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Keliling Keliling
Dago Festival
Seniwati Gallery Calendar
Seniwati Gallery's 2005 calendar is out and selling well.
You can see and order copies from the Gallery's website at :
http://www.seniwatigallery.com
Payment is accepted by credit card via Paypal.
AGOG Festival at Woodford
Audiences at Woofrord Festival in Queensland this year really will be agog then the Australian Gathering of Gamelans 2004/5 gets going. With a vibrant array of gamelan and Indonesian music performances, workshops and happenings, the scene is set for a fabulous time! Gamelan groups will be gathering from far afield including Gamelan Giri Jaya Toowoomba, Balinese coomuity of Qld Gamelan, Brisbane,Suara Naga Armidale, Langen Sari Byron Bay, Rhythm Hunters from The Central Coast of NSW and Sekaa Gong Tirta Sari Sydney among others.
Congratulations Cecily on all your hard work!!!!
For full Festival Program : www.woodfordfolkfestival.com
Images of Ramayana
Panoramayana presents Images of Ramayna Performances in Southeast Asia from 14 September to 31 December 2004.
In this unique exhibition, fifty colourful photographs tell the Ramayana story through a panorama of the traditional dances, puppet plays and theatrical dramas of Southeast Asia. This ancient epic of devotion, separation and reunion is shared among the diverse countries of the region in their rich variety of performing arts. They are viewed through the camera of author and dancer Garrett Kam, who originally is from Hawaii but has been living in Southeast Asia for nearly twenty years.
The exhibition and events is being be held at:
Visiting Exhibitions Gallery
NUS Museums Building
University Cultural Center
National University of Singapore
Website: http://www.nus.edu.sg/museums
A Jazz Lovers Joy in Jakarta
The Indonesia Open Jazz Festival began in 2001 with 1 week of jazz workshops, seminars and performances. This regular open air jazz festival is part of Ms Tjut Nyak Deviana Daudsjah contribution to increase awareness of local musicians in the creation of great jazz music.
The 2004 IOJ kicked off on the 21st of August and ran for 7 days bringing an abundance of amazing activities coordinated for the week including; Indoor concerts with many local and foreign musicians participating under the direction of the Institut Musik Daya, workshops for modern jazz instruments, Brazilian jazz instruments, vocals and guitar workshops, seminars, yummy dining and numerous outdoor jam sessions.
Some
of the national and foreign artists which participated were:
From Indonesia:
Margie Segers with Benny Likumahua, Sam Panuwun, Jacky & Perry Pattiselano,
Titi Handayani & Friends : Ahmad Ananda, Doni Sundjoyo, Ramadhani Syah,
Titi Handayani, Tomorrow People Ensemble : Indra Perkasa, Nikita Jeffrey
Dompas, Elfa Zulham. Syah, Azfansadra Karim, The Daya Orchestra, The
Daya Swara Choir, The Cherokee Band, Riza Arshad Simak Dialog, Sri Aksana
Sjuman, Tjut Nyak Deviana Daudsjah, John Revi Awondatu and Martin.
The
International Musicians were:
Peter Steinbach, double bass (Germany), Rogerio Bottermaio Quartet from
Brazil, with Rodrigo Botter Maio (Brazil), Louis Eduardo Costa (Brazil)
& Elisabet Raspall Guillamont (Spain), George Perczel on piano (Hungary),
Hideaki Tokunaga on guitar (USA/Japan) and John Stowell on guitar (USA)
Contact
us at :
Institut Musik Daya
Jl. Wijaya IX No. 21 Kebayoran
Jakarta Selatan
Tel. +62 21 7209748
Fax. +62 21 7258963
Email: imd@attglobal.net
'Self Rights': An Ode to Women
The Jakarta Post Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Choreographer Hartati staged performances, which were largely inspired by Minang culture, among Indonesia's best artists on the evenings of 15 and 16 September 2004.
Hartati's work Self Rites -- involving her own experiences as a woman within marriage tries to see beyond, how the bargaining between the traditional and the modern is a process of cultural transition that keeps moving, with much disorientation generally faced by Indonesian women.
"Women's disjointed attitude is not easily erased. Tradition in a formal way may have been left behind, but the mind-set remains in them. I call this the 'task'. In Minang society there is a maxim, baban barek singguluang batu, which means: Tradition is just like a weight on your head, like stone. Heavy to carry, heavier to defend," said Hartati. Self Rites shows the pull and push process between the task and freedom, in the social arena, in public and in private, and it shows women looking for solution through dialog. In developing Self Rites, Hartati adopted elements of traditional dance in Indonesia, particularly from the Minang culture.
