Profile of Rhoma Irama on Famous Like Me

Rhoma Irama (born December 11, 1946 in Tasikmalaya, West Java) is an Indonesian dangdut singer. During the height of his stardom in the 1970s, he became the self-proclaimed Raja Dangdut ("King of Dangdut") with his dangdut group Soneta.

He was known with stage name "Oma Irama" before he made a pilgrimage to Mecca and became a haji. The new name "Rhoma Irama" is an abbreviation of "Raden Haji Oma Irama" (Raden is an aristocracy title for Javanese and Sundanese cultures, but it's still unknown whether Rhoma Irama is a member of aristocrat class of Sundanese, which is known as his ethnic background).

Rhoma Irama is also well known as a Muslim preacher and chairman of the Muslim Forum (FUI), a nonpartisan religious organization. In 1992 he taught Cahyono, one of the Indonesian Comedian according to his conversion to Muslim. Once, Cahyono stated that Rhoma knew all of the Catholic principles as well as its mistakes.

Rhoma Irama was in the news in 2003 for his criticism of the suggestive dancing of fellow dangdut singer Inul Daratista. On December 25, 2004 he proclaimed himself as an Antichrist, while he was performing in Surabaya. He told the audiences that Saturday Night was a night for having fun, instead of saying Merry Christmas. He has taught his Juniors who have been involved as the members of KDI (a talent show in Indonesia for dangdut musicians) contestants to hate Christians (Taken from his testimonial from TPI, a local TV program). Recently, he was ineligible to receive the Ph.D award from the American University of Hawaii in February 2005 after being busted for plagiarizing his title.

In a comprehensive research about Dangdut - Bre Redana from Kompas newspaper, cited an allegation that Rhoma Irama may have stolen some of the tune of his songs from Indian movie theme songs.

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