Javanese-Surinamese culture

This 2017 video says about itself:

Mariel visits the commemorative statue of 100 years of Javanese in Suriname and meets Soeki Irodikromo, the artist behind the work.

Suriname, 14 February.

After the walk in Leonsberg, there was a cultural night, where several hundred people of the Javanese-Surinamese community were present.

I sat a table with a couple, now living in Rotterdam, but back in Suriname for a short time. Half of their family living in the Netherlands, the other half in Suriname. Typical for many Surinamese.

First on stage were three men: two electric guitarists, one singer. They started playing English language love songs. Not particularly Javanese or Surinamese, and not causing really much reaction from the audience.

However, that changed drastically with the first notes of their third song.

It was Bob Marley‘s No Woman No Cry. People applauded just after the first notes; in the middle of the song; and at the end of the song.

Then came traditional Javanese dancing, performed by Javanese-Surinamese ladies working at the Indonesian embassy, to recorded gamelan music.

Javanese-Surinamese gamelan: here.

Third on stage were an angklung orchestra with scores of male and female angklung players and a woman organ player. An angklung is a bamboo instrument, originally from West Java. This orchestra was founded five years ago, in the Evangelische Broedergemeente, the biggest Protestant church in Suriname. They played songs like Edelweiss from the Sound of Music, and Spanish Eyes.

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