She also took inspiration from traditional ritual ceremonies mixed with modern dance. The merging of the two can be called "rites", namely art form as it becomes contemporary.
Indonesian Art Summit
The Jakarta Post Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Will the Indonesian Art Summit 2004 be the peak of the creative process forvisual artists, since this year marks their first participation in theone-month long festival?
Art critic Mamannoor said this was a lingering question for him when he wasasked to be part of a preliminary team to formulate the theme for visual art that would be linked to the Summit's broader theme, Creativity for Tolerance and Peace. The confusion was partly because there was the immediate task of formulating criteria for artists to join the festival.
"Of course this inclusion (of visual art in the Summit) is good and must be appreciated. But from the beginning we have been hampered by the word 'summit'. Is it going to be the peak of the artists' creative process or the ultimate achievement of being artists or something else? It's a bit hard for us because it's a silent expression, unlike other art forms."
The first festival in 1995 only focused on music and dance, while the second and third festivals in 1998 and 2001 added theatrical performances.
"In the meantime, since it's the first participation, we will still focus on accommodating the existing theme and the artists' works as a medium to convey their messages," Mamannoor told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Twenty-five artists from Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, Japan, France, and Pakistan -- selected over a one-year period -- have agreed to showcase their works in the 4th Art Summit Indonesia 2004 International Festival on Contemporary Performing & Visual Arts, under the theme Tolerance and Peace.
Particularly in the visual art, the 30 works -- paintings, photos and installations -- of the artists must go under the sub-theme of theatricality in visual art.
"We need to see how the theme is translated by artists in their works to convey the message of tolerance and peace," said Mamannoor who is himself an art lecturer.
Another summit committee member Rizki A. Jaelani said the festival would be a venue for senior and younger artists to interact and share their experience,for they are living under the same umbrella -- contemporary art.
"All of these artists are regarded as outstanding names in contemporary art. They must submit works that were produced at least three years ago and of course go with our theme. In our selection, we will put more weight on the theatricality of the works," Rizki said.
Mamannoor added that one of the works was Ning from the late Hendrawan Riyanto."This is specially included because we wish to honor Hendrawan. Also we want to say that a person can reach his or her peak when one has passed away. It's a summit for Hendrawan."
Aceh Photographic Exhibition
‘Aceh:
Indonesia’s Other East Timor’
Friday
6 August, 2004
‘Aceh
: Indonesia’s Other East Timor’ was a touring photographic exhibition
that captured the spirit and determination of the Acehnese in their
quest to gain independence and peace. This exhibition provided a unique
and rare insight into the lives of people living in war torn Aceh.
The exhibition was launched on Saturday 21 August, 2004 with guest speakers
Justice John Dowd AO and representatives from the Aceh community. It
was open to the public from Wednesday 18 – Sunday 29 August, 2004.
Aceh is the site of one of South East Asia’s longest-running armed conflicts,
claiming the lives of thousands since the 1970s, yet is one of the least
well-known.
The exhibition featured works by William Nessen, who crossed into rebel-controlled
territory to film the war, Hotli Simantjuk who captures the humanity
amid the insanity of war, and Tarmizi Hava whose work won a prize in
the 2004 World Press Photo Awards.
Caritas Australia supports the work of Indonesian Solidarity in raising the profile of the Aceh conflict and the humanitarian issues that surround it.
Arts Network Asia
www.artsnetworkasia.org
Arts Network Asia, set up in September 1999, is a group of independent
artists and arts activists primarily from Southeast Asia that encourages
and supports regional artistic collaboration as well as develops managerial
and administrative skills in the creative arts of Asia. Arts Network Asia
is motivated by the philosophy of meaningful collaboration, distinguished
by mutual respect, initiated in Asia and carried out primarily by Asian
artists. In particular, the network aims to promote artistic exchanges
that are primarily process-oriented, with a focus on Southeast Asia including
its relationship with East and South Asia.
Dancing Out of Bali by John Coast
Periplus
Classics
Reprinted 2004
Dancing Out of Bali tells the story of how a young Englishman, John Coast, brought a troupe of 44 Balinese dancers and musicians from a remote village in Bali to London's West End and New York's Broadway. This was in 1952. It is the account of a man's passion to make sure that the world would once again experience the breathtaking beauty of Balinese dance, costumes and music. It is a brilliant piece of anthropological, historical and cultural writing and a great introduction to anyone visiting the island.
