Archie Pelago

Archie Pelago ارچي ڤعلاݢو ᮃᮛᮎᮠᮤᮨ ᮕᮨᮜᮃᮌᮧ
Archie Pelago performing at The Avalon in 2020
Background information
Birth name	Archibald Poernomosoegih
Also known as	Archie Pelago
Born	(1999-10-08) 8 October 1999 Jakarta, Hindia Belanda
Genres	Hip-hop
Occupation(s)	Rapper, record producer, recording artist, singer, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, piano
Years active	2016–present
Labels	Noon PM, Sunrise Collective
Associated acts	Yung Kim, Vendredi Sur Terre, Ranti Sawayama, Weißer Typ

Archibald Poernomosoegih (born 8 October, 1999), known professionally as Archie Pelago, is a Hindia Belandan rapper, singer-songwriter and producer. Pelago rose to international prominence in February 2016 with the release of his single Anarcho-Lorecianism, a self-produced track accompanied with a music video shot by a smartphone that topped the Commonwealth Top 100 for 13 weeks. He released his first studio album with the same name on 26 September 2016. In May 2016, Pelago became the first Hindia Belandan artist to be invited to perform at the annual Weltevredefest musical and cultural festival in Jakarta without having at least one year of musical career. In July of that year, Pelago released his second single Cookie Dough, which rose to the top 20 in several musical charts, and headlined the Tanau Music Festival in Tanau.

Pelago is one of the fastest-rising musical artists in Hindia Belandan music history. He is currently signed to Noon PM and reportedly working on a new album titled Class Consciousness.

Early life and education

Archibald Poernomosoegih was born in Jakarta, Hindia Belanda to a middle-class Peranakan family. He is the second of three children. His father is a partner at a law firm in Jakarta whilst his mother runs an artisanal tea-shop in Weltevreden district, near Pandokion plaza. Poernomosoegih started playing music at the age of eleven, learning to play the piano and the guitar, before being exposed to Astyrian rappers at the age of thirteen.

Poernomosoegih went to school in Jakarta. He began writing his own songs and recording himself rapping over musical instrumentals of various Astyrian hip-hop singers in 2014. Some of these homemade original songs were uploaded to the internet in 2015, gaining him a considerable following on his social media profiles and caught the attention of label head Tamara Riyanti of Noon PM, a Hindia Belandan music label and mass media company. Pelago was approached by Riyanti in December 2015 and offered to sign into the label, although Riyanti did not give a deadline for a decision on his part and said that he could "take his time".

Career

2016-2017: Anarcho-Lorecianism

Main article: Anarcho-Lorecianism

The cover art for Anarcho-Lorecianism.

In February 2016, two months after getting in contact with the label head of Noon PM, Pelago released his first self-produced single Anarcho-Lorecianism to the internet through Sunrise Collective, an imprint of Noon PM, which became an instant hit whose music video, shot with a smartphone, garnered two million views in two weeks. The single Anarcho-Lorecianism topped the Commonwealth Top 100 for 13 weeks and became his breakthrough into the mainstream musical industry. He along with XY, XY and XY, all fellow up and coming musicians signed into Sunrise Collective, performed as a collective at Covert, a beach club in Tanau for an exclusive musical soirée attended by personages from the Hindia Belandan musical industry on 12 April 2016. In an interview by Studio HB, Pelago said that he came up with the album title during a night out with friends, during which they jokingly made up names for political ideologies. "One night, my friends and I were on the metro going to Noordwijk for some after-clubbing munchies and we were just talking about how silly some political ideologies are named. Then we started making up random political ideologies and that's how Anarcho-Lorecianism came to be. And that's pretty much it, it was just a joke."

Pelago performed the single Anarcho-Lorecianism for a public audience for the first time at the famous Jakarta nightclub and art space Unisex on 15 April 2016. He kept the event a secret until the day of the show, when he tweeted a link to buy tickets to the show. In fifteen minutes, the performance was completely sold out. The live performance at Unisex drew a crowd of 1,600, many coming from outside Java and even Hindia Belanda. In addition to performing the single, Pelago also sang a number of tracks that were unreleased at the time, including Back On My Bullshit, Got That Move On VCR and Bourgeois Bitch, which would later be released on the album Anarcho-Lorecianism.

He has said that he drew much inspiration from Hindia Belandan musicians Sans Souci and Childish Damon in his creative process.

2020-present: Mentaiko Sushi and Class Consciousness

On 1 August 2021, Pelago shared the cover art for his upcoming album Class Consciousness on Twitter.

Personal life

Pelago lives in Bandar Kunti, Hindia Belanda.

Discography

Collaborations

Collabs with Weißer Typ and other musicians on the upcoming album Class Consciousness.