About the Bali Arts Festival (3)

Each year, the Bali Arts Festival, beside the fed classical dances of the island, such as the legong, gambuh, kecak, barong, baris, mask dances and the like, is based on the theme around which new "dance choreography" is produced and old village dances and activities revived. Over the years, the whole range of classical Balinese stories - Ramayana, Mahabharata, Sutasoma, Panji - have thus been turned into "colossal" Sendratari Ballets.

The main challenge to the Arts Festival is obviously economic in nature. As village life is increasingly feeling the strains of monetary considerations, dancers, musicians and others cannot be expected to continue participating simply for the sake and the pleasure of it. As costs soar, new sources of financing have to be found. The obvious answer is the private sector and in particular the tourism industry. The greater task then is to convince the hotels, travel agencies and tourist guides to be more participatory in the Arts Festival rather than to their own sponsored events.

Considering the pride the Balinese have in their culture, and the adaptability and dynism they have always demonstrated, this little hurdle can be overcome. Trust the Balinese. They will eventually succeed to transform their tradition into a modern, Balinese culture of their own.

From http://www.baliartsfestival.com/

About the Bali Arts Festival (2)

The History of the Bali Arts Festival

When tourism took off after 1965, the Balinese insisted that it followed cultural guidelines: if tourism was to be accepted, it was to be a cultural tourism, or "pariwisata budaya".

As the Balinese put it: "Tourism should be for Bali instead of Bali for tourism." In time, this idea become national policy, as part of a larger revping of regional cultures for national purposes. The policy owes much to the former Director General of Culture (1968-1978) and Governor of Bali (1978-1988), Ida Bagus Mantra, an Indian-educed Balinese. It led, on the one side, to the creation of enclave resorts such as Nusa Dua to limit the direct impact of tourism, and on the other, to a long haul cultural policy aimed at nurturing and preserving the traditional agrarian culture while adapting it to the demands of modernity, and in particular of "cultural tourism".

At the village level, local music groups, dances and other cultural events were inventoried, then supported by a series of contests at the district and regency level. The ensuing competition energized the cultural life of villages, whose "young blood" was already being drained to the city by the process of economic change and urbanization.

Schools of dance and art were created, in particular the Kokar conservatory and the STSI School of Dance and Music. Beside research, these schools replaced the traditional master/disciple relationship by modern methods of teaching; standardized the dance movements, produced new types of Balinese dances for tourism and modern village entertainment. Most important, it enabled former students to return to the villages as teachers, where they diffused, beside the creed of cultural resilience and renewal, new dances and standardized versions of old ones.

Many of the performances are held at the amphitheater which can hold up to 6,000 spectators, in a temple-like stage. 

To co continue...

From http://www.baliartsfestival.com/

About the Bali Arts Festival (1)

The Bali Arts Festival is a full month of daily performances, handicraft exhibitions and other related cultural and commercial activities during which literally the whole of Bali comes to the city to present its offerings of dance, music and beauty. On display are trances from remote mountain slopes, forgotten or recently revived village dances, food and offering contests, classical palace dances, stars of Balinese stage, odd musical performances, "kreasi baru" (new creations) from the dance schools of Denpasar, as well as contemporary choreography and dance companies from other islands and from abroad.

It is a month long revelry that perhaps no other place in the world can put up on such a low budget as the Balinese. Not only is their traditional culture alive and well, but they have a tremendous pride in it.

It begins in the villages, where the seka or cultural groups are selected and organized at the regency level, vie with each other to perform the Arts Festival and thus display in front of a large audience the uniqueness of their village of birth and resting place of their ancestors.

The Bali Arts Festival is the Denpasar cultural event of the year, perhaps it would no be too far fetched to suggest that it is the cultural event of Indonesia. The festival is thus a unique opportunity to see local village culture both "live" and at first hand. Tourists are warmly welcomed.

To co continue...

