History and art district kebumen

The name of Kebumen seems came from word ‘Kabumian’ – a living place of someone who called Kyai Bumi. This place before was a destination of Bumidirja or Mangkubumi Prince escaping from Mataram at June 26th 1677, when 1st Sunan Amangkurat held the power. Before that, Kebumen that called Panjer at that time, was noted in Indonesia History Map as one starting movement of Mataram warriors in Sultan Agung era to attack Deutch Colonizer in Batavia ( Jakarta ).


Bagus Bodronolo, one of great – grandchild of Senopati Prince, who was born at Karanglo Village, Panjer, received a demand from Ki Suwarno, a representator from Mataram, to gathering food material for Mataram soldiers. And as a reward, Sultan Agung declared Ki Suwarno as Panjer’s Bupati and sent Bagus Bodronolo to Batavia as guarding soldier for the food expedition.

Same with other places in Central Java, cultures and arts in Karanganyar are similar. The mystic is still strongy influence to cultures and arta. Taken an example, the kuda lumping show is a unification between art and magic.

1. Kuda Lumping Trance
Kuda lumping or ebleg or jathilan or kuda kepang is familiar trance dance in this region. The show of kuda lumping consist of players, woven bamboo flat horse, singo barong, gamelan orchestra, and mastermind. The mastermind has important role in success of show, where he able to call satan and to possesse them into the soul of players during show. When the show begin, players dance by gamelan orchestra arrangement. Then the mastermind calls satan, suddenly some of players begin trance that be causes by nfiltrate of satan to players. Satans infiltrate to the soul of players and unify or possesse to soul of players. Players will become not conscicousness and and trance, thats why players able to eat glass, metal, fire without injure them. It is the really magic and mysthic. When the show finish, the mastermind awareness players one by one, and satan will be fleed out from soul of players. The groups of Kuda Lumping are owned from vilagges : Karanganyar (Singoyudo), Wonorejo, Panjatan, Pekuwon, Plarangan, Sidomulyo.

2. Wayang Kulit
Wayang Kulit is the most popular art show in Java island since hundreds century ago. Wayang kulit is made from leather of buffalo or other. Then it is chiselled and painted becoming wayang. The names of wayang are more than 100 names of profile. The story of wayang began in Java since thousand years ago, such as Barathayuda & Ramayana. Wayang is the oldest and the best art in Java island. Besides wayang kulit, there is wayang orang that play by people. The group of wayang kulit in Karanganyar region is owned by Ki Dalang Slamet from Desa Sidomulyo. National TV such as TVRI and Indosiar always relay the wayang kulit show every week end.

3. Karawitan / uyon-uyon
Karawitan or uyon-uyon is singing javanesse songs that arraged by gamelan music. Titles of song that ussualy sing are Gendhing Macapat : Dandhanggula, Kinanthi, Pangkur, Megatruh, etc. Gamelan is arranged by Slendro and Pelog. Many people who has party such as wedding party and sunatan always play karawitan live or by cassete.

4. Campursari
Campursari is unification between karawitan that arranged by gamelan and modern music instrument such as piano, guitar and drum. Sometimes a story also play during show of campursari. Campursari firstly conducted by Manthous, and now becomes popular music in Java. National TVRI relays the campursari show.

5. Angguk
Angguk is drama story about Marmaya and Marmadi, tell story about story of Islam in Java.

6. Janengan
Janengan is music influenced by Islam songs. It is arranged by terbang and rebana orchestra.

7. Jemblung
Jemblung is played by 4 people only. Ussualy they tell about story of wayang. They sit surrounding table consist of food such as tumpeng. They begin play and be arranged by music from their mouths.

8. Ketoprak
Ketoprak si drama story that it is played by many players. The story ussualy about history of Java, and it is arranged by gamelan orchestra.
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The History of Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta was founded in 1755 and was the capital of Mataram kingdom when the Dutch came along. The Dutch granted the kings by title Sultan of Yogyakarta territory. Yogyakarta was also the scene of Indonesia's most successful rebellions against the Dutch - firstly with Prince Diponegoro who waged a holy war against colonial rule from 1825 to 1830, and also serving as the capital of the newly independent republic after World War II when the Dutch reoccupied Batavia (Jakarta).


People have lived in Central Java and Yogyakarta area since immemorial time as over the centuries they have been attracted by the rich soil caused by the numerous volcanic eruptions. The earliest recorded history dares from the 9th century and was dominated by Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms that gave rise to the magnificent temples such as Prambanan, Ratu Boko, Kalasan, Sambisari and Borobudur found in this area. Yogyakarta itself dates back to the 18th century. In the early 18th century, Pakubuwono II ruled the Muslim Mataram Kingdom of the time. After he passed away, there was a conflict between his son and his brother, which was encouraged by the Dutch who were trying to colonize the region on a 'divide and rule' basis.

The Kingdom was divided into two regions namely Surakarta Hadiningrat kingdom under Sunan Pakubuwono III rule, and Nyayogyakarta Hadiningrat kingdom under Sultan Hamengku Buwono I rule. He was the founder of the present line of Sultans who still live in the Kraton and play important role in Javanese culture. The second kingdom was later called Yogyakarta, now better known as Yogyakarta.

After the independence of the Republic of Indonesia was proclaimed, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX and Sri Paku Alam VIII launched a statement that the Kasultanan and Kadipaten (the two royal regions), belonged to Republic of Indonesia as a part of the whole area of Indonesia Republic. Since then, it has been known as Yogyakarta Special Region and was given a provincial status in 1950 in recognition of its important role in it fighting for the independence.
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Semarang: Stories from the Past

“Hey, miss, would you like a ride to tour around the Old Town?” a tricycle driver called to me while I was crossing the Berok Bridge which connected the old and new town of Semarang. The clouds were getting dark, the air felt hot and humid. I hesitated for a while. “Only ten thousand rupiahs,” he said again. I was tempted by the generous offer but it was just about to rain and I had to hurry to meet my friend who was waiting at the other end of the Old Town. “Maybe next time,” I smiled to him and kept on walking.



The Old Town (“Kawasan Kota Lama” in Bahasa Indonesia or “Outstadt” in Dutch) is a 31-hectare area in Semarang, the capital city of Central Java, Indonesia, which is very much a Dutch colonial heritage. In the 18th century, it served as the commercial centre especially for sugar trading. To safeguard the area, the Dutch decided to build the Vijhoek fort which surrounded the whole old town. The Berok Bridge used to be located at one of the fort gates. The Dutch actually called it “burg” which means “bridge”. However, due to the inability of local people to pronounce the word correctly, the bridge was eventually called “Berok”.


The Old Town is, in a way, different from other parts of Semarang because it is geographically separated from its surrounding area (unlike the streets outside, all the roads in the Old Town are paved) and it features a distinctive architectural style with a strong link to its colonial past. Thus, it became known as “Little Nederland” – a spot where the past managed to survive. There are still about 50 historical buildings scattered around the Old Town. Some of them are still in use today but unfortunately, most are already dilapidated and abandoned.



Despite the inadequate conservation, I still enjoyed walking through the Old Town of Semarang. Old and decaying as it was, I knew there were stories hidden in every corner of the Old Town and for me, stories were treasures. I strolled across PT. Pelni (which was used to be the sea cargo company called NV Bouw Maatschapij), the office of the Association of Batik Indonesia (designed in 1930’s specifically to suit the tropical weather), and the Telkom Office (built in 1907 as a telegraph centre). At the heart of the Old Town, I stopped at the beautiful Blenduk Church built in 1753. “Blenduk” in Javanese language means “dome”. The church, as one can easily guess, earned its name due to its big red dome. Today the church belongs to GPIB Immanuel. Across the church, stood the Jiwasraya Office, which was built in 1920’s by the architect Herman Thomas Kasrten. And eventually, near the other end of the main Suprapto Street, there was the Marba building. It was from the 19th century, built by a rich Yemen trader named Marta Badjunet. The abbreviation of his name was taken as the name of the building to commemorate his good deeds.



The rain started to fall and I ran to find my friend in her car. “What took you so long?” she said as soon as I got into the car, “Let’s go and get some lunch.” So we drove along the riverside to Gang Lombok, a quiet corner in the Chinatown not far from Little Nederland. A beautiful Buddhist temple marked the area and floating on the river was a replica of the ship used by the Great Admiral Zheng He, one of the first Chinese explorers who came to Indonesia. There was an old noodle shop there called Siang Kie which served the best noodles in Semarang.
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Barack Obama Inauguration Parade

WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY - Barack Obama was sworn in as 44th president of the United States, Tuesday (20 / 1), to penetrate the boundaries of race to become the first black leader in Uncle Sam's country which is confronted with serious economic problems and combat. Obama is currently 47 years old came to power in a country that wanted a change after George W. Bush came to power in the White House for 8 years.


Bush's reign has been marked by the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the beginning of the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq and an economic collapse that never happened since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Obama's election as U.S. president has invited the attention of millions of people around the world in the hope that the new U.S. leader will be more open to the needs of society and governments around the world. New U.S. government is also expected to be more able to solve many problems through diplomacy rather than military force.

Obama is known as an inspiring orator talents have emphasized the hope of millions of people when he outlined a new policy for the United States. Obama promised to emphasize diplomacy and global solutions to respond to climate change, refusing to close the prison abuse and Guantanamo Bay.

More than 10,000 in all 50 states, including bands and military units are included to assist Obama and Joe Biden in the parade as far as 2.4 miles from the Capitol to Pennsylvania Ave. Which resulted in the inauguration parade closing a number of roads and major bridges in Washington has drawn the attention of visitors to reach 2 million people.

Wednesday (21 / 1), the first day of his tenure as U.S. president, Obama will prove the promise in his campaign to pull U.S. troops from Iraq based on the schedule that lasted for 16 months. Obama reportedly will call the Chief of Staff Join the Oval Office and told that a withdrawal order. Obama also will assign a team to quickly restore its economy economic conditions.

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