from Türkiye which he borrowed from Rendi, the boss of the La Munai label. The sound is interesting, so eastern when played. “Yes, when I tried it, I immediately thought of making lyrics and notation for a song with an eastern feel,” said Acum, recalling the process of creating the song, Thursday (4/4).

The recording session in Cibubur produced four songs which were included in the mini album (EP) Rileks in 2017. There were several other songs that did not make it onto the EP, Humans in Question Marks is one of them.

However, encouraged by the uniqueness of this song, Acum took this song to be perfected by Topan Daru, their music producer at that time. Topan Daru added bass and percussion sounds to expand the spectrum of this song into a complete composition.

In 2018, this song was introduced to their listeners via a free download system on the bank’s website channel. This year, the song was officially reintroduced on music streaming services, including the song and its proper single cover.

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At the same time, a music video made by Allan Soebakir from Sinema Pinggiran was released. Allan interprets this song into a dramatic visual medium in which the woman – tied to two trees – seems to struggle throughout the film.

“The woman in the white dress is a symbol of the earth, mother earth, she is bound and rebels but there is absolutely no one to help her. “At the beginning of the video, the woman looks at us, this is a symbol that the earth needs our help, but we are not aware,” said Allan Soebakir, explaining the symbolic language of the video he made.

Even though it was packaged and launched as a religious single, Wahyu Acum thinks the meaning of this single is broader than just religion. This is a form of contemplation of the earth. How the earth we live on is often destroyed for human interests.

“How can we forgive our fellow humans, if we continue to do evil to the earth, the house where we live which is also the most important part of us as humans?” he closed. (Z-7)