Asep Nayak was born in Wamena on January 11, 1999. He is a broadcasting and photography student. Every day, after coming home from campus, Asep often continues his activities by hunting photos. In the evening, he will spend time with the Fruity Loop software to create Wisisi tones.
For Asep, photography is the second interest to be pursued academically, after teaching himself music. To hone this second interest, he joined a photography community whose members consisted of people from several regions such as Java, West Papua, and several others, most of whom had never lived in Papua. In this community based on social media Facebook, Asep then exhibited his work. However, what catapulted his name was his first interest until so he was involved in the Biennale Jogja (BJ) XVI Equator #6 2021.
Asep’s involvement in BJ was not something that suddenly happened. A few years earlier, when Asep was avidly creating Wisisi music and uploading it on YouTube, a comment notification appeared inviting discussion. He made an acquaintance and then they exchanged phone numbers.
It was Wok The Rock (Radio Isolasido) who contacted him to come to Jogja and appear in the Opening Ceremony of Biennale Jogja XVI. The offer was welcomed by Asep with pleasure. On October 3, 2021, he arrived in Yogyakarta. Throughout this cultural city, he lives in Room 56 and is accompanied by Kaler.
Together with Kaler, Asep’s first activity was photo hunting at Mount Merapi, a two-hour drive from the city of Yogyakarta. After that, like a tourist, he visited Malioboro.
Three days later, the Biennale Jogja XVI Equator #6 2021 was officially opened. On the night of the Opening Ceremony, Asep Nayak appeared last in line and managed to hit the stage of the Jogja National Museum (JNM). He displayed his ability to play Wisisi music using a DJ set for the first time, after previously only using a portable computer.
Wisisi music is instrumental music that is used as entertainment. The history of Wisisi or Sapusa is a dance and culture that has been passed down from generation to generation by ancestors. As reported by berita.papua.us, Wisisi is a ritual to symbolize togetherness, cohesiveness, and enthusiasm. But basically, this ritual is used to comfort the bereaved’s family.
Around 1998, Wisisi was brought by students from Dani dan Lani tribes from Intan Jaya to Paniai to study. In 2002, Wisisi became popular and was later adopted by the general public.
Asep Nayak became one of the youths who created Wisisi’s music according to his version, arranging modern music which he then innovated by himself. It started from the works of Nikolas Wiligma, the Wisisi musician who was first heard by Asep, which he thought was cool and great, so he was inspired to make it as well. He delved into the making process himself: how to do it, whether it requires a keyboard or other tools, or whatever is needed.
Luckily, someone helped Asep and introduced him to the Fruity Loops software. Then he studied it himself. As a basis, Asep relies on his ability to play the guitar so that it is easier to play the notes in Wisisi’s music.
Since 2014, he has studied Wisisi. He often worked on it until late at night, even until morning, preoccupation with creating music to rest.
Asep’s journey with his music is not always accepted by the public. Some people are against it, underestimate it because what he’s doing is considered a waste of time since he works in front of his laptop all day. However, this did not break his enthusiasm for creating music. He was sure, what he did was not something that harms other people.
In 2018, while studying in Jakarta, he approached someone. From that introduction, Asep was then introduced to foreign goods in the form of a cellphone with features and facilities that suits his needs. Asep was also advised to upload his musical works to social media. That’s where Asep started to create a YouTube account.
Through the channel “Asep_Nayak”, his music was uploaded and now had 2,007 subscribers and 271 videos. Armed with the pleasure of composing Wisisi music, Asep hopes that his music can also be enjoyed by many people. Asep’s success in introducing Wisisi provoked the emergence of other Wisidi musicians, especially from Papua.
In 2019, Asep Nayak began to be known by many people, one of whom was Icang, who commented positively on his work. From Icang, other friendships grew which also brought him to this city of education.
Not only performing at the opening of the Biennale Jogja XVI Equator #6 2021, but Asep’s other activity was also the Wisisi music workshop which was held on Sunday, October 17, 2021, at JNM. In that forum, he shared his knowledge about the process of making Wasisi music using the Fruity Loops or FL Studio application which has various versions. This application was chosen because it is not too heavy so it can be installed on a laptop with a specification that is not too high.
In addition, Asep also feels that he has more control over this particular application than others. The duration allocated for the workshop was 3 hours, divided into 2 hours for learning to use the Fruity Loops application and 1 hour for learning the Wisisi dance. Wisisi music and dance are like two sides of a coin that cannot be separated.
Asep said he was happy to be in Yogyakarta, especially in the Biennale Jogja XVI Equator #6 2021. Inspired by his acquaintance with many people in Jogja, he hopes to form a community in Papua, with the main focus on developing Wisisi’s music.
