VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Palembang  as capital of South Sumatera province has now been a new icon for national and international events. Because, international sports complex of Jaka Baring has been built and the existence of electric train transportation ( LRT) has  made Palembang more well-known by people in Indonesia and in foreign countries. As an international cross culture city since Sriwijaya kingdom ruled in 9th until 12^th century, Palembang has resulted in various cultures such as customs, culinary and fashion. One of the heritage fashions that still exists is “Songket Woven Fabric ".

Pelembang is indeed famous from its typical culinary namely  Pempek and Cuko, butSongket Woven Fabric ofPalembang is also famousand well-known in  international world as part of Malay typical fashion. If you go to Palembang, you can visitTanggo Buntung district as center forSongket hand-made cloth.  Songket Woven Fabric approximately has existed since 17th century as special cloth for the kings and aristocrats. There are galleries and Songket shops with highly artistic quality in Tanggo Buntung district. Besides, there are also home Songket weaving craftsmen who work for their generations and the knowledge they  gained is also from hereditary knowledge.

Now, the production of Songket  still uses looms rather than  machines because it is to maintain its authenticity. Each person uses an independent traditional weaving tool and wooden boxes to form motive which will form a geometric pattern, and plant combined with geometric patterns on each woven product. But in a certain pattern, there are also more modern patterns. There are 3 motives passed down from the past. They still survive until now. At present, the number of Palembang Songket motives consists of more than 71 patterns. Of the motives, 22 patterns have been patented. Several processes to make a good quality Songket   take approximately three months. In general, the cheapest price of Palembang Songket  is Rp. 750,000. In addition, the older the Songket cloth is, the more expensive it is.

There is an interesting thing about the making of Songket weaving in which every craftsman does not make his / her own model, but he / she  takes the type of model from other craftsmen who specifically make and arrange woven patterns and prepare yarns; one of which is gold threads as typical Songket. While weaving craftsmen only weave. According to Songket weaving craftsmen, this has been done from one generation to another generation as a form of mutual cooperation and to respect among communities. If we visit Tanggo Buntung, besides being able to see the making of the Weaving Songket in the galleries, we can also visit the home centers to weave based on order where the tools are from several  generations and even the age of the  tools have been about 100 years.