Tung Tung Tung Sahur
AI-generated Internet meme
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tung Tung Tung Sahur (/ˈtuːŋ ˌsaˈhur/ TOONG sa-HOOR)[a] is a viral Internet meme. It was introduced in 2025 by TikTok user @noxaasht as a part of the Italian brainrot trend; despite the trend's name, it is of Indonesian origin.[1] The character has since been featured in many songs and video games, most notably Steal a Brainrot and Fortnite.[2]
| Tung Tung Tung Sahur | |
|---|---|
| Italian brainrot character | |
Original video of Tung Tung Tung Sahur | |
| First appearance | February 28, 2025 |
| Created by | Noxa |
| Based on | Ramadan tradition |
| Medium | AI art |
Description
Tung Tung Tung Sahur is an AI-generated anthropomorphic Kentongan (slit drum) holding a wooden drumstick,[3] sometimes identified as a bat.[4]
Copyright
As it originates from an AI-generated image, Tung Tung Tung Sahur is ineligible for copyright protection under many jurisdictions such as the United States.[citation needed] Despite this, Paris-based company Mementum Lab has claimed to have copyright over the likeness of the character.[5][6] A later controversy involved a battle royale game Free Fire / Garena, where Noxa objected that a Tung Tung Tung Sahur-like character had been used without permission or credit, even while acknowledging the difficulty of copyrighting AI-generated work.[7] He would base the issue on ethical and moral-rights problems.[8][9]
Under Indonesia’s Copyright Law No. 28 of 2014, copyright protection applies to works that are original and result from human creativity. Article 40 protects various artistic works, while Article 1 defines a protected creation as a work produced through human inspiration, skill, and ability in a tangible form. As AI-generated works produce content by processing existing data, references, and algorithms rather than exercising human creative judgment directly, its originality can be difficult to prove under Indonesian copyright law and remain legally contested.[10]
Etymology
"Tung tung sahur" is an informal phrase that emerged from traditional practices associated with sahur, the pre-dawn meal consumed by Muslims during the month of Ramadan. In various regions, particularly in Southeast Asia, communities have historically used rhythmic drumming, chanting, or other forms of noise-making as a wake-up call for residents.[3] In Indonesia specifically, this practice is done by calling out and making percussive sounds with drums, kentongan, improvised containers, or other noisy objects.[11] The expression "tung tung" serves as onomatopoeia, imitating the sound of percussive instruments used in these wake-up calls.[3]
Kentongan culture
The Kentongan is a traditional communication tool made from bamboo and wood, with materials including bamboo, bamboo petung (Dendrocalamus asper), bamboo apus (Gigantochloa apus), bamboo wulung (Gigantochloa atroviolacea), jackfruit wood, teak, coconut wood, mahogany, and sengon. The instrument was used because its sound could travel across a neighbourhood without modern electrical technology, making it suitable for villages, kampung settlements, mosque compounds, ronda posts, and other communal spaces.[12]
No firm historical record has been found for the exact beginning of this practice. Historian Sarkawi B. Husain of Airlangga University, suggests that the practice may have developed after the arrival of Islam in Indonesia, rather than a directly imported Middle Eastern custom. There are regional differences, such as ngarak beduk or beduk sahur in Jakarta and bagarakan sahur in among the Banjar in South Kalimantan, where people use simple objects such as pans, water gallons, radios, and other sound-making tools in place of a Kentongan.[13] In Javanese Muslim communities, they are often placed in mosque or prayer-house verandas beside the bedug, with both instruments used in religious timekeeping, including the marking of prayer times and the breaking of the fast during Ramadan.[14] In some communities, it is also used as a marker of social status based on wood type, size, and placement.[15] Though in many places in the advent of modernization and technological advancement, the kentongan has seen a gradual replacement or supplemented by the bedug, mosque loudspeakers, portable speakers, drums, jerrycans, electric instruments, and vehicle-mounted sound systems.[16]
Different rhythms, tempos, and repetitions by a kentungan could signal different meanings. A slow rhythm could indicate safe conditions during ronda, while a fast and continuous rhythm, often called gobyok or titir, could signal danger such as fire, flood, theft, landslide, or the arrival of wild animals. The instrument also called people to meetings, gotong royong, kenduri, posyandu, and other local gatherings.[12]
