Album Notes

About Dangdut in America Album:

Dangdut is Indonesia's popular folk music genre that mixes Indian, Arab, Malay and Portuguese rhythms with other influences ranging from Latin, House, Hip Hop, Jazz, R&B, and even Classical Music.

Dangdut in America album was produced to promote cultural ties between Indonesian and American people. It was recorded in Indonesia and in the United States. For the first time in the history of Dangdut music, this album features an American vocalist (Arreal Tilghman) singing dangdut music created by Indonesian composers.

Arreal Tilghman has been recognized by the Museum of Indonesian Records (MURI) as the 1st American Dangdut recording artist. Rissa Asnan has been recognized by MURI for producing and promoting Dangdut music in United States.
We hope you enjoy the music on this album – the first-ever Dangdut album produced and released in the United States!

About Arreal Tilghman:

Arreal is 22 and he began singing before he was five years old. His grandfather was part of a group that sang gospel, a style of music that originated in the African-American community and went on to influence pop and rock n' roll. He dreamed of a musical career, but his home city Cambridge, with a population of just over 10,000 at the time, offered little opportunity for the ambitious teenager. He left home at 17 and moved to Wilmington, Delaware where he began singing in R&B and hip hop groups.

Arreal recently spent two months training and studying Dangdut in Indonesia – learning to sing in the cengkok style typical of Dangdut performers. Dangdut. According to Arreal “Dangdut is not just music, it’s a lifestyle”. His journey, from a small city of Cambridge in Maryland in the United States to being recognized by the Indonesia Museum of Records as the first foreign Dangdut singer, is one that reflects the adventurous spirit of Dangdut music itself.