Arts and Crafts in Indonesia

Any connoisseur is bound to be fascinated by the rich variety of Arts and Crafts in Indonesia that has been a legacy of a myriad of influences. Talking of visual arts in Indonesia, the country is not generally known as a treasure trove for exquisite or timeless paintings, but it is known more for its inimitable works of art, which are exclusive to the country.

To begin with, there are the often intricate and expressive traditional and modern Balinese paintings. These paintings mostly concentrate on depicting the beauty of nature, marvelous landscapes or illustrate themes from the traditional dances. Apart from the traditional paintings, Indonesia has proved to be a fertile ground for many internationally known painters either Indonesians or Europeans who settled in Indonesia to pursue their creative endeavors.

Most of these are big names in the Art market and their works often fetch very high prices. Today, Modern Indonesian painters use a wide variety of styles and themes. Calligraphy, mostly based on the Qur'An is decorative in its special way.
When it comes to Indonesian crafts as one of the art products, one can choose among the various styles, patterns and designs that are employed in preparing them, mostly inherited as a cultural legacy from their ancestors. In many ways, the colors and forms of these crafts depict the traditional or spiritual values of a particular tribes from certain regions. In some cases these display various meanings related to the ethnic or particular region of origin.
Some of the popular forms of Arts and Crafts in Indonesia are batik, ikat and songket cloth. With the popularity of batik today, it is difficult to imagine that it was once on the brink of disappearance along with ikat, but thanks to the efforts of former President Soeharto, who ingeniously promoted the craft by wearing batik shirts on official occasions.

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Music and Dance in Indonesia

The culturally diverse archipelago of Indonesia comprises of over 18,000 islands, each of which is characterized by its own unique cultural and artistic history and temperament. This diversity in the moral fiber of its many islands has given birth to hundreds of different forms of music, which often accompanies dance and theater. To know more about the music and dance in Indonesia, it is important to understand the various cultural influences that have eventually shaped up the country.

The music of Java, Sumatra, Bali, Flores and other islands have fascinated many Indonesian and international scholars who have documented and recorded, and done research on this.

Pop and folk music in Indonesia
Speaking of Indonesian pop music and Indonesian folk music, the two are very different things and naturally quite diverse too. Indonesian music embraces rock, house, hip-hop and other genres, as well as distinctly Indonesian forms. Indonesia has several kinds of "ethnic" pop music, generally grouped together as Pop Daerah (regional pop). These include Pop Sunda, Pop Minang, Pop Batak, and others. In the regional pop music forms, mostly local languages and a mix of western and regional style of music and instruments is employed.

Popular Music and Dance in Indonesia

Langgam jawa

Tembang jawa

Gambang kromong

Dangdut
A singer based form of dance music that has been popular since the mid-1970s.

Qasidah modern
It is a form of religious poetry accompanied by chanting and percussion and is very popular with the pop audiences.

Dance in Indonesia
Like most of the performing arts of the Orient, dance in Indonesia is also believed to have begun as a form of religious worship. Today, with the modern influences steadily creeping in, the old traditions of dance and drama are still being preserved in the many of the government-run or supervised art academies and dance schools, apart from those which flourish in the courts. In the early times these were performed in the royal courts to entertain royalty, however, now these dances have eventually reached the broad strata of the common people from the enclosed courts, and have incorporated a more spontaneous form of expression.

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Architecture of Indonesia

One can easily trace a reflection of the same diversity of cultural, historical, and geographic influences that have shaped Indonesia as a whole in the aarchitecture of Indonesia as well.

The architectonic concepts of Indonesia have been pronouncedly affected by the multifarious cultural influences brought along by several invaders, colonisers, missionaries, merchants and traders. Traditionally, the most significant foreign architectural influences that have effected the building styles and techniques of Indonesia have been Indian, but included Chinese and Arab, and more recently European influences which have been important since the 18th & 19th centuries.

