Green Gentleman Pt. 2: A Reflection

After Navicula’s first show (read about that here), I had time to think more about how significant they are and it really made me think about why I was so excited and impressed. I don’t get impressed easily, especially not by Indonesian bands. There are two contexts that I’d like to position them that will get at why they are so special to me.

The first, and most personal connection I have with them, is in the context of environmental activism. I’ve been interning at an environmental nonprofit for three months now and we are specifically targeting Indonesia as ground zero for deforestation globally. And I’ve been helping with our agribusiness campaign which focuses on palm oil as one of the key driving forces for rainforest destruction.

I didn’t mention this yet but they collaborated with Greenpeace Indonesia and toured Borneo on motor bikes to not only do a music tour but also document the rainforest destruction there due to palm oil expansion. They screened a video of it before their second gig and it was such a moving thing to watch. It had shots of the, what seemed like, never ending landscapes of palm oil plantations. They also talked to indigenous communities and allowed them to tell their stories. All of this captured in video, it was amazing. Watch the trailer here.

I mean I’ve heard people tell me moving stories of what they witnessed and experienced when they visit places like Kalimantan, where palm oil expansion is happening, but I can only imagine what it felt. I can never visualize and capture that same feeling. The video they screened was able to do that! It was able to put faces to the names I often hear and put visuals to the words. Even though I’ve lived in Indonesia for over 6 years, I’ve never been anywhere outside Java (except Bali for a family vacation) let alone speak to indigenous communities in Borneo. I’m so thankful to Navicula for sharing that.

The second is in the context of Indonesian popular culture. It’s already awesome that these musicians are environmental activists, but the fact that they’re a grunge rock band? That’s so precious. If forests and oceans could record in a studio and produce music, I would imagine it being something slow, swaying and rejuvinating. I would never imagine it with an electric guitar let alone a grunge/rock sound. Yet Navicula’s sound somewhat magically captures the message with such a raw quality, urgency and flames a fire within you that many probably aren’t aware existed in them – about the environment. They channel all their energy and emotion from their activism into their rock music, a form that can be spread and shared to the popular masses. And that’s really what they’re about, they’re like a “satellite”.

After talking to Dankie, the lead guitarist, it was apparent that they’ve been involved in environmental activism, in one way or the other, since the 90s. That means this isn’t something that they just started caring about for the past year or so, but for decades! I see so many celebrities/musicians now that just take up a “cause” as a publicity stunt, etc. and it’s horse shit. Knowing that Navicula has been true to the cause makes me respect them so much more.

I feel like this could be a big break for Navicula and Indonesia’s forests. With this whole “hipster” thing going on (as misguided as it is), caring about the environment all of a sudden became cool. And it’s catching on in Indonesia. It’s slow and people are still just taking on the look without the action that is associated with it (that’s also true here too actually), but let’s hope that’ll come soon. When it does, I think Navicula, who is at the intersection of rock band (already something cool) and environmental activism (something that hopefully will be full blown cool soon), will rise to the top as a pop icon that’s fiercely real.