VoB Brings Sundanese Nada To Regional Cloth To Glastonbury, Indonesian Ambassador: Promotes Indonesian Wealth And Diversity

JAKARTA - The plan of the Voice of Baceprot (VoB) band to bring Sundanese music to regional special fabrics when appearing at the Glastonbury Festival 2024, is a form of soft Indonesian diplomacy,

Glastonbury Festival 2024 will be held on June 26-30 at Worthy Farm, Somerset, South West England, England. VoB itself will appear on June 28 with three songs.

The Indonesian Ambassador to the UK, Desra Percaya, said that the appearance of VoB in Glastonbury was seen as a form of diplomacy that can currently be carried out by anyone and in various forms.

"Dislomacy in today's era can be organized by various elements and methods," Ambassador Desra said via text message to VOI, as quoted on June 22.

"We can certainly see that VoB's success in appearing in Glastonbury is a form of Indonesia's soft diplomacy to promote Indonesia's richness of music and the value of Indonesian diversity, not only for the local public, but also globally," explained Ambassador Desra.

"Moreover, the moment is currently also very timely, where this year we celebrate 75 years of bilateral relations between the Republic of Indonesia and Britain," he said.

Meanwhile, vocalist and guitarist VoB Marsya said his band was excited and proud to be the first Indonesian musician to appear at the Glastonbury Festival. This is also their first appearance in England.

Previously, VoB had appeared in a number of European countries, Singapore, Thailand to tour 11 cities in the United States.

"In Glastonbury, we will have the opportunity to appear on one of the four biggest stages," Marsya said in an online press statement on Friday.

"We are trying to take advantage of this opportunity to raise Indonesian culture through music by including several elements of Sundanese tones. There is a song that contains a lesson in Sundanese that we combine in English," he explained.

"Then for costumes we work with one of Indonesia's proud designers, combining modern elements and cultural elements, one of which is the ornament of several fabrics originating from several regions in Indonesia," he said, adding that there would be a display of the map of Indonesia as a background when appearing later.

Glastonbury Festival 2024 itself will be filled by a number of world-famous musicians, including Coldplay, Dua Lipa, Avril Lavigne to Anne Marie.

"Their VoB is really the ambassador of Indonesia, the Indonesian ambassador, of course their mission will make Indonesia proud in the UK," said Ambassador Desra.

"The genre is metal or rock, entering Glastonbury, they are three young Indonesian women and wearing hijabs, there are messages conveyed, Islam can get long well with music, even rock music, there is added value different from before," explained the diplomat who is proficient in playing this saxophone.

He added that the Indonesian Embassy in London will support the entire series of VoB activities, as well as promote Indonesian music.