Pasar Baru Festival, joyous event for all

Pasar Baru Festival, joyous event for all

JAKARTA (JP): The sound of drums being beaten incessantly was
heard all over the Pasar Baru (New Market) shopping area in
Central Jakarta on Monday afternoon.

In between, every five seconds or so, there was the clash of
cymbals, and also the sound of traditional gongs.

Children, parents, shop owners and visitors then ran quickly
toward the source of the sounds.

It was a group of barongsai (traditional Chinese dragon dance)
dancers who were ready to take action.

Wearing white T-shirts and red pants, they held aloft a
colorful dragon that undulated along the alley, while their
friends played the instruments.

Several shop owners also invited them inside their shops where
they performed a little. After that, they received red envelopes
containing some money.

"It is believed that staging a barongsai dance inside the
shops will bring good luck," Stefanus, one of the dancers, told
The Jakarta Post.

Stefanus and his friends, who called themselves the
Deponadaindo Club, were especially invited by Central Jakarta
mayoralty to liven up the Pasar Baru festival, a two-day event
which started on Sunday.

The festival is part of the month-long celebrations for the
city's anniversary that actually falls on June 22.

Pasar Baru was appropriately chosen to host such an event as
it is known as a melting pot for Chinese and Indian Jakartans, as
well as Betawi people (native Jakartans).

The event took place along an alley inside the market, which
is about 600 meters long, from Jl. Pos to Jl. Dr. Sutomo, in
front of it and also on the Ciliwung river which runs alongside
these streets.

The area looked festive, with eye-catching decorations like
kites, dolls and ribbons everywhere to be seen.

This year's festival is the second to be held in the area.

According to head of the organizing committee Bambang Sugiono,
the festival is a joint effort between Central Jakarta mayoralty
and local businesspeople from the Association of Indonesian
Retailers (Aprindo).

"It is also aimed at promoting the area as a tourist
destination," said Bambang, who is also the mayor's assistant for
development administration.

Beside barongsai, a series of events were also held, such as
dangdut (traditional music) concert, a boat-decorating
exhibition, canoeing competition, and performances by a tanjidor,
a traditional Betawi orchestra.

On Monday, the tanjidor group, Pusaka Tiga Saudara from Kali
Sari, Pasar Rebo in East Jakarta, comprised 12 musicians playing
trumpets, trombones, beduk and tambur (a type of drum).

According to Maahpiye, 44, the leader of the group, they are
among three remaining groups playing original tanjidor in the
capital. The other two groups came from Cijantung, also East
Jakarta, and South Jakarta, he told the Post.

He said he had played in the group since 1972, as part of a
family tradition.

"The youngest in our group is 19 years old, while the oldest
is 65," Maahpiye asserted.

Every June, the city's anniversary, the group received many
requests to play, sometimes as many as 20 invitations. They
charged from Rp 1.5 million (US$136.4) to Rp 2 million per
performance.

"Today, we performed twice," Maahpiye said, smiling.

"But sometimes we don't get any jobs at all in a whole month.
At that time, most of us work as security guards," he added.

Local residents and shop owners looked very pleased with the
festival and the performances.

Another event held at the festival was a free kite workshop
held by Le Gong kite shop and kite event organizer. The workshop
is a part of JakArt@2001 art festival which starts this month.

The workshop attracted dozens of children who quickly signed
up to get the material to make kites. Happily and intensely, they
folded paper, cut it, glued it and colored it, transforming it
into kites.

And then they ran around the place, tried to fly them.

"I like playing with kites. But I have to go as far as the
National Monument (Monas) to play with mine," said Inggang, 11, a
fifth-grade dropout.

Inggang suffered a nosebleed as he became so enthusiastic to
sign up for the workshop that he bumped into his friend.

Such a shame that there are not enough spaces for these
innocent children to play in this big bad city. (hdn)