Ukrainian Ethnic Music at the International Ethnic Music Festival in Jakarta
On 9 November, as part of the International Ethnic Music Festival in Jakarta, a panel discussion explored the power of music as diplomacy, heritage as dialogue, and convergence as a path to empathy. Ukrainian singer Mariia Shtyrbulova took part in the discussion and later shared her unique musical programme with the festival audience — made possible with the support of the Ukrainian Institute.
Photo: Andi Maulana
Mariia Shtyrbulova creates projects that blend Ukrainian traditional songs with contemporary music, multimedia, and performative practices. At the festival, her performance combined folk vocals and Ukrainian instruments with a multi-layered video sequence depicting Ukrainian landscapes and architecture amid the realities of war.
The video included fragments from the operas Chornobyldorf and Gaia-24, filmed in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, as well as footage from the performance Sacre Conversazione at St Andrew’s Church. The show took place at Teater Kecil (Taman Ismail Marzuki).
The International Ethnic Music Festival is one of the world’s leading cultural platforms dedicated to preserving and celebrating Indonesia’s traditional music and fostering intercultural dialogue. Ukraine’s participation was an important opportunity to bring Ukrainian ethnic music to a global stage and strengthen cultural ties between Ukraine and Indonesia.
The Ukrainian Institute, the Jakarta Arts Council, and the Embassy of Ukraine in Indonesia supported the project, in cooperation with OperaAperta.