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Surakarta to host Solo Gamelan Festival in late August
The city administration of Surakarta, Central Java, is set to hold Solo Gamelan Festival on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 23 and 24, at Fort Vastenburg.
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A man plays in a gamelan orchestra. (Shutterstock/ridzkysetiaji)
T
he city administration of Surakarta, Central Java, is set to hold Solo Gamelan Festival on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 23 and 24, at Fort Vastenburg. Tempo.co reported that five karawitan (Javanese music ensembles) and a number of composers will take part in the festival.
Coordinator of the event’s curators, Blacius Subono, told tempo.co that the karawitan were chosen from five sub-districts. Furthermore, to ensure the festival presents the best performance to the audience, the curators held workshops and provided assistance to the selected groups.
On the second day of the festival, five well-known composers from Surakarta will enliven the festival with their gamelan compositions.
The five composers are Blacius Subono himself, Lumbini Trihasto, Dedek Wahyudi, Darto Kartawi and Gunarto Gondrong who will present their own works as well as collaborate together.
Read also: Gamelan, Debussy reunited at ‘Impressions Universelles’
Subono said the composers were encouraged to play creatively with the traditional gamelan and additional instruments. However, only non-electric musical instruments are permitted to be played alongside the gamelan.
Solo Gamelan Festival is held every year to preserve the traditional musical instrument ensemble, with the exception of last year as the city hosted the International Gamelan Festival. (ran/mut)
