Karapan Sapi

Karapan Sapi, is Madura’s annual traditional event, it is such a bull racing tournament. It is usually held at week end within August to September, or ideally before or after the fasting month. Date back to the early begin, Karapan Sapi was exist before 15 Century. The championship is starts from the district level to the regency level and moving forward to the level Residence. Last, the final will be held on September or October in the city of Pamekasan to compete for President Cup.
Karapan Sapi is such a prestigious event for Madurese people, for the bull’s owner will feel socially uplifted when their bulls can be a champion. This event is becomes an outstanding-event-party for Madurese, it needs more energy, more beneficial times and, of course, more money to spend. Regarding this event, the bull is becomes an investment out of gold and money. Thus, the owner will more concern to make their bull winning in this race.
At this race, the bull will race in pair. There is also a standing wooden cart that put in those bull’s back, a place for the jockey to ride away the bull and controlling their speed, named Keleles. The race track are typically about 100 meters long and it takes about ten to fifteen seconds to pass. Before racing the bull, before the race, each team will show up their bulls in parade accompanied by Madura’s traditional instrument named Saronen.
Looking at the background, bull is not an animal type for racing activities for are not classified as fast runner animals. But this can be solved by training the bull twice or three times a week, not more than that. The exercise is held around 3pm before dawn.
It is said that a pair of healthy and strong bulls will cost Rp. 4 millions per pair for their food and other maintenance. Moreover, they are also consuming some traditional herb and dozens of chicken eggs per days.

History of Wayang Kulit

Wayang is a generic term denoting traditional theatre in Indonesia. There is no evidence that wayang existed before Hinduism came to Southeast Asia sometime in the first century CE, brought in by Indian traders. However, there very well may have been indigenous storytelling traditions that had a profound impact on the development of the traditional puppet theatre. The first record of a wayang performance is from an inscription dated 930 CE which says "si Galigi mawayang," or "Sir Galigi played wayang". From that time till today it seems certain features of traditional puppet theatre have remained. Galigi was an itinerant performer who was requested to perform for a special royal occasion. At that event he performed a story about the hero Bhima from the Mahabharata.
Wayang Kulit is a unique form of theatre employing light and shadow. The puppets are crafted from buffalo hide and mounted on bamboo sticks. When held up behind a piece of white cloth, with an electric bulb or an oil lamp as the light source, shadows are cast on the screen.
Wayang Kulit plays are invariably based on romantic tales, especially adaptations of the classic Indian epics, "The Mahabarata" and "The Ramayana". Some of the plays are also based on local happenings (current issues) or other local secular stories. It is up to the conductor or "Tok Dalang" to decide his direction.


The Dalang is the genius behind the entire performance. It is he who sits behind the screen and narrates the story. With a traditional orchestra in the background to provide a resonant melody and its conventional rhythm, the Dalang modulates his voice to create suspense thus heightening the drama. Invariably, the play climaxes with the triumph of good over evil.
Hinduism arrived in Indonesia from India even before the Christian era, and was slowly adopted as the local belief system. Sanskrit became the literary and court language of Java and later of Bali. The Hindus changed the Wayang (as did the Muslims, later) to spread their religion, mostly by stories from the Mahabharata or the Ramayana. Later, this mixture of religion and wayang play was praised as harmony between Hinduism and traditional Indonesian culture. On Java, the western part of Sumatra and some smaller islands traditionalists continued to play the old stories for some time, but the influence of Hinduism prevailed and the traditional stories either fell into oblivion or were integrated into the Hinduistic plays.
The figures of the wayang are also present in the paintings of that time, for example, the roof murals of the courtroom in Klungkung, Bali. They are still present in traditional Balinese painting today.
When Islam began spreading in Indonesia, the display of God or gods in human form was prohibited, and thus this style of painting and shadow play was suppressed. King Raden Patah of Demak, Java, wanted to see the wayang in its traditional form, but failed to obtain permission from the Muslim religious leaders. As an alternative, the religious leaders converted the wayang golek into wayang purwa made from leather, and displayed only the shadow instead of the figures itself.^{[citation needed]} Instead of the forbidden figures only their shadow picture was displayed, the birth of the wayang kulit.^{[citation needed]}
The figures are painted, flat woodcarvings (a maximum of 5 to 15 mm thick—barely half an inch) with movable arms. The head is solidly attached to the body. Wayang klitik can be used to perform puppet plays either during the day or at night. This type of wayang is relatively rare.
Wayang today is both the most ancient and most popular form of puppet theatre in the world. Hundreds of people will stay up all night long to watch the superstar performers, dalang, who command extravagant fees and are international celebrities. Some of the most famous dalang in recent history are Ki Nartosabdho, Ki Anom Suroto, Ki Asep Sunarya, Ki Sugino, and Ki Manteb Sudarsono.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayang

