Students perform Sundanese arts

Students perform Sundanese arts

A four-day Sundanese arts festival kicked off in Bogor
municipality on Wednesday, with hundreds of students from 30
universities in West Java participating.

The festival, which was officially opened by assistant to the
Office of the State Minister for Culture and Tourism for its arts
and film program Aswari Afandi, will feature various Sundanese
art forms.

Following the opening on Wednesday, hundreds of students and
other participants (see picture) paraded from Bogor City Hall on
Jl. Juanda to the Padjadjaran sports complex on Jl. Pemuda.

Organizing committee chairman Bambang Soemantri said the
festival was aimed at reviving dozens of Sundanese art forms that
were no longer popular among the nation's youth.

The Sundanese are an ethnic group from West Java.

"The festival is also aimed at inspiring young people to take
part, so that Sundanese art forms continue to be practiced," he
added.

The festival will include cultural presentations such as
angklung gubrak (traditional bamboo instrument music), Cimande
martial arts, bedug (drum performance), pantun beton,
blantek/lenong, and goong sibolong.

Bambang said the event was the third of its kind. The first
and second festivals were held in the West Java capital of
Bandung. --Theresia Sufa