Iwan Fals

Virgiawan Listanto was born 3 September 1961, a Javanese kid who would trade his given name for Iwan Fals and spend decades with a guitar writing songs that spoke to the margins. His catalog became the soundtrack of ordinary Indonesians - street vendors, laborers, the overlooked - and his willingness to name power made him both beloved and watched. By 2002, Time magazine had seen enough to call him a Great Asian Hero, a designation that placed a folk musician alongside activists and reformers. He remains one of Indonesia's most enduring voices, still performing, still writing, still tied to the people who made him.