 Bengawan Solo (song)

 

Bengawan Solo is a famous Indonesian song about the Solo River, which flows through central and eastern Java, Indonesia and is that island's longest river.
The song describes the legendary river in a poetic and nostalgic way, that it is surrounded by mountains, its sources are near the city of Surakarta, that it ends in the sea, and that the merchants make use of it.
Written in 1940 by Gesang Martohartono, it is in the local kroncong style, a popular folk style with influences from Portuguese. The Japanese, who occupied the country during World War II, brought the song with them to Japan after returning from the war. There, and also in the rest of Asia and later worldwide, the song became very famous.
The song's widespread popularity began soon after its composition, and locally it is strongly associated with the period of war occupation and the society of the times. In 1940 Gesang, then a young, destitute and untrained musician, composed the song on a bamboo flute and began to sing it at local functions and gatherings in his hometown of Surakarta. It soon became well-known and liked among the local Japanese community; the song then achieved national acclaim after it was broadcast to a wider audience by various radio stations.
The melodies of the song also appealed to both the occupying Japanese soldiers, and the non-Indonesian prisoners (mainly Dutch civilians) in the internment camps. The song was taken back to Japan by the returning soldiers, where it (with the lyrics translated to Japanese) gained great popularity after various singers such as Toshi Matsuda released recorded versions of it which became best-sellers. The song has become almost synonymous with the perception of Indonesian music in Japan.
In 1991, a group of appreciative Japanese war veterans arranged for a statue of Martohartono to be erected in a park in Surakarta. Gesang himself was still resident in the city, now a nationally renowned figure^.
Various artistes have recorded the song, among whom are Waljinah, Toshi Matsuda, Anneke Grönloh, Rebecca Pan and Frances Yip.
"Bengawan Solo" is a popular name given to restaurants and businesses, in reminiscence of the song

Indonesian lyrics	English translation
Bengawan Solo	Solo River
Riwayatmu ini	Thus your chronicles
Sedari dulu jadi	Have been since earliest times
Perhatian insani	Of sentient attention
Musim kemarau	In the dry season
Tak seb'rapa airmu	Your water is not much
Di musim hujan, air	In the rainy season, water
Meluap sampai jauh	Spills reaching far distances
Chorus:
Mata airmu dari Solo	Your water springs forth from Solo
Terkurung Gunung Seribu	Surrounded by a thousand mountains
Air mengalir sampai jauh	Water flows to reach far distances
Akhirnya ke laut	Eventually to the sea
Itu perahu	That boat
Riwayatmu dulu	In your past chronicles
Kaum pedagang s'lalu	The merchant folks had always
Naik itu perahu	Sailed in such boats

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengawan_Solo_%28song%29

It would be impossible to visit or live in Indonesia and not be exposed to one of the country's most highly developed art forms, batik. On your first visit to a batik store or factory you will undoubtedly experience an overwhelming stimulation of the senses - due to the many colors, patterns and the actual smell of batik. Only through repeated visits and a bit of study will the types of designs and their origins become apparent.
The word batik is thought to be derived from the word 'ambatik' which translated means 'a cloth with little dots'. The suffix 'tik' means little dot, drop, point or to make dots. Batik may also originate from the Javanese word 'tritik' which describes a resist process for dying where the patterns are reserved on the textiles by tying and sewing areas prior to dying, similar to tie dye techniques. Another Javanese phase for the mystical experience of making batik is “mbatik manah” which means “drawing a batik design on the heart”.
http://www.expat.or.id/info/batik.html