Wewed Masks

Some of the mask collection exhibited by Wewed, an Indramayu-based mask artisan that specializes in crafting local traditional masks, at Gunungan International Mask & Puppet Festival held recently at Kotabaru Parahyangan in the west of Bandung.

This year's Gunungan International Mask & Puppets Festival is the second of what is planned to be a regular annual event that celebrates Indonesia's rich and diverse wayang (puppet) and mask traditions in the context of similar traditions worldwide.

Sebagian koleksi Topeng Wewed yang dipamerkan dalam Festival Topeng dan Wayang Internasional Gunungan di Kotabaru Parahyangan, Kabupaten Bandung Barat, baru-baru ini. Wewed adalah seorang seniman topeng yang berasal dari Indramayu, Jawa Barat.

Balkot Festival 2012

Photo caption: Members of a bikers club performing rock 'n' roll music on one of the stages in Bandung Balkot Festival 2012.

Bandung Balkot Festival is an annual event which has been held regularly since 2007 to celebrate the city's anniversary. Previously this festival was called Bandung Blossom. This year, the name is changed to Balkot, which stands for Balai Kota or the City Hall - the venue in which the event takes place.

Unlike the previous years' events which were highlighted by a parade of floats, this year's event only consists of exhibitions and art performances. The parade has been written off the agenda because of concerns of traffic congestion it has caused in the previous years' events.

The 2012 Balkot Festival is ongoing from today until 18 Novermber. A number of Indonesia's top singers and bands are scheduled to perform here. There will also be cultural performances by members of Bandung's differemt art and creative communities, an exhibition of local creative products, and a culinary festival in which visitors can sample and taste different kinds of foods and beverages from many parts of the country.

Antique Radio

One of the collector communities that took part in last weekend's BDG Mooi! Fest was the Bandung Antique Radio Community. Here are some of their collections -- grandma's (or grandpa's) radio receivers. These are not replicas but real antique working radio. According to chairman of the community, some of them are available for sale to those who are really interested. They are not cheap though.

A Vintage 1957 Red 3600 Chevrolet Truck

One of the things exhibited at BDG Mooi! Fest was this vintage 1957 Red 3600 Chevrolet Truck. The owner said that the car was all in its original condition except for the paint. It was well-maintained, ready to drive, and that it was for sale. I didn't ask how much for. It's a very nice car.

 

Outdoor Jazz Performance

A jazz performance at BDGMooi! Fest last weekend. I forgot to check who these musicians were, but their performance was really good. I enjoyed it.

BDG Mooi!

A young graffiti artist (graffitist?) at work at BDG Mooi! Old Bandung Festival held in Kota Baru Parahiyangan in Padalarang, West Bandung, yesterday and today (April 28 - 29, 2012).

The graffiti contest was one of the events that make up the festival that was held to showcase the charm of the old Bandung. Other events include music performances, carnivals, food bazaar, and exhibitions by different 'Old Time Communities' (Komunitas Djadoel) -- communities of collectors of  vintage and not-so-vintage items from cars to radios and cameras to memorabilia from the old days.

Here are some of the things I saw at the exhibition:

Old typewriter, old movie camera, some old brass musical instruments, a gramophone, an original copy (I don't know what it means) of Stradivarius violin, etc.

I'll show you some more pictures in the next few days.

A Woman with Two Children

A woman with her two children in the crowd watching the Cap Go Meh carnival on Jenderal Sudirman Street some time ago.

Cap Go Meh Boy

A boy holding a dragon doll on his father's shoulders watching the Cap Go Meh festival attractions on Jalan Sudirman Street some time ago.

Cap Go Meh in the local name of 15th day of the Chinese New Year festivities.

Stage Act From Bandung Youth Band Festival 2011

The stage act of an independent-band singer taking part in Bandung Youth Band Festival 2011 held at Cihampelas Walk (Ciwalk) yesterday (Sunday, December 18, 2011).

Indonesia Channel 2011

These are a couple of photos that I took at Indonesia Channel 2011 held at Eldorado Family Club in the north of Bandung on July 29, 2011.



Indonesia Channel is the name of Indonesian art and cultural event which has been held every year since 2003. The event is organized as part of the Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship, a program sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs to demonstrate Indonesia’s commitment in advancing social cultural cooperation among countries in the world through direct contact and sharing of cultures amongst youths involved in the program.



The Indonesia Channel is the finale of the program in which the grantees collaboratively plan and stage a grand performance and exhibition of Indonesian art and culture which they have learned for the three-month duration of the program.

