INDONESIA – “ERAU” Festivals
‘Musicians from the beginning of time have been there to express the mood and the musical feelings in the air for whatever’s going on in that particular culture. It’s the greatest joy as a musician to be able to translate that, be part of something and watch the scenery around you.’

The island nation of Indonesia blends South East Asia and Polynesia together. It boasts a whopping 14,000 islands that accumulate to over 735,000 square miles. Though immense and separated by the sea, Indonesians have an affection for modern festivals while still celebrating their heritage. Java and jazz pair well for one of the coffee capitals of the world–see the Java Jazz festival. Bright and brilliant costumes parade down streets during Solo Batik. Thousands of kites float in the sky during the Bali Kite Festival. Erau, a word descended from the ancient Kutai word “eroh”, literally means crowded, noisy or joyful. Indonesian festivals to this day still embody the meaning of the word.

FLORES “Sagi”
Flores, a fascinating and beautiful island long hidden in the shadows of its more famous neighbour Bali, is finally emerging as a unique destination of its own. Flores spells adventure, diving, eco-tours, and mountain climbing interspersed with visits to prehistoric heritage sites, traditional villages and cultural events. Find some of the world’s most exotic underwater life, dive in the pristine seas of Komodo, or swim along with huge manta rays, dolphins and dugongs in the island of Flores!

Famed for its rich culture, traditional boxing is one of Ngada and Nagekeo District’s well-preserved cultural attractions passed on for generations. The word “Sagi” or “Etu” in Soa language means to fight with boxing. The boxing festival spreads in some areas such as Soa and Riung Sub Districts.

A war exercise for the warriors in the old times, Sagi or Etu as the community of Nagekeo calls it, is a celebration of thanksgiving and hope for a good harvest. Every blood dropped from the fighter’s body marks a blessing for that year’s abundant crop and is anticipated with gratitude.

In addition, the traditional boxing also serves to strengthen communication, brotherhood and kinship among the villagers. The spirit of brotherhood is highly upheld and respected; there are unwritten rules that no one can lose or win and members of a family or relatives are not allowed to fight each other. Losing boxers will not hold a grudge so as not to damage relations among villagers and members of the society.

This fight is open to not only local villagers; spectators or guests are also welcome to participate and fight in the arena.

BANDUNG : an artist’s delight
Bandung is the capital city of West Java Province. It’s Indonesia’s third largest city, but lies close enough to Jakarta and offers cooler weather. It features a large collection of Dutch Colonial architecture, a beautiful botanical garden, zoo, golf courses and a wide variety of culinary offerings. Bandung is a great place to visit any time of the year with its pictureque open vistas. Surrounded by green fertile mountains, Bandung is today Indonesia’s centre for learning and creativity. Today it is one of Indonesia’s most prestigious university towns.

Well known for its friendly climate, Bandung soon grew into a town for wealthy planters who own miles and miles of tea, coffee and cinchona plantations, fruit orchards and vegetable gardens in the cool and fertile hills of West Java. It is also the centrefor producing most of Indonesia’s textiles for fashion wear, linen and upholstery. This city offers trendy fashion wear at reasonable prices at its myriad and overwhelming number of factory outlets scattered along Dago (Ir H Djuanda), Riau (RE Martadinata), Cihampelas, and Setiabudi. Shop to your heart’s content and grab famous brands, trendy fashion and a lot more at surprisingly affordable prices! Bandung offers a wide range of delicious local and international cuisines, and a distinct colonial European-style atmosphere combined with captivating traditional arts.

How to Draw Bandung Drawing Festival is back in July 2017.

Held consistently each year, it is designed to be the biggest drawing festival in Indonesia. It will involve more parties, including 200 artists, 20 communities, 20 art institutions, 50 high schools, 50 junior high schools, 30 elementary schools, 20 studios and 30 kindergartens. From beginners to professionals and children to adults all get the same opportunity; to be able to show off their work and gain appreciation from the public.

On each title, different curators are selected to provide a new view of the latest drawing progress. It is a process of collaborative creation and workshop  pre-event together with artists and some communities. Among others, there will be:

• Animation workshop
• Etching workshop
• Systematic drawing
• Drawing works in wire installation format

JAKARTA: Alive and Kicking

The capital of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta is a huge, sprawling metropolis, home to 9 million people. During the day the number increases with another 2 million commuters making their way to work in the city. Located on the northern coast of Java, the province of Jakarta has rapidly expanded over the years, absorbing many villages in the process.

Jakarta is a conglomeration of villages known as kampung, networked by main roads and super highways. You may drive down one wide avenue one minute and suddenly find yourself squeezed into a small street together with scores of cars and motorbikes. Together with its many suburbs Jakarta has become a megapolitan city, hence invest in a good map, or rely on GPS.

Jakarta is the seat of the national and the provincial government, and Indonesia’s political centre. Moreover, it is also the centre and hub of Indonesia’s national finance and trade. It is no wonder, therefore that you will find Jakarta an ever dynamic city, a city that never sleeps.

Music is the life and soul of this archipelago. The music of Indonesia demonstrates its cultural diversity, the local musical creativity, as well as subsequent foreign musical influences that shaped contemporary music scenes of Indonesia. Indonesian music is heavily influenced by pop, rock, jazz and orchestra infusions. Nearly thousands of Indonesian islands having its own cultural and artistic history and character has resulted in hundreds of different forms of music.

Jakarta is on the map as an international travel destination when it comes to music. After all, the music festival season spans all year long here with perfect weather conditions. No matter what genre you like, festival organizers are finally getting the memo that it is totally worth putting on a great show for fans. Below are just some of the amazing music festivals happening in the archipelago later this year.

• Music Bank World Tour July 2017
• We the Fest 2017 by Ismaya Kive

YOGYAKARTA: the soul of indonesia
The central part of the beautiful island of Java consists of 2 provinces, namely: Central Java and Yogyakarta (or more popularly known as Jogja). Here throbs the heart and  soul of Java’s ancient sophisticated civiliation that reached its pinnacle in the 8th and 9th century, as evident in the construction of the mighty Borobudur  temple – a Buddhist heritage – and its adjacent graceful Prambanan temple complex – a Hindu archaeological site.
Different religions have been infused in Yogyakarta and have been peacefully absorbed into the philosophy, character and behaviour of its inhabitants. All these influences have, through the centuries been philosophically absorbed by the inhabitants and their leaders. The Indonesian Government has tried to revitalize this whole region, among others, through the staging of dynamic tourist events throughout the year, to tell the Story of Java. These range from the religious and the spiritual, to arts and culture including cuisine and health, to competitive sports.
Borobudur International Festival, an annual event held at the end of July, is an event held right at the foot of Borobudur Temple. In addition to performing cultural arts performances involving hundreds of artists from the archipelago and exhibition of superior products in Central Java, this event also involves foreign artists, who perform from morning till night.

 

Borodopur International Festival sees artists, musicians and performers congregate at Borodupur Temple for five days to show off their talents. The Festival consists of three main events including art and cultural performances as well as an orchestral performance.

 

The performances, to just name a few, include:

• Javanese performes
• Thai dancer
• Brunei Darussalam dancers
• Artisits from Shanghai
• Puppet artists

 

Visit Wonderful Indonesia!

‘Slow down and enjoy life.

It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.’