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Old Town Festival 2024 Highlights Semarang's Cultural Diversity
WINDONESIA September 9, 2024
The WOTS Pandhawa 7 performance in the Semarang Old Town. (Jawa Pos, Radar Semarang/Nur Chamim)
The 2024 Old Town Festival that takes place from Sep. 5-15, 2024 with "Heritage in Diversity" highlights the cultural diversity of Semarang City, Central Java Province by presenting elements of Javanese, Malay, Chinese, and Arabic culture. One such cultural expression is the Wayang On The Street (WOTS) Pandhawa 7 performance.
WOTS Pandhawa 7 was opened with a parade from the BNI Building that included young Punakawan from Eduhouse Primary, the name for a group of four famous wayang or shadow puppet characters in the Javanese adaptation of Indian epics. The Punakawan, who include Semar, Gareng, Petruk, and Bagong, being played by the youth symbolized the passing-on and regeneration of arts and culture.
WOTS Organizing Committee member Krisna Phiyastika said that WOTS Pandhawa 7 is a collaborative event that involves the Merby Club, Wayang Orang Ngesti Pandhawa, and Tirang Community with the support of the Semarang City Government to be held at the 2024 Old Town Festival.
He tells that Wayang Pandhawa 7 tells the story about how someone becomes a good ruler, which led to the ruler's people being able to live prosperously.
"The Wayang Pandhawa 7 performance tells the story of how a ruler should be wise and virtuous, how nobility of character is the most important thing for every human being, as well as [how] compassion must always unite the nation," Krisna explained on Sep. 6, 2024.
The Semarang Old Town is not just a collection of old buildings, but a living heritage that reflects the history and identity of its community. The Old Town Festival is becoming increasingly important amid the wave of modernization as an effort to maintain, celebrate, and introduce Semarang City's cultural diversity and unique architecture.
Participants to the festival could help preserve cultural heritage, foster nostalgia and togetherness, increase sustainable tourism, revive the local economy, encourage environmental conservation, as well as foster beauty and uniqueness.
The Old Town Festival is also progressive step towards sustainable urban development, rooted in local identity and giving life to a rich cultural heritage.
"The Old Town Festival is held to preserve the Semarang Old Town as a cultural heritage area where creative people and art and cultural history activists to gather and create. The festival also plays a role in developing and promoting tourism on a national to international scale, interconnection in business investment with various parties, as well as elevating local culture and wisdom that have been part of and enlivened the Semarang Old Town," Samsaka Group/Jiiscomm Chief Executive Officer Febriyanto Rachmat stated.
The event is held in a hybrid offline-online manner, and it is further livened up by the Paulus Surya Orchestra. Visitors could enjoy various menus at Sentiling Market Culinary Nostalgia area, which provides varying culinary experiences from differing authentic Indonesian culinary specialties.
Source: radarsemarang.jawapos.com