When in Solo, we asked to be shown the Solo River. That was mainly due to the famous Indonesian kroncong song written by Gesang Martohartono in 1940, Bengawan Solo, about this longest river that flows through central and eastern Java. We have heard the beautiful song as children but the evergreen song had long been known to the world, especially the Asian world since the Japanese took it back to Japan after World War II. Not only a Japanese singer, Toshi Matsuda recorded the song but there were other artistes like Dutch Anneke Gronloh and Chinese, Rebecca Pan and Frances Yip among others. The river doesn't look as beautiful as expected, not like the magnificent Irrawady River in Myammar or Mekong River in Thailand but then maybe as the song denotes, it was the dry season and the water wasn't much...Delight yourself now with the Indonesian song, Bengawan Solo, won't you?
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