Rhoma Irama

Raden Haji Oma Irama, better known as Rhoma Irama (born 11 December 1946), is an Indonesian dangdut singer, songwriter, guitarist and former politician of Sundanese descent. Starting in the late 1960s, he began his musical career as Rhoma Irama as a part of the pop band Orkes Melayu Purnama, pioneering several dangdut music elements. He then formed his band, Soneta Group, achieving multitudes of musical successes with groundbreaking dangdut style that incorporates Western, Malay, and Bollywood influences. From the late 1970s, he began transforming into more Islamic-oriented style, commanding the religiously pious popular music culture. During the height of his stardom in the 1970s, he was dubbed "Raja Dangdut" ("the King of Dangdut") with his Soneta Group. He has also built his career in the film industry. He has been active as well in the political arena, with a history of joining campaigns for the Islamic United Development Party (PPP) during the New Order era. In 2015, Irama founded Peace and Safe Islamic Party and served as the party chairman until 2018, when he decided to merge the party into the National Mandate Party.