An evening with Sitok - 87mins
Leading Indonesian poet Sitok Srengenge presents his poems in bahasa Indonesia ... alternating with Harry Aveling, a prolific translator of Indonesian poetry and prose, providing english readings. One of the published poems later in the evening was read by Geoff Fox ... a long time friend of Sitok. This one is not for the faint hearted ... however Sitok explains the context.
Before Sitok and Harry ... Javant Biarugia, who did an Asialink Writer in Residence to Indonesia around the time of President Suharto's downfall, gives a reading from one of his plays about a Dutch Indo woman's reminiscences of living through the Japanese occupation in the early 40's.
From 25 minutes in ... to the end of the evening it's all Sitok and Harry [& Jeff].
For some idea of the artistic and political forces which Sitok participated in / lived through during his formative student years ... you could read a 1998 article from Inside Indonesia titled "Cleansing the earth"
Bar Open is a great performance venue & bar in Fitzroy Melbourne Australia.
The event was organised by the now defunct Indonesia Interest Group under the umbrella of AsiaLink.
Photo credit: Komunitas Salihara via Flikr