One aspect of the Indonesian culture that you’re not likely to get to see is the practice of ‘black magic’ or witchcraft. When you talk to regular Indonesian people they might tell you they believe in black magic, although they don’t practice it. Generally Indonesians do not like discussing black magic, especially their own [...]
Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that originated in the 1960s. The vibrant and constantly evolving musical form that draws on Arabic, Malay, Indian and rock influences exploded in the 1970s with acts such as Rhoma Irama and Elvy Sukaesih. Rhoma added Western rock to the music and political content — much of it Islamic — [...]
Wayang Kulit shadow puppet performances are part of Indonesian village ceremonies. The tradition and plays are very old and come from the Ramayana. The dalang, the puppeteer, or the puppet master, manipulates the puppets, speaks their parts, and coordinates the puppets’ actions with the music. He plays all the characters using many voices/span> The […]
Reog is an Indonesian traditional mask dance where the dancers carry a very heavy, ornamented tiger head with peacock feathers in wide winged. This dance depicts a fight between a tiger and two noblemen on horseback. These masks are almost 50 kg heavy, worn by one man (called warok) by biting the wood inside the mask. [...]
Gamelan stands out as intriguing and intricate symbol of nature and human creativity collaboration. Gamelan refers to any one of several types of instrumental ensembles found on the islands of Java and Bali in Indonesia. Indonesian traditional music that played using Gamelan called gending. It is the main element of the Indonesian traditional music. Gamelan […]
Wayang originally meant shadow, but it has also come to mean a puppet or a performance. Wayang kulit (kulit - leather) is the best known of the Javanese puppetry traditions and can be used to describe any puppet theatre using flat leather puppets which cast shadows on to a screen. The puppets are carved from buffalo hide and painted. As a [...]
Silat or pencak silat is a dynamic self defense art featuring everything from knife fighting to submission holds and joint locking techniques. It is a martial art with roots based in forms and dances (Lankas and Juru’s). Since these applications are expressed in dances, drills and fighting technicues that emphasize fluidity of movement in a combat [... […]
Here we have becak, or pedicab, trishaw or cycle rickshaw. Becaks (pronounced bay-cha, like ya, sure you betcha, only bay-cha, as a small-scale local means of transport, are used in most large Indonesia cities. Surabaya, Medan and Semarang host the largest numbers of pedicabs. The vehicle is powered by a driver as one would a bicycle. The configuration of […]