Recently, stories about bules singing songs about Indonesian food or in Javanese have been making a lot headlines, so we think it’s about time the amazing Javanese musician GamelAwan (real name Kholis Kurniawan) got some recognition for taking Western pop hits and putting his own unique spin on them through the incorporation of gamelan sounds and Javanese lyrics. In fact, we can honestly say we prefer his take on Coldplay’s “A Sky Full of Stars” to the original.
We also think that his Javanese version of “What Do You Mean” is way catchier than the original (though our opinion of Justin Bieber may make us slightly biased).
One thing about GamelAwan’s covers that people might take issue are his new lyrics – in the case of “What Do You Mean” the new lyrics essentially ask people what they mean when they say they are “believers” of Islam but do not pray or read the Quran regularly.
Still, the religious overtones of the new lyrics hardly take away from each cover’s musical excellence – GamelAwan’s rearrangements and impressive vocals make each song stand on their own apart from the original.Here are a few more of his covers that we really enjoyed – be sure to check out GamelAwan’s Youtube channel for plenty more.
