The crowd returned in 2013 Literature Biennale since it was last held at the same place two years earlier. This time, the much-anticipated poetry reading featured Joko Pinurbo among many other poets. Continue reading The window of words
Begin playing underground music in a student apartment some ten years ago, the American DJ Steve Aoki has enjoyed international stardom since three years ago, following his debut solo album in 2012. Now his show ticket fetches at least USD50, the price his fans paid in his latest visit to Jakarta early this year. Continue reading Steve’s hard nights work
Operet Babah Encim staged a love-theme work Legenda Cinta Pulau Kemaro, based on a folktale from South Sumatra about interracial tragic romance between king of Palembang’s daughter Siti Fatimah and a Chinese merchant Tan Bun An, a fortune and love seeker. Continue reading Siti Fatimah tragic romance
The article first appeared in Indonesia Jazz Review, 2 May 2015
From swing to bebop, acid, and the further rapid evolution of jazz when the western world brought it on board of the trade ships to meet Indonesian vernacular music in the 20s, Lantun Orchestra played their repertoire based on a timeline that tells about each period of the constantly-altering musical genre. Their live performance When Betawi Meets Jazz in @america, Jakarta, 30 April, started with the 1929 song Ain’t Misbehavin by Fats Waller, before moving to another era of bebop which was popularized by the 30s era trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.
The article first appeared on Indonesia Jazz Review, 29 April 2015.
Stefano Bollani simultaneously plays with two piano instruments.
In 1996 Stefano Bollani chose to drop all he has worked for in pop since he first took a professional path at his teenage years, and in his solo concert at Usmar Ismail Hall, Jakarta, 28 April, the Italian pianist showed his aptitude, more of nurtured than inherent, after over 15 years of dedication in jazz. He left traces of his childhood aspiration to become a singer by singing a couple of songs in melancholy for Jakarta audience, meanwhile he was sure not to let them miss the anticipation having him played out one of his best talents: swing, especially after his last performance in Jakarta seven years ago.
UOB Plaza high-rise building took shape over a decade after the 1997 Asian monetary crisis, when it stood in agony with bare pillars and storeys, behing the giant banner displaying The Westin hotel, a supposedly main tenant hadn’t the crisis brought the construction to a halt. Continue reading Thamrin Nine Project 1
When dusk fell, workers swarmed the lobbies of BRI 1 and the adjacent BRI 2 Tower, and went out through multiple exit doors which lead to restaurants alley, the famous BRI garden complex, or simply to Sudirman street. Continue reading BRI towers at twilight
Liem Keng Sien (1954 – 2014) called his home cum studio the university of rest and relax, a creative place that goes unsupported by government, and unrecognized by public. Less serious in nature, perhaps it is this aphorism “Art is long, life is short” where Keng Sien took an inspiration to create his final art series, interestingly, in the shape of many laughing expressions based … Continue reading University of rest and relax, Liem Keng Sien in retropsective
Producing a Chinese folklore by means of Indonesian culture and provincial idiosyncracies is the task taken by Teater Koma in Opera Ular Putih, an adaptation of the 6th century Tang dynasty fiction the Legend of the White Snake, with three months of rehearsal and preparation. Continue reading The Opera of the White Snake Legend
What troubles Jose Rizal Manua’s mind of late other than keeping that brain brushed up to memorize a hell of a line in theater when he is no longer physically young, despite his conviction that he still is, at least in soul? Continue reading Jose Rizal Manua plays Mas Joko
think archipelago 