June 24, 2008 edition
EIGHT decades ago, jazz music was heard in the Malay palaces of Siak, Deli and Kutai. For instance, Riau at the time was a cosmopolitan area: a coastal region which accepted influences of many cultures. Jazz was nothing new. But it is only recently that jazz received the attention of Indonesian youth. Moreover, they are not simply passive beings that accept cultural spillovers brought by African-Americans.
At the 2008 Malacca Strait Jazz Festival in Pekanbaru on 5-7 June, a number of jazz groups gathered and demonstrated their music creativity. Amongst them was Zarro n the Vega which expressed the rich harmony of Brazilian jazz. Geliga, a group from Riau, succeeded in incorporating Malay elements into jazz music. Jazz can mean just about anything. The following is Tempo's coverage of the festival.
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More Intermezzo articles in other editions
June 10, 2008 edition
April 22, 2008 edition
THE Rokan River is one of Riau’s treasures. In the past, arwona fish were easy to catch, and the riverbanks were lined by heavy forests on which temples were built. The Naqsyabandiyah sect developed in the area, first propagated by Syekh Abdul Wahab Rokan. But now Rokan has changed. Tempo journalist Febrianti, who joined an expedition to explore hundreds of kilometers of the Rokan River from March 22-25, witnessed the local residents brandishing cellphones everywhere, and barren forests due to illegal logging along the river. Following are excerpts of her report.
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April 15, 2008 edition