Bengawan Solo (song)

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“Bengawan Solo” (lit. “Solo River”) is an Indonesian song written by Gesang Martohartono in 1940. The song is a description of the longest river in Java, Solo River. The song became popular in Indonesia during the Second World War and was one of the songs promoted nationally in the newly-independent country after the war.

The song is the first song written in Bahasa Indonesia by an Indonesian to achieve widespread popularity in Indonesia. It also became popular in Japan, other Far East and Southeast Asian countries, and many versions of the song in different languages exist.

Background

The song was written in 1940 by Gesang Martohartono when he was 23. Gesang was an untrained musician from Surakarta when he composed “Bengawan Solo”. He started the composition by singing the tune, amending it for a few weeks until he was satisfied with it, then wrote the melody down in sol-fa number script. He wrote the lyrics of the song in Bahasa Indonesia that was proposed as a national language in the nationalist movement in a bid to introduce new songs in that language. It was composed in the local kroncong style, a popular folk style with Portuguese influences. He initially performed the song locally at weddings and social functions, and it then started to gain popularity in Indonesia after two local radio stations began broadcasting the song.

The song is the first song in Bahasa Indonesia by a local composer to gain wide popularity in Indonesia and around the world. It was widely broadcast as a propaganda song in Indonesia during Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies that started in 1942 during World War II, and it was also one of the songs promoted nationally by Sukarno after the Second World War and independence in 1945. It gained wider international attention after the Second World War – the song was popular with the Japanese who occupied Indonesia and the popularity of the song then spread to Japan. The singer Ichirō Fujiyama, who was in Indonesia and taken prisoner in East Java at the end the war, brought the song’s melody and lyrics to Japan on his return home. There, Japanese singers recorded the song which proved highly popular. It also spread to other parts of Asia. Its popularity in Japan led many to believe that it was a Japanese song, but in 1990 a court ruled that Gesang wrote the song. A special body was established to manage intellectual property rights in Indonesia after the case and Japan now pays copyright royalty for the song.

In 1991, a group of appreciative Japanese war veterans arranged for a statue of Martohartono to be erected in a park in Surakarta. Gesang, who became a nationally renowned figure for the song, died in 2010.

Lyrics

The song is a poetic description of Java‘s longest river, Solo River, which flows through central and eastern Java, Indonesia. It describes how its water changes in the dry and rainy seasons, and that it flows from the city of Surakarta (known locally as Solo) surrounded by mountains, eventually into the sea. It ends with the observation that it has always been used by merchants with boats.

Cover versions

During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, its melodies appealed to the occupying Japanese soldiers as well as the non-Indonesian prisoners (mainly Dutch civilians) in the internment camps. A Japanese colonel, Takahashi Kōryō, wrote new lyrics in Indonesian to the tune of “Bengsawan Solo” in a song called “Negeri Sekutu” in an attempt to popularize anti-Allies sentiment among Indonesians. Ichirō Fujiyama, a Japanese singer who was taken prisoner in East Java when Japan surrendered and spent some time in a prison in the Solo River area, took “Bengawan Solo” to Japan (with the lyrics translated to Japanese). It gained great popularity when Toshi Matsuda [ja] recorded a version in 1947, which became a best-seller.

Other singers such as Hibari Misora, Akira Kobayashi and Harumi Miyako also recorded the song.

The tune became a big hit among Chinese communities after Malaysian singer Poon Sow Keng sang it with Mandarin lyrics for Hong Kong Pathe in 1956.

Its popularity was further boosted by Koo Mei, who made her rendition for Philips Records shortly thereafter. (Pathe and Philips were major competitors at that time.)

Since then, many Chinese language singers have written their own lyrics for the tune. The song has also been recorded in Burmese, Dutch, Khmer,

English,

Korean,

Swedish, Polish,

Russian,

Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese.

An English version, titled “By the River of Love”, was recorded by Rebecca Pan in early 1960s in Hong Kong. The lyrics describe a romantic evening beneath twinkling stars and swaying palms. The period recording by Rebecca Pan was used in the soundtrack of the 2000 movie In the Mood for Love by director Wong Kar-wai. Pan also has a role in the movie, playing Mrs. Suen.

Many artists have recorded “Bengawan Solo” in the Indonesian or Malay language, including Oslan Husein & Teruna Ria. The recording by Oslan Hussein & Teruna Ria was ranked 11th in the list of 150 Best Indonesian Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone Indonesia in 2009.

Waljinah,

Anneke Grönloh,

Chan Yung Yung (陳蓉蓉),

Frances Yip,

Frances Yip, (English)

P. Ramlee and Saloma.

• Suo Luo He Zhi Lian

• The Crescendos

• Wieteke van Dort – Bengawan Solo

• Richie & The Jeans Selection

• Hetty Koes Endang

• Jeroen Claase & Kimberley

• Remember Entertainment

• Relly Daniel

• Esther Helen

• Andy Tielman

• Bandung Philharmonic

• Desy Candra – Bengawan Solo Cover with Lyric

Usage and cultural references

• Bengawan Solo is the title of the 1949 Indonesian film with the song used as the title theme.
• The song was used in the 1949 Japanese film Stray Dog by Akira Kurosawa.

• Bengawan Solo (ブンガワンソロ, Bungawan Soro) is the title of a 1951 Japanese film directed by Kon Ichikawa, with “Bengawan Solo” its theme song.
• “Bengawan Solo” was used in the 1962 film An Autumn Afternoon by Yasujirō Ozu.
• The song performed in English was used in the film In the Mood for Love directed by Wong Kar-wai.

• Bengawan Solo is the name of a popular chain of cake and pastry shops in Singapore.

