Text and Photos : Jaya L
Yogyakarta – This year Jogja Java Carnival (JCC) was held for the fourth time on 22 October 2011, also as the peak event after a series of events and program celebrating Yogyakarta City 255th anniversary on 7 October 2011.
With the theme “Magniworld”, a short of “Magnificent World”, the carnival presented 36 float cars featuring both the famously known and the hidden world magical wonders of God’s creation around us. Fueled by the spirit of cultural unity, the art and cultural carnival parade took place in the evening.
The 36 float cars presented in the JJC 2011 were divided into 3 categories. The first category is Main Carnival, parading collaborative works of JJC creative team with groups of Yogyakarta visual artists and professional performing artists. This category presented seven float cars; China Great Wall, a collaborative work with the Hakka Community; Disco Troya, a collaborative work with Art Merdeka; Serigala Babylonia (Babylonian Wolf), a collaborative work with Mulya Karya; Liberty Statue, a collaborative work with Jogja Broadway; Memorabilia of Moses, a collaborative work with Sanggar Dewata; Magnificence Batik, a collaborative work with Bank Indonesia and the Mataram In-line Skate Club; and Grow future, which was a collaborative work with the Independent Fashion Designer & Entertainment Club.
Meanwhile, the second category is Carnival Competition, which presented 15 float cars; The Colliseum Golden Era by Komunitas Teplok; Narashima Avatara by the Keluarga Putra Bali; Adi Budha Candi Borobudur by the Persatuan Pemuda Pemudi Prancak Dukuh; The Tower of Pisa by Sekolah Menengah Seni Rupa (SMSR / Visual Arts College) Yogyakarta; Komodo by the Sanggar Tari Gailarumarada; The Taj Mahal & Borobudur by the Satya Wacana Carnival Salatiga; The Garuda by Komunitas Rumah Garuda; Jung Java Ship Mataram Link Chain by Emprit Sett Panggung; The Kings of Magnificent World by Taman Pintar; Gardha Manunggal by Balai Seni Condrowardono; Jogja to the World by Pelita Bangsa Foundation; Siger Emas by Sanggar Seni Budaya Besapen Lampung; The Magnificence of Bee by Dr. Design; The Other Side by OMM Kadipaten; and the Great Stone of the World by Borobudur Tourist Park.
The Third and last category is Participant Category, which presented 14 car floats created by participants from Suriname; Yogyakarta Expatriate Community; Air Force Academy Yogyakarta; Komunitas Seni Budaya Lubuk Pakan, Deli Serdang, Medan; Jambi District Government; Lampung Students Community; Kediri District Government; Surabaya City Government; Kota Waringin, East Kalimantan Government; Solo Batik Carnival; Jogja Clown Community; Yogyakarta Klithikan Community; Rumah Pelantjong Yogyakarta; and Yogyakarta Wushu Community.
Since 5 in the afternoon eager carnival audience had crowded along the Maliobor Street, starting from Abu Bakar Ali Parking Lot all the way to the North Square of Keraton Yogyakarta. The traffic going to Malioboro Street were detoured since the parade will take place in the main street. sound speakers to play music accompanying the parade participants along with lighting system were installed on 12 points along the parade route. On those points the parade participants will stop and displaying their attractions. The 12 parade stop points were interesting since the committee decided to use transmitter system to connect the source of sound with the speakers against the use of cables in conventional system. This cut a lot of cost since it’ s certainly not cheap to provide thousands of meter of cables.
The JJC 2011 events were opened by the performance of 9 dance repertoires in front of guests and invitees at the Keraton Yogyakarta North Square. The nine dance repertoires consisted of four contemporary dance repertoires; Bokong Kelegan, Poco-Poco Modern, Ngethek Banyumasan, and Jogja Kokoh; and five traditional local dance from North Molucca, Papua, Nusa Tenggara Timur, West Java and Aceh. The new contemporary dance Repertoire were presented by dancers of the Local Student Community (Ikatan Keluarga Pelajar & Mahasiswa Daerah / IKPMD)Yogyakarta. The total amount of dancers involved were 145 pax.
Next, the governor of Yogyakarta Special Region, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X and the mayor of Yogyakarta city, Herry Zudianto, gave their opening speech. In his speech the Sultan stated that JJC strengthen Yogyakarta as a city of culture and at the same time increasing harmony and the culture of tolerance within the society, supporting multiculturalism for harmony and unity. Furthermore, he wishes JJC will promote the strength of tradition of the ancient city Yogyakarta, where philosophical and cultural values are abundant. Herry Zudianto spoke about the potential of Yogyakartan culture and the evidence that art and culture is universal and is unlimited as a language to communicate. The speech was followed by the beating of a bedug symbolizing the starting of the carnival parade.
Once the bedug was beaten, the parade started to enter Malioboro street from Abu Bakar Ali Parking Lot, which is approximately 1.4 km from the North Square of Keraton Yogyakarta. Every float car unit was accompanied by tens of streets performers wearing costumes according to the selected theme. The high enthusiasm of the audience and the lacking security control along the street were quite disturbing for the parade participants, especially for the street performers, since the audience kept breaking the line by entering the street. The committee had to struggle to keep the parade line as the police who could be seen along the parade route seemed to only idling around watching.
The carnival parade participants showed their best as performances were judged and this year’s JJC offered cash prize for winners. To make the event more exciting, the committee also curated the participants of Carnival Competition. Out of all submitted proposals, 15 best were chosen and were given budget to help in realizing their ideas to the max.
The Main Carnival category mostly were commisioned works and the participants worked their best to perform. A week prior to the parade, in a space provided by the committee to build the float cars, Teddy as the owner of Art Merdeka explained they didn’t count the cost they have to expend from personal fund as the work was done for Yogyakarta city.
The last float car, themed Grow Future, showed a design model for JJC 2012 float cars, entered the main stage in Keraton Yogyakarta North Square at 11 PM. After the performance from the street performers, the event was then closed with fireworks and a collaboration between traditional, modern and electronic music.
JJC 2011 winning float cars were announced on 30 October 2011 at Yogyakarta City Hall. The delay was caused by a long discussion in the team of judges in deciding the winners. The JJC 2011 team of judges consisted of Halim HD, Dian Anggraeni, Anggi Minarni, Altiyanto Henryawan, Eko Prawoto, Henry Kuncoroyekti, and Hans Purwanto.
Winning the first place and entitled to the Adikarya Ciptarupa Kencana Trophy from the Minister of Tourism and Culture (now the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy) and a cash prize of 55 million rupiah was Borobudur Tourism Park. On the second place was Pelita Bangsa Foundation, entitled to the 25 million rupiah, while on the third place was OMM Kadipaten who’s entitled to 5 million rupiah cash prize. For the Participant Category, best costume was given to the Solo Batik Carnival, the best float car was given to Yogyakarta Wushu Community, and the best street performance was given to the Government of Kota Waringin, East Kalimantan. Each of these winners received a cash prize of 5 million rupiah.
Lulus dari Fakultas Hukum UGM program kekhususan HaKI. Aktif terlibat dalam skena musik lokal dan gerakan DIY pada pertengahan 90-an sampai awal 2007, sementara juga bekerja sebagai sound engineer, perancang grafis, kontributor zine, dan pemilik clothing label. Sejak tahun 2007 bekerja sebagai manajer proyek seni rupa lepas dan sound designer.
