Michael Jakarimilena or who is familiarly called Michael J at one time ago had released his latest single entitled Sajojo. The song was released through an independent record label in America, Red White Collective (RWC).
As we know, Michael Jakarimilena is an Indonesian singer graduating from the Indonesian Idol talent search event at the first season in 2004. For Michael J, this single is an opportunity to raise Papuan music to be better known in America.
The Sajojo song is certainly familiar to Indonesian people. Before being re-popularized by Michael J, the folk song from Papua had already been popularized by the band Black Brothers also coming from Papua.
Sajojo itself tells the story of a girl who is very loved by her parents and is also contested by the men in her village.
Besides collaborating with Red White Collective (RWC), another interesting thing is that the Sajojo song is arranged in an EDM genre music arrangement. For the first time, the Sajojo traditional Papuan song was launched in digital form in Boston, Massachusetts.
RWC is a new music record label belonged to three women who live in Boston and Los Angeles. The three women include Laura Sekarputri, Carol Kuswanto, and Sitti Arlinda.
They are alumni of the Berklee College of Music who are currently pursuing a career in music in America. The Sajojo song arrangements were written by Laura and her two friends, Yoga Bagaspati and Yusuf Gibran, who are also alumni of the same university and musicians from Indonesia. The process of recording songs, music, and video clips is done digitally.
The remix version of Sajojo’s song is expected to arouse a sense of pride and concern for the Indonesian people towards the cultural richness they have in the current era of globalization. This was conveyed by the founder of RWC, Laura Sekar when it was launched again.
The singer, Michael J in the momentum of the launch until now also said that he wanted to encourage the younger generation in Papua to never stop dreaming and never give up.
Through this Sajojo song, Michael J and RWC hope that this collaboration can be enjoyed by all Indonesian people and also the rest of world. This song is expected to be entertaining in the midst of the pandemic that is striking.
“Hopefully this song will inspire you to keep on living. The spirit to continue to be strong, the spirit of harmonious brotherhood, and the spirit to awaken a sense of concern for others, live in diversity,” said Michael J on one occasion.
Currently, the EDM version of the single Sajojo has been circulated on various digital music platforms so that Indonesians can access it easily. This is the pride of Papua, the pride of Indonesia.