Solo River

Coordinates: 6°47′S 112°33′E

Bengawan Solo ꦧꦼꦔꦮꦤ꧀ꦱꦭ
By Arifhidayat at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link Bengawan Solo passing through Bojonegoro
By Public Domain, Link
Location
Country	Indonesia
Provinces	Central Java, East Java
Cities/Towns	Surakarta, Ngawi, Bojonegoro
Physical characteristics
Source	Southern Mountains of East Java (Sewu Mountains)
• location	Special Region of Yogyakarta, Central Java and East Java
2nd source	Mount Merapi and Mount Merbabu
• location	Boyolali Regency
3rd source	Mount Lawu
• location	Karanganyar Regency
4th source	Western region of Mount Wilis
• location	Ponorogo Regency
Mouth	Java Sea
• location	Gresik Regency & Sedayulawas (Lamongan Regency)
• coordinates	6.877111°S 112.556167°E
Length	600 km (370 mi)
Basin size	16,100 km2 (6,200 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	684 m3/s (24,155 cu ft/s)
Basin features
River system	Bengawan Solo basin (DAS230217)
Landmarks	Fort van den Bosch; Solo Safari Zoo; Kusuma Bhakti Heroes’ Memorial Park; University of Surakarta
Waterbodies	Gajah Mungkur Dam
Bridges	Sembayat Bridge; Karanggeneng Bridge; Laren Bridge; Tuban-Babat National Road Bridge; Oude Indië Spoorbrug bij Kléwér; Kanor – Rengel Bridge; Kaliketek Bridge; Lengkung Bojonegoro Bridge; Padangan Bridge; Solo-Cepu railroad Bridge;
Basin management & authority	BPDAS Solo; BBWS Bengawan Solo

The Solo River (known in Indonesian as Bengawan Solo, with Bengawan being an Old Javanese word for river, and Solo derived from the old name for Surakarta) is the longest river in the Indonesian island of Java, it is approximately 600 km (370 mi) in length.

Apart from its importance as a watercourse to the inhabitants and farmlands of the eastern and northern parts of the island, it is a renowned region in paleoanthropology circles. Many discoveries of early hominid remains (dating from 100,00 to 1.5 million years ago) have been made at several sites in its valleys, especially at Sangiran, including that of the first early human fossil found outside of Europe, the so-called “Java Man” skull.

Bengawan Solo was the crash site of Garuda Indonesia Flight 421.

Geography

It passes through the major city of Surakarta (called Solo by the local inhabitants).

An important early tributary to the Solo River is the Dengkeng River, which has its source on Mount Merapi. After passing through Solo, the river flows northward around Mount Lawu, and then turns eastward into East Java in the Ngawi Regency and Ngawi (town)

After Ngawi the river turns northward again, forming the boundary between Blora Regency of Central Java and Bojonegoro regency of East Java. From the town of Cepu in Blora, the river turns eastward and passes through Bojonegoro regency’s capital city. From there, it continues eastward through the Lamongan and Gresik Regencies. The last part of the river’s basin (roughly starting from Bojonegoro regency) is mostly flat land.

Bengawan Solo’s delta is located near the town of Sidayu in Gresik regency. The present delta is redirected by a human made canal. The original delta flowed into the Madura Strait, but in 1890 a 12-km canal was made by the Dutch East Indies authority to redirect the Solo River into Java Sea. This was done to prevent sedimentation of mud from filling the Madura Strait and thereby preventing sea access to the important port city of Surabaya.

The Solo River delta has a huge mud sedimentation flow that deposits 17 million tonnes of mud per year. This sedimentation in the delta form a cape, which has average longitudinal growth of 70 m per year. This delta is known as Ujung Pangkah (Pangkah Cape).

History

Solo river was part of a massive river system that once existed in Sundaland. This drainage of the river system consisted of a major river in present-day Sumatra and Borneo, such as the Asahan river, Musi river and Kapuas river. The river system disappeared when Sundaland was submerged after sea level rise following the last Ice Age.

The river played important part in Javanese history. Its drainage basin is an important agricultural area, dominated by rice farming. The river transported fertile volcanic soil downstream, replenishing the soil. It also provided link between Javanese port cities in the northern coast and the rice-growing hinterlands, with shallow vessels transporting rice to the ports to be sold. This rice is Java’s main commodity that was traded as part of the Spice trade.

Following acquisition of much of Java by the Dutch colonial governmental, various cash crops was introduced to be planted across the river basin, such as coffee, sugar and cotton. (see Cultivation System).

By the last years of 19th century, river sedimentation in its original delta in Madura Strait started to disrupt vessels traffic in port of Surabaya. The Dutch colonial government decided to divert the river flow away from the shipping lane into Java Sea. They built a canal in the river’s delta in 1890s which still alter the river until this day.

In 1891, Dutch paleoanthropologist Eugène Dubois discovered remains (a part of a skull and human like femur bone and tooth) he described as “a species in between humans and apes”. He called his finds Pithecanthropus erectus (“ape-human that stands upright”) or Java Man. Today, they are classified as Homo erectus (“human that stands upright”). These were the first specimens of early hominid remains to be found outside of Africa or Europe.

Resource management

Brantas River Public Corporation or Perum Jasa Tirta I (PJT1) is responsible for managing the water resources of Brantas and Bengawan Solo river basins in Indonesia. It is a centralised effort to:

• conserve the water resource quality and quantity in the Bengawan Solo and Brantas River basins
• flood control
• manage hydroelectric and other infrastructures along those rivers.

Prior to the centralised management efforts, there were reports of pollution along the Bengawan Solo.

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