From http://www.baliartsfestival.com/

INDONESIA TO BREAK WORLD RECORD Angklung Ensemble in Washington DC, USA

On Saturday evening from 5.0 pm - 7.0 pm, 9 July 2011, thousands are expected to gather at the Washington Monument Grounds North Lawn, National Mall in Washington DC to break the World Record for the “Largest Angklung Ensemble” in history. Supervised by adjudicators from the Guinness World Record, the thousands assembled from different nationalities and cultural backgrounds will together shake the angklung bamboo instruments and are assured to make melodious music together almost instantly.

All are invited to join to break the Angklung Ensemble Guinness World Record. To participate and for further information log on to : www.embassyofindonesia.org

Angklung is a musical instrument made from joints of pieces of bamboo fine-tuned to one particular note when shaken.  Each piece has one specific note, so that in order to create a melody,  all notes and half notes of the song must be represented in the set. These are then shaken by each individual at the appropriate place in the score. Hearing thousands of these bamboo instruments shaken together by a crowd that has never handled these instruments before is very thrilling both for the audience as well as for the players themselves.

The Angklung is traditionally known in West Java and Bali, however, this modern version was created by Mang Udjo, whose family continues to manage their own Studio, open to visitors in the hill town of Bandung.

 The event, organized by the Indonesian Embassy in Washington together with the Indonesian Investment Board  BKPM is part of the Indonesian Festival 2011 held in the United States this summer, which carries the theme : “Celebrating Multiculturalism”.

From 12th to the 16th July, a Batik Exhibition and Workshop on the theme “Indonesian Batik: World Heritage” will be staged at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, in tandem with the American Batik Design Competition which is ongoing from March through November.

For more information on the Angklung, log on to www.angklung-udjo.co.id

BALI voted BEST ISLAND ASIA and Second Best Island in the WORLD

Readers of the influential Travel + Leisure Magazine again voted the fabled island of BALI in Indonesia as Best Island in Asia, and second Best in the World in the magazine’s Annual World’s Best Awards 2011 Readers Survey, as announced on 7 July.

The Best Islands were rated according to natural attractions, activities/sights, restaurants/food, people and value.

In these, Bali outranked Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Boracay in the Philippines, Great Barrier Reef Islands in Australia, Sicily in Italy, and Big Island in Hawaii. Bali moved up a notch since 2010 when it was placed as readers’ fourth favorite island in the world.

“This year is another triumph for our region,” said Matt Leppard, editor-in-chief of Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia. “Not only has Bangkok bagged the coveted top spot again (as Best City), Bali also remains hugely popular, moving up in the overall ranking in 2011, and almost all of our world-class hotels and resorts are among global traveler’s favorites. Overall, Asia has, again, proven itself to be the world’s favorite place to stay.”

Bali is but one among 17,500 islands in the Indonesian archipelago, yet even among its colorful neighbors—and after decades of tourism development—it still stands out in its lushness and incomparable beauty. From the challenging waves of Kuta and Uluwatu, the serene village life of Ubud, to the spellbinding natural scenery of Mount Batur, Bali truly is a perfect portrayal of what beauty really is. Last year, Lonely Planet’s Best of Travel 2010 had also ranked Bali second place among the world’s Top Regions.

The survey was conducted through a series of activity. A questionnaire developed by the editors of Travel + Leisure, in association with ROI Research Inc., was made available to Travel + Leisure readers at TLWorldsBest.com from December 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011. Readers were invited to participate through Travel + Leisure magazine (January, February, and March issues), T+L iPad editions (T+L 500 and Romance), and online at TravelandLeisure.com. The scores are indexed averages of responses concerning applicable characteristics. Respondents were asked to rate hotels, islands, spas, rental-car agencies, cities, cruise lines, tour operators, safari outfitters, and airlines on several determined characteristics.

The top winners in each category will be honored at an awards ceremony on July 14 hosted by Editor in Chief Nancy Novogrod and VP/Publisher Jean-Paul Kyrillos in Los Angeles.

From  http://www.indonesia.travel/