Lampung beauty on show at Krakatau Festival

By Ati Nurbaiti

The Krakatau Festival, held each year in South Lampung, is a lively commemoration of Mount Krakatau's 1883 eruption which claimed some 38,000 lives. At this year's eighth festival, an "adventure" theme has been introduced together with the soft opening of the Kalianda Resort. The Jakarta Post reports on part of the activities following an invitation from the resort's management, PT Kalianda Lampung Tourism Development. The second story was written by another reporter who went there as a tourist.

KALIANDA, Lampung (JP): The celebrations on Kalianda beach during the Krakatau Festival last weekend became livelier as the night progressed.

But the crowd that had gathered around the beach stage, for the soft opening of the Kalianda Resort, were gradually distracted from the scheduled performances.

During pauses in the acts, people could hear strange noises coming from somewhere behind the stage. The mix of exciting folk rhythms and sounds, however, could not compete with the powerful speakers.

But a small group of spectators left the big stage to see what was happening. What they found were singers and musicians playing traditional music for a handful of people.

When the bands on stage finished playing, more and more people congregated around the off-stage singers and people playing drums and string instruments.

An organizer later explained that the performers were entrants in a contest and there had been plans for them to play on the main stage.

Bandarsyah, from the local office of the Ministry of Education and Culture, said: "This is a classic song contest which is part of the folk arts festival held each year in the Krakatau Festival." An explanation maybe lost on the hundreds of guests.

The strange arrangement of performances, at the expense of the traditional musicians, was due to some confusion over the starting time, he said.

The contest was originally part of the day's performance but after one group performed they were asked to move to another stage.

One elderly musician said: "We were quite confused as to where we should perform."

But he bore no grudge.

Another musician said: "We only hope it will not happen again.

"We are happy that this place is being developed ... so more people from inside and outside the country will be able to appreciate our art and culture better."

Bandarsyah said most foreign guests and tourists stuck to the back of the stage so they could enjoy the impromptu performance.

Earlier in the day, there were a variety of performances ranging from Sumatran and Lampung dancers to a jovial cabinet minister riding an elephant.

A traditional mask dance and debus (magic) performers from Banten, West Java, who performed seemingly painful feats while in a trance, were among the favorites.

Modern dancers moved to the beat of a dynamic percussion rhythm which preceded and followed a fashion show of designs based on Lampung heritage.

The fireworks were awing and may have served as a small reminder of the terrible eruption in the waters between South Sumatra and West Java more than a century ago.

Sensitive

The Krakatau Festival, which has been organized by the provincial administration in previous years, is meant to entertain and promote local culture as both attractive and accessible to locals and outsiders.

With the introduction of the adventure theme, as a permanent feature, private organizers face the challenge of being more sensitive to the festival's ideals. Authorities even reminded the managers of the beach resort that they cannot put aside the interests of the locals.

Hopefully, the need to move the traditional musicians away from the main stage was only due to the resort opening.

Better organization would ensure a more coordinated provision of information and services so visitors would not be sent here, there and everywhere, wasting valuable time.

A response from activity attendants such as: "Oh, we don't take care of that, that's the other organizer", only serves to put off people planning to attend next year's festival.

The price range made some activities available to all visitors, regardless of the size of their pay packets. The cheapest contest, the "Coconut He-Man" clash, was Rp 2,500 per person while the Krakatau tour, limited to 22 people per jet foil, was Rp 95,000 per person.

For those who did not want to spend money on hotels, there was a camping ground (rented tents cost Rp 30,000 per night) near the kite festival. But campers must organize their own camping equipment, including lighting!

The Kalianda Bay Adventure -- a low energy consuming package of river rafting, an "elephant safari" and bumpy bicycle ride -- cost Rp 25,000, including car and boat transportation and refreshments.

Visitors who missed the morning registration also missed seeing the birds and other inhabitants of the Lubuk River, which leads into the bay.

All activities, or their registration, were held about the same time so people could look out for interesting things such as ruwatan, the morning presentation of sacrifices to the gods of the sea.

More information needs to be spread to locals, including those with less access to newspapers.

This was the first time the festival was held at Kalianda, probably due to its proximity to the beach resort site.

Across the bay, villagers emerged with their bicycles to see elephants and water sport contests later in the afternoon.

"We heard there was going to be a boat competition here," one farmer said. "But it's so quiet ... we wonder where it is?"

The competition had taken place at the other end of the waterway.

The only scene left for the villagers was the elephants who regularly disappeared from the beach with paying visitors on their backs.