It’s Zapin Night at Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta. The event held by Bengkalis Authority and Yayasan Panggung Melayu. The stage was colorful and ready to have performances from Zapin singers dan dances. But, what is Zapin exactly?

I’m Indonesian and I thought Zapin was Serampang 12 from Aceh. Hehe. Totally WRONG. Zapin is a package of traditional music, dance and singing, of Bengkalis. It has a great influence of Middle East style of dance and also Melayu style of singing.

The event was all about Zapin Album launching and the announcement of Zapin Singing Festival’s Winners. It began with various speech from the chief, Asrizal Nur, Regent of Bengkalis, H. Syamsurizal, and many more. They’re hoping that Zapin will be widely known as Bengkalis treasure and could contribute more as one of Indonesian rich culture.

The night was also the BIG night for Zapin Idol finalist (hehe I prefer to called it that way, sounds more modern :p). The judges decided that the first winner of Zapin Idol was Lansyah Ruzh. He was also performing that night, singing a Zapin song beautifully. He deserves to be a winner

Then the dancers came out! It was the performance that I’ve been expecting since minute one. Rika, Chandra’s wife, was one of the Zapin dancers and I can’t wait to see her perform. But minutes later I realized that I couldn’t find her around the dancers. They’re all looked the same with the hijab But I’m really happy to see them, the rythm was perfect, the move was also dynamic, I loved it! Congrats on the beautiful dance, Rika!

I hope this event was not the last cultural events that I see this year. I fully support Visit Indonesia Year, 2008. And I hope government would give more attentions to cultural events and give us the information of fix schedules about it.

Check out more of Zapin Festival Pictures on Flickr.

Watch the Zapin Dance on Google Video below

Pernah nggak ngerasain, terlalu banyak hal yang harus kita lakukan tapi waktunya terbatas, sehingga pada satu titik, kita malah bengong nggak ngerjain apa-apa. Ibaratnya megang beras satu genggaman dan butir-butirnya pelan-pelan jatuh dari sela-sela tanganmu. And you can’t control it. Itu lah yang gue rasakan sekarang ini hehe.

Biasanya hal kayak gini terjadi karena gue membiarkan semuanya ada di kepala gue. Padahal gue seharusnya buru-buru menuangkannya ke media lain. Hm, well, habis ini deh. (Queen of procrastinating hehe)

Sekarang gue mau cerita soal Milad Komunitas Tangan di Atas (TDA) ke-2 yang gue hadiri minggu lalu. Gue sudah lama tahu tentang TDA. Tapi gue memang tidak bisa komit dengan satu komunitas apapun (karena gue orangnya soliter haha), makanya gue nggak join mereka. Trus ketemu TDA lagi di Pesta Blogger. Dan terus akhirnya pas mereka mau mengadakan acara Milad yang ke-2, gue putuskan join TDA dan datang ke acaranya. Gue mencari passion and enthusiast glow from people yang gue yakin bisa gue dapatkan di sini.

Gue dan Goldy datang telat karena baru tidur subuh (cekakak cekikikan nonton VideoJug di rumah masing-masing hehe). Pak Wuryanano (successful business owner) udah ada di panggung ngomongin soal pentingnya cinta dalam membantu membangun bisnis kita. Setuju deh. Tanpa cinta, mana bisa kita perform. Cinta itu pendukung dalam diam, yang kita baru sadari kehadirannya saat dia hilang. Karena efek kehilangannya bisa membuat kita limbung. (LOH kok curhat hahaha). Cak Eko (Pemilik Bakso Cak Eko) juga bilang, kalo bikin bakso dengan hati nggak enak, baksonya juga bakal terasa nggak enak. So, cinta, hati dan perasaan, ngaruh banget dalam bisnis.

Acara dilanjutkan dengan diskusi membahas business start-up. Moderatornya Masbukhin Pradana. Peserta diskusi antara lain Mbak Doris Nasution pemilik butik Shaakira. Para pebisnis yang pemberani ini (karena memutuskan menjadi TDA setelah bertahun-tahun menjadi TDB), setuju bahwa kita harus ‘ACTION’ untuk memulai business. Mbak Doris sendiri membayar tempat di Mangga Dua Square dengan kartu kredit. Jadi mudah banget kan untuk memulai sebenernya  (Asyik loh, di Mangga Dua Square sewa gratis, bayar biaya maintenancenya aja per bulan kira-kira Rp 400.000 dan deposit Rp 2.500.000. More information ke TDA atau ke Mangga Dua Square aja langsung ketemu Mas Ronggo di kantor marketing, Mangga Dua Square lantai LG)

Trus istirahat, makan, enak makanannya. Pas ke toilet ketemu Mbak Doris yang lagi dikerubungi ibu-ibu. Pengen nyapa. Tapi. Nyapa. Nggak. Nyapa. Nggak.

