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| Bamboo For Peace, ECOSOC Chamber, UNHQ |
"Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen..
Good evening and welcome to BAMBOO FOR PEACE"
It is indeed a great honor for us to welcome you all in this beautiful ECOSOC Chamber at the UN Headquarters.
Are you ready to have fun?
Let's start our beautiful soirée and give a big warm of applause to our one and only, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia, His Excellency Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani.."
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| Happy to be the MC of the day :) |
I was just running from the security gate helping some guests to get in to the UN Headquarters that night just minutes before I opened the event as the Master of Ceremony that night.
Good thing I wore my flat shoes, although my Tenun Bali might be screaming as I ran around that night.
Yet, I was super excited and eagerly welcoming the dignitaries and audience to ECOSOC chamber that night!
BAMBOO FOR PEACE, an enchanting journey of Indonesian sounds and rhythms, beautifully played in Angklung, a UNESCO Intangible Heritage instrument.
Have you heard Angklung before?
Or probably even play it?
Some of you might have heard of it before and even are so familiar with this beautiful traditional musical instrument.
What is Angklung?
For those who are not familiar with this traditional musical instrument, Angklung is the traditional musical instrument made of bamboo. Those bamboo tubes are hung or suspended in a bamboo frame and bound with rattan cords. Very traditional and environmentally friendly. As I read on the open sources, those bamboo tubes are carefully whittled and cut masterfully by the craftsperson, in order to produce specific sound and tune, with different notes. You play it by shaking it in a certain way so it will sound beautifully. You need to play a complete set of angklung in order to play the complete song or arrangement. That's why Angklung is resembling important values of teamwork, mutual respect and social harmony. Isn't it beautiful!
We just had an event of BAMBOO FOR PEACE, to celebrate the World day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. It was held in ECOSOC Chamber on Monday, April 30th, 2018. The first time ever Angklung is played at the United Nations Headquarters!
We brought an angklung orchestra from House of Angklung in Washington D.C and the Angklung Master from Saung Angklung Kang Udjo, Bandung, as well as the dancers from Jugala Taya. The event was also sponsored by the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism of Indonesia, as well as our Embassy in Washington D.C.
We had a full house that night!
More than 500 seats at the ECOSOC Chamber was occupied!
As we opened the event, my Ambassador gave a brief welcoming remarks and highlighted the beauty of Angling, as well as the message of peace, beauty of friendship and engaged cooperation and partnership.
Then the Orchestra played Blue Danube by Johan Strauss as the opening.
Those beautiful melodies sound so familiar I believe everyone enjoyed it.
After that, a medley of Indonesia traditional songs were played.
Bungong Jeumpa from Aceh, Gethuk from West Java, and Yamko Rambe Yamko were so fun!
Then we had another Indonesian traditional song, Es Lilin, from West Java, before New York New York from Frank Sinatra beautifully filled the chamber and people sang along with it!
It was a full house indeed!
So proud to hear the beautiful melody of Angklung being played for the first time in the UN Chamber!
And I can say the ambassadors and all our distinguished guests were enjoying the interactive session of Angling!
And we also had the interactive session, when each audience was given one's own angling to play. And we played it all together!
Lullaby, Can't Help Falling in Love from Elvis Presley, kakatua and We Are the Works from Michael Jackson, played together with the audience during the interactive session.
So much fun!
I will certainly be back with more photos and stories on these lovely event!
And thank you to my hubby for all these wonderful photos :).
Please enjoy these photos.
So, do you like traditional musical instruments?
Do you think you will love Angklung too?
