Muria Raya Festival #6 Celebrates Global Musical Fusion and Local Heritage
- 01 Sep 2026 14:12 WIB
- Voice of Indonesia
Key Points
- Muria Raya Festival #6 brought together international and Indonesian artists in a month-long cultural journey across Kudus and Pati, featuring musical collaborations, traditional performances and experimental instruments.
- The festival emphasized community-based heritage preservation and cross-cultural dialogue through collaborations involving French and Japanese artists alongside local communities.
RRI.CO.ID, Kudus - The 6th Muria Raya Festival (FMR #6) concluded its month-long cultural journey (pradaksina) around the Mount Muria region, showcasing cross-border artistic collaborations between international performers and local village communities across Kudus and Pati Regencies, Central Java from August 5 to 30, 2026.
Led by French composer Jean-Pierre "Pawak" Goudard of Compagnie Kotekan alongside Gayam 16 Yogyakarta, the opening event in Menawan Village featured a fusion of traditional Indonesian gamelan with Western instruments, including the saxophone, trombone, trumpet, and violin. The festival expanded its international residencies by featuring Japanese artist Yuta Kuroki, who performed the ancestral Kijin Kagura ritual dance alongside local children and traditional artists in Japan Village, Kudus.
The event also featured experimental organology, notably Gatotkaca (Gamelan Total Kaca), a gamelan set forged entirely from recycled waste glass—before concluding with the Gelar Cakra Manggilingan showcase in Jepalo Village, Pati Regency.
Festival organizers and international delegates highlighted that decentralized, community-rooted festivals foster genuine cross-cultural dialogue and sustainable heritage preservation.
President of Compagnie Kotekan Sarah Andrieu underscored gamelan's universal appeal in bringing international musicians together. "Gamelan opens up inclusive creative spaces for anyone to collaborate and innovate together, this collaboration bridges traditional Indonesian gamelan with modern Western brass and string arrangements," Sarah Andrieu stated in a written release on Tuesday, September 1, 2026.
Chairman of the Muria Raya Festival Foundation Brian Trinanda K. Adi detailed the spiritual and social philosophy behind the festival's regional journey.
"The festival's circular journey around Mount Muria symbolizes the meeting of two ends to form an unbroken circle of human brotherhood and harmony with nature. This initiative serves as a spiritual journey to preserve community bonds across the Muria Raya region while providing a platform for artists to engage directly with local indigenous knowledge," Brian Trinanda K. Adi explained. (Naura Sofia-EN)
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