“MBAK OLLIE…!”

Hah. Ternyata Mbak Doris manggil gue duluan hehe.

“Blognya saya pantengin terus mbak!” Kata Mbak Doris.

Haha. Jadi enak :P

Nggak sempet ngobrol banyak tapi yang jelas udah memulai jalur silaturahmi baru deh.
Balik ke ruangan, acara mulai lagi kali ini dibawakan oleh Bu Ning Harmanto (Pengusaha Mahkota Dewa). Bu Ning orangnya spontan dan kata-katanya menyegarkan. Jadi nggak ngantuk ya. Diskusi yang dibawain tentang pengembangan bisnis. Di sini ada Mas Hendy Setiono (Kebab Turki Baba Rafi) yang sukses menyebarkan ‘virus Kebab’ ke seluruh penjuru Indonesia melalui sistem franchisenya. Kata Mas Hendy sih kalo mau ngembangin bisnis intinya tuh inovasi. Setuju.

Di acara selanjutnya ada Mysteri Guest yang ternyata adalah Pak Perry Tristianto, yang disebut-sebut sebagai Raja FO (Factory Outlet). Gue langsung duduk tegak pas denger beliau ngomong. Tips trick bisnis dari dia sangat applicable dan smart. You should write a book, Pak hehe.

Beberapa tips trick dari Pak Perry:

• Target on a different market. Jeli lihat peluang. Bawa diri kita sebagai customer untuk mengetahui apa yang customer mau. Jual kue di apotek bakalan lebih sukses dari pada jual kue di toko kue karena customer yang menunggu obat pasti bawaannya pengen beli makanan. In my case, gue selalu borong majalah kalo di apotek hehe.
• Create Buzz. Penjual jus buah itu biasa. Tapi penjual jus buah ex direktur Bank Mandiri would make a great article and publication on media.
• If you have a plan, just do it. FAST. See what’s happened in several months. If it fails, then just quit and started with a new plan. Hehe.
• Nggak usah hitung untung, BEP, dsb. Yang harus diitung itu ruginya. Berapa besar kamu siap rugi. Dan jika sudah melampaui batas itu, berarti harus pikirkan jalan lain.
• Perlakukan karyawanmu dengan tepat. Tempatkan mereka di tempat yang sesuai dengan karakter dan kesukaan mereka. Suka ngobrol ya taruh di bagian sales. Trus kalo karyawan ada di tempat yang rawan seperti kasir atau gudang, berikan reward yang tepat agar mereka at least berpikir seribu kali sebelum bertindak macam-maca. Contoh reward-nya? Bayarin mereka naik haji. Hehe.

Sebenernya pengen ngobrol banyak dengan teman-teman TDA (ada 500 orang yang hadir), bahkan sama Pak Roni (the founder) aja gue nggak sempet ngobrol (orangnya sibuk). But nanti in the smaller event, mudah-mudahan dapat kesempatan untuk ngobrol lebih banyak.

For me and Goldy, TDA is such an inspiration!

Hari sabtu tgl 26 January, 2008, saya dihubungi sama Pak Eryawan Wikimu.com. Diajak gathering bareng komunitas Wikimu.com. Karena kebetulan tidak ada acara lain, saya menyanggupi.

Dari sebuah meeting di kawasan Senen, saya bareng Goldy meluncur ke Gathering venue di restoran ProSteak Radio Dalam. Saya tidak punya gambaran, seperti apa komunitas yang akan saya temui nanti.

Maklum, meskipun ber-partner dengan Wikimu.com, saya cukup jarang nongkrong di situ (maaf ya Pak Bayu & Pak Eryawan hehe). Kesana paling untuk posting review buku yang baru saya baca. Dan itu bisa dibilang jarang terjadi haha. Karena saya sulit menuliskan review buku jika bukunya nggak menarik banget.

Anyway, begitu masuk ke restoran ProSteak, langsung disambut hangat sama para pengelola Wikimu.com. Jalan dikit ke dalam, undangan udah pada datang. Dan rata-rata mereka begitu bertemu pandang dengan saya, langsung melempar senyum. Makasih ya. Padahal nggak kenal hehe.

Pas lagi makan steak gratis yang enak, saya memperhatikan rata-rata di Wikimu.com pesertanya adalah orang-orang berusia ‘matang’ hehe. Well, bagus juga karena satu visi dengan saya yang juga matang inside hehe.

