There is no question that batik has become synonymous with Indonesian culture. The much-lauded traditional cloth traces its origins to a noble past and has endured over the centuries, recently being designated as world heritage by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. The Danar Hadi Antique Batik Museum in Solo is a good [...]
It was like fate when Tania Gunadi won a green card lottery to move from Indonesia to the United States. When she first came to the US, the first thing she noticed was the way the L.A. freeways seemed so clean and magical. New to the language she managed to learn English quickly while working [...]
American comics capture the world market successfully. Superhero names of the characters are known by various age levels. To that Indonesia should be proud because one of the illustrators is one of the nation’s talent. Who is he? He is Cristiawan Lie. Who does not know the character of the robot in the Transformers movie? In early [...]
Mark, my Oz fren, came to my hometown of Yogyakarta, Indonesia sometimes in April 2007, and wanted to learn Indonesian Language. He allocated 6-7 months to learn and speak fluently. I was surprised that he could eventually speak Indonesian language fluently only in…2.5 months. When I asked him, he simply said “Bahasa Indonesia adalah bahasa [...]
Have you watched Avatar movie? One thing that amazes me is how James Cameroon displayed his imagination, especially of the plants and animals. One of the best displayed was the flying dragon, the blue and the colorful one, the Toruk Makto. It was just yesterday when we believe that a real dragon lives in Indonesia, it [...]
I was surprised to received an email this morning from GNFI reader, he/she’d like me to post something about a metal band from Finland, named Battlelore. Few who know this band, as it is from somewhere in the far north, and iIam not sure if they’ve released their album internationally. What is so special about Battlelore? [...]
At first glance, you would have thought the band was form by a bunch of proud Indonesian boys who wanted to show off their love for their nation. Think again. The INDONESIA band is actually formed by four Russian guys: Coal, Santa, Demian and Charlie. Myspace described them as, Indonesia – band was founded in St-Petersburg in autumn 2007. [...]
His name might not be familiar to all, but 36-year-old Sandhy Sondoro has made remarkable achievements in music, putting Indonesia on the international stage by winning New Wave 2009, a contest for young pop singers. Music has been part of Sandhy Sondoro’s life since he was a little boy. His mother was in band made up [...]
By Jason Tedjasukmana If you like the idea of running with the bulls in Pamplona, but risking a horn in your spleen puts you off, consider a visit to Indonesia’s Madura Island. The Karapan Sapi, or bull race, is an annual tradition on this small island off Java, attracting thousands of visitors in search of local [...]
Taylor Kuffner and a friend came up with the idea to build to the world’s first fully robotic gamelan orchestra. (Photos courtesy of GamelaTron) World’s First Robotic Gamelan Orchestra Gaining Fans in US What do you get when you cross a cyborg with a set of ancient Indonesian musical instruments? GamelaTron, of course. A love for music and [...]
