Day 5 - the missing photos

Here they are! A blog on what we did today is coming tomorrow morning. Now it's time for sleep after another wonderful and full day here in Jakarta.

Nathan signs our Memorandum of Understanding with UNICEF Indonesia Country Office
Swara Sonora with Ibu Josephine and Bapak Dike in front of the new UNICEF store

In UNICEF Indonesia's office with staff and Aryo's mother, Erni


Aryo works with a student at Jakarta Conservatory of Music


Some of the talented master class participants - and their teacher - at JCoM

Day 5, or Meetings and Master Classes

Sorry no photos today - we're relegates to posting from the iPhone in our hotel restaurant as we relax over fresh fruit juices and tea tonight.

We had a very successful meeting with Ibu Josephine Lapod and all the other wonderful staff at the UNICEF Indonesia Country Office. We took lots of photos in our new UNICEF t-shirts. Nathan became the second person ever, after Bill Clinton, to receive a special-ordered "Western size" t-shirt from UNICEF here.

Then we dashed to Jakarta Conservatory of Music to give our first master class of the Peace Tour. We were impressed by the students, all of whom were talented, well-prepared, and responsive. Thank you JCoM!

Photos coming soon....

-- Post From My iPhone

Contest, or Win Authentic Indonesian Loot!

The Prambanan Temple in Jogja

Hello faithful followers of the Swara Sonora Trio blog!!! As you can see, we are having an exciting trip so far! However, we would love to hear more from you, our supporters and fans. So, we have decided to start a contest. Here are the rules:

1. Read our blog postings from this Peace Tour (July 28th through August 20th) on a regular basis.

2. Leave us a comment on any of the posts!

3. Each comment is an entry to the contest, and we encourage you to enter as many times as you can!

THE LOOT: An authentic Indonesian handicraft from Jogjakarta, which is the traditional center of Javanese culture.

We will randomly select a comment (using only the best method) on August 22nd, and send the winner their prize when we return to Arizona!

Good Luck and happy commenting!

Old Acquaintance: Slamet Abdul Sjukur

It was a great meeting at Salihara... I was able to see Prof. Dieter Mack (saw him 18 yrs ago or so in Surabaya, for the premiere of Stockhausen's "Kontakte" by him and the late pianist Hansjoerg Koch).... AND... my former composition teacher, Slamet Abdul Sjukur.

Fun meeting, fond memories, and he's still as humorous, optimistic, and cheerful as ever. He complimented on Kathryn's Indonesian... which he said was better than his English. I was very glad to meet him again and we look forward to seeing him at our debut concert THIS FRIDAY, August 7, 2009, at 7.30 PM at Erasmus Huis Jakarta.

Hopefully we'll chat some more with him and talk about music, and other things.
Tomorrow will be a great day, filled with listening to joyful music from students at
the Jakarta Conservatory of Music.

Day 4, or last night and spicy Gado-Gado

Last night we attended a concert at the Salihara Center, which contains a concert space, art galleries, and studios. It was a concert of new music for winds and piano, hosted by composer Dieter Mack. They came from Freiburg, Germany, and are on their way to New Zealand. The music was interesting and the performers were excellent. Watching the concert inspired us for our own performance Friday night. Afterwards, we got to meet the performers and some other important musicians in Jakarta.

Speaking of our Asian debut concert Friday night, today we visited Erasmus Huis, the Dutch cultural center that is hosting our concert. We got to test out the acoustic in the concert hall, which seats about 540 people and sounds great. We'll have our dress rehearsal Friday afternoon before the big night.

Afterwards, we decided to forgo another cab ride in the dense Jakarta traffic and took the new Trans Jakarta bus to the mall for lunch. The bus runs down a dedicated lane in the center of the street. It's more expensive than the little green Kopaja buses, but still costs less than 50 cents a ride (3.500 Rp!) and is well worth it.

We shopped for postcards, Kathryn bought a batik sun dress, and we enjoyed a sampling of authentic Indonesian food and fruit drinks in the mall's food court. We took the bus back to our neighborhood and then walked the rest of the way to Tante Linda's condo to rest. There are no sidewalks, so at times we literally had to walk in the busy street. Luckily, drivers seem to look out for pedestrians, motor bikes, hand-pulled carts, bicycle taxis, and anything else that wanders into the street.

Tonight we'll have dinner and rest for our big day tomorrow: our meeting with UNICEF staff and our first masterclass, at Jakarta Conservatory of Music, followed by a practice session.

Breaking News!

Today Kathryn and Nathan had their first taste of durian, the pungent tropical fruit that is banned from hotels and taxis. Nathan liked it, but wasn't a huge fan. Kathryn finds it both delicious and strange. Aryo has always been a fan!

Day 2 and 3, or Jakarta we Love you

Last night we were invited to a welcoming dinner at the house of Ary Sutedja and Mikhail David. Ibu Ary is on the board of Yayasan Musik Internasional and she and Mikhail are both wonderful patrons of the arts in Jakarta, and artists and performers themselves.

We presented a short program for them and their distinguished guests, and then we retreated to a wonderful Indonesian buffet dinner. Their house is an amazing work of art, with lots of glass and flowing water. It was a very special evening and we felt warmly welcomed to Indonesia.

Today, after hours of studious rehearsing, Tante Linda and Ibu Erni took us Sederhana Masakan Padang, a restaurant that features cuisine from West Sumatra, which is known simply as padang. We were served many small dishes. that included fish, jackfruit, eggplant, cassava leaf, and other various combinations, all with spicy smabal chili sauce. Kat had her first taste of durian juice, and I enjoyed a tasty cup of kopi susu (coffee with condensed milk).

Tonight we are attending a concert given by German pianist-composer (from Freiburg Conservatory -- long time acquaintance of Aryo) Dieter Mack at the Salihara Community concert series. We are looking forward to it!