Anniversary events spotlight obscure cultural gems

By Yenni Kwok

JAKARTA (JP): In its anniversary month, Jakarta does not lack for international festivities. Different institutions are continuing to organize interesting events as the celebratory mood of June 22 lingers on.

The Jakarta International Carnaval and Jakarta Percussion Festival, two of the celebrations heavy on cultural offerings, should not be confused with the Jakarta International Festival (Jakfest '97), a government-sponsored event held this week at several cultural venues across the city.

Jakarta International Carnaval '97 (JIC '97) and Percussion Festival '97 (Jakperc '97) are privately funded and will take place only at the Jakarta Fairground. JIC '97 continues through July 13, while Jakperc '97 is a two-day event from July 8-9.

"Jakarta craves cultural activities. The residents already feel a compelling need to balance between their routines and recreation," said Franki Raden, director of JIC and Jakperc.

JIC schedules six different programs of local and overseas performances. Every evening, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., participating artists will perform on the different walkways in the fairground complex before they finally reach the main stage for brief final performance.

Franki endorses this street parade as the most appropriate format to introduce different cultures to Jakartans. "Enjoying different kinds of cultural performances does not mean watching them for hours," he said.

Foreign participants include the Chinese lamp parade, Polish folk music and dance, Brazilian samba dance and the Cape Malays of South Africa.

Cape Malay culture is particularly fascinating for Indonesians. Cape Malays are descendants of Malay people who settled in the area around Cape Town in the 17th century. They developed a hybrid culture, marrying Malay traditions with those of their new homeland.

Thanks to his music ethnology background, Franki has an inside knowledge of the existence of unique, little-known cultural performances.

These do not necessarily come from far away. The Kobrosiswo dance is from the Mendut area in Central Java. The dance developed during the fight for independence in the 1940s, as villagers imitated Dutch soldiers by dressing up and marching like them. Yet the movements look more like dancing than anything else. The commander utters words sounding similar to Dutch, but in fact they are gibberish.

Another rare performance is Gordang Sembilan from South Tapanuli. Gordang Sembilan consists of nine giant drums, all lined up and tied together like drum chimes. The musicians are usually in trances while playing these drums. Myanmar is the only other place in the world where the instrument is found.

Trance is not a novelty in Indonesian culture, but its mystery is still a big attraction. The Debus trance dance from Banten will intrigue people. Another trance-influenced number is the Hudog mask dance, a ritual dance from East Kalimantan with strong magical elements, and usually performed in a trance.

Franki has chosen a variety of performances to show how animism, Hinduism, Islam and the West have influenced Indonesian culture. Those trance performances have roots in animism. Hindu influence will be represented by Balinese barong, East Javanese Reog Ponorogo and West Javanese Sisingaan. Islamic influence can be seen in Kuntulan of East Java, Rebana Hadroh and Rebana Ketimpring of Jakarta, Tabuik of West Sumatra and Tabot of Bengkulu.

Assimilating cultures will be reflected by Tanjidor from Jakarta. Tanjidor originates from the 18th century slave culture. At that time, the slaves were taught to play classical music because those who played earned a higher sale price. The slaves later developed their own music, Tanjidor. The musical concept may be Western, but the expression and feeling are traditional.

Besides traditional and rare cultures, JIC '97 will also feature mainstream modern performances, such as pantomime, acrobats and marching bands, all performed by Indonesian artists.

Local and foreign percussionists will show their talents in the two-day percussion event.

International participants include musicians from France, New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Brazil.

Franki's own Jakarta Percussion Orchestra will play his compositions, inspired by traditional Jakarta music. Well-known Bandung artist Harry Roesli will show his dual talents of playing music and telling jokes. Poet Emha Ainun Najib and his Kyai Kanjeng gamelan orchestra present a combination of poetic verses and music.

Other participating local artists are drummer Gilang Ramadhan, percussionist-composer Ben Pasaribu and duo Inisisri and Sapto Rahardjo.

"I hope that we can expose the wealth of the world's percussion music to the general public," Franki said.

He takes pride in UNESCO's endorsement of the event. "This shows how important it is to bridge the traditional and modern arts."