This year, the scholarship was given to 50 grantees from 31 countries. They were spread in four different cities with four different cultural heritage, namely Denpasar in Bali, Surabaya in East Java, Surakarta in Central Java, and Bandung in West Java. In each of the cities that hosted them they learned the Indonesian language (Bahasa Indonesia), different aspects of the Indonesian culture, including the local traditions and performance arts, and visited the country's significant historical places. In addition to these, they were also given the opportunity to introduce and promote their respective countries at local schools and colleges.

West Java World Music Festival 2011

An African musician with his ethnic acoustic musical instrument is performing in tandem with a local musician at West Java World Music Festival 2011 held at Monumen Perjuangan Rakyat Jawa Barat from July 16 to 17 last week.

West Java World Music Festival (WJWMF) is an annual event held by The West Java Tourism and Culture Office. Musicians from 11 countries and four continents took part in this year's festival. Among them were Patrick Shaw Iversen (Norway), Andy Hiroshi Suzuki (Japan), Zakaria Kone (Burkina Faso), Mahmud Fadh (Egypt), Savada (USA), Mohar and Ramli (Malaysia), and Maribeth and Band (The Philippines).

This post is Bandung Daily Photo's participation in MY WORLD TUESDAY. Please follow the link to see posts from other participating blogs from all over the world.

Photo by Alda Agustine, a Bandung Daily Photo contributor.

Bandung Go Skateboarding Day 2011

This belated report of "Bandung Go Skateboarding Day 2011" is made possible by the generous contribution of Aries Rachmandy, a freelance photographer and a journalism student at STIKOM Bandung.

"Bandung Go Skateboarding Day 2011" was held on June 21, 2011 at Gelora Saparua (Saparua Sports Arena). The event was attended by hundreds of skateboarders from all over the city and showcased different skateboarding attractions as you can see in these photos. It was also used by the skateboarders to demand that the municipal government provide them with more decent skateboarding facilities (see the banner they displayed in the last photo).

Skateboarding is increasingly becoming a very popular sport among the city's youths. But the lack of decent facilities for skateboarding have forced some of them to practice and do their actions in unlikely places like the sidewalks, which of course are not a safe place to do it. Quite a few times, I've seen them practice and do their actions along the Asia Afrika street and the sidewalk of Perintis Kemerdekaan Street, some of the city's more popular locations among the city's skateboarders because they are wide enough.

"Kukuyaan" at Cikapundung

If you are not Sundanese, chances are you won't have any idea what 'kukuyaan' means.

'Kukuyaan' is derived from a Sundanese word 'kuya' which means 'turtle'. Hence, 'kukuyaan' means playing turtle. Of course it's not a real turtle that's being played. It's just the name that the Sundanese gives to playing inner tube in the water.



The mass and national record-breaking 'kukuyaan' in these pictures was held last Sunday (19/6/2011) at Cikapundung river as part of the campaign to clean up the river.



Photos were taken by Sudarmanto Edris, a local photographer, and were used with his permission. Thanks Pak Sudarmanto.

Bandung World Jazz Festival 2010: Sound Through the Dimension

Here are some of the pictures that I took at Bandung World Jazz Festival 2010 which began today and will last till tomorrow at Sabuga.

Bandung World Jazz Festival is an annual event and this year's is the second. The first was held last year.

Fifty two jazz groups from Indonesia, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, and USA are performing in this year's festival which is themed "Sound Through Dimension".

The theme was chosen to reflect the uniquely diverse musical traditions of the participating groups and the collaborative projects that they are trying to forge to create mutual musical dialogs that are expected to produce new musical compositions, sensations, alteration, opinions, interpretations, and expressions.

Pasa and Salma, The Mascots

Here is Salma, one of the mascots of the Pasar Seni ITB 2010. Salma is a four-armed, two-footed, obese 'tosca' (torquoise?) green elephant. He or she (it's not clear what its sex is, but from its name, it might be a she) is described as an animal who is used to defecating and urinating in the place designated for it. However, it also often forgets to wash its hands afterwards. Like any obese animals, it often becomes an object of ridicule (or bullying) from its counterpart, Pasa (see the picture below). However, he is a blessed animal. With the blessing of Ganesha (the patron Diety of art and science in Hinduism, which also happens to be the emblem of Bandung Institute of Technology [ITB] - the venue and organizer of the Pasar Seni), it possesses wisdom and intelligence that make it a strong animal.

Salma is quite probably the metaphorical symbol of ITB.

Sorry for the blurry picture, but here is Pasa - Salma's counterpart and the other mascot of the 2010 Pasar Seni ITB:



Pasa is an agile pink horse who loves criticizing. He or she (again, it is not clear what its sex is, but from its name, it might be a he) is described as an animal who likes to spend the weekends by offering horse rides for urban children who are charged 'worrisome' fares for the horse-riding experience. Unlike Salma, it has the bad habit of defacating and urinating whereever it likes and considers the streets as a virtual toilet.