Religious architecture of Indonesia

The most striking specimen of Religious architecture of Indonesia can be seen in Java, though one can easily see a variety of samples of Religious architecture of Indonesia
spread throughout the archipelago. The island’s long tradition of religious syncretism, where it blends two or more religious belief systems into a new system or incorporates beliefs from unrelated traditions into a religious tradition has extended to architectural styles as well. This has resulted in the confluence of structural styles of Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, and to a smaller extent, Christian architecture as well, that are uniquely Javanese in interpretation.

Traditional vernacular architecture of Indonesia

There is a distinctive style of traditional housing unique to each ethnic group in Indonesia called Rumah adat. Apart from some small differences and diversity of styles, traditional homes of Indonesia built by peoples with a common Austronesian ancestry, share a number of characteristics such as timber construction, varied and elaborate roof structures, and pile and beam construction that take the load straight to the ground.

These houses are the focal point of a web of customs, social relations, traditional laws, taboos, myths and religions that bind the villagers together. The house serve as the main unit of the family and its community, and is the point of departure for many activities of its residents.

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Indonesian Cuisine

Indonesian cuisine, like other aspects of Indonesian culture exhibits tremendous ethnic diversity, which adds to a world of pleasure for the gourmands on a culinary sojourn through the archipelago. Rice is the staple food of most of Indonesia along with corn, sago, cassava and sweet potatoes.

Seafood is also an innate part of the daily diet of people in Indonesia, who like digging in a great variety of sea produce such as lobsters, oysters, prawns and shrimps, squid, crab, etc.
Popular Cookbooks on Indonesian Cuisine
For those who want to learn more about Indonesian Cuisine can refer to the following South-East Asian cookbooks available in the market, all have extensive sections on Indonesian culinary tradition.
Southeast Asia Cookbook
by Ruth Law
New York, Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1990 Softbound, 452 pages

Cuisines of Southeast Asia
by Gwenda L. Hyman
New York, Thomas Woll, 1993 Softbound, 197 pages, $14.95

The Indonesian Kitchen
by Copeland Marks with Mintari Soeharjo
New York, Atheneum, 1981, softbound, 278 pages

The Cooking of Singapore
by Chris Yeo and Joyce Jue
Emeryville, Harlow & Ratner, 1993

Indonesian Food and Cookery
by Sri Owen
London, Prospect Books, 1986, hardboard, 268 pages

Some Popular Indonesian Delicacies:

Satay Ayam (Chicken Satay)
Satay Sauce
Rendang
Kari Ikan (Fish Curry)
Semur Daging (Slices Of Beef In Soya Sauce)
Sambal – This is essentially the one Indonesian food that sparks the cuisine. There are sambals of all sorts to accompany different kinds of dishes.
Staple Ingredients used in Indonesian Cuisine
Tamarind juice
Coconut milk
Kaffir lime leaves
Lemon grass/lemon grass powder
Terasi or shrimp paste
Sambal Oelek or raw chili paste
Galanga (also known as laos) powder, it is the ground root of a rhizome related to ginger
Kemiri or candlenut is ground and used in Indonesian food as a thickening agent

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Culture of Indonesia

The culture of Indonesia has took its current shape molded by several influences that have been prevalent in the land, as a result of the long process of interaction and acculturation between original indigenous customs and a multitude of foreign influences.

Nestled between the ancient sea trading routes between Far East and Middle East, Indonesian culture, too a large extent has imbibed much of its daily practices and art forms from the Hindu, Buddhist, Confucianism and Islamic influences. These connections are clearly evident mostly in its many trading cities.

The kaleidoscopic cultural hue of Indonesia is largely cosmopolitan and need to be distinguished from the original. The complex nature of this culture can be easily gazed by various lines of faiths adopted by people here, for example: Agama Hindu Dharma, a denomination of Hinduism is now practiced by 93% of Balinese. Other examples are the fusion of Islam with Hindu in Javanese Abangan belief, the fusion of Hinduism, Buddhism and animism in Bodha, the fusion of Hinduism and animism in Kaharingan, and many others.

