Indonesia. Ultimate in Diversity.

D-Day!

2009-03-26T01:15:00.000-07:00

The big day was finally here...

Aku Cinta Indonesia!

After weeks of practicing and preparation, this was the very day everyone can showcase their hardwork.

On Friday, 20 March 2009, starting from 4pm, members of the Janur and Logistics groups began their work in decorating and setting up the venue. Take a close look at the art pieces done by our very own Janur team, exquisite aren't they? :) All thanks to them for beautifying the venue on D-Day!

-The Janur Group-

Final touch up

Our eye-catching banner

- proudly done by the Janur Group

Then came the memasak groups preparing their food on the buffet table...

-2 out of the 6 Memasak Groups-

Meticulously laying out their 'masterpieces' :)

Busy busy...

A spread of goodies! Yum!:P

After much hustle and bustle outside LT8, things were finally in place. At around 6pm, D-Day was announced to commence!

And now, let's get into the world of Indonesian culture...

...behind these closed doors...

Bahasa Indonesia 1 students present... 'Aku Cinta Indonesia'!

1) Kulintang

-The Kulintang Group-

Guided by Ibu Susanna, the girls presented two songs, namely Topi Saya Bundar and Nona Manis. Topi Saya Bundar resembles nursery rhymes, while Nona Manis is a love song about a man expressing his love to a woman.

Introducing Kulintang

Nona Manis!

It was not easy being the first group, and I must say, they did a fantastic job with the excellent coordination of music! The music played was so smooth, sweet, and soothing to the ears. It had been an enjoyable experience listening to them. Impressive performance put up, girls!

2) Kostum Tradisional

-The Traditional Costume Group-

Behold finally the full glamour of our traditional costume team. The hours of make-up and preparation went superbly well - marvelous, glamorous and absolutely stunning. Gold accessories shine amongst the depth of the already shimmering, brightly colored clothing of top worksmanship and quality.

Don't they just look fantastic? :)

All our very own LAB1201 students dressed up just for the D-DAY. As they sashayed down the LT, hundreds of eyes can't help but get stuck on these wonderful gracious couples as they snatch more attention than even the limelight can provide for. Their costumes immediately bring out the true feel of Indonesia in an instance. It had been an enjoyable time for all, hadn't it? :)

All the 12 pairs...

3) Angklung

-The Angklung Group-

The angklung group started off with 2 of their members introducing their instrument as a traditional musical instrument of Sundanese. All the members were splendidly dressed for the performance; the ladies were dressed in black tops and brown sarongs, while the gentlemen were dressed in brown batik shirts and black long pants.

Introducing Angklung

The angklung group was conducted by a student conductor during their performance. They performed Naik-naik Ke Puncak Gunung and Topi Saya Bundar, which are children songs of Indonesia. Even though the angklung group sounded a little uncoordinated at first, they managed to catch up and gave an excellent performance later. The audience showed great support for their short performance by giving them a great round of applause. This is definitely a great reward to the angklung group for the effort they had put in for their performance.

Let the music begin!

I am sure that both the Angklung group and the audience enjoyed the performance and gained more knowledge about the Angklung from this experience. The hard work, time and experience would be a valuable asset to the members of the Angklung group. The understanding of the Indonesian culture the audience gained from the performance can also be an enrichment to their lives.

4) Tari Saman

-The Saman Dance Group-

Getting into formation

See that? A wave!

The Saman dance was truly enjoyable to watch. The actions done by the performers were coordinated and synchronized, both with the music and with their counterparts. They started off with simple slapping movements. Gradually, as the tempo increases, the difficulty level of the dance also increases. At one point during the dance, the performers were unable to coordinate their movements with each other and they were frantically looking at each other for cues. However, they persevered till the very end of the dance and the audience gave them the applause that they truly deserved. Even though they made some blotches, it was understandable as the dance really required high level of coordination between the performers and given the short time that they have, they had put up a wonderful performance.

5) Menyanyi

-The Singing Group-

The menyanyi group showed off their musical abilities not just through singing, but also through creating their own background music with their very own members play the keyboard and violin for their first song, Ku Bahagia. They worked well together as a team and it was enjoyable watching them sing and dance to the soothing tunes of the violin.

