Sunday, July 4, 2010

Enchanting Indonesia 2010

Last night I and hubby went to the opening of Enchanting Indonesia 4, an event of promoting Indonesia craft and tourism in Singapore.

We each got a batik tote bag filled with Indonesian goodies! From food spices to tourism brochures - giving me a view for next week's menu and next holiday destination.

The opening ceremony was full of traditional and fusion music, dances and fashion shows. Too bad I forgot to bring my camera so I can't share the festive pictures here now. My favourite part is the 'Angklung Interactive Show', where all the audience were given different pitches of angklung to play together as per instruction from the musician on stage. We played numerous songs from Burung Kakak Tua (folk song from Maluku, Indonesia) to Elvis Presley's (forgot the song title). We even get to keep the angklung we played! Ours is number 7 or 'ti', the seventh scale tone.


Ofcourse it wont be a great event without the food and craft bazaar. There are many booths represent many provinces of Indonesia, each with their own distinctive art and culture.

I couldn't resist to buy some of the goodies, like this white tote bag with embroidery of Ondel Ondel from Betawi (natives of Jakarta, Indonesia).

And a beautiful stone and silver pendant from Reny Feby Jewelry.


I drooled over the beautiful traditional textiles like Batik, Ikat and Songket but had to refrain my self since I already have a heap of fabrics that are still untouched. Yet I found some Indonesian Batik which not from Java origin, like this Batik Tabir from Riau. The motives and methods used to make the Batik Tabir Riau is different from the Batik of Java, yet each motive also has a certain meaning like shown below.

The event is still on until tonight, 4 July 2010. So for you who's reading this and happen to be in Singapore, spare your time to visit and experience a piece of Enchanting Indonesia.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there, I just found your blog through Sewing in SIN(gapore). If you don't mind me putting a link to your blog on mine http://equatorcollection.blogspot.com, do leave a comment there or just say it here and I'll take a look when I come back for a visit. I love those fabrics btw. Might be headed to the place soon.

Simone said...

I knew I should visit your blog more often! Ahhh now it's a little too late to visit Enchanging Indonesia 2010, but it brings back many good memories about my many trips to Indonesia. It's such a beautifully diverse country with such a rich culture.

My oma (grandmother) lived in Jakarta almost half her life and we used to visit often. I also have a very special place in my heart for Bali :-))

And what you wrote about the angklong reminded me of when we were in school and were taught how to play the angklong!

Oh, and the fabrics ... droooool.

Thanks for sharing.