With the diverse influences, shaping up the perspective of the Indonesian people, their lifestyle and values, the impact of the cultural fusion is also noticeable in Indonesian art forms. For instances, wayang- a traditional form of theatre show performed with puppets was used to spread Hinduism and Islam among villagers in Java. Similarly, in various Javanese and Balinese dances, often stories about old Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms are told. In Sumatra, especially in its Minangkabau and Aceh regions, one can see direct architectural inspiration from the Islamic art forms and architectures.

As far as the westernization of culture of Indonesia is concerned, an imprint of it though cannot be ruled out, but it is mostly limited to modern entertainment, such as television shows, movies and songs. One of the major influences in this sphere are the Bollywood songs and movies.

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Kerapan Sapi (Bull Race)

The festivals in Indonesia are diverse and colorful. These festivals attract lot of tourists from all corners of the world. Keeping in line with the diverse religion and castes in Indonesia, the festivals and events here are equally diverse and colorful and invite participation from the locals here. The Kerapan Sapi (Bull Race) is one of the major events here.

The Kerapan Sapi (Bull Race) is an annual event that draws visitors and enthusiasts from different parts of Indonesia and the world. The Kerapan Sapi (Bull Race) is held at Madura Island. These bull races are very singular to Madura Island. The Kerapan Sapi (Bull Race) was born out of the custom of plough teams racing and competing against each other across barren fields. This was a sporting love of an early king of Sumenep, one of the towns on the island. The Kerapan Sapi (Bull Race) is held nowadays from August to October. This festival gives a golden opportunity to the locals to throw overgenerous festivals to follow the races. The bull races finally end in the grand finals held in Pamekasan, the capital. Before the racing starts the bulls are paraded through the towns, decorated with flowers, ribbons and gilded halters. It is really a wonderful spectacle to see different bulls dressed in a colorful way and parading down the roads. While the Gamelan musicians divertimento the bulls they are fed arak (a potent South East Asian rice-wine spirit). This is done in order to excite the bulls for the race. Only then are they set free to charge down the track, or into the audience as occasionally happens. The race does not take much time as the bulls break the human 100 metres record by crossing the distance in just nine seconds. The Kerapan Sapi (Bull Race) will start from 9 am onwards this year.

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Traditional Boat Race

Traditional Boat Race is also one the important events and festivals of Indonesia. People take part in this event will full enthusiasm. This Traditional Boat Race is usually celebrated on the day of independence celebrations that is on 17th august. Traditional Boat Race of Indonesia also became the part of South East Asian games.

Traditional Boat Race of Indonesia is one of the most awaited festivals and events in Indonesia. Locals as well as tourists wait for the whole year to part in this grand event. People even fly off from different parts of the country to become a part of this grand event. A Dragon boat is used in the Traditional Boat Race . The boat is a long and narrow boat, which is basically a human powered boat. For the Traditional Boat Race this dragon boats are decorated with flowers and other decorative items, which makes the boat even more attractive. The heads and tails of the dragon are used to carry drum aboard.

The crew members or participants of the Traditional Boat Race are almost 22, which mainly consist of 20 paddlers. These paddlers are in pairs. They usually face toward the bow of the boat. Moreover there is one drummer .he usually faces the bow toward the paddlers. There is also one steerer at the boat, Dragon boats, which are used in Traditional Boat Race , are of different sizes. According to which the number of crew members also vary. In small dragon boats there are even 10 paddlers. There are also huge dragon boats where the numbers of crew members may rose to 50 paddlers.

Traditional Boat Race organized in Indonesia has also become part of the Independence Day celebrations. The sight of the traditional boat competing against each other in the blue crystal water of Indonesia is truly amazing. You can find people cheering for their respective teams in this occasion. Moreover, some food stalls also come up during the event.
Pay a trip to Indonesia during the Traditional Boat Race and get yourself fully entertaine

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