INDONESIAN PERFORMANCE AT THE 46^TH BALKAN FESTIVAL OF FOLKS SONGS AND DANCES, OHRID CITY, MACEDONIA

 On July 6, 2007 Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia participated on the 46^th Balkan Festival of Folks Songs and Dances at Ohrid city.  The festival was one of the biggest fest in East and Central Europe that showed dance and choir groups from Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania, Turkey, Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina and also Australia.  The Vice Speaker of Macedonian Parliament, Ivan Anastasovski opened the festival on 5^th of July 2007.  The Festival was ended on July 10, 2007.  Indonesia was the only one representative of Asian countries who participated on the festival.

 On the festival, Indonesia performed dances from West Java such as Merak Dance¹ (Peacock Dance) created by Rd. Tjetje Somantri, Jaipongan Ronggeng Beken Dance² created by Mamat Rachmat which was performed by 3 Hungarian dancers.  These dancers are member of the Indonesian Cultural Group at the Embassy.  Besides dancing, Indonesia also presented the dynamic of Sudanese traditional drum or the solo kendang attraction³ that was played by Mr. Rachmat who is the dance and traditional instrument (gamelan) teacher at the Embassy from Indonesian Art Institute (STSI) – Bandung, West Java.  The Indonesian performance which was showed almost 20 minutes amazed more than 1000 festival visitors at an open area.  The Indonesia Cultural performance was unique and exotic compared to other European countries participated at the festival.

The Indonesian Cultural Performance at Ohrid City was the first Indonesian cultural event since the diplomatic relation between Indonesia and Macedonia were established on May, 25 1993 and after the new Indonesian Ambassador presented the credentials to the Macedonian President in March 2007.  Indonesian Ambassador, H.E Mangasi Sihombing expressed his appreciation to deputy major of Ohrid city, Mr. Spiro Nikoloski for the chance to present Indonesian culture at the festival.  He hopes that this performance could enhance the cooperation especially in economic and cultural field between Indonesia and Macedonia.