Periplus, the leading publishers on Indonesia, have reprinted the renowned classic, Dancing Out of Bali, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the English edition. Sir David Attenborough, who worked with John Coast, has written a perceptive introduction. There are recently discovered photographs with detailed captions.
The account is an important piece of history and continues the tradition of Colin McPhee. It is a tribute to John Coast's contribution to Balinese dance and music.
The book is due to be released in the USA and the UK at the end of November 2004, but is already available from Murni's web site, www.murnis.com http://www.murnis.com . Royalties from the sales of this edition will go towards the continuance of the performing arts in Bali.
Murni, who owns Murni's Warung in Ubud, Bali, and is a gamelan player herself, has written a full review of the book, which can be read at http://www.murnis.com/onlineshop/books/reviewdancingoutofbali.htm
Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 10-16 October 2004
The beautiful mountain village of Ubud, in Bali, hosted the inaugural Ubud Writers & Readers Festival from 10 to 16 October 2004.
Ubud, set in the foothills on the way to Bali’s Mount Agung, has always
been regarded as Bali’s cultural heart and is famous for its performing
arts such as dance and gamelan music, as well as outstanding production
of visual and decorative arts: painting, basketry, woodcarving and other
crafts.
The week-long festival, initiated by the Saraswati Foundation for the Arts, offered keynote presentations, panel discussions, interviews, workshops, feasts, exhibitions, tours and culinary demonstrations as well as dazzling performances of dance and music.
The Festival attracted over 60 writers and cultural workers from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Europe and the USA Bali, Java, and other islands of Indonesia
The Festival focussed on several key themes: These were: Through Darkness to Light, Indonesian and Western perceptions of Bali post 2002; Pressing Concerns, which included discussions by and with Southeast Asian book and magazine publishers; From Page to Stage [Writers and performance]; The Long Way Home [Travel writing and identity]; Children of the Gods [Children’s and young people’s literature]; with one day being devoted to lifestyle, coffee and tropical cuisine.
Highlight events including: Keynote addresses by Goenawan Mohamad [Indonesia] and Amitav Ghosh [India / USA]; the attendance of prominent Australian media personality George Negus; a poetic drama using life-sized puppets from Singapore, composed by the poet Felix Cheong; a wayang kulit [puppet drama] in English, based on ancient Balinese literature, by one of Bali’s famous dalang and a new dramatic collaborative work by Darwin dramatist Sandra Thibodeaux. The Threads of Life Textile Arts Center of Ubud presented a program of dance and music from the island of Sumba, together with a unique textiles exhibition.
There were also cooking demonstrations and discussions by culinary and restaurant experts from Southeast Asia, and an East Coast Palm Sugar and Sea Salt Tour for writers, who entertained each other with poetry and narrative readings over a café lunch.
Writers of and specialists in children’s and young people’s literature attended from Australia [Dr Virginia Lowe, Ron Brooks, Anita Heiss], Bali [I Made Taro] Jakarta [Dr Murti Bunanta] India [Arup Kumar Dutta] and Hong Kong [Nury Vittachi]. There was also a well-developed program of activities for the local Ubud primary schools, with the aim of encouraging the love of reading and creative writing among Bali’s younger generation.
Special and VIP functions included a Welcome Dinner in the Ubud
Palace; a literary lunch; a cocktail party for the Press and publishers;
book launches and book signings. A reception was held to present and honour the winners of the fourth Khatulistiwa
Literary Award for the best Indonesian fiction for 2003 – 2004. Founded
in 2001 by Jakarta writer and publisher, Richard Oh, QB World Books,
in partnership with The Plaza Senayan and the support of various sponsors,
the award is intended to raise the image of Indonesian literature and
to encourage more Indonesians to read.
Other initiatives supported by the Festival were the inaugural Residency for a Tasmanian writer in Bali, courtesy of the Tasmanian Writers’ Centre, [Poet Adrienne Eberhard], and a two weeks professional development residency for arts administrator from the Northern Territory Writers Centre in Darwin, [Finley Smith].
For more information, visit the Festival website: www.ubudwritersfestival.com
Voice of Jakarta
The new website "Voice of Jakarta" is a portal to streamed Indonesia-related music of all varieties.
www.voiceofjakarta.com
Besides providing great music to listen to, the site is willing to receive music you may wish to introduce to others. For example, if you have an audio stream of Indonesian music, post it through contacting the website through the website and they will post a "radio button" connecting to your piece!
Voice of Jakarta also accepts announcements related to CD releases, special events, etc. It's a great site for sharing information among the the community of Indonesian music lovers.