Rhoma Irama

Known as “The King of Dangdut” in his native country, Raden Haji Oma Irama (December 11, 1946) is an Indonesian singer-songwriter who performs under the name Rhoma Irama. Deeply rooted in the genre of dangdut, a type of Javanese dance folk music heavily influenced by Hindustani and Arabic traditions, he began his career in the late 60s as a member of the pop group Orkes Melayu Purnama. The artist then-known as Oma left the band in the early 70s to form Orkes Melayu Soneta, with whom he pioneered the dangdut genre and released a string of highly successful albums such as Soneta Vol-1 Begadang (1973), Soneta Vol-2 Penasaran (1974), and Soneta Vol-3 Rupiah (1975). After his first pilgrimage to Mecca in 1975, he dropped the rock’n’roll image of his earlier years and changed his stage name to Rhoma Irama. Islam became the focus of his music, as he touched on a wide range of subjects, including corruption, drug addiction, and gambling. In 1982, he wrote the script for and acted in the film Perjuangan dan Doa, considered the world’s first Islamic rock musical. More success followed in subsequent decades with the LPs Haram (1990), Gulali (1998), Asmara (2003), and Azza (2010). In 2021, his single “Lautan dan Api” entered the Indonesian charts at Number 107—a testament to Rhoma Irama’s longevity and prolificness.

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