Sumatran dancers star in festival
By K. Basrie
CIREBON, West Java (JP): This week's festival celebrating Indonesia's royal courts featured glamorous dances and wedding ceremonies from two former kingdoms in Sumatra and Kalimantan yesterday.
The audience was not disappointed with the events on the fourth day of the week-long palace festival.
Dancers from Sumatra's Palembang Darussalam Sultanane impressed the audience, including relatives of the other royal families attending the festival.
"The dances are so beautiful and rich in meaning and the performers' costumes are so rich in color and style," said Central Java art critic Fikri Sujana.
The Palembang Darussalam Sultanate opened with a dance titled Gendhing Sriwijaya, which was performed by five women.
Accompanied by a four-piece traditional band, the dancers in red and gold with decorative headdress, moved with graceful slowness as they demonstrated the royal family welcoming important guests.
The audience, including camera-laden tourists, were absolutely gripped by the afternoon show at the Kasepuhan Palace.
But it was the second show that was most popular and brought thunderous applause from the audience.
It was titled Pagar Keraton and depicted the royal pre-wedding ceremony of a woman.
According to Palembang Darussalam tradition, the bride-to-be should have her sisters' permission, as well as her parents', to marry.
The performance demonstrated a ritual called Pagar Keraton, in which the bride sits on a tray symbolizing that she will leave soon.
Meanwhile, at the Kacirebonan Palace, Riau's Siak Kingdom awed hundreds of people who had waited hours for the performance which was heavily influenced by Moslem traditions.
The kingdom was founded in 1723 by Sultan Abdul Jalil Rahmatsyah, the son of the King of Johor, who escaped from his homeland.
The dances from this sultanate were the Zappin, Kipas and Sentak Belang Kaki.
Their final number, Joget Lambak, involved inviting the audience to dance on stage with the performers.
In the evening, dancers from two lesser-known kingdoms, the Sultanate of Alwatzkubillah and Amantubillah Mempawah Palace in West Kalimantan, showed their traditions.
Like their neighboring principalities, these two kingdoms displayed the rich influence of Islam.
The Festival Keraton II, from July 1 to July 7, ends Monday and all participants have agreed to hold the next biannual festival in Bima in West Nusa Tenggara in 1999.
Today's venue (participant; time; location):
Ternate (Maluku); 02:00 pm - 05:00 pm; Kasepuhan Palace
Kasepuhan (host); 07:30 pm - 10:30 pm; Kasepuhan Palace
Kutai (East Kalimantan); 02:00 pm - 05:00 pm; Kacirebonan Palace
Bima (West Nusa Tenggara); 07:30 pm - 10:30 pm; Kacirebonan Palace
Events on every day (venue; time; location):
Heirloom display; 08:00 am - 07:00 pm; Kanoman Palace
West Java art show; 08:00 pm - finish; Kejaksaan Square, Kebumen Square
Rulers' family tree exhibition; 08:00 am - 08:00 pm; Kasepuhan Palace
FKN II Fair; 09:00 am - 10:00 pm; Kejaksaan Square
Source: FKN II organizing committee