Across the world, in Delaware, US, real estate agent/singer Joelina Bee met Indonesian music producer Rissa Asnan in 2015, who introduced her to dangdut. The Angelina Jolie lookalike said, “I met Rissa about three years ago and she has been trying to get me into this ever since, and finally we did. I took the plunge for it and got hooked.”

“The idea came because I used to invite Indonesian dangdut singers to perform here, but I thought things became a bit boring as it was only Indonesians entertaining other Indonesians. When could I involve Americans?” - Risa Asnan

American real estate agent/singer Joelina Bee sings Inul Daratista's hit 'Goyang Inul' (source: Dangdut in America Facebook Page)

Rissa, who has been living in the US since the 1980s, is a relentless warrior when it comes to popularizing dangdut music in the States. Risa’s efforts include trying to get Americans to sing dangdut professionally.

“The idea came because I used to invite Indonesian dangdut singers to perform here, but I thought things became a bit boring as it was only Indonesians entertaining other Indonesians. When could I involve Americans?” Rissa asked. She then decided to look for Americans who wanted to get introduced to the unique music genre and become a dangdut star through a three-day audition held in Philadelphia back in 2007.

“Nobody came on the first day, as they didn’t know what dangdut was. The second day, the crowd picked up, and on the third day I selected three people, trained them for a month and surprisingly, it worked.”

Rissa’s efforts might seem to have worked, but due to bad timing, the three singers she trained changed their minds and decided to back out from dangdut entirely. “At that point I had to come home to Indonesia, and met with Haji Rhoma Irama, who welcomed my idea very warmly,” she said. “But when I returned to America, because they waited too long, the singers backed out because they had jobs and school to attend. They needed to keep on living, and not just wait around for their singing careers to take off.”

Unwilling to give up, Rissa held another audition the next year and managed to garner 90 interested participants, and even came up with a rising star, Arreal Tilghman, who sang dangdut in both Indonesian and English. Rissa brought Arreal to Indonesia, but sadly, to minuscule success. “Arreal was received warmly by the Indonesian fans, but the local dangdut market preferred a female singer back then,” said Rissa.