Indorock is a musical genre, originating in the 1950s in the Netherlands and Europe. It is a fusion of Indonesian and Western music, and has roots in Kroncong

Kroncong

Kroncong is the name of a ukulele-type instrument and an Indonesian musical style that typically makes use of the kroncong , the band or combo or ensemble consist of a flute, a violin, a melody guitar, a cello in pizzicato style, string bass also in...

 (Traditional Portuguese Indonesian fusion music).

Indo Rock, Rock 'n roll 50's 60's style.
A unique stream of music that was invented by Indo repatriates in The Netherlands back in the 50's/60's.
Most American rock 'n Roll artists did not travel outside the states.
Due to this many Indo vocal and instrumental guitar music groups started to record the American hits and became famous themselves.

What they did started to be a revolution within Europe known as the Indo Rock scene.
This newly invented type of rock 'n roll music was the inspiration and start for many new artists within Europe and USA like for example The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 and Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

.

History

After to Indonesian independence on August 17, 1945, many Indo (Dutch-Indonesian) musicians repatriated to the Netherlands. One of the effects of this cultural process was that, in the mid-1950s, an instrumental music genre called Indo Rock became popular.

The guitar was imported to the archipelago of the East Indies by Portuguese explorers in the 16th century. The traditional Portuguese song styles, saudade

Saudade

Saudade ) is a unique Galician-Portuguese word that has no immediate translation in English. Saudade describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. It often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return...

 and fado

Fado

Fado is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Portugal, but probably with much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar, Rui Vieira Nery, states that "the only reliable information on the history of Fado was orally transmitted and goes back to the 1820s and 1830s at best...

, played with guitar accompaniment, later became kroncong music. Kroncong

Kroncong

Kroncong is the name of a ukulele-type instrument and an Indonesian musical style that typically makes use of the kroncong , the band or combo or ensemble consist of a flute, a violin, a melody guitar, a cello in pizzicato style, string bass also in...

 is characterized by guitars which seem to be "talking" to each other. The guitarists play rhythmic and melodic parts instinctively.

Many Indorock musicians had a predilection for Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

an music, which was popular in the Netherlands at the time. Other significant influences included American country & western, and the rock & roll repertoire played on radio stations in Indonesia via American (AFN) stations from the Philippines and Australia.

The Tielman Brothers

Tielman Brothers

The Tielman Brothers were the first Dutch Indo band that successfully went international in the 1950s. They were one of the pioneers of rock and roll in The Netherlands and band became famous in Europe playing a kind of rock and roll later called Indorock, a fusion of Indonesian and Western music...

(Reggy, Ponthon, Andy and Loulou Tielman) are generally seen as founders of this unique music stream within Rock 'n Roll music even though other Indorock bands have known to be existing before them.
Still, lead singer Andy Tielman has been named the godfather of Indo Rock. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2009. Andy Tielman died November 10, 2011.

Influential artists

• The Tielman Brothers (1957) (Reggy, Ponthon, Andy and Loulou Tielman)
• The Hot Jumpers
• The Black Dynamites (1956)
• The Room Rockers/The Real Room Rockers (1956)
• Oety & his Real Rockers (1956)
• The Hurricane Rollers (Robby Latuperisa, Robby Boekholt, Hans Bax, Harry Bredow, Broer Arends)
• The Crazy Rockers (1960)
• The Travel Five (1961)
• The Eastern Aces (1960)
• Electric Johnny & The Skyrockets (1958)
• The Rocking Diamonds (1958)
• The Blue Eagles (1959)
• The Crazy Strangers (1961)
• The Javalins (1962)
• The Poetiray Brothers (1963)
• The Desmounts (1960)
• Rudy van Dalm & The Royal Rhythmics
• Willy and His Giants
• Royal Six
• The Valiants
• The Rollers
• The Royal Teens
• The Young Savages
• Ricky & The Rhythm Strings
• The Blue Comets
• Black Magic
• The Star Lights (1956)
• George de Fretes (Hawaiian Style)
• The Cherokees
• The Swallows
• The Twangies
• Franky Franken (The Javalins)
• The Hell Cats
• The Fender Rollers
• Los Indonesios
• The Black Arrows
• Lydia & her Melody Strings
• The Blue Diamonds