Throwback Thursday

A Year ago  i was very lucky to have invited to see the very important and absolutely precious batik collection of Bapak Hartono Sumarsono, the owner of "Batik Kencana Ungu" 

These are few of them for you to enjoy. . 

My Friend's Creation

He's government officer actually but i knew him at Batik Market as juragan that own batik malam,s stall. 
And this is his work. Beautiful isnt it. 

Another Classical Approach on Batik Tulungagung

Here some pictures with batik from batikker group of Mas Bobby Satriyo of "Batik Liris Manis Majan"  (you might see him on Facebook under that name). It has kain panjang format, and in pagi-sore-section. 
The color seem unusual since it has greenish tinge.but everything's within the recognizable gajah modo color scheme. 

The left section is the garland (loosely pictured buketan) while the right section is mythical bird of paradise against diagonal stripes of various isen-isen like ukel, beras wutah, kricak, parang etc (you might find these patterns under different names all over the places, due to the local dialect or different interpretation of the same pictures). 

Banyuwangi Visit

Actually it was a while a go, this visit to Banyuwangi, and i dont want to write this as a strict journal, rather than a (distant) sketch of my memory of the actual visit.
All of my friends (a bus-load of friends that is) couldnt be agreed  that the highlight of this trip was a visit to Kampung Wisata Osing owned by Pak Iwan, Coffee Maker (and automatically the owner of coffee industry based in Banyuwangi). This artistically-arranged desa wisata was only a couple of km away from central Banyuwangi, the closed-gate compound with several teak-wood antique houses surrounded by lush greenery and great ambience.
No doubt that the night's mood was settled in more relaxed atmosphere when we went into the front small courtyard welcomed by strange but familiar sound : the nature sound of ladies playing lesung, a traditional rice-processing device that now serves as musical instruments. It was magical experience to see these old ladies creating rythm and beautiful music from such a simple everyday objects. My ever enthusiast friends didnt hesitate to join the ladies to merry the night.
After sumptuous dinner with brief local culinary lecture, the night was held to its height by a couple of Jejer dancer, the seducing dance of old Blambangan Kingdom welcoming dignitaries and demand participation from each of our bus' members.

Little did we know that the highlight of the night wasnt the Jejer dance, it wasnt also the brief explanation of the dance, the outfits, cultural significance of the dance and discussion afterward, but a batik parade. Yes, it was batik parade , held by senior ladies with black kebaya that previously being musicians.With obvious pride, each ladies held wide the heirloom of each families, piece of old Banyuwangi Batik that has been in family, many-many years. With each ladies assumed their place in front of us, we couldnt held ourselves more, ransacking front to see up-close and took lots of pictures and make a buzzling sound of admirations. Shortly : it was chaotic. In a rather fun and beautiful way. 
Each ladies was telling stories of the batik they held, helped by translator since many of the ladies couldnt express their thoughts in bahasa indonesia. We were formed