Asian orchestra to perform here
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)