The Music Committee of the Jakarta Arts Council (DKJ) is organizing the International Ethnic Music Festival 2021 from September 24 to 26, 2021 to nurture and promote traditional music, which is adapting to changing times.
“Indonesia has very diverse and strong roots in tradition, including its music that is getting a lot of attention in the global world,” DKJ Music Committee Chairman Andra Karim remarked at a press conference on the festival’s virtual opening here on Friday.
Indonesian music is not only about sound, but also serves to interpret life’s necessity, worship, life cycle, mark death ceremonies, as an aid in therapy, and for entertainment, he said.
According to him, traditional music has become an asset for Indonesia to compete internationally.
“And let us not forget that we must always honor traditional music artists,” he said.
He said he hoped that through the International Ethnic Music Festival, people will remember and honor traditional music and artists.
Moreover, he said, the festival is expected to create a new generation who will inherit the wealth of the archipelago’s traditional music, and open the possibility for traditional music artists to collaborate with new media in the digital world development.
With music archives now starting to digitize traditional music, its practitioners must become familiar with digital work practices, he said.
“This year’s International Ethnic Music Festival will be held online for three days and feature a series of events consisting of discussions, masterclasses, and traditional music performances,” he added.
Six performers will perform at the festival—Jayadwara, Taufik Adam, Baseput, Margasari, Dony Koeswinarno, and Candasuara, he informed.
While the discussions and masterclasses will be presented by Angela Lopez Lara, Gabriel Laufer, Palmer Keen, Andi Ferdiansyah Anwar, Amar Afrizal, and Djoni Theendens, and will explore many things about Indonesian music traditions, Karim said.
The International Ethnic Music Festival 2021 events will be broadcast live through the Jakarta Arts Council’s YouTube channel from 2 p.m. WIB (Western Indonesian Standard Time) on September 24.
Source: Antara News