Get ready for a blast of urban culture and street art ' and a taste of German food and hip-hop from Berlin ' as the JERIN festival returns to Jakarta for its third iteration this weekend.

The festival, sponsored by the German embassy and EKONID, the German-Indonesian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, is slated to run from Oct. 18 to 20 at the South Plaza of Bung Karno Stadium in Senayan, South Jakarta.

Unlike earlier JERIN festivals, which focused on Indonesian maestro painter Raden Saleh and batik, this year's version would reach out to a younger audience, German ambassador to Indonesia Georg Witschel said at a recent press conference.

Keeping with the younger focus, local rockers Andra and the Backbone will give a free concert, while German graffiti tagger and music producer Akim Walta and German hip-hop performers and breakdancers will also be on hand to perform and to collaborate with local artists.

Things will kick off on Friday at the festival's careers tent with a seminar on how to succeed in a job interview, to be followed by presentations from German companies such as Allianz, BMW, Luthfansa, Mercedes Benz and Siemens on what it takes to land a dream job at their firms.

There will also be experts from the German Society for International Cooperation, the German Academic Exchange Services and the Goethe Institute, among others, to discuss opportunities to study and work in Germany.

Activities will be held in the careers tent on all three days of the festival.

Outside, food lovers should head to the 'Beer Garden' where patrons can get sausages, sandwiches and beer from Mama's Delicatessen, which has been serving traditional European-style meats and fish in Indonesia products for 30 years. An expert chef will also share secret recipes on how to make delicious German dishes.

Later on Friday, students from the University of Indonesia will present the German dramas 'Ohne Moos nix los' and 'Die Mimosen'.

The performances will follow with a concert from Indonesian-born but Berlin-based singer and guitarist Sandy Sandhoro, backed by Germans Benedikt Stehle on drums and Sebastian Vogel on bass.

On Saturday, 40 breakdancers will bust it out in a competition, including German-Indonesian B-Boys such as Sonny Tee and Lord-Z from Hamburg, Zeb.Roc.Ski (a.k.a. Akim Walta) from Berlin and Assik from Jakarta Breakin.

Meanwhile, German graffiti artists Bond from Leipzig, Zebster from Mainz, Wok from Dresden), Jase from Hamburg and Redy from Hong Kong are set to tag up on a 90-meter wall at the stadium.

Local talents are welcome to join in, Akim said. 'We're really interested if there're local beatboxers and rappers. We don't want to come and just do our show. We really would like to develop something together.'

For Akim, considered one of Europe's top taggers and the founder of Hip Hop Stützpunkt in Berlin, street art is best as a collaboration.

'When graffiti and street artists meet, it's not like somebody is sitting here and all the others sitting and looking. It's really sharing.'

He continues: 'For me this culture is like reacting to the city environment, it's not like an art form. It's coming from the street and the young people defines their needs.'

Saturday will close with a concert fusing hip hop and classical music that features Soulrock (Berlin), DJ DSK (UK), DJ Marc Hype (Berlin), pianist Jim Dunloop (Berlin) and the Indonesian-born and German raised violinist Iskandar Widjaja.

On Sunday, there will be an open beatbox workshop with Soulrock, and a breakdance workshop with Sonny Tee, the Hamburg-based Indonesian breakdancer who has served on the jury of several B-Boy battles in Europe.

Finally, the festival will close with a performance from local rockers Andra and the Backbone, featuring frontman Andra Ramadhan, the guitarist of the band Dewa 19.

The festival is not all music, graffiti and food: Die-hard fans of precision German engineering will also have a chance to experience the latest BMW 320d diesel model and to test drive the BMW X1 at BMW's booth.

Admission is free. Visit jerin.or.id for more information.

The writer is an intern for The Jakarta Post.

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