Business Communication 2 EPM3: Indonesia Culture

Hello everyone

As you have read we are in Indonesia in the city Kalimantan Timur.

If you like culture than is Indonesia a very interesting country to visit. I'll tell you something more about the culture here.

First of all you need to know that the culture of Indonesia has been shaped by long interaction between original indigenous customs and multiple foreign influences. Indonesia is situated along ancient trading routes between the Far East and the Middle East. Because of this many cultural practices has been strongly influenced by a multitude of religions. These includes Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam and Christianity. This has as result that there is a very complex cultural mixture here in Indonesia which is very different from the original indigenous cultures.

Not everything has been influenced, there are still some Indonesian regions which still preserver uniquely the indigenous culture. The indigenous ethnic groups Mentawai, Asmat, Dani Davak, Toraja and many others are still practicing their ethnic rituals, customs and they are still wearing traditional clothes.

There is so much culture to experience that I don’t know where to start. I’ll start with the traditional performing arts, these consist out of music, dance, drama and theatre.

MUSIC

Indonesia knows many different styles of music. The music from the islands of Java, Sumatra and Bali are frequently being recorded. The traditional music of central and East Java and Bali is called gamelan. Before the 70’s it was forbidden to play Western-style music. Koes Plus which was a leading pop group in the 1960’s was imprisoned in Glodik because they had played Western-style music.

DANCE

You can see that there are different cultures here in Indonesia the way they dance. You can find Austronesian roots, Melanesian tribal dance forms and influences from neighboring Asian countries in the dance.

Each ethnic group has their own danced but you still can divide the dances into three eras: the Prehistoric Era, the Hindu/Buddhist Era and the Era of Islam. You can also divide the dances into two genres: court dance and folk dance.

DRAMA AND THEATRE

Wayang is very popular here in Indonesia. It’s a shadow puppet theatre shows and it shows several mythological legends. There are also other forms of drama here in Indonesia you have: Javanese Ludruk and Ketoprak, Sundanese Sandiwara and Betawi Lenong. The shows includes humor and jest and they often ask the audience to play in the show.

Now I will briefly tell you what we have discovered about the traditional visual arts from Indonesia.

PAINTING

Here in Indonesia they have different kinds of art. There is the Kenyah decorative art, this art is based on endemic natural motifs such as ferns and hornbills. You can find them on the walls of Kenyah long houses. Another traditional art is the geometric Toraja wood carvings and Balinese painting are narrative images that shows us scenes of Balinese legends and religious scripts. The Lontar manuscripts and the ceilings of temples pavilion are decorated by the classical Balinese paintings.

Kenyah decorative art- Mural painting

Geometric Toraja wood carvings

Balinese painting

Classical Balinese painting

SCULPTURE

If you love sculpture then Indonesia is the place to be. There are so many different kinds of sculptures here in Indonesia. There are the megalithic sculptures and these can be found in numerous archaeological sites in Sumatra, Java to Sulawesi. Then we have the native Indonesians tribes who have their own distinct tribal sculpture styles, they are usually created to depict ancestors, deities and animals. The sculptures that you definitely have to see when you’re visiting Indonesia are these of Asmat wooden sculpture of Papua, the Dayak wooden mask and sculpture, the ancestral wooden statue of Toraja and last but definitely not least the totem-like sculpture of Batak and Nias tribe. Another sculpture that you definitely have to visit is the sculpture of the classical Hindu-Buddhist era of Indonesia which exist out of hundreds of meters of relief and hundreds of stone buddhas at the temple of Borobudur in central Java. This sculpture tells the story of the life of Buddha and illustrate his teachings.

Megalithic sculptures Sumatra

Native Indonesians tribes sculpture

Asmat wooden sculpture of Papua

Borobudur temple

CUISINE

Now my favorite part the Indonesian cuisine.

We’ve already tasted a lot of the Indonesian cuisine. This cuisine has been influenced by Chinese and Indian culture but also by Western culture.

The national dishes of Indonesia are Soto, Satay and Nasi goreng. Rendang is one of the most delicious dishes in Indonesia, rendang is a spicy meat dish. Indonesians mostly eat rice as main with a wide range of vegetables and meat as side dishes but in Irian Jaya and Ambon they mostly eat sago and sweet potato.

Soto- Indonesian soup

Satay

Nasi goreng

Rendang

Indonesian cuisine is usually spicy because they use a wide range of chili peppers and spices. They also use spicy peanut sauce and pungent shrimp paste. The most popular dishes includes nasi goring, Satay, Nasi Padang and soy-based dishes such as tofu and tempe.