Massada's Astaganaga

This book explores an album of popular music with a remarkable significance to a violent wave of postcolonial tensions in the Netherlands in the 1970s. Several actions were claimed by a small number of first-generation descendants of ca. 12500 reluctant migrants from the young independent state of Indonesia (former Dutch East Indies). Transferred in 1951 this culturally coherent group consisted of ex-Royal Dutch Colonial Army personnel and their families. Their ancient roots in the Moluccan archipelago and their protestant-christian faith defined their minority image. Their sojourn should have been temporary but frustratingly turned out to be permanent. At the height of strained relations Massada rose to the occasion. <i>Astaganaga</i> (1978) is a telling example of the will to negotiate a different diasporic Moluccan identity through uplifting contemporary sounds.