Cultural festival with the lot

What does a cultural oasis actually contribute to the city? For those not already familiar with the role played by community spaces such as Salihara, a monthlong festival marking the network's first anniversary might give an idea.

With dance performances involving contemporary reinterpretations of traditional and cultural events ranging from wayang performances to public lectures, the Salihara Festival 2009 is indeed the community's activities through the year made compact.

"The festival, which marks our first anniversary, will portray what we do regularly. Only it's intensified within four weeks," festival organizer Rama Thaharani said.

Scheduled to open on July 8 with a rather closed performance from the Indonesian Dance Laboratory and jazz musicians Tohpati and Dewa Budjana, the festival promises an array of art and cultural performances that offer quality entertainment.

"This is actually the second time we have held an event like this. The first was to mark the birth and opening of Salihara," Rama explained.

Salihara's network in the art and culture scene, which is actually an extension of the long-established Utan Kayu community, is illustrated by the rich array of people involved in the festival.

In selecting and inviting the artists for this year's festival, Salihara is working with several embassies as well as cultural organizations such as Goethe-Haus Jakarta. The result is a truly local festival with rich international shades.

For the public, Japanese-born dancers and choreographers Eiko and Koma offer their collaborative performance with Robert Mirabal in Hunger of the Land, a contemporary dance commissioned by the 1991 Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival.

A more local take on dance will be performed by Jakarta-based Nur Hasanah, who will stage a narrative of the life of professional ronggeng (dancers of West Java's jaipongan) and Asri Mery Sidowati, who draws inspiration from the traditional masked dance from Indramayu.

Both performances, Suara Neng and Merah, are reinterpretations of what is traditional, using the traditional either as the basis of a contemporary piece, or as a translating language to explore a more macro theme such as global warming.

Meanwhile, those more into music will have a wide range of choices, from I Wayan Sadra and the SonoSeni ensemble to performances by Austrian composer Christian Utz, New York-based TimeTable Percussion Trio, German Selisih ensemble and Suriname-born jazz vocalist Denise Jannah.

Being the internationally recognized composer that he is, Sadra is the first composer to be awarded the New Horizons Award for artistic innovation by the International Society for the Arts, Science and Technology in Berkeley, California.

Meanwhile, Utz will present his own works as well as those of Indonesian Tony Prabowo and international composers.

Known for its riveting performances of new and experimental music, TimeTable, which consists of Matthew Gold, Matthew Ward and Alex Lipowski, invites audiences to experience percussion up close.

In a more poetical performance, honey-voiced jazz singer Jannah will present songs from Gedicht Gezogen, an album inspired by poems written by poets from around the world.

For theater buffs, the monologue Tolstoy's Wife by Australian Jennifer Claire, Holocaust Rising by Yogyakarta's Saturday Acting Club and Teater Lungid will take on very different themes.

While Holocaust Rising tries to challenge modern humanity in the midst of the onslaught of violent images surrounding us - especially from the mass media - Lungid will perform a more philosophical theme of coming home in the Javanese sense of mulih.

Those who prefer art exhibitions should take a look at "Perang, Kata dan Rupa" (War, Word and Form), featuring works from 13 selected artists such as Aminudin T. H. Siregar, Putu Sutawijaya and Ugo Untoro.

Continuing last year's theme of visual artists interpreting texts, this year the chosen artist will interpret poems of war such as those by Chairil Anwar, Goenawan Mohamad and Toto Sudarto Bachtiar.

Completing the art performances and exhibition, US-based Muslim scholar Amina Wadud will give a public lecture on gender, art and Sufism.

What's on

July 11-12
DANCE: Hunger of the Land (world premiere); Eiko & Koma (New York, USA)
July 14-15
MUSIC: Christian Utz & ensemble on_line (Austria)
July 16 - Aug. 15
ART EXHIBITION
Perang, Kata dan Rupa (War, Word and Form) Aminudin T. H. Siregar, Chandra Johan, Jopram, Jumaadi, Mujahidin Nurrahman, Putu Sutawijaya, R. E. Hartanto, Jompet Kuswidananto, Teguh Ostenrik, Ugo Untoro, Wayan Suja, Wilman Hermana, Yustoni Volunteero
July 17-18
MUSIC: TimeTable Percussion Trio (New York, USA)
July 21-22
DANCE: Suara Neng (Girl's Voices) & Merah (Red); Nur Hasanah & Asri Mery (Sidowati, Jakarta)
July 24-25
MUSIC: Jazz Poetry. Denise Jannah (The Netherlands-Suriname)
July 26
PUBLIC LECTURE: "Jamal", the Feminine Beauty of the Divine: Gender, Art and Sufism Amina Wadud (Maryland USA)
July 28-29
MUSIC: I Wayan Sadra & Ansambel SonoSeni, Surakarta
July 31 - Aug. 1
THEATRE: Tolstoy's Wife, A play based on the last diary of Countess Sonya Tolstoy, Jennifer Claire (Australia)
Aug. 2
MUSIC: Selisih Ensemble (Germany). Director: Dieter Mack
Aug. 7-8
THEATER: Holocaust Rising. Saturday Acting Club (Yogyakarta). Director: Rukman Rosadi
Aug. 11
SHORT WAYANG: Banjaran Karna, Ki Purbo Asmoro (Surakarta)
Aug. 12
MUSIC: Trio Ligro (Jakarta)
Aug. 14-15
THEATER: Visa. Teater Lungid (Surakarta). Scriptwriter: Goenawan Mohamad; adaptation of script and director: Pelok Trisno Santosa

Komunitas Salihara
Jl. Salihara 16, Pasar Minggu, Jakarta Selatan
021-7891202

www.salihara.org