'Wayang orang' festival next week

'Wayang orang' festival next week

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta will host the fourth national festival
of traditional Javanese opera, or wayang orang, from June 30
through July 15.

The festival hopes to preserve the theatrical show that was
once highly popular in Central Java, especially in the ancient
cities of Yogyakarta and Surakarta.

Committee chairman Soeparmo said on Wednesday that the two
week revelry to be opened by the Minister of Education and
Culture, Wardiman Djojonegoro, will take place at the Taman
Ismail Marzuki.

The event, which the committee promises will be the "most
glamorous ever" will feature 30 opera groups from various
provinces, 18 of those are children's groups, Soeparmo said.

Also meant to enliven the 50th anniversary of Indonesia's
Independence Day, the festival will be followed by seminars from
July 20 through 21, in which a book on the opera will be
launched.

Soeparmo said that five traditional operas will be performed
in Jakarta in July. (pan)