PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Culture and Communication
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1651788
Sounding identity in the digital age: Eastern Indonesia's musical voices on Tiktok
Provisionally accepted
- Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
This article investigates the mediation, circulation, and reframing of musical expressions from Eastern Indonesia—specifically Papua and Maluku—through the digital platform TikTok. Historically marginalized within Indonesia's national cultural narrative, these regions have gained renewed visibility through the platform's participatory and algorithmic dynamics. By conducting an interpretive analysis of viral songs such as "Aku Papua," "Nyong Timur," "Stecu-Stecu," and "Pica-Pica," etc, the essay examines how lyrics, bodily performances, and sonic aesthetics serve as modes of cultural affirmation and resistance. Drawing on theoretical insights from ethnomusicology, platform studies, and postcolonial critique, it posits that TikTok functions not only as a site of creative production but also as a stage for identity negotiation, where users transform regional vernaculars into shared digital narratives. While the platform provides visibility and symbolic inclusion, it also imposes constraints that risk commodifying identity. The paper advocates for an interdisciplinary engagement with ethnomusicology and digital anthropology to better comprehend how peripherally situated creators navigate algorithmic publics. Ultimately, this study positions music as a potent medium through which Eastern Indonesians assert presence, reconfigure representation, and contest cultural hierarchies in the digital age.
Keywords: TikTok, Cultural identity, Eastern Indonesian Music, Digital representation, ethnomusicology
Received: 22 Jun 2025; Accepted: 25 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ismail. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ahmad Ismail, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.