Payokumbuah Botuang Festival 2017 To Raise Cultural Society

Padang, (Antara Sumbar) - A number of artists from Payakumbuh, West Sumatra, initiated cultural activities titled "Payokumbuah Botuang Festival (PBF) 2017" by involving the community as an active participant on November 26 to December 2, 2017 to raise cultural society in the area.

"The people in the activity are not only positioned as spectators, but also as participants, especially those who day and day with bamboo, both as artists and craftsmen," one of the PBF curators, Yusril stated in Padang, Thursday.

He said it was accompanied by other curators, S. Metron, the committee of West Sumatra Cultural Office, Muasri, and representatives of Tourism Office of Youth and Sports Payakumbuh, AR. Rahman.

According to him, Payakumbuh society is culturally familiar with bamboo. Most of the arts from the area such as saluang, sampong, sirompak associated with bamboo. There is even talempong (typical of Minangkabau musical instruments made from metal) made by bamboo.

A number of regional names in the city also use bamboo names such as Parak Botuang, Subarang Botuang, Aua (bamboo type) Kuniang.

In fact, about 40 percent of people in Nagari Aur Kuning work as bamboo craftsmen.

But oddly enough, bamboo plants are getting hard to get in the area and raw materials have to be bought from other regions.

"The uniqueness makes the committee decided to take bamboo with local dialect, Botuang as the title of the activity," he said.

Not only as a name, but all the activities held at the festival were almost all tangent to bamboo.

"In general the PBF 2017 is divided into three parts, first relating to the culinary that presents many dishes made from bamboo such as bamboo shoots, Second Street festivals that provide space and accommodate artists to show their reading about art and culture, the the last related to bamboo such as exhibition installation of bamboo and work shop," he explained.

Actually, around 11 arts groups from various regions such as Riau, Bandung, Bali and Yogyakarta have stated attending the event. Includes a number of reviewers from abroad.

In addition, experts in the field of bamboo, such as Doctorate of bamboo architecture from ITB will also be present.

The PBF 2017 curator S. Metron said the observers who attended the event are not only from outside the province of West Sumatra but also from abroad such as Thailand, New Zealand and Australia.

According to him, the reviewer is an important thing for PBF 2017 and the artists who perform too, because through them later PBF will be known to the world, in addition to media coverage. (cha)

Editor: Vicha Faradika