A Balinese Cover Band

Tonight I heard a Balinese band cover the song Creep by Radiohead. I tried to imagine having the courage to sing in a non-native language in a song originally sung by a foreign band.

The song was sung soulfully, loudly, and with passion.

I’ve studied public speaking and am not afraid to speak in public. In English, that is. Singing in a foreign language? Admirable.

Since I still struggle to speak the Indonesian or Balinese languages, I was extremely impressed by their talent.

Repeatedly, I am surprised how many local young people in Bali speak English.

This fact surprises me because life, for the average Balinese, is hard here. The young people with the privilege of having a job are lucky to earn three hundred USD per month.

Many generations in a family live together to save costs. People use motorbikes for as much as they possibly can to save on the price of petrol.

Some people eat only rice, and drink only tea and water for weeks on end.

I’ve seen families of five with groceries placed between people, a carton of eggs strapped on the back, and vegetables in thin plastic bags held, precariously, on handlebars.

That family likely goes home to their studio or one bedroom apartment, an apartment lacking in air conditioning, because this is a luxury they can’t afford.

These are the things I think about when I hear a Balinese person singing an American rock song correctly and passionately in my native language.

I have to ask myself where they found the space, the time, and the energy, to learn a whole other foreign language. Why did they learn it? What motivated them?

Perhaps they were motivated by a better life for their family, tips from tourists, a desire to travel.

At any rate, almost all the Balinese I’ve met speak at least two languages, and I find this fascinating.

I find it fascinating when I think of the privileges me and my fellow high school and college students had, comparatively, like a bedroom, or a desk. A bedroom to myself where I could sit in silence. A desk I could keep my own schoolbooks.

There were public libraries where I could get books for free. I owned a car of my own as a teen earned through a job where I needed only to speak English.

Don’t get me wrong. I love reading, and I have always worked hard, just not this hard.

The Indonesian language doesn’t use tenses. For example, there’s no way to conjugate verbs for the time something happened such as “I went to the store, I am going to the store, I am finished at the store.”

They might say the equivalent as “At two o’clock, I go to store, I go now to store, I finish at store at three o’clock.”

Imagine how many hours of study went into just asking you if your meal is what you expected coming from their understanding of language.

Imagine how many hours went into learning to sing the song Creep by Radiohead.

I’m sure I don’t have the motivation the average Balinese person has. I see a drive in them, and I find it difficult to comprehend what it took for them to get where they are.

Indonesia celebrates their birth as a nation this Monday, August 17.

If you ever come to Bali, it’s good to keep in mind that what seems inexpensive to you, can be a month’s rent, or a month’s food, to them.

If you can, give them a little extra, and give them a smile, because they are pretty phenomenal.

Celeste A Vale, Bali

August 14, 2026