Traditional masks take center stage at Solo Batik Carnival

Blontank Poer ,  THE JAKARTA POST ,  SURAKARTA   |  Mon, 06/29/2009 12:36 PM  |  The Archipelago

Traditional masks featured on center stage at the second annual Solo Batik Carnival held Sunday afternoon along the streets of Surakarta.

The carnival featured around 300 performers incorporating masks into their acts, which took place along the 4 kilometers route through the city.

"Masks are a key traditional art form of Surakarta, which is why we have chosen them as the focus of this year's carnival," said Joko Widodo, the mayor of Surakarta or Solo as the city is more popularly known.

Joko Widodo, or Jokowi as he is locally known, said the choice to use masks as the central theme of this year's batik carnival was based on the fact there design was very closely linked to batik patterns.

Many traditional performances in the region involve the use of both masks and batik simultaneously.

Jokowi said traditional masket ballets from the Pura Mangkunegaran and Surakarta Palaces used Kelana masks and Panji dances. In the field and folk performances, he added, masks were often integrated with dances where the performers wore batik outfits.

"One thing for sure, both *masks and batik* are part of the same masterpiece that is Javanese culture," Jokowi said.

The Trade Minister, Mari Elka Pangestu, officially opened the carnival Sunday, which was also attended by locals and the performers in last year's Solo Batik Carnival.

The first carnival was initiated by designer Dynand Fariz from Jember, East Java, who was also behind the famous Jember Fashion Carnival.

Although this year's carnival was overseen largely by a local organizing committee, Dynand Fariz was in charge of the carnival design, workshops and the selection of participants' costumes and designs.

The carnival presented three styles of traditional masks, which are associated with particular mythological characters. The Panji masks represent a king or a queen along with gentleness and beauty, the Kelana masks represent knights or evil giants and the Gecul masks represent punakawan or royal servants.

Minister Mari Pangestu said she was impressed that the Surakarta municipal administration kept managing to develop new ways to present the city, support creative industries and make the city exciting and attractive as a tourist and business destination.

"The government will keep supporting these kind of activities. In the future, it is creative industries that will contribute the most to the improvement of the people's economy and wealth," she said.

In a bid to develop and protect the batik industry and businesses involved in grassroots communities in the region, the Surakarta administration has been actively seeking the patent and the intellectual property rights for numerous batik motifs traditionally identifiable as Surakarta specialties.

Currently, claims for the patents and intellectual property rights have been made for around 300 different batik motifs.

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