Differences set aside at Children of the World Concert
Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Little Charles is clearly enjoying himself. His hands and arms keep on moving. Sometimes he raises his hands up high, sometimes he keeps them low. His head follows to the tune, nodding up, down and side to side. And his feet! Well, they have a rhythm of their own, vigorously jumping, constantly moving.
But Charles, 6, was dancing alone. He was unaware he was alone in his dance, nor did he know that on the spacious stage he was the only one dancing differently. Other children followed a memorized routine, dancing -- though no less excitedly -- to the choreography of Eko Supriyanto.
Born blind, little Charles is certainly not deaf. In those couple of minutes on stage, he abandoned all prescribed movements and months of training just to follow the music in him.
The music compelled him to dance and so dance he did -- together with four of his other blind friends from the SLB A Karya Murni school in Medan, North Sumatra, and assisted by elementary school children from the Medan Children's Choir. On Thursday night, they and more than 1,000 other children from across the country were performing at the Children of the World Choir Concert at the Jakarta International Convention Center.
"He (Charles) has been training since August. We let them (the blind children) touch our legs and arms to understand how they should move to the music," Charles's teacher Sister Angelina explained.
On Thursday night, at least, all differences were set aside. The blind and the seeing, the dark and the light skinned, the blonde and the brunette, all joined in a celebration of childhood innocence.
Together, the children, coming from all walks of life, produced a show that was worth all the trouble and time. A triumph for director Garin Nugroho, choreographer Eko Supriyanto and Aida Swenson, the concert's musical director and initiator.
Divided into three segments -- a segment of Prayer, Hope and finally one of Ending, and with clips from Garin Nugroho's documentary of the children of Indonesia, the show brought a message of peace and harmony, a thought to bring home for the thousands of viewers that packed the Plenary Hall that night.
The hall was practically a stage, the center designed to look like the raised shelters in a rice field, slowly filling up with children as they finished their pieces, waiting for the great finale. Meanwhile, more children's choirs were seated on the tribunes to the right and left of the stage.
The Thursday night show opened with Manseren Nanggi Ryama Be Aya, a traditional Papuan song about the services of man to God. Elementary school children ran on stage and rushed between the audience, giving the feeling that "this is our show too, you too are part of the act".
Scenes from the Balinese janger and kecak dances were presented as a tribute to the Balinese forebears of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who was attending the show. This was followed by the Betawi Ondel-ondel song.
A Madurese piece, Lajengan, came on thick with the jazzy nuances of Indonesian pop group Kahitna's Yovie Widianto and Dodi. The song's upbeat tempo tells of children flying kites, and brought a fresh, happy feeling to the show.
A shrill whistle sound then broke the kite flying and dozens of children in toy-story-like soldier uniforms entered the stage and performed the Javanese children's song Gundul Pacul, followed by Tabik Saudara, which literally means "Hello, how are you?"
A sober piece, Gasua Garkoukou, performed by the Ambon Children's Choir, was made all the more depressing by an accompanying video showing the thousands of refugees seeking transportation out of the troubled province.
Charles and his friends performed in the traditional Batak songs Diding-diding and Sengko-sengko.
About 30 children's choirs performed that night, coming from provinces, local schools, shelters and international schools.
Pieces sung by individual choirs were masterfully arranged by Eko so the exchanges were uninterrupted, and the cold hand of Garin Nugroho was evident in the beautiful lighting and stage shots.
As an ending to the sequence of song and dance, the already assembled choirs on stage performed Jill Jackson and Sy Miller's song Let There Be Peace, Alfred Simanjuntak's Unite Oh Children of the World, and finished the evening with Ibu Sud's inspiring song Tanah Airku (My Motherland)
The concert ended with the catchy tune Manseren, and the audience could not help but to dance along with the performers.
Satisfaction and pride shone on the children's faces that night, especially on little Charles' as his hands and feet kept on moving for as long as the music was in the air. For this one night, we were all one.
Those who missed the concert live can catch the Children of the World Choir Concert on SCTV on Oct. 28. Meanwhile, efforts to produce and market VCDs are underway.