Pos Ronda
Pos ronda, also called gardu pos ronda, pos kamling, or in some Javanese contexts cakruk, is the small neighbourhood guard post where residents gather before or during night patrols (ronda malam), usually according to a rotating neighbourhood schedule. Usually a pos ronda has a place to sit, record attendance, drink coffee, wait between patrol rounds, store basic equipment, and respond when something happens.[17] It is associated with ronda malam (night patrol) and siskamling (neighborhood watch). The formal/modern term of pos ronda is a Pos Satkamling. According to Perpolri No. 4 Tahun 2020, Satkamling is a community security unit formed by residents through their own will, awareness, and interest to secure their environment, while Pos Satkamling is the building or place used as the centre of Satkamling activities.[18][19]
The building is commonly found at the rukun tetangga (RT) administrative level. It may be built from bamboo, wood, masonry, or mixed materials; its roof may use forms such as kampung, joglo, or panggangpe; and its floor may either be raised like a panggung/kolong (stilt house) or sit directly on the ground.[20] Originating from precolonial Java,[20] the modern institutional form of the pos ronda was strongly shaped during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia via the through tonarigumi and Keibodan neighbourhood units.[21][20]
History
On 28 February 2025, a day before Ramadan in Indonesia began, Indonesian TikTok creator @noxaasht / Noxa uploaded the first reported Tung Tung Tung Sahur post as part of the larger "Anomali AI character" trend, an AI Indonesian trend that was unrelated to the then-rising Italian Brainrot meme, however took inspiration from such style; of absurdist AI-generated beings with strange names, mock-lore, and repetitive audio. Differing from Italian Brainrot, the "Anomali AI" trend made odd AI-generated beings made from animals or objects with human features.[22]
Radio Republik Indonesia attributes the popularity of Tung Tung Tung Sahur from absurdity and surrealist humor attained among Generation Z and Generation Alpha, where the appeal comes from "the more absurd, the more entertaining."[23] In an interview with Kompas, Muhammad Faisal of the Indonesian think tank Youth Laboratory Indonesia argued that the emergence of "anomaly" characters such as Tung Tung Tung Sahur comes from the media environment of Generation Alpha where children have grown up from birth with internet-connected smartphones and tablets. Unlike earlier generations, who often watched cartoons on television with family members present, Faizal argued that Generation Alpha usually encounters these characters through social media and online games without adult mediation or interaction. Early and constant exposure to the internet could explain why very young children, including kindergarten and early primary-school students, can quickly recognize and memorize absurdist internet characters.[24]
Appearances
Steal a Brainrot
Tung Tung Tung Sahur was formerly featured in Steal a Brainrot, a game distributed through the Roblox platform. It was removed in September 2025 after a copyright dispute.[25] However, Tung Tung Tung Sahur was added back to the game in November 2025, and later removed again in April 2026.
Fortnite
In 2026, a rumor circulated that Tung Tung Tung Sahur, alongside similar character Ballerina Cappuccina would be included as a cosmetic purchase in the live service video game Fortnite. This was substantiated by a supposed leak claiming that the outfits would be released on April 1, 2026.[26]
On March 18, 2026, Fortnite uploaded a trailer which confirmed the leaks by featuring both characters. The reception to their inclusion was largely negative, with fans voting them as being the worst cosmetic skins in the game. Some players claimed that they would specifically target those who use the cosmetics in-game. Many felt it was in poor taste to include an AI-generated character following a mass lay-off at Epic Games in early 2026, which affected many artists working on Fortnite.[27][28]
Both Tung Tung Tung Sahur and Ballerina Cappuccina would later become available for purchase on April 4, 2026.[29][30]
Tung Tung Tung Sahur film
There has been speculation that a film about Tung Tung Tung Sahur is in talks for production. Prominent Indonesian film production company, Dee Company (formerly K2K Pictures), was interested in making a film based on the character. The CEO of the company has met with Noxa, the creator of Tung Tung Tung Sahur.[31] However, the company denied the rumors regarding the film's production.[22]
Notes
- Sometimes shortened to Tung Tung Sahur, Triple T, or T³, and originally Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Sahur
