Nasida Ria and the Modernization of Kasidah Music in Indonesia, 1975–1990: From Communal Tradition to Islamic

Abstract

This article analyzes Nasida Ria's contribution to the modernization of kasidah in Indonesia during 1975–1990. It examines a transition from predominantly communal religious performance toward recorded and broadcast Islamic popular music, while recognizing earlier experiments with modern kasidah. Using historical source criticism and interpretation, it reads album covers and recordings alongside contemporary publications, retrospective accounts, and scholarship; contextual publications are distinguished from direct evidence about the group. The findings identify connected changes in instrumentation, Indonesian-language lyrics, social themes, the professional work of women performers, and recording-based circulation. These changes did not displace the group's da'wah orientation. Nasida Ria is best understood as a prominent contributor to a wider process of change, rather than as modern kasidah's sole originator. The article brings musical, social, and media dimensions into one historical account while noting that sales, audience size, and the extent of imitation by other groups cannot be established from the available evidence.