We often read about Indonesia's strategic geographic position. Located between two oceans and two continents, right above the North and South border of the world, Indonesia is one of the paths for trade and human mobility.
However this article does not aim to analyze the nation's strategic position from a world trade and economic point of view; it merely highlights and illustrates Indonesia's, especially Jakarta's, potential to becoming a location where people from all around the world can gather.
Music festivals attract a mass of people to the country from all over the world.
So far, there has been the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival that was dubbed as one of the largest and finest jazz festivals at the international level.
The annual jazz festival, held every March has successfully proven itself as a magnetizing force, attracting musicians from various pockets of the world. In 2010, it is in the works that more jazz musicians from the Middle East and Latin America will join their peers from Europe, North America, Australia, Japan and India, as well as from the Southeast Asian region.
They will be performing alongside equally formidable Indonesian musicians. The Java Jazz Festival has certainly become a popular subject among jazz musicians worldwide and is often referred to as a prestigious festival.
Putting concert venue facilities into consideration, it is possible that Jakarta is the only city capable of hosting a gargantuan festival such as the Java Jazz Festival.
Lately, a number of concert venues began to emerge in Jakarta and its surrounding areas, from the ones located in the epicenter of town, JIEx and Mangga Dua for example, to Sentul City Convention Center in Sentul. The already established yet slightly dilapidated building of Istora Senayan, or the slightly junior Tennis Indoor Senayan and JCC, are also often still used for festivals and other events, although a slight rejuvenation would actually do them wonders.
Those buildings are actually not intended for music showcases, hence their less than agreeable acoustics. The auditoriums of five-star hotels, which on some occasions have also hosted music performances, are not ideal venues for music-related performances. Furthermore, there have been a number of buildings equipped with appropriate acoustics, yet they cannot hold a large number of people. They would not sufficiently hold thousands of festival-goers.
The regional and central governments, in addition to private parties, need to develop the potential of festivals as a business opportunity by building specialized and well-equipped performance venues.
This year, Java Festival Production presents three festivals: the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival (held last March), Java Rockin'land (the largest international rock festival in the Southeast Asian region held last weekend) and the Jakarta International Java Soulnation Festival (the second edition of the festival, scheduled for October 2009).
Similar to the Java Jazz Festival, Java Rockin'land and the Java Soulnation Festival aim to woo music lovers from both Indonesia and abroad.
Jakarta has great potential to be the capital of music festivals. After all, it is a city whose agenda is packed with year-round music festivals. Such positioning will lure tourists to flock to the city, providing a form of assurance for international business players that Jakarta is truly a destination to "musically" unwind. With its strategic geographic location, Jakarta is a city that is easily reached. Developing into a business city should follow suit.
As it departs on the runway to becoming the mecca of music festivals, intermeshed with solo concerts by international musicians, Indonesian musicians are given the chance to participate in both the festivals and grace the various stages of the city during festival intermissions.
Indonesia has diverse musical styles, if they are packaged into alluring performances, not only highlighting their uniqueness and sophistication; it is very likely that foreign musicians may even explore their inspirations by collaborating with Indonesian musicians.
Jakarta's "fate" relies on whether other regional governments, the central government and business players in Indonesia are responsive to these challenges, or whether they opt to leave stunned when foreign parties develop the potential. Let's enjoy Jakarta, the city of festivals.
The writer is a lecturer on advertising and public relations at the communications department of Al-Azhar University, Jakarta.
