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Ethnic dance, bamboo music charm long-lost friends
"I've never seen audience members stay glued to their seats until the show is over," Ibn Zaydoun Theater manager Mohamed Benallal said
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"I've never seen audience members stay glued to their seats until the show is over," Ibn Zaydoun Theater manager Mohamed Benallal said.
"Usually, people come, take a seat, then leave in droves before the show even comes to a close. They go watch TV at home or sip coffee with friends at a cafe," he added, in reference to a recent cultural show by Indonesian artists at Algeria's Salle Ibn Zaydoun shopping mall.
Choreographed by Haryati Abelam, the show featured an assortment of traditional dances from across Indonesia, such as rampak kendang (West Java percussion) -- performed by Indonesian Embassy staff -- and angklung (bamboo music), by artists from the Bandung-based Saung Angklung Mang Udjo studio.
The artistic mission also performed at the Algerian National Theater (TNA), the most prestigious theater in Algeria, an Islamic country that harmonizes both French and Arabic influences.
The performance at Ibn Zaydoun was packed, not only by common townspeople, but by local government officials and foreign diplomats. For eight former Algerian diplomats in the audience, the show brought back memories of their stint in Jakarta.
The highlight of the evening came when performers from Bandung gave away miniature angklung instruments to audience members, teaching them to play and eventually sing along to Arabic and French songs.
Some in the audience shed tears as they played their angklung, singing Edith Piaf's song, "La Vie en Rose" (Life in Pink), with Mang Udjo studio singer Ika.
As part of its tour, the group visited the Superior Performance Arts (SMAS) Institute in Algiers, where Indonesian performers and host students took turns demonstrating dance numbers, including an Acehnese dance. Host students were also taught how to assemble and play angklung.
The artistic mission found itself in a less prestigious performance venue -- and among a somewhat less appreciative crowd -- in Tunisia's cultural capital, Kairouan, a three-hour drive south of Tunis, near the famed tourist heaven of Sidi Bou Said.
The group's performance there, at an open-air theater in the Gammarth suburb, was attended by representatives of various embassies as well as by local officials. It was, however, beset by problems, including a faulty sound system, poor lighting and crowds of rowdy youth.
"It reminded me of Independence Day revelry in my neighborhood," said choreographer Haryati, who had not expected the venue to be so "remote" and modest.
Chandra Hasan, head of Tunisia's Indonesian Embassy, said he could do nothing but accept the venues offered by the local government.
Algerian and Tunisian audience members said the shows, which received wide media coverage in both countries, had helped refresh bittersweet memories of Indonesia. -- JP/Pandaya
