Asian orchestra to perform here
JAKARTA (JP): A group of 32 musicians from four Asian countries will entertain music aficionados here this coming weekend with musical pieces that reflect international friendship and solidarity, the organizer of the show said yesterday.
The musicians, grouped in the Asian Fantasy Orchestra, arrived last Saturday after performing in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur on their three-nation tour to promote music as a means of enhancing friendship of the Asian people, said Ikuo Nishida, director general of The Japan Foundation in Jakarta.
Nishida said during a press conference that the visit of the Asian Fantasy Orchestra was also aimed at enlivening the 50th anniversary commemoration of Indonesian independence.
Indonesia's renowned keroncong singer Sundari Soekotjo, gamelan player Rahayu Supanggah, and vocalist Trie Utami, will join the gala show at Graha Bhakti Budaya, one of the theaters at Jakarta's prestigious Taman Ismail Marzuki cultural center, on Saturday and Sunday.
The orchestra, set up by leading Asian musicians four years ago after several discussions and festivals, currently has 23 Japanese musicians with the remaining nine being from China, South Korea and India.
Besides presenting Japanese folk music, modern, pop and jazz music, the orchestra will also present traditional compositions specially designed for erhu and pipa, the two-stringed Chinese violin and traditional lyre.
Other traditional musical instruments that will be played during the performance are the Korean kayagum, Indian sitar and Indonesian gamelan.
One of the orchestra's members, Kazumi Watanabe, Japan's leading guitarist who has twice visited Jakarta and participated in the international JakJazz festivals, told journalists that he is happy to be in Jakarta again, especially since the opening performance of the orchestra on Saturday, Oct. 14, coincides with his birthday.
The violinists, saxophonist, percussionist, vocalists and other musicians prepared and rehearsed together for a month prior to their tour of three Southeast Asian countries, Nishida said. (ego)