They also presented a mini skit in their performance to bring out the meaning of their second song, PUSPA (PUtuskanlah Saja PAcarmu). The audience were duly entertained by the storyline which starred Roman and Wei Ting as lovers, whose relationship was made more complex by the intrusion of a 3rd guy, Johan. Everyone was tickled by how the 3rd guy failed miserably in persuading the girl (Wei Ting) that he likes to break up with her boyfriend (Roman) to say "I love you" to him. The group's efforts were evident in their smooth coordination of singing and dance steps, and they all certainly looked like they were enjoying themselves tremendously. Kudos to the Menyanyi group for a job well done!

6) Jumputan

-1 out of 3 of the Jumputan small groups-

Introducing Jumputan

Amazing, isn't it?

They've turned white plain cloths into such creative artworks!

7) Batik

Introducing Batik

Displaying their weeks of efforts. Great job done! :D

8) "Short Speech" by BI3 seniors

Consider taking up BI2 next semester? :)

9)Tari Maluku

-The Tari Maluku Group-

Introducing Tari Maluku

The group showed brilliant agility and group work. They managed to impress the audiences that responded with ‘woos’ and loud applauses during the performance. Though during the interview, they had voiced concerns about coordination, they managed to coordinate seamlessly. Leaping in and out of the bamboo poles with such fluid movements, they almost look like professionals!

10) Drama: Indonesian Folktales "Ande-Ande Lumut"

-The Drama Group-

The drama group put up a brilliant skit revolving around the extremely tampan prince, his very cantik lady love, the four power rangers... and a crab. It was an excellent close to the evening, to say the least, and they were indeed deserving of the waves of laughter they got.

Not forgetting our Master of Ceremony (MC) for the evening!

-Our dearest MCs-

MCs @ work

It was no doubt a fantastic job done by the MCs stringing all the performances together, plus entertaining the audience. Applause for the MCs!

And finally, it's REFRESHMENT TIME!

Hmm, everything looks nice!

Ah...let me try my own mahasiswa's cooking. Bagus dan enak ya!

Mine! Mine! Mine!

Finish! Finish! Finish!

Last but not the least, presenting the Logistics Group--The heroes behind the scene and creators of this wonderful blog!

-The Logistics Group-

Tearing down the decorations, in a graceful way!

Tidied and cleaned.

Hope everyone had a fun and enjoyable evening gaining more understanding in the Indonesian culture! :D

Kostum Tradisional

2009-03-25T02:15:00.000-07:00

The Indonesian culture is truely diverse. Split into approximately (kira-kira) 30,000 islands, it is no wonder that each tribe from every region has their own set of customs, beliefs and more importantly - their own traditional costumes. Traditional costumes most directly reflects the values of each region. Usually, traditional costumes are decorated with the most precious items and most significant symbolic accessories which the people held in high esteem. In the olden times where urbanization was not common and villages were of the usual, traditional costumes are especially important in helping people mark out or identify levels of affluence, social influence, social status, marital "belum-ness" and so forth.

At NUS, the hub of cultural diversity, LAB1201 students had a chance to wear and display costumes from:

1. Yogya (Highly important capital in the past before Jakarta)

2. Jawa Tengah (Central Java)

3. Jawa Barat

4. Madura

5. Bali

6. Palembang

7. Sulawesi

8. Minangkabau

9. Riau

10. Dayak

11. Kalimantan

12. Padang

The costumes take a long time to be worn. Typically, 30 minutes for a lady and 20 minutes for a gentleman. Accessories braided in gold are extremely common, with gold being recognized throughout the world as the most precious metal which shines and does not corrode. This is especially true for marriage costumes where love is seen to last as long as gold. In some regions, men wore Keris (Indonesian sword-dagger) as a sign of masculinity and protection for the family. The gold accessories were usually contrasted strongly when red/dark blue silk garments are worn underneath. It is said that costumes are traditionally passed down from one generation to another because of memorial purposes and practical purposes - they are really very expensive to produce!

Conscientiously discussing on the most beautiful way to arrange the couples...

The perfect arrangement!

***During rehearsal, our boys and girls did not manage to wear the costumes. Watch out for the pictures on the D-DAY where they wear them all!

