Release of the Song Lathi, Weird Genius Collaborates with Surabaya Singer and Includes Ancient Javanese Lyrics

Kapanlagi.com - The EDM music group Weird Genius recently released their latest work. Led by Reza Oktovian, Eka Gustiwana, and Gerald Liu, a single titled Lathi was released as their new ammunition in navigating the Indonesian music industry.

Lathi itself is taken from ancient Javanese language which means speech. Weird Genius collaborated with Sara Fajira, a young singer who has received the Anugerah Planet Muzik award from Surabaya. In the song, Lathi tells the story of a toxic relationship in the lives of young people dominated by lies, ego, but implying the courage to face that unhealthy relationship.

"This song (Lathi) is about toxic relationship. A couple who are already in a toxic relationship but they, well, I can't do anything," said Sara Fajira in the Sudirman area, South Jakarta recently.

1. Javanese Lyrics

Kapanlagi/Mathias Purwanto

What's interesting about this song is the presence of lyrics in Javanese language. Sara Fajira, as a singer who understands Javanese, was allowed by Weird Genius to experiment with the lyrics. Then the lyrics 'Kowe ra iso mlayu saka kesalahan. Ajining diri ana ing lathi', which means 'You can't run away from mistakes. One's self-worth lies in their words', taken from an old Javanese proverb 'Ajining diri soko lathi, ajining rogo soko busono', appeared. In this part, Sara sings it in Javanese sinden style.

"At the beginning, when we made (Javanese lyrics), the consideration was that Sara is from East Java, she knows the language used. We allowed Sara to write Javanese lyrics that could give us goosebumps. We also thought of adding nyinden (Javanese singing style), if there's a Javanese element but all the lyrics are in English, 'why isn't there any Javanese language?', so we already knew that we had to add Javanese language, it wouldn't be ethical if we didn't include it," explained Eka Gustiwana.

2. Strengthening Identity

Kapanlagi/Mathias Purwanto

The presence of the song Lathi according to Eka further strengthens the positioning and identity of Weird Genius in the future. It can be confirmed that Weird Genius' future works will always incorporate cultural elements as a legacy that must be preserved.

"We have found our identity as Weird Genius, an electronic band in Indonesia that incorporates traditional music elements. So three years ago we were still looking for what kind of identity we wanted, that's why we kept releasing singles, some of which included cultural elements and some didn't. But this time we found a character that this is who we are in the song Lathi and there will be a similar sound in some of our future songs," concluded Eka Gustiwana.

(kpl/pur/frs)