4.2.1. The Sender Anonymity
It is clear that many times a singer acts as the sender of a message in a song that he sings. Therefore it is hard to hide his identity as the sender of the
message. However, in a certain case which relates to a sensitive matter, a singer tends to position himself as an observer and create a unanimous lore to make it
seems like a rumor despite it can be based on a true event. Bob Marley who clearly proclaimed himself to be a militant soul rebel somehow use a more
indirect criticism to avoid direct confrontation with the authority. One possible example is the story of violence in Johnny Was. The song uses a narrative
structure that tells a story that most people felt was based on true incidents.
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It is a straight ballad that introduces a mystery for the person who has witnessed so
many tragedies in the ghetto. The emphasize is not on the person who report the event but more on the incident which is anonymous. Questions like where, why
and when did it happen, and did Johnny really exist seem to be a rhetoric since the answer is ambiguous. This open ended story becomes a lore that spread among the
people. Here Bob Marley cleverly unveiled the face of violence and brutality
through anonymous lore about Johnny. The emphasize and warning is that even a good man like Johnny can be the victim of an astray bullet. An astray bullet
generally symbolizes brutality and specifically relates to impunity. Unlike what has been found in the story of Johnny, through a thorough investigation the writer
found out that this typical technique of sender anonymity is nil in The Black
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Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 161.
Brothers songs. The issue of violence is avoided. The possible cause might be the high sensitivity and the risk of addressing the issue in the New Order Regime. As
far as the writer consider, during that time period in Indonesia people lived in fright and terror. Thus the writer would argue that there seems to be not a single
popular artist or band would have a nerve to explicitly address criticism regarding violence by the brutal authority. It was also due to the tight censorship of what can
and what cannot be put into song by the recording company.
4.2.2. The Receiver Anonymity