Saman dance

2009-03-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

Saman dance is a dance that originated from Aceh, Sumatra and is well-known as 'Thousand hands'. 'Saman' name was taken from the person who created and developed this dance, Syeikh Saman, was one of the Muslim scholars who spread the Islam religion in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Sumatra, Indonesia. It was originally performed by the Alas ethnic group to celebrate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad and also other important occasions, such as to welcome guests. Nowadays, the dance is usually performed at festivals and other traditional gatherings, and also to promote the beautiful culture of Indonesia.

Performers wear brightly coloured costumes, kneel in a row and make many different kinds of torso movements, accompanied by songs, clapping hands, etc. No music is required as the performers recite poems and songs while doing the dance performance, led by a lead singer called the 'syech'. The songs are usually prayers and praises to Allah. The dance starts with slow movements and the tempo of the dance increases gradually, becoming faster and faster before coming to a sudden stop.

clapping hands (:

The dance requires a lot of hand-eye coordination and chemistry between performers. The saman dance group led by Ibu Yenti and Ibu Lucy, had practices once a week for a month to master this dance. They started with saman dance basics, which included the different torso movements before proceeding to learn more about the dance.

coordination required (:

Memasak

2009-03-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

‘Memasak’ was one of considerably more popular project tasks with students judging by how quickly its slots were taken up upon the start of project registration. Apart from allowing these students a first-hand experience at the foods, other students were also introduced to these dishes when the memasak students presented a recollection of the process. Even better, each and every student of course was given a treat as the memasak students prepared these Indonesian traditional foods to cater to some 200 persons after the concert of colourful performances put up by their fellow peers. This would not have been possible if not for the gracious Ibus who welcomed the memasak students into their homes and taught them how to prepare the delicious Indonesian foods. Some of these included Tahu Isi, Bakwan Jagung, Klepon and Onde-Onde. ‘Live to Eat’ and not ‘Eat to Live’ seems to be popular with Singaporeans. With no exception, the memasak students’ love for food must have rendered their cooking sessions with the Ibus fun and successful. Some of these mahasiswa dari grup memasak also related how they thought the 'motherliness' in the Ibus made the whole cooking session even more comfortable and enjoyable! The Ibus too looked like they enjoyed sharing the Indonesian specialities of their hometown. And the other students sure looked like they enjoyed the treats as they helped themselves to the array of appetizers, sumptuous foods and yummy desserts catered for them by the grup memasak on the D-day!

Gracious Ibu Eli teaching her mahasiswas how to make the healthy appetizer, Tahu Isi and the delicious, crispy Bakwan Jagung. The two, are appetizers fried to golden-brown and crisp.

Mahasiswas having fun at their first attempt at cooking foods that were new to them

Conscientious mahasiswas at work

Tahu Isi, as the name suggests is a beancurd (tahu putih) stuffed with ingredients, largely vegetables like taoge, making it a very yummy and healthy appetizer. It is savoury and tasty. Fans of spicy foods may eat this snack with cabai hijau (green chilli padi). The secret to making delicious Tahu Isi probably lies in stuffing the tahu putih with the right amount of ingredients to prevent imbalance or the tahu from splitting open.

Bakwan Jagung is a dough fritter cooked with corn, carrots and spring onions. Isn’t it amazing that such simple ingredients can translate to such mouth-watering savoury-sweet bite-sized snacks?

The memasak sessions not only resulted in the production of some very delicious, novel-to-most-students traditional foods of Indonesia but also allowed the warmth and close-knittedness of the Indonesian community to be felt through the 'motherliness' exuded by the gracious Ibus! What a wonderful project!

Drama

2009-03-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

Indonesia, the largest archipelago in the world, is home to hundreds of ethnic groups with diverse cultures and languages. The folk tales that come from this goldmine of rich heritage and culture have inspired the drama team to put up a short play about a handsome prince in search of his lady love... which he met at his Bahasa Indonesia class.

Talk about a good-looking pair.

The beautiful ladies taking a break.

Speaking of ladies...

The team, under the guidance of Ibu Indrianti, looked to be having tremendous fun while they prepared their costumes and rehearsed their skit.

