I happened to borrow a karaoke VCD of a Timorese pop star, Johan Lama Kuma, belonging to one of the Timorese workers staying near us.

However, try searching for this person on the internet - I didn’t find any reference to him.

Viewing the videos, I made the following observations:

- Have you ever wondered what their place looks like? I have never heard travel agencies offering tours to where they come from i.e. the Eastern Flores islands (Nusa Tenggara Timur), hence a good way to have an inkling of what a Timorese village/town looks like is via one of their karaoke VCDs.

- They definitely can play music, with a sound that’s surprisingly good.

- The subject of their songs, apart from the usual love songs, are singing about real-life tragedies, with footage of the subject made into videos. For example, there was an incident where 5 people drowned at sea, and amazingly, footage showing the bodies was used as video backdrop for the karaoke!

- They have a penchant for sitting down anywhere while singing: among flowers, on stones, etc

- This is the first album sleeve I’ve seen where a picture of the producer (Floren Lewo Muda) is prominently displayed at the back.

Check out the following videos:

This song is apparently about a landslide; Johan Lama Kuma could be seen singing in the area:

A Timorese love song:

I think the following is about someone leaving the village to find work (probably in Malaysia?!):

This seems to be a sad song, with Vany Lama Kuma on lead vocals (Johan’s sister?)

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