Sempat ketemu juga sama dedengkot Wikimu yang jago nulis seperti Pak Mimbar (pelanggan loyal kutukutubuku.com nih hehe), Pak Berthold, Mbak Retty, Mbak Meidy, and many more. Kapan-kapan kita ngobrol lebih banyak lagi ya

Acara dimulai dengan penjelasan Suhu Tan tentang Feng Shui. Wow, informasinya baru bagi saya. Selama ini saya nggak pernah mengerti kenapa adik saya sangat menyukai hal-hal yang berbau Feng Shui. Saya pikir itu agak klenik dan nggak masuk akal. Yang logis aja. Tapi ternyata Feng Shui itu logis banget. Pake simbol dan penjabaran elemen-elemen manusia. Ini seperti konsep Personality Plus versi China hehe.

Kemarin pengen sih konsultasi ama Suhu Tan, lebih ke pengen tau aja elemen personal saya tuh apa, sehingga dalam menghadapi sesuatu tuh bisa diukur dan disesuaikan agar bisa selalu mencapai sukses. Tapi katanya butuh tau jam lahir. Wah, nggak inget deh tuh kalo jam lahir. (Mau info bisnis di tahun Tikus? Ya baca aja artikelnya Suhu Tan di Wikimu ^^)

Di presentasinya Suhu Tan, hubungan antar shio Babi dan Babi katanya tuh nggak bakal harmonis selamanya. Ribut aja. Denger-denger dari sisi astrologinya juga gitu. Gemini-gemini juga nggak bakal klop.

Dan secara saya Babi Gemini dan Goldy juga Babi Gemini. Kami cuma bisa saling tunjuk ke muka masing-masing dan bilang,

“Kasian deh lu!”

On Monday evening, I attended batik fashion show with the theme of Four Season held by Prodo Magazine in Hotel Mulia, Senayan. Mas Arif from Prodo Magazine, who once interviewed me for December issue of Prodo, invited me to come. I accepted it with all my heart because this is my first fashion show ever, I MUST come. And I know Angel would be as excited, and Mas Arif kindly giving me another ticket so I can come with Angel. Thanks a lot Mas Arif!

If you’re confused, batik is Indonesian traditional fashion with unique patterns that has been used national-wide. Prodo Magazine has managed to held this huge event of batik designs competition (Lomba Rancang Busana Batik) and fashion show, combined with entertainment from Indonesian singers and dancers to help batik recognized globally. And I really appreciate the effort.

I came on time on the venue, Angel was nowhere to be seen. I prefer to hang out outside and wait for her first. I chose to wear batik skirt I bought in Yogyakarta, one of batik’s central production cities. And when she finally arrived, I saw her batik dress, that she basically only wrap the batik cloth around her body and lock it with a big black belt. I think it was creative way of wearing it if you don’t have enough time to tailored your batik

We step inside and food was everywhere (also some celebrities). We ate dinner while listening to Sinden performing Javanese folk songs. In the room we can also see framed pictures of the finalists batik designs. They’re all look stunning.

An hour later, we entered the grand ballroom. It was huge, full with beautiful crystal lamps all over the room. In the center of the room, there was a runway, the real runway, not that small path from your desk to office pantry! Me and Angel were very excited.

The show started with an announcement from Alberthiene Endah, the head of judges, about the winner of batik design competition. Me and Angel love ‘The New Royal’ by Jane, it’s so Sarah Jessica Parker kind of style. But turns out the first winner was ‘Ecology’ by Abdulrahman, which also great one. All about green will be BIG in 2008, I guess hehe.

After the announcement, Reog Ponorogo, a traditional dance from Ponorogo, come out on stage. Their performance was damn good. View the sneak peek of Reog Ponorogo here.

When the models started walking on the stage, especially on Martha Tilaar products advertorial walk, me and Angel were nudging each other. The models were literally gliding thru the runway. They’re barely walking. They’re flying! As a big fan of America’s Next Top Model, I was so happy to finally see the legendary gliding myself hehe.The fashion show concept was four seasons, different season with different batik looks, and combining fashion show with music. Titi DJ, Hedi Yunus, Yuni Shara, Saski, RAN, Four Seasons and The Nunung Cs, sang their great songs as the models walk through the runway with their batik dress. From all of the performers, I love RAN & The Nunung Cs the most. Because, I didn’t know them at all at first and becoming a fan after two songs. They’re doing a good job.

Listen to the hilarious song of ‘Abang Gorengan’ by The Nunung Cs.

My father texted me, “It’s late, go back home.” So, after the show finished and had successfully grabbing my ‘Es Puter’ - a delicious traditional ice cream, I walked and went back home with a very contented feeling. The only regret I had was the fact that I didn’t sit in the journalist side and taking pictures of the event instead of being a calm guest.

Bravo Prodo Magazine, waiting for more of these kind of events to promote Indonesian cultures, because as you might have known, Indonesia Rocks!