Wearing the Sarong - ~~Fail~~ Not Easy.

The team also wanted to mix in a dance routine which had only just been choreographed, thus I got to learn their dance moves along with them as one of the members patiently taught everyone the steps. A few confused actors were instrumental in making the evening's rehearsals even more hilarious.

They decided to cut this part out because this is Bahasa Indonesia, not Soulja Boy.

"Okay, I'm lost."

Janur

2009-03-19T23:45:00.000-07:00

Janur is a form of decoration popular in Indonesia, where young coconut leaves are artfully used to create various kinds of decorations, symbolizing happiness and ringing in celebration.

The Janur team, led by Ibu Siantik, met dutifully on various evenings at AS4 to prepare and create decorations such as the ketupat, a traditional type of rice dumpling found in Indonesia. Using beautiful ribbons, instead of coconut leaves, the team tried their hand at measuring, cutting, weaving and folding, producing beautiful pieces of art that will be used to decorate the outside of LT8 on the 20th of March.

Yes I'd be that happy too if I could make such a nice ketupat.

The team also took out some time to create an eye-catching banner for our project, Aku Cinta Indonesia.

Menyanyi

2009-03-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

On friday evenings of the past month, the shivering cold of LT 8 would be warmed up by the merry sounds of laughter, singing and dancing from the students in the Menyanyi (singing) group. This year, led by Ibu Elmida who gives them constant guidance and careful supervision, they have prepared 2 Indonesian pop songs for us, namely Ku Bahagia by Sherina, and PUSPA (PUtuskanlah Saja PAcar mu) by ST12.

Not only will these students be showcasing their newly acquired skills of singing Indonesian songs, they will also be giving their performance a hint of originality (that extra oomph!) by having their very own members play the violin and keyboard as an accompaniment for the slow song, Ku Bahagia.

In addition, they will be presenting a dance routine specially thought up by Menyanyi members Roman and Wei Ting for the fast number, PUSPA. Being in the same TA class as them, I've witnessed their enthusiasm and spontaneity as they break out suddenly into the chorus of the song and start revising their steps even while sitting in their seats. (yes, they do this in class! Ibu Indrianti can second this :P)

See how much fun they're having leading the group!

This is what some of the students in Menyanyi said when asked why they chose Menyanyi:

"This project (Menyanyi) is fun and interesting, and it's very relaxed."

"I chose singing because we get to learn new Indonesian songs and try to get a feel of the Indonesian culture through them."

"I like singing!"

These pop songs seem popular with the students and some of them feel that the exposure they get now will definitely spark off their interest in Indonesian pop in future. (But of course, it would be best if they can get the meaning of the lyrics!)

This group of students have made every effort in making their performance entertaining and original. They have expressed much creativity and enthusiasm for this project, which I'm sure the Ibus will be very proud of after seeing their final product on D-Day!

Kulintang

2009-03-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

Kulintang is a traditional instrument from the Sulawesi Island in Indonesia. It is made from many types of wood. In Indonesian language, the name of some types of food are Telur, Kakinik. The kulintang is named after the sounds it generates; 'tong', 'ting', and 'tang'. In Indonesia, a phrase said, ' Mangamokulintang', means 'let's play kulintang'.

The structure of a kulintang is like an enlarged xylophone, hence it is also known as 'the wooden xylophone'. There are four types of kulintang, namely Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass. The Soprano kulintang plays the melody tune, while the other three types of kulintang play accompanying tunes, complementing the Soprano kulintang.

To operate a kulintang, one has to use a specific pair of beaters to tap the kulintang, like playing a xylophone, to generate the music. There are four different types of beaters, each being specific to operate each type of kulintang. The four different types of beaters differ in length and size.

A kulintang performance can be conducted for ceremonies. Indonesian folks play the kulintang as a pastime activity as well. For a complete performance, there are at least four players, with each type of kulintang being played by at least one player individually. Sometimes, another musical instrument, such as Angklung, is bought in to make up for the lack of certain type(s) of music in the kulintang performance. This is to acheive playing a complete set of music in the performance.

