Dara Puspita (Flower Girls) all girl group from Indonesia

[the_future_modernes]

So while trying to track down Indonesian girl groups, I came upon an interview of US band The Hollows, who listed among their influences the 60's Indonesian girl band Dara Puspita. Naturally, I headed right off to youtube for to see if they could be found.

Pantai Pataja - DARA PUSPITA (P'Dede Tjiptamas).wmv

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Garage Hangover: Dara Puspita

Dara Puspita (Flower Girls) was Indonesia’s most successful girl band of the 1960s. While there were many popular female vocalists in Indonesia at that time, they nearly all relied on the services of a backing band. Dara Puspita was one of the few girl groups who actually played all their own music as well.

Dara Puspita hailed from the city of Surabaya in East Java and first formed in 1964 with the line-up of sisters Titiek Adji Rachman (Titiek A.R.) on guitar and Lies Soetisnowati Adji Rachman (Lies A.R.) on bass, along with Susy Nander on drums and Ani Kusuma on rhythm guitar. In April 1965 Lies left the band for a month to finish school and was replaced on bass by Titiek Hamzah. When Lies returned she took the place of Ani on rhythm guitar and Titiek Hamzah stayed on as bass player. It was with this line-up that the band set out to conquer the world.MORE

Some of that article conflicts with this one from Sublime Frequencies, though:
From Sublime Frequencies: Dara Puspita 1966-1968 (The name of that particular album)

Dara Puspita (Flower Girls) was arguably the world’s greatest all-female garage rock band. The reason you’ve probably never heard of them was that they came from Indonesia where they were extremely popular during the 1960s. Their career spanned from 1965 until 1973 including 3 years (1969-1971) living and touring in Europe. The four albums recorded by the original members between 1966 and 1968 (the material represented on this CD) is one of the great chapters of 1960s popular music history never to be reissued, let alone recognized beyond a few tuned-in souls and adventurous record collectors in the Western world. Twenty-six of their most spectacular tracks (from the albums Jang Pertama, Special Edition, Green Green Grass, and A-Go-Go) are now finally available to hear in this essential release.

Dara Puspita formed in their hometown of Surabaya in 1964. After relocating to Jakarta, the group began to create quite a stir with their wild stage shows. Their local performances were attended by teenagers grooving to the band’s raw garage rock sound. The first all-female Indonesian pop group that could play their instruments and sing, Dara Puspita also attracted the attention of Indonesian president Sukarno who labeled Western rock music “a form of mental disease”. In 1965 (an eventful and critical year for the group), the girls endured a month long interrogation by the government for performing “outlawed” rock and roll music, became the house band in a Bangkok nightclub for three months, and were introduced to Dick Tamimi of Mesra records, the man who would launch their recording career. The tracks featured in this compilation were recorded at the height of Dara Puspita’s popularity during the immediate post-communist era of General Suharto’s new order; a time when Indonesia’s musicians and artists were finally capable of launching their own creative renaissance.MORE

Dara Puspita Irama EPLN 2 60's Indo Girl Garage.flv

Pitchfork reviews the Koes Bersuadara / Dara Puspita 1967 / 1966-1968

The other band hired to play the party that night was Dara Puspita, and it was Dara Puspita that wound up with the residency in Bangkok. Dara Puspita were an oddity in 1960s rock'n'roll: a self-contained, all-female rock band. They got their first break opening for Koes Bersaudara, and the two bands became something of a twin engine of raw rock music in mid-60s Jakarta. Dara Puspita evaded the fate of the Koes brothers after the ill-fated party, but they had their own run-ins with censors, including an incident in which they were called in front of an assessment board to play music so the board could decide whether they were breaking the law. They were told the Beatles and Koes Bersaudara songs they played weren't suitable, but when they played the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction", the board gave them the okay

Neither Koes Bersaudara nor Dara Puspita have ever been exposed much to Western audiences, and that makes the first two volumes of Sublime Frequencies' new Indonesian Klasik Pop Nostalgia series a welcome initial peek into Indonesia's vibrant 60s music scene. Sublime Frequencies is known for a snapshot approach to non-Western music scenes and sound culture, but they're approaching this series with an archivist's attention to detail and information, loading the releases with photos and informative liner notes. Both bands richly deserve the treatment.
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DARA PUSPITA 'a go go'