Street carnival to close Jakarta's month-long fest
Leony Aurora , Jakarta
A street carnival on Sunday will close the month of festivities held to commemorate Jakarta's 477th anniversary, which fell on June 22.
The carnival is to feature a variety of parades, musical and dance performances, plus a jam session of 477 drummers and percussionists.
The Karnaval Jakarta 2004 will start at 3 p.m., when a parade of 300 decorated cars, motorcycles and carts will cruise down the streets, while acrobats on stilts will lead the way for participants on foot. A procession of musicians playing the traditional Tanjidor and Hajr Marawis Jakarta music, accompanied by dancers and fellow musicians from across the nation, will follow.
The Karnaval will end "with a show from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. around the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle", city culture and museum agency head Nurhadi Sastrapraja said on Thursday.
The one-hour show will open with the Balinese kecak dance, before the Circle of Rhythm will sound out their drums to an arrangement by Bandung-based musician Harry Rusli.
"We want to make this year's anniversary memorable by getting it entered in the Indonesian Museum of Records," said Wawan Juanda of event organizer Republic of Entertainment.
The street fest will end at 8 p.m. with a fireworks display -- nothing spectacular, according to the organizer -- but they will include fireworks showering down in a curtain and spraying out into a fountain.
Leading up to the climax, spread out across 16 makeshift stages, some percussionists will provide accompaniment to performances of "world music" -- an East-meets-West local genre involving traditional instruments.
The stages will be erected along the side of the road from Hotel Indonesia to the Sarinah department store, with sidewalks and slow lanes reserved for carnival-goers.
Groups slated to entertain Jakartans include jazz band Krakatau, Djadug Ferianto & Kua Etnika, Samba Sunda and Gilang Ramadhan with Nera, as well as jazz divas Syaharani and Marusya Nainggolan.
Shadow puppet master Sujiwo Tejo, Simak Dialog's pianist Riza Arshad, and percussionist Ajie Rao with his group of under-5s will enliven the city.
Officials said the administration contributed Rp 1 billion (US$110,988) for the event, with the remainder of costs provided by sponsors. The event organizer declined to release the total cost of Karnaval.
Visitors can reach downtown on the busway, which will be rolling down its exclusive lane all day Sunday.
The southbound fast lane of Jl. Thamrin will be closed from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and a section of Jl. Sudirman just south of the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle will be closed from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The vehicular parade will travel south in the fast lane of Jl. Thamrin from City Hall to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, where it will split down Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Imam Bonjol.
The foot parade will start from City Hall in the slow lane, then turn onto Jl. Sabang.