Street carnival fails to draw crowds due lack of promotion
Damar Harsanto, Jakarta
Karnaval Jakarta, staged to mark the end of month-long festivities for the city's 477th anniversary, which fell on June 22, failed to attract large crowds. The organizing committee placed the blame mainly on lack of promotion.
Thousands of onlookers flocked to several spots along Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan and Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta, on Sunday afternoon as the main parade started.
"This year's carnival is less jovial than last year's," Rani, 40, from Kali Pasir, Central Jakarta, complained.
Arriving with her toddler, she said the parade of around 300 floats, motorcycles and carts in the carnival was much less than last year's.
"Is that all? Why was the parade so short?" another onlooker said in disappointment.
The parade started late, at 3:30 p.m., in comparison with its scheduled time of 3 p.m., but finished at 5 p.m., an hour earlier than scheduled. The organizers said the smaller-than-expected crowd enabled the parade to progress faster than expected.
Jakarta Tourism Agency head Aurora Tambunan acknowledged that the carnival failed to attract a large crowd.
"It's true that a few onlookers have come. I think it's because of poor promotion," she told The Jakarta Post.
However, Jakartans in other areas did not seem to be very well-informed about the event. Residents of Berlan, Jl. Matraman, East Jakarta, for instance, held their own soccer tournament on the slow lane of the road heading to Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta.
When the parade ended, many visitors dispersed, not realizing that another music performance of 477 drummers, musicians and percussionists was scheduled for 6 p.m. The Circle of Rhythm performance took place on the main stage set up at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, using the hotel, currently under renovation, as the backdrop.
Artist Butet Kartaredjasa invited all musicians and the audience to vow to promote freedom of musical expression, borrowing the sentence structure from Indonesia's declaration of independence.
Participating percussionists performed a music arrangement by noted musician Harry Roesli.
The percussionists added color to the show. They came from a variety of different cultural backgrounds, such as Japanese drums played by Jakarta Taiko Club, jazz drumming by Gilang Ramadhan, Indian-tone drums played by singer Oppie Andaresta and friends, and Javanese-tone percussion played by Djadug Ferianto's Kua Etnika.
Eight talented young percussionists in the group, Tataloe, also contributed foot-tapping rhythms with their unusual percussion instruments: frying pans, iron canisters, plastic jerrycans and even an iron traffic sign.
The city administration paid Rp 1 billion (US$110,988) toward the cost of the carnival, with the rest provided by sponsors. It ended at 8 p.m. with a fireworks display taking the form of a curtain and a fountain.