The people of Indonesia & their culture, politics, economy and environment - Inside Indonesia: The peoples and cultures of Indonesia

Dance

Dancing into the elections

The replacement of dangdut with TikTok dances in the 2024 elections heralds a massive demographic shift in Indonesian political campaigning and beyond

Essay: Masked but not hidden

A small museum in Java is preserving a storytelling tradition, and the thoughts and feelings behind it

Encountering Indonesia at AsiaTOPA 2017 (Part 1)

Indonesian performances at the AsiaTOPA festival opened up ‘creative conversations’ between Australians and Indonesians

Review: Martial arts meet musical performance

The Fighting Art of Pencak Silat and Its Music reveals the multitude of martial arts practices and celebrations

Review: The future of dance is underwater

Natali Pearson reviews two powerful dance works by Eko Supriyanto currently touring internationally

Review: Dancing the Feminine

A look into Indonesian migrant women, identity, and cultural performances.

Dancing against violence

Not even Mount Kelud erupting could stop Yogyakarta's activists from standing up against violence to women as part of One Billion Rising

Review: Taking a musical journey in Sumatra

Margaret Kartomi’s life-long devotion to bringing Sumatran music to the world is revealed in her major contribution to analysing and preserving this musical heritage

The shadow of the Ayatollah

Indonesia’s Shi’i community is struggling to find the right balance between local traditions and its fascination with Iran

A second revolution?

Dangdut music continues to be a vital part of Indonesian popular culture

Dancing the nation in migration

Indonesian women in Perth perform a ‘uniting’ dance

Moving with the times

An update on dance and music in the reformasi era

Surviving conflict

Aceh’s performing arts have blossomed despite the conflict and the tsunami

Hot debates

A law on pornography still divides the community

Demonstrating diversity

Photo-essay: Yogya’s community protests against the Pornography Bill

The end of fasting

Evolving performances at Hari Raya celebrations are a window into deeper cultural change

A new artistic order?

The arts scene has changed radically since 1998, but some of the old uncertainties remain

Music for the fight, movements for the soul

Fight-choreography in West Java is a source of cultural pride

Festival Mata Air

A community takes a fresh look at water

Crossing male boundaries

Confidence crisis for Bali’s women mask dancers

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Lontar Modern Indonesia

A selection of stories from the Indonesian classics and modern writers, periodically published free for Inside Indonesia readers, courtesy of Lontar.