Asian tsunami takes centre stage at Asia in Helsinki arts festival
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The tenth annual Asia in Helsinki festival begins in the Finnish capital Helsinki on Wednesday.
Taking centre stage this year are countries of the Indian Ocean that bore the brunt of the tsunami in late December 2004. Exhibiting countries include India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
The event has stretched to 11 days, because of the upcoming Asia Europe meeting in Helsinki next autumn, and the Asia campaign of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Events during the festival include films and exhibitions in different parts of Finland, such as the India Express exhibition of sacred and popular Indian art, that is already on in the Tennis Palace of the Helsinki City Art Museum. In Tampere there is an exhibition of Asian textiles at the Vabriikki museum.
Guests include artists from Aceh province on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The tsunami devastated the province, which had already been weakened by a lengthy war between government forces and separatist guerrillas.
The devastation forced the separatist Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian government to hold peace talks led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. Local residents say that the peace process has moved forward well.
"The people of Aceh have hoped and waited for peace for a long time. It was a great relief when it was finally achieved", says Sri Wahyuni, one of the directors of the Aceh Cultural Institute.
He is the head of a group of 17 people from Aceh. The artistic leader, musician Teuku Khamsyahfuddin, is also in Helsinki. He plays drums in a percussion band.
The group from Aceh is fairly small. Sri Wahyuni notes that 170,000 people in Aceh died in the tsunami, and they do not know how many artists lost their lives. "We do know that many great artists of the older generation were lost in the tsunami", Sri Wahyuni says.
When the group practices its performance on the stage of the Alexander Theatre, the first thing that one notices is the young age of the performance.
"We did not only lose people to the tsunami - we also lost all historical documents, our identity. Now we have a great task ahead of us, as we try to reconstruct the history of Aceh."
One interesting aspect of the history of Aceh is that it was there that Islam began to spread to Indonesia in the 13th century. There is much Arabic influence in the music, dance, visual arts, and clothing of the people of Aceh.
The Aceh Cultural institute was established in 2005, after the tsunami, and has taken on a massive challenge, which is made all the more difficult by the fact that the province's archives are in a building that has suffered badly in the disaster.
"The building is from the 19th century, from the days of Dutch colonialism. It should first be fixed, so that we could build a new archive. We have not yet been given enough funding for the repair work", Wahyuni says.
The damaged building was also used as theatre and exhibition centre.
Taking centre stage this year are countries of the Indian Ocean that bore the brunt of the tsunami in late December 2004. Exhibiting countries include India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
The event has stretched to 11 days, because of the upcoming Asia Europe meeting in Helsinki next autumn, and the Asia campaign of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Events during the festival include films and exhibitions in different parts of Finland, such as the India Express exhibition of sacred and popular Indian art, that is already on in the Tennis Palace of the Helsinki City Art Museum. In Tampere there is an exhibition of Asian textiles at the Vabriikki museum.
Guests include artists from Aceh province on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The tsunami devastated the province, which had already been weakened by a lengthy war between government forces and separatist guerrillas.
The devastation forced the separatist Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian government to hold peace talks led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. Local residents say that the peace process has moved forward well.
"The people of Aceh have hoped and waited for peace for a long time. It was a great relief when it was finally achieved", says Sri Wahyuni, one of the directors of the Aceh Cultural Institute.
He is the head of a group of 17 people from Aceh. The artistic leader, musician Teuku Khamsyahfuddin, is also in Helsinki. He plays drums in a percussion band.
The group from Aceh is fairly small. Sri Wahyuni notes that 170,000 people in Aceh died in the tsunami, and they do not know how many artists lost their lives. "We do know that many great artists of the older generation were lost in the tsunami", Sri Wahyuni says.
When the group practices its performance on the stage of the Alexander Theatre, the first thing that one notices is the young age of the performance.
"We did not only lose people to the tsunami - we also lost all historical documents, our identity. Now we have a great task ahead of us, as we try to reconstruct the history of Aceh."
One interesting aspect of the history of Aceh is that it was there that Islam began to spread to Indonesia in the 13th century. There is much Arabic influence in the music, dance, visual arts, and clothing of the people of Aceh.
The Aceh Cultural institute was established in 2005, after the tsunami, and has taken on a massive challenge, which is made all the more difficult by the fact that the province's archives are in a building that has suffered badly in the disaster.
"The building is from the 19th century, from the days of Dutch colonialism. It should first be fixed, so that we could build a new archive. We have not yet been given enough funding for the repair work", Wahyuni says.
The damaged building was also used as theatre and exhibition centre.
Helsingin Sanomat