Pre-millennial percussion festival to be held at GKJ

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)