An Indonesian children's choir has won big at the 2015 Golden Gate International Choral Festival in San Francisco, California
An Indonesian children's choir has won big at the 2015 Golden Gate International Choral Festival in San Francisco, California.
Competing in four categories, the Resonanz Children's Choir won two first prizes for folk and historical songs, one runner-up in the gospel category, and one third place for contemporary songs.
'We are the only group from Asia who won two first prizes,' said the choir's conductor and coach Devi Fransisca as quoted by kompas.com.
Devi added that the group wore Acehnese and Balinese traditional costumes and received high praise when presenting the 'Bungong Jeumpa' and 'Janger' songs.
'During the folk songs category, the children also danced while singing,' said Devi.
Preparing for the competition was challenging as the group comprised 48 children aged nine years old and over. The choir was accompanied by 10 of the children's parents who went along to the US to help out, from putting the kids to bed to arranging their meals.
They also had their costumes stolen from their car in San Francisco.
'The thieves broke the car's window. Luckily I brought backups,' said the group's children's advisor Giok Hartono.
The Resonanz Children's Choir is part of Jakarta's Resonanz Music Studio led by conductor Avip Priatna. Established in 2007, it has won other international competitions including in Hungary and Hong Kong.(kes)(+++)
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