The origins of Tanjidor music are described in an unverified story about a rich man living on the edges of the Betawi community in Citrap named Groot Majoor Jaantje, a retired Dutch Military. He was in the habit of holding dinner parties for his friends and for entertainment he called on a group of slave musicians. Groot Majoor Jaantje died in 1826, and the musical group had to think of a way of how to continue as a musical group. They decided to become a group of travelling troubadors, earning their money from chance performances.

Initially, they were multi-instrumental, with troupe members playing instruments including the violin, guitar, mandolin, and harp. The group was known to the Portuguese as tangedour, players of string instruments. However, because their performances were in the open air, they found that the wind interfered with the sound quality of the string instruments. So, they substituted some of these for wind instruments. However, the name tangedour continued to be used, though they no longer depended on string instruments.

Tanjidor was an important part of urban folk culture in Batavia. Their repertoire included traditional tunes such as Jali-jali, Abang Jampang, and Kincir-kincir, by which they became well known. In addition to playing impromptu on the street, they also performed in folk festivals with accompanying ondel-ondel, walking manequins, and also at wedding parties and other local events.

The troupe’s costume was also a distinguishing feature. They wore kopiah, a sign of being Muslim, traditional koko shirts, pantaloons of batik or other coloured cloth, and slung a sarong from their shoulders, which they could also use, folded, as a belt.