MaLacca Strait Jazz [GREEN FESTIVAL] Pekanbaru 2008

Malacca Strait Jazz, a loud jazz event from Sumatera, is a regular event which is presented once a year. It takes Malacca Strait name as an opponent to other early festival, like Penang Jazz Festival and Singapore Jazz Festival.
Early in the year 2007, started on May until December 2007, Malacca Strait Jazz expressed a tagline Golden Riau. We notice that this event had been being the opening ceremony of Golden Anniversary of Province Riau. This year (2008), the event provides a new tagline, a recent issue concerning global civilization, Green Festival, whereas this phrase within has a meaning as to “make Indonesian people’s heart green”. The word “green” implicitly expresses a will as to take care of the natural resources along with the civilization live on it.
According to the topography, Malacca Strait is located in a strategic area where considered as a superhighway of world traffic. This condition may be a magnet for the “aggression” of globalization. Therefore, seeing that Malayan culture being the occupant in this area, they must be proactive to improve their productivity concerning their basic character otherwise to be the object of modern culture’s influence.
Jazz, with a spirit of revolution in its values, is an alternative way to show the great of Malayan culture. In Europe, the term “green”, plus “saving the planet of the Earth” jargon, becomes popular in political and cultural movement. Most politicians use this term in their campaign to impress their mass. Gandhi stated, all the entire entity lying on this Earth, are more enough to provide things to every human’s needs, except to satisfy the human’s greediness.
We see natural disaster occurred incessantly on Earth that causes the ecology alteration that happens to such natural collection. Capitalist, with their pseudo-policy, is one factor of all the reasons of all these damage.
This festival desires to speak out to every people that we have the responsibilities to take care live on this Earth just like we are concerned to our own home. Green, is the color that being a challenging to some other bright colors so as to facilitate cool atmosphere.
Someone said that Mallaca Strait recently identical to the label of black water. It has tragic stories beyond it, such as drug dealer and piracy.
We notice that our civilization couldn’t be such great and powerful without the support of the natural environment. If we live in the environment that is unhealthy, it will have an effect on our nutrition, health, and even the way we look or our intellectual. We dream that in the future we have designed a concept of neighborhood which original.
Therefore, Malacca Strait Jazz [Green Festival] of 2008 had prepared itself to present the show in addition to build a consciousness to keep taking care the Earth on everybody’s mind.

There are three (3) stages on this event with each characteristic of narration on them:
1. Aquatic Stage, which set by the aquatic surroundings around the stage and filled with the creatures in it.
2. Terrestrial Stage, which set by the scene that is based on the principal “a spread of scene”, in Malayan this is what we called SAUJANA. Saujana is a space with no limitation, a space where the entire creatures do communication and interaction. There are some groups of flora and fauna. There are some groups of avian, mammals, and nocturnal. All of these creatures are in function of backdrop as human being playing their role on stage (Earth).
3. Rainforest Stage, provides a set of rainforest in the role of being the Earth’s lung. Costa Rica, a country in Caribou where there is no army and so the Ministry concerning about forest keeping, but in actual fact has succeed on keeping its woods eternal.

Notes: aquatic stage and terrestrial stage are displayed outdoor, which takes place at Kompleks Bandarserai, Pekanbaru. Except for the rainforest stage, the stage is set indoor, which takes place at Anjung Seni Idruss Tintin Building with its capacity 650 seats.

Yusmar Yusuf, Director of Malacca Strait Jazz [Green Festival] 2008