The Soprano kulintang, with its specific pair of beaters

The Alto kulintang, with its specific pair of beaters

The Tenor kulintang, with its specific pair of beaters

The Bass kulintang, with its specific pair of beaters

The girls practising, with Ibu Susanna guiding

Upon interviewing the girls, namely Fong Yee, Jee Theng, Geraldine, and Xue Ni, I realise that in order to come up with an impressive kulintang performance, there is more than just hitting the kulintang with a a beater. The girls shared with me that, as it was their first time playing a kulintang, it was by no means easy for them. As the performance on 20th March requires precise coordination of all four types of music, it took them a major effort during their practice sessions to get it right. They also shared that the practice sessions improved their general sense of timing in music, which aided in constantly improving their competence in playing the kulintang. Although much work was involved during their practice sessions in preparing for their kulintang performance on 20th March, the girls enjoyed the process, and at the same time, bonded well with each other. All the best to them on 20th March:)

Jumputan

2009-03-12T18:49:00.001-07:00

Jumputan is a technique of designing a cloth by covering some parts of it--most commonly by tying, and dyeing the exposed area.

There are 3 main stages to the process of Jumputan.

1. To come up with the design. This is the toughest part of all, as reflected by the Jumputan group, as you would have to crack your brain on how to present the desired pattern. The students were provided with marbles and rubber bands during the try-out to experiment forming a design on the cloth.

It is important to note the tightness of the tying. Tying the cloth tightly prevents the tied area from coming in contact with the dye. If not, the dye may get into the unintended area of dyeing, affecting the end product. The difficulty level increases as you have to ensure that there are no creases at the site of tying at the same time.

Look at how engrossed they were in discussing the design to be presented on the cloth. :)

Focussed. Ibu Liana was guiding this group on the way to tie the cloth tightly yet without creases, so that the colour would not turn out uneven after dyeing.

2. Next is to 'cook' the semi-product! A pot of water is first heated, with the addition of dye and salt. The purpose of adding salt is to preserve the colour. The cloth is cooked for 30 minutes to an hour, and constant stirring is required to even out the colour on the cloth.
Note: Only one colour can be added to the cloth each time; so light colours should come before the dark ones.

'Cooking' the cloths!

Colouring dye. It's dark blue!

Constant stirring is required to even out the colour on the cloth.

3. Finally, the cloth is left to dry before rubber bands and other stuffs used are removed, and the artwork is done!

It was the Jumputan group's first meet-up on the day of interview. The whole group was split into 3 smaller groups for discussion. Most group members commented Jumputan as 'Sulit!'; in that coming up with the design can be very tedious. Despite so, they enjoyed themselves in the process of Jumputan, which can be evidenced from the laughters heard during each small group discussion. Let's await to see their creative end products on D-Day! :D

Angklung

2009-03-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Angklung is a traditional Indonesian musical instrument. It is made up of bamboo tubes of varying lengths to create different tones and pitches. It makes a crisp and sweet sound. Each Angklung has its own note. Therefore, many Angklungs must be played in order to hear a complete piece of beautiful music. It is playing by first holding on to the centre of the instrument with the index and middle fingers of a hand and the base supported by the thumb and index finger at the left end of the base. There are varying sizes of Angklungs, but Angklungs can be divided into 2 main categories: Melody and Accompaniment.

Below are the various sizes of Angklung:

The big...

The medium...

and the small

The way to support the Angklung

On the Bahasa Indonesia I project day on the 20 March 2009, 29 students will perform the Melody Angklung for the audience. They will be performing Naik-naik Ke Puncak Gunung and Topi Saya Bundar, which are children songs from Indonesia. I visited them in rehearsal on 12 March, Thursday.

The rehearsal had full attendance. After some hustle, the rehearsal started. The students followed the instruction of Ibu Yuke and the conductor closely. They seemed to have great fun playing the Angklung, giggled when some mistakes were made and continued after that to rectify the mistake. Everyone enjoyed the process of making music.

The members enjoying the process of making music with Angklung

(above and below)

Everyone paying full atention to the conductor

Everyone paying full attention to Ibu Yuke and Ibu Eli during rehearsal

One of the performing students, Shi Lai, joined the Angklung as he wanted to learn more about Indonesian Music, musical skills, improve his understanding of Bahasa Indonesia and Indonesian culture. He felt that the greatest challenge of playing th Angklung is to know what is the right time for the students to enter the song. He also felt that the other challenges include the ability to hold the notes for the right amount of time and keeping with the beat of the conductor, which needs more practice to overcome. Despite the difficulties, he believes that the team will still perform well on project day.

