Pre-millennial percussion festival to be held at GKJ

JAKARTA (JP): The much-awaited new millennium has affected people around the world in different ways. Some are scared, while others are excited. And some musicians have prepared themselves to join the Sacred Rhythm international percussion festival, scheduled to take place in Bali from Dec. 29 to Jan. 3.

But you don't have to wait until the end of the year for the show. A mini, pre-festival performance of Sacred Rhythm will be held at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, Jl. Gedung Kesenian 1, Central Jakarta.

The performance will feature top local musicians Harry Roesli, I. Gusti Kompiang Raka and Toni Prabowo with his New Jakarta Ensemble. They will perform percussion music, "a type of music that is capable of storing and showing the history creativity, as well as musicality of humankind for thousands of years."

The millennial percussion festival is jointly produced by Yayasan Titian Budaya (the Sacred Bridge Foundation) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It is supported by the government. In fact, the Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture has named this festival as a national event.

About 60 percussionists from 32 countries, including the U.S., some African countries, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, Japan and Australia, have reportedly confirmed their intended participation in the upcoming festival.

The event is held in conjunction with the UN program for the year 2000, the International Year of Culture and Peace.

Sacred Rhythm, according to the organizer, is "an event that brings traditional and contemporary art and music together into a celebration of the sacredness of humanity confronting a 1000 year future, and therefore UNESCO and the United Nations promotion of the culture of peace." (sim)