MEET JIWA JIWA'S FIRST INTERN: GAEL HUTUBESSY

Hi! I’m Gael Hutubessy A 20 year old student in Amsterdam with a focus on the intersections between cultural memory and decolonial practices. Just like Michiel, I am both Indonesian (on my father’s side) and Dutch (on my mother’s side). Growing up in France, contact with my cultural heritage has always been from afar through my regular visits to my family in the Netherlands and through the stories told by my grandparents. They were amongst the 12.500 Moluccan’s that arrived in the Netherlands in the aftermath of the second world war. The years of decolonisation following the Indonesian Republic’s declaration of independence resulted in the demobilisation of the Moluccan community who formed a crucial part of the former Dutch colonial enterprise since they settled in Ambon in 1605 in an effort to monopolise the global trade of nutmeg.

“They were amongst the 12.500 Moluccan’s that arrived in the Netherlands in the aftermath of the second world war.”

Though their welcome in the Netherlands was, for many, marked by neglect and false promises leading to frustration and anger, the Moluccan community has shown resilience as new generations claim their own voices and spaces within increasingly global societies. As much as stories of the Moluccan diaspora are marked by displacement — they are about coming together and finding strength in community. This has indeed been my experience every time I drove up to Maastricht to attend large family gatherings where food and music where always central. Even with the rich diversity of experiences within the community, it is through these interpersonal pathways that Moluccans in the Netherlands have maintained a strong connection to their cultural heritage.

“the Moluccan community has shown resilience as new generations claim their own voices and spaces within increasingly global societies.”

Through my own music production I have come to appreciate how, for the members of the Indonesian diaspora, music is an effective medium through which one can come in contact with their place of origin and the spirits (jiwa) of their ancestors. The democratisation of access to information through digital media perfectly sets the stage for the uncovering and the archival of Indonesia’s vast and diverse musical histories. I look forward to contributing to the future growth of Jiwa Jiwa, exploring musical recordings as vessels that testify intimate episodes of Indonesia’s past, allowing us to better understand the contemporary world in the present.