Pasa is quite probably the symbolic depiction of the pony horses that populate the streets around the ITB campus that are offered as a weekend fun ride for children visiting the nearby Bandung Zoo with their family.

Pasar Seni ITB 2010

This mountain of bikes (instead of mountain bikes) is one of the installation art pieces displayed at the Pasar Seni ITB 2010 (the 2010 Bandung Institute of Technology Art Market) that was held today at ITB's campus ground.

Pasar Seni ITB (PS ITB) is one of the largest art market events in the country. It has been held every four years since 1972, and this year is its 10th, which is an auspicious number considering that it was held on the 10th of October 2010, was officially opened at 10:00 o'clock, and lasted only for 10 hours (that makes it 10 10 10 10 10 10 - what a binary number sequence!).

This year's PS ITB carries the theme "The Forgotten" and is attended by no fewer than 344 art 'houses' and communities, artists, education, and culinary stands plus representative delegates from Malaysia, the United States, and Germany.

The idea for this art market event was originally conceived to provide a marketplace where artists, art dealers, and the public at large can meet. In this way, it is hoped that the distance between art and its public will be narrowed. It is also expected to become a way means to promote Indonesia's creative industry and art.

In addition to the exhibitions and stands, the ITB Art Market also has great art performances.



Here is the Ganesha street that runs in southern end of ITB's main campus. Today the street was turned into Art Street. As you can see from the picture, the gate to this street is made entirely of twigs.



And here's another installation art piece I saw today. This one was installed at the center of the campus (and the art market ground).

Sabuga

This is the entrace to Sabuga Hall, where the 2010, 4th Bambu Nusantara World Music Festival is held today and tomorrow.

Sabuga (Sasana Budaya Ganesha) or Ganesha Cultural Hall is the biggest and - some say - the best cultural and convention center in Bandung. The 22,000 square meter center is located on Babakan Siliwangi river valley near the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) campus and Bandung Zoological Park. According to its website, it has the following facilities:

A Convention Hall
A Function Hall
A Meeting Room
An Omni Theatre
A Science Gallery
A KidSmart (playground?)

and a parking space that can accommodate up to 750 cars.

Many important events have been held here. One of the most recent was SBY (Indonesia's incumbent president) declaration of presidential candidacy in 2009.

Odd One Out

During the violin perfomance (see my post yesterday), somebody came onto the stage. He was unexpected but brought a lot of laughters among the audience. This guy, a Ganiater, added so much fun (or distraction?) to the music performance.

Can you see what he's doing and point out what's odd about it?

It's always fun to see Ganiaters (the members of GANIATI) perform. Here's one I captured on video.

Ammy, the Violinist

His name's Ammy Kurniawan. He is a Fine Art-ist by education. He graduated from the Fine Art Department of Indonesia University of Education, Bandung. But he is best known as a violin soloist, music arranger and conductor, and an alternative strings and jazz musician. He is the founder and owner of Ammy Alternative Strings, a music school that he established to share his love for string instruments, and a member of 4Peniti (lit. 4 safety pins), an alternative indi music group that he established with his friends.

I love his performances, solo or with the 4Peniti. Here's a sample of his violin students' performance that I videotaped at Galeri Kriya Kulit Jawa Barat (West Java Leather Craft Exhibition) in Bandung on Augutst 7, 2010.

If you'd like to hear what kind of music the 4Peniti plays, you may want to go here. Let me know if you like and enjoy it. I do!

Origami in Bandung

A variety of creative communites was also taking part in yesterday's exhibition. One of them was Maya Hirai School of Origami.

Maya Hirai School of Origami was established by Maya Ismayanti, a housewife and a mother of four children, on November 11, 2009. Maya learned the art of origami from Takako Hirai San, one of the most respected origami teachers in Japan, when she accompanied her husband to study there.

Maya's origami school is the offspring of the origami internet community that she established (while she was still in Japan) to share her enthusiasm for this old Japanese paper folding art. The enthusiastic responses she received from the members of her community and the continuous overflow of invitations she received to conduct workshops throughout the country eventually made her decide to open her own origami school.

Maya, who is now considered to be a foremost origami sinsei (teacher) in Indonesia, is the holder of Nippon Origami Association (NOA) certificate. She now lives in Bandung with her family.



These paper dolls are some of the items that were exhibited at her school's booth at the exhibition.



An intricate and colorful paper cube chain. It's amazing what origami can do.