VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOInews, Jakarta: The Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok organized an Indonesian cultural evening titled "An Evening of Indonesian Music and Dance", at the Siam Society auditorium, Wednesday (24/5). The event was initiated through the cooperation of the Indonesian Representative in Thailand with the Siam Society, an international Thai cultural organization that aims to promote the study or knowledge of culture, history, art and conversion of the cultural heritage of Thailand and neighboring countries in the Southeast Asian region.

In an official statement from the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok received by Indonesia Window here on Thursday (25/5), Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand accredited to UNESCAP Rachmat Budiman in his opening remarks said that promoting Indonesian cultural arts is one of his priorities. According to him, the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok continues to strive to increase the Thai public's better understanding of Indonesia through culture.

"This understanding will bring people from both nations to be able to communicate more easily, so that in the end it will strengthen cooperation between the two countries not only at the bilateral level but also in the region," he said.

At "An Evening of Indonesian Music and Dance", the audience was invited to enjoy a small part of the thousands of diversity of Indonesian art and culture presented through music and dance. The audience was taken on a journey and imagined flying around the islands of Aceh, Java and Bali.

Pendet dance was asked as the opening dance on the cultural night, which was then continued with Javanese Gamelan playing songs from the Central Java region, namely Ladrang Ayun-ayun, Ayun-ayun Tanjung Gunung, and Srepegan. The combination of saron, bonang, gong, and kempul as well as other neat and harmonious gamelan instruments helped to enliven the atmosphere of the Indonesian cultural night.

The next performance was the Merak Subal dance, which was followed by the Kelana Sewandana dance and closed by a dynamic dance movement through the Ratoh Jaroe dance.

"The audience was invited to play angklung together while enjoying the traditional bamboo instrument played by the students of Sekolah Indonesia Bangkok. Songs from Eastern Indonesia titled Rasa Sayange, I Have a Dream, and a pop song from Thailand titled Sabai-sabai attracted the enthusiasm and admiration of the audience to sing along," wrote the Indonesian Embassy.

The Indonesian cultural night was attended by more than 120 people. The audience were lovers and observers of art and culture in Thailand, lecturers, students and journalists.

"The boisterous sound of applause is often heard at every performance until the end of the event with a total duration of about 90 minutes," wrote the Indonesian Embassy.

In addition to the promotion of arts and culture, the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok also inserted traditional Indonesian culinary promotions in the form of serving Pastel and Bika Ambon cakes and screening videos of Indonesia's priority tourism destinations. The "An Evening of Indonesian Music and Dance" performance is expected to be one of the effective promotional media for the Thai people to be able to experience and enjoy the beauty of Indonesian art and culture more closely, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic. (VOI)