Drum Band Festival

                Welcome back to our blog. This time, I will share one of the best festivals in Indonesia.  Before that, I just want you to know a little information about the festival itself. The word festival is originally coming from a Latin word which literally means feast or celebration which is done periodically or once in a year. This festival is generally done for several essential occasions such as religious celebration, harvest time, and historical values. The word festival itself depicts the nuance of happiness and joy. It also could be in honoring the dead heroes. In old times, a festival is meant for religious ceremonies. Generally, during the festival, people wearing clothes, exchanging gifts, playing hand drums and other musical instruments,  offering delicious foods, and making a party. The term festival also refers to a big celebration in a country such as independence day. In this short article, we will talk about a festival which is closely related to a special celebration in a country. We will talk about the drum band festival during the independence day.

                Music is very much alive in our country Indonesia. Every 17th of August, Indonesians have a very big national celebration. It is our independence day. We celebrate the memory of the day where we first stood independently as a country, free from colonialism. We commemorate the day when the world acknowledges our freedom to live as Indonesians. Generally, we make a big festival and carnival all around Indonesia. Every place celebrates this big day according to their own creativity. On August 17Th, 2018, our province makes a massive festival. This festival is much merrier and bigger than the previous festivals. We call it Drum Band Festivals. In this celebration, there are many participants. All of us did our best for the show. we can see many types of musical instruments which are used by the participants. Most of the instruments are percussion instruments such as hand drums, guitars, and tambourines. There are actually many more instruments but I won't mention them.

                This festival is considered to be one of the best festival ever in the history of Indonesia. We can see how every contestant performs the best. We do their best out of love for our country, the land where we're born and living. Indonesia is known as one of the few countries that have many religions, cultures, local languages, tribes, islands, and traditions. At that festival, each one of us wore our cultural cloths, played traditional instruments, while singing our national songs and anthems. The language of Indonesia is what unites us as one so that we can understand each other and live peacefully among the diversities. Some also wore different traditional clothes from different countries and different parts of the world. For instance, In our group, there were three of us who played foreign musical instruments such as djembe, Darbuka, and African Cajon Drums. We wanted to show them that we, Indonesians always want to live peacefully. We considered everyone in this world as our brothers and sisters without seeing the different colors.

                We have also created a new story ever in Asia by making a festival on the seas. This was occurring in Larantuka, the eastern part of Indonesia. This musical festival took place on the Solor Strait. It was so amazing if we viewed from the above. The Solor Strait was covered with thousands of boats and ships which were decorated in such a way that when we looked from the above it appeared as our national flag with a red-white color. I can't imagine and also can't forget that moment. Indonesians played various types of musical instruments passionately. They sang by heart all the national songs of Indonesia. Almost every kind of instrument can be found in those festivals. Not only from Indonesia, but also from other countries including Africa. I am so proud because I also took part in that massive and wonderful festival.

                According to the leader of our group during the festival, all the musical instruments that we displayed were actually brought from Bali, one of the most beautiful places in the world. Our leader Anthony said that they bought those instruments in the biggest hand percussion manufacturer factory in the world, namely Bali Treasures Drum Factory. Based on his testimony, the hand drum factory is providing almost all kinds of hand percussions. This factory also produces high-quality instruments. They have produced thousands of instruments which have been exported to different countries. Since they are a legal company and an international company so they will always focus on the quality of their products so as to keep their reputation and the trust of customers.