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Music festival kicks off in Pontianak to celebrate Dayak culture
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A detailed roof decoration on a traditional Dayak longhouse. (Shutterstock/File)
About 500 Dayak Malaysians and an Indian American band will participate in an annual music festival in Pontianak, West Kalimantan.
This year, the Gawai Dayak festival, which is in its 32nd year, opened on May 20 and is concentrated in a traditional Dayak Radakng longhouse. The festival takes its inspiration from a Dayak harvest party.
The festival’s committee head, Kartius, said foreign and domestic interest in attending the festival had increased each year.
“The Dayak [culture] is part of [Indonesia], therefore we have to contribute to the nation’s culture,” Kartius said. He added that appreciating the arts and culture was an opportunity to promote harmony among the community.
Representatives of 50 cultural groups will perform at the festival. Several traditional competitions will also be held, including catching pigs and blowing sumpit (traditional Dayak blowpipe).
Alim Ga Mideh, a Dayak Iban from Malaysia, said he attended the festival every year with friends because although they lived in a different country, they were of the same ethnicity.
"There are some similarities between Indian and Dayak cultures, such as the style of dance, rituals and color of the clothes we wear," said Doug “Good Father,” a member of Lakota, a three-piece Indian-American band that was invited by the US Embassy as the part of a cultural exchange program. (hol/wit)