The instructor, Ibu Yuke feels that most of the students had an excellent attitude towards learning to play the Angklung, despite being later learners of the art. They do not sound like amateurs to the ears of mine during the practice.

Let's look forward to their upcoming performance on 20 March!

Batik

2009-03-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

Batik is a traditional Indonesian textile which is developed from Java, Indonesia.

It is thought to be named from the word ‘ambatik’ which refers to making dots; and the suffix ‘tik’ simply means dot. Thus it can be inferred that batik makes use of little dots to form various fanciful patterns.

Ibu Fanny, the teacher-in-charge of the batik group, shared with me the 4 stages to the process of batik.

1. Outline the pattern of batik on a cloth using a pencil.

2. Apply liquefied wax to the outline (waxing). This is normally carried out using a canting. Canting is a wooden handled tool with a tiny-spouted copper container. It allows the control of wax flowing through. The right temperature has to be reached for the perfect flow of the wax. If the wax is too hot, the flow of wax would be too fast for optimum control. On the other hand, if the wax is too cool, it would not be able to flow through the canting smoothly. This stage of the batik process has been commented the most tedious part, and as Ibu Fanny mentioned, the perfection of control in waxing comes with experience.

3 cantings placed on a bowl of solidified wax. Notice the tiny spouted tip; this is where the wax flows out from container.

This is an example of waxing. Take a closer look, and you will be able see the pencil marking for the pattern outline.

The whole picture! (It must have been a lot of effort put in...)

3. Apply colours on the designed cloth. Batik dyes are traditionally made from natural ingredients. The oldest colour used in traditional batik making was blue, made from the leaves of the Indigo plant.

Colourful, isn't it? :D

4. Removal of wax by ironing. The cloth is ironed between newspapers for the absorption of wax.
After which, a piece of batik art work is finally completed.

It was the third and last Batik session when I conducted the interview. The small groups of 4 each had progressed to applying colours to their designed cloths.

The students expressed fun and enjoyment in batik making. During the process, mistakes were made which were actually experiences to learn from. There was a work in which the wax applied was not thick enough to block off the colours, hence resulting in smudging. As the group members were pretty concerned over the work, Ibu Fanny reassured them, saying “It’s a learning process, and not so much about the outcome.” This is the essence of learning, isn't it? :)

Beautiful work done! :D

Tari Maluku

2009-03-06T05:34:00.000-08:00

Maluku dance originated from Maluku in the eastern part of Indonesia. It is traditionally a war dance but nowadays, people dance it to celebrate their friendships. I think this dance also foster friendships which I can sense during the interview.

The group only has 3 official training sessions to get prepared for the performance. The interview is conducted on the second session and I am awed by how well they performed (taking note that they only started learning one week ago).

From the interview, I know that none of the students have prior experience with Maluku dance. However,they felt that this dance is quite easy to learn. They think that the greatest challenge lies with coordination. There are also fear of getting their legs clamped by the bamboo used for the dance in some students. Nevertheless, they find it interesting and fun.

All the students remarked 'Bagus Sekali!' when asked how they find Ibu Agnes ( their dance instructor).

The project group with their bagus sekali Ibu Agnes.

As for Ibu Agnes, she enjoyed teaching this group of students. She said that this group of students are very creative, with all of them being involved in choreographing the dance steps. She also commented that the students are very good, needing little guidance.

The following are a few photos taken during their training session.

The leg clamp! No, I mean this is the bamboos used for the Maluku dance. It consist of 8 long bamboos, taped together in pairs and 8 short bamboos taped at the end to allow better grip. You could probably imagine how painful it is to get clamped by these poles at your ankle.

Warming up for the dance.

The group preparing to do the head level maluku dance.

There was a lot of laughter and cheers inside the class. It makes me feel like I am in a big family. The students and Ibu Agnes have been very friendly and helped me greatly with my interview.

Terima Kasih!