Bali gearing up to face the new millennium
DENPASAR, Bali (JP): When the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, thousands of people will have flocked to the Island of the Gods to warmly welcome the new century, watching a myriad of millennial art and cultural festivals.
Some of the memorable events are deliberately designed in grandeur to ring in the year 2000.
One of the events to be held in Bali by the end of the year will be the International Percussion Festival called Sacred Rhythm: The Millennial Percussion for Unison.
It is jointly organized by the United Nations Cultural Organization (Unesco), the Sacred Bridge Foundation, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, The Jakarta Post morning daily (as publication sponsor) and other institutions.
The festival is scheduled to be held in four different venues: Limestone Quarry at Jimbaran for the Millennium Eve, Bali International Convention Center for the indoor performances and three of the most sacred temples (the Penataran Sasi, Peti Tenget and Samuan Tiga) for various contemplative activities from Dec.31, l999 through Jan.3, 2000.
The festival will serve as an intercultural dialog among artists and virtuoso coming from every part of the globe.
The festival will be staging virtuoso performances by masters of percussion music that represent the world's heritage of sacred music. It is going to draw energy from the heart-beating drums of Africa to the meditative rhythm of Asian Buddhist; from the earth-worshiping sounds of the Australian aborigines to the sophisticated sound of Balinese gamelan.
A number of famous musicians including Jin Hi Kim, a Korean- born musician, Stomu Yamashta from Japan, the New Jakarta Ensemble, Harry Roesli and many other famous artists will take part at the event.
Another art event, Art and Peace, will also enrich Bali's millennial festival. Organized by painter Made Wianta, the event will take place on Dec. 10, l999.
The festival, which will cost about Rp 1.4 billion, will present a number of prominent figures, such as former South African president Nelson Mandela, spiritual leader Ibu Gedong Bagoes Oka and other distinguished artists and scholars from Indonesia and overseas.
During the festival, 2,000 female dancers will present various dances and other forms of performing arts. The festival will be highlighted by the flying of huge and colorful banners carrying peaceful messages.
The banners will be carried by a helicopter flying from the Kelanting coast in Tabanan to over Sanur beach in Denpasar.
On Dec. 20, Sanggar Dewata Indonesia, a group of Balinese artists who graduated from art school in Yogyakarta, will hold a joint painting exhibition in five museums in Bali: Museum Neka, Museum Agung Rai, Museum Rudana, Museum Gunarsa and Museum Bali.
Activities planned by students of the Denpasar Arts Institute are also worth seeing. By the end of December, l999, they will have jointly painted on a 2,000-meter-long piece of fabric to welcome in the year 2000.
Approaching the next millennium, the Balinese art and cultural community will also see the completion of the controversial Garuda Kencana statue by sculptor I Nyoman Nuarta.
Construction of the grand statue was put on hold for a time due to the country's economic condition. But, it is now under way again and is expected to be erected on Bukit Ungasan, 15 kilometers south of Denpasar. The location is part of a planned 170-hectare cultural complex comprising art buildings and facilities, amphitheaters and green areas.
In l993, the statue was estimated to cost Rp 60 billion. The cost now has skyrocketed in response to the devaluation of rupiah against the U.S. dollar.
Nyoman Nuarta's Garuda project is one of the biggest and fantastic millennial artwork expected to come out of Bali.
There are, of course, many other events and activities to greet the new millennium. Bali's hotels, galleries and restaurants are also gearing up for the coming, and hopefully brighter, century.