Friendship through the language of art

The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Colombo is honored to announce that a band of 43 artists will fly from the Yogyakarta City, Indonesia, to Colombo on 5 September 2011. Simply calling themselves ‘Indonesian Cultural Troupe’, the artists are scheduled to perform traditional music and dances in Colombo and Galle, as well as carry out Indonesian Batik workshop in Colombo on 6 to 9 September 2011.

The Troupe has had a number of successful performances overseas, including in Portugal, Hungary, Egypt, China (the Capital and Taiwan Island), Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. The well-travelled Troupe will visit Sri Lanka to stage exclusive cultural performances. The artists are ‘civitas academica’ of the Art Institute of Indonesia – Yogyakarta, led by the vice chancellor Prof. A.M. Hermien Kusmayati.

The Troupe will stage traditional dances from provinces in Indonesia, namely Aceh, Yogyakarta, Central Java and Bali. The dancers will perform the royal dance ‘Bedhaya Wiwaha Sangaskara’, the comical marching dance ‘Nirboyo’, the vigorous stomp dance ‘Sesorengan’, the famous line dance ‘Saman’, and the theatrical dance ‘Cak Kesambut Sita’. They represent values that Indonesians hold dear, namely gracefulness, vivacity, friendliness and harmony.

The traditional music or ‘Karawitan’ is staged as a concert of ‘Gamelan’ Javanese music instrument played to accompany compositions called Gending. The word ‘Karawitan’ is closely related to the Sanskrit notion for smooth, elegant sense, which is highly valued in general Javanese music. The ‘Karawitan’ artist or ‘Pangrawit’ is usually considered an esteemed person with that sense. The Troupe will present the loud beat composition ‘Gending Nglantak’, the melodious composition ‘Gending Dayinta’ and the pleasant delicate composition ‘Gending Ladrang’.

This cultural performance is being held to introduce some of the rich traditional artistic expressions in Indonesia. The dances and music compositions are deliberately selected to represent the traditional performing arts from the provinces of Central Java, Eastern Java, Aceh and Bali.

Indonesians believe that love comes after knowledge. Therefore, beyond promotional purposes, the visit is aimed at bringing closer the relationship of the people of Indonesia and Sri Lanka through art.

The Troupe will enact three performances, namely on 6 and 7 September 2011 in Colombo, and 8 September 2011 in Galle. The performances are open for public free of charge, but only by invitation. The Embassy will be the host for the performance on 7 September 2011 at the BMICH. The public can obtain invitations for the 7 September 2011 performance at the Indonesian Embassy, located at 400/50, Sarana Road, Colombo 07, from 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. About 50 seats for the Batik workshop are also open to the public upon registration at the Indonesian Embassy.

The public can attend the performance at the UVPA Hall on 6 September 2011 with invitations available at the UVPA, while the performance on 8 September 2011 at Hall de Galle are open to people who obtain their invitations from the Southern Province Secretariat, Galle.