Teachers join dance, music classes

BOGOR: At least 100 local teachers joined traditional dance and angklung music classes to help them prepare their schools for an upcoming student competition in June and the Bogor Art Festival in August.

Angklung is a musical instrument indigenous to the Sundanese culture of West Java, and consists of bamboo tubes suspended from a frame to form a scale. The tubes are played by shaking and are usually played in an ensemble.

Officiated by newly installed Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto, the class opened on April 19 and will last until April 24.

Head of the local tourism, art and culture office Reny Handayani said on Monday that the classes were aimed at disseminating the value of traditional culture to kindergarten, primary and secondary school students.

Diani Budiarto said this year's training was the fourth, but was the first to have such a large number of participants.

He expressed a hope that such courses could help revive the angklung.

"This is actually a cultural asset of this city, and should be mastered and maintained by students," Diani said. -- JP