Thirty-one Teams Celebrate Ramadan at North Jakarta Bedug Festival

Jakarta (ANTARA) - A total of 31 teams, representing various sub-districts in North Jakarta, participated in the 1447 Hijri Ramadan Bedug Festival at the North Jakarta City Hall on Tuesday. “This is part of the community’s tradition, especially for Muslims, in welcoming Ramadan,” said the Secretary of North Jakarta City, Iyan Sopian Hadi, in Jakarta on Tuesday. He stated that they fully support the activity as an effort to celebrate the richness of cultural traditions while also increasing public awareness in preserving local wisdom. “This festival is expected to be a space for the community to celebrate Ramadan with a spirit of creativity and togetherness,” he said. He hopes that the winners will be able to achieve the best results and bring pride to North Jakarta at the provincial level. The Head of the North Jakarta Culture Sub-department, Dya Perwita Kusuma, said that this year’s festival was attended by 31 teams, with each team consisting of seven to nine participants. He added that participants were allowed to use additional musical instruments such as rebana and other Betawi musical instruments to enrich the performance arrangement. He wants this activity to be more than just a competition, but also a real effort to preserve traditions. “The participants perform takbir chants accompanied by the bedug drum and additional musical instruments, while still paying attention to the rules of pronunciation and creativity,” he said. Makhorijul huruf refers to the places where the letters of the Hijaiyah alphabet are pronounced, which are generally divided into five locations: the throat, tongue, two lips, oral cavity, and nasal cavity, while Fashohah is fluency or clarity in pronouncing letters according to their makhraj and characteristics so as not to change the meaning. “The judging panel consists of representatives from the DKI Jakarta Regional Office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, academics, and art activists,” he said. The winners will receive trophies, certificates, and prize money. The first-place winner will receive Rp12.5 million, the second-place winner Rp10 million, and the third-place winner Rp8.5 million. Meanwhile, the first-place runner-up will receive Rp7.5 million, the second-place runner-up Rp6.5 million, and the third-place runner-up Rp5 million. Meanwhile, a participant from the Lagoa sub-district, Hans Adi Putro (23), said he was optimistic about participating in this year’s competition because they had prepared a special performance concept with uniforms that were different from the other participants. “We have nine members and have practiced seven times since early February. Our target is to win again, like last year,” he said. Copyright © ANTARA 2026 It is strictly prohibited to take content, crawl or automatically index for AI on this website without written permission from the ANTARA News Agency.