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Indonesian and International Musicians Livens Up SMI Festival 2024
WINDONESIA August 18, 2024
A performance at SMI Festival 2024. (Samosir Music International Festival)
Samosir, one of the islands in Lake Toba, North Sumatra, is an Indonesian tourist spot that offers extraordinary natural beauty as well as diverse customs and cultures. With the charm it offers, Samosir is often used as a place to hold large events, with many events every year held to introduce Samosir culture.
The Samosir Music International (SMI) Festival is one of such event. Since it was first held in 2014, the festival is held at the Tuktuk Siadong Open Stage. SMIF 2024 was held from Aug. 9 to 11, 2024. It is among the cultural festivals listed in the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry's Kharisma Event Nusantara program.
The international music festival's venue is divided into two large areas, the main stage area and the plaza area. The main stage is where the SMI's line-up of Indonesian and international musicians performed from Aug. 9-10, 2024, while the plaza area has a micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) market, workshops, talk shows, and live music from a small stage.
As an event that promotes Samosir culture, local government apparatus, such as the Samosir Regency Culture and Tourism Office, have notable roles in organizing the festival.
"The event is a Samosir Regency Culture and Tourism Office event which have been routinely held annually since 2014, [except for when] it was not held for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The hope is that next year's SMI Festival will still be included in the top ten of KEN", Samosi Culture and Tourism Office Head Teti Naibaho stated on Aug. 14, 2024.
She revealed that there were several challenges faced by the Samosir Culture and Tourism Office in making the event a success. For example, fulfilling the budget needed for the event.
"An international event like this requires a large budget, while we are only a regional government office with a small budget. That is why we are trying to find support through sponsorship, [including from] Angkasapura and [the festival's] stakeholders, as well as, of course, support from the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry," Teti explained .
The SMI Festival began with a mass tortor dance by the local community, a tortor dance welcoming all participating musicians, and a creative dance by tourism-oriented Vocational High School 1 Simanido that was then followed by performances by local, national, and international singers.
"It was really exciting, the opening was really cool, increasing knowledge or an overview of the Batak community. Also, I salute the community for still coming even though it was raining. All the musicians broke out really cool," Institut Pertanian Bogor student Rafael, who came for SMI Festival 204, said.
The second day of SMI Festival 2024 started with a digital finance workshop and a speech by the Samosir Regent, which was then followed by a music concert.
The SMI Festival's third day features food festival activities, workshops, and talk shows.
"In the future, the event could hopefully get bigger, have more stages, improve accessibility to its venue, and increase the variety of both 'ethnic' and 'non-ethnic' musicians," he concluded.
Source: medan.inews.id