Saturday, October 25, 2008

Bandung's "Kemilau Nusantara" Fest: A Lenong Dancer and A Joker



"Kemilau Nusantara" or the Glitter of the Indonesian Archipelago is an annual event held by Bandung's Tourism Office. This festival features tourism, art, and cultural exhibitions from all the regencies in the Province of West Java and other provinces in Indonesia plus a grand street parade of art and cultural performances from all the participating regions. This year event, the fifth, began yesterday and will last until tomorrow when the parade is going to take place.

I went to Lapangan Gasibu (the Gasibu Square), the venue of this event, today and enjoyed the various stage cultural performances from different parts of Indonesia. Unfortunately, I won't be able to be there tomorrow to cover the parade since, as I said earlier in the week, I would be doing wedding photography for my friend's wedding. I hope the other Bandung Daily Photo blogs (Harry's and Benyamin's) will be covering the event for you.

The photo featured above is of a Lenong dancer and joker. Lenong is a traditional Betawi (Jakarta's indigenous people) folk theater. The joker together with the dancers hold a very important role in this folk theater: The Joker is a central character that makes the moral message of the story more digestable to the audience. The dancers (and their dances) provide a lively and colorful intermezzo so that the audience can stay "awake" and follow the often long performance.

14 comments:

Laurie Allee said...

Marvelous shot, Eki! Your commentary is so interesting. I realized after visiting your blog that I know almost nothing about Indonesia, its customs or its people. Thank you for bringing all of us such great history and information -- and through the beautiful window of your photography. I would love to hear what the music sounds like here in this shot!

Anonymous said...

Looks like fun. Thanks for explaining it so well. Beautiful picture.

Anonymous said...

Glad to see the Nikon getting some time on its own! ;) Wonderful commentary, I always love reading those as it helps create a better understanding for me. =D

Anonymous said...

Really a nice shot. The people are handsome and the colors are nice to see. It is a very nice photograph, Eki.

Anonymous said...

I love the colors in the costumes! Wonderful shot!

Digital Polaroids said...

WOW, She's really beautiful. Exoticly beautiful for me, being an Argentinian blogger.

Rambling Woods said...

Another great shot and more to know about your country and its customs..I can't wait to see the wedding photos...

Layrayski said...

I love watching emotions captured in photos. Interesting commentary as always. =)

Elizabeth said...

Your site is great!! I love the pictures. Thanks for sharing.


Elizabeth

Virginia said...

Eki,
You're the best. Always filling us in on what we need to know. Lovely shot of this beautiful girl and her "partner" who looks pained! HA

Susie of Arabia said...

Very interesting - makes me want to go to Indonesia and experience it for myself! Asian women are SOOO beautiful!

mencobahidup said...

halo,numpang lewat.Apa blog ini khusus untuk yang punya judul daily photos aja?

escape said...

i miss big cultural shows. never seen one like this.

Anonymous said...

2006 I went there and join the contest, well not so bad for the result.
So much fun and one thing i like most is the performers outfit, really nice stuff they brought out for the theme. Kinda miss the atmosphere of Bandung ... ugh