Iwan Fals
Indonesian singer and musician
Virgiawan Listanto or better known as Iwan Fals (born 3 September 1961) is an Indonesian singer, songwriter and guitarist of Javanese descent. In 2002, Time named him a Great Asian Hero.
Early life
Iwan Fals was born Virgiawan Listanto in Jakarta, on 3 September 1961, to Harsoyo, a soldier, and Lies Suudijah. He studied at SMP Negeri 5 Bandung and SMAK BPK Bandung. He continued his studies at Sekolah Tinggi Publisistik and then Institut Kesenian Jakarta. At the age of thirteen, he appeared as a street musician at small wedding ceremonies and other social events.
Career
While he was 18, Iwan Fals, Toto Gunarto, Helmi, Bambang Bule and Kakek Jagonk formed a group named Amburadul. The group released the album
"Perjalanan" in 1979, which was not successful, but was re-released with the added track '3 Bulan' as '3 Bulan' (1980) in 1980. The group disbanded and played no further role in Iwan Fals' career.
As part of his early career, Iwan Fals also recorded some comedy albums, after winning a comedy country singing contest.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Iwan Fals” as indonesian singer and musician. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as indonesian singer and musician. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5111684. VIAF identifies the subject as 283737090. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 2002, 1979 and 1980.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Iwan Fals” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.