Swara Banua Choir Wins Silver Medal in Folksong Category at Bali International Choir Festival
Bali – The choir of Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM), Swara Banua Choir (SBC) has won a silver medal for the Folksong category in the Bali International Choir Festival. SBC is the only choir group from South Kalimantan to participate in the folksong competition category, competing with 14 participants from within and outside the country.
The songs “Welcome to Banjarmasin” and “Jaranan” arranged by Triono Budiwiryawan were the introduction to SBC’s victory in this competition. Sherly Nur Hikmah, a lecturer in the Performing Arts Education Study Program (PS) ULM acted as the conductor of the Swara Banua Choir team consisting of 38 student singers.
Swara Banua Choir received various praises from the jury. One of them was from the jury Andreas Sugeng who said that the song “Jaranan” that was performed succeeded in creating an authentic regional atmosphere from the song on stage.
Even the jury from South Korea, Hyowon Woo and TJ. Harper from America also praised the presentation of the song “Jaranan” by SBC. Hyowon Woo said that SBC has captivating energy and teamwork with “great emotional expression and lovely phrasing”. Meanwhile, TJ Harper praised the solo singers and the dance presented when performing the song “Jaranan”.
Bali International Choir Festival (BICF) is an international choir festival organized by the Bandung Choral Society (BCS). This festival is an annual event that features choir performances from all over the world. More than 3,500 singers from 13 countries in Asia, Oceania, North America, and Europe participated in the 13th BICF in 2024. This activity is centered in Denpasar and Badung for a week since Sunday (21/7/2024).
In addition to performances, the festival also holds events such as an opening ceremony, friendship concert, choir workshop, choir clinic, choir exchange and collaboration, and choir competition. The mission of friendship and cultural exchange is carried out through the Friendship Concert and a knowledge sharing event between the jury and participants through the Choir Clinic. There was also a Choir on the Beach performance, Wednesday (24/7/2024) at Discovery Mall, Kuta Beach before the entire event closed on Saturday (27/7/2024)
This year, BICF was attended by 13 participating countries from the United States, New Zealand, China, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Slovenia, South Africa, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore. From Indonesia, 20 provinces participated including Bali, Banten, D.I. Yogyakarta, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, Lampung, West Papua, Central Papua, NTT, North Maluku, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, West Sumatra, North Sumatra, and South Sumatra.
According to Sherly, BICF is the first international choir competition participated by SBC ULM. “The prayers, support and facilities provided by the ULM leadership played an important role in our success. This valuable experience fosters a sense of pride and an increasingly high fighting spirit to bring ULM’s good name in the field of choral arts,” she said.
“We express our appreciation and gratitude to all parties who have provided technical and management support, including the supervising lecturers, faculty leaders (FKIP -ed), ULM student team, Vice Rector 3 and ULM Rector. Hopefully PSM ULM can always contribute to upholding ULM’s good name,” she added.
Congratulations to the winners. Hopefully they will continue to achieve and be an inspiration to others.
