Sabang Merauke Is Ready To Be Held, Invites Spectators To Be More AWAIty And Love Culture Of The Archipelago

The dancers after the exercise were prepared for the Sabang Merauke performance. (Photo: Doc. Personal)

JAKARTA - The Sabang Merauke event will be held in Ciputra Artpreneur, Jakarta. This activity will last for two consecutive days, namely 12 and 13 November 2022.

This performance will present dozens of repertoires of regional and contemporary dances. Sandhidea Cahyo Narpati as the choreographer said that the performances would not be separated from the idea of knitting diversity that stretched from Sabang to Merauke.

We hope that the audience will bring home a sense of pride and participation in having an invaluable Indonesian cultural wealth. This is a big challenge, we will work hard so that the message can be visualized nicely on stage," Sandhi said in a written release, Saturday, November 5.

To ensure that the Sabang Merauke performance goes as expected, hundreds of participating artists are reported to have undergone training since early November in two places, Jakarta and Yogyakarta. No less than 144 professional dancers practice dozens of regional and contemporary dances.

Hundreds of dancers who are ready to appear come from various regions such as Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Bali to Papua. Sandhi stated that the involvement of regional dancers is an important element to present spectacular performances on stage.

"The presence of regional dancers is important because we can both dig deeper into the structural structural and iconic elements in the area that can be highlighted even stronger during the next performance at Ciputra Artpreneur," said Sandhi.

The performance will be enriched with the appearance of the Batavia Madrigal Singers choir who won the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing 2022. They will be involved in eight regional and national songs that will add to the splendor of the Sabang Merauke Performance musicality.

The members of Batavia Madrigal Singers have even been practicing since early October to present their best performance.

The Coordinator of Batavia Madrigal Singers, Aksa Syadri, expressed his interest in being involved in the Sabang Merauke performance cannot be separated from the magnitude of the national values brought. The Sabang Merauke performance itself carries the concept of live performance which will present 22 songs containing 21 regional songs and one national anthem

"When viewed from the previous two performances, the concept of the Sabang Merauke performance is very interesting because it combines regional songs from Sabang to Merauke, complete with its dances into a unit and represents the values of the nation's diversity," said Aksa.

Several repertoires of regional songs that will be displayed by Batavia Madrigal Singers include Sik-Sik Sinbatumanikam (North Sumatra), Gendhing Sriwijaya (South Sumatra), Ondel-Ondel (Jakarta), Janger (Bali), Sipatokaan (North Sulawesi) and Yamko Rambe Yamko (Papua).

Not only singing, Batavia Madrigal Singers will also be involved in the choreography. Because the Sabang Merauke performance is also colored with a lot of regional dances, we also want to be involved in the sector. It has been two weeks since we practice choreography and later before the event we will have a rehearsal final with all the performers involved to combine all elements, both in terms of music and dance," said Aksa.

In addition to being able to enjoy performing arts on the main stage, visitors can also dive into the cultural diversity of the archipelago through cultural fair which takes place outside the performance area. Starting from painting exhibitions, live painting to selected MSME festivals, it is hoped that it can further raise the spirit of pride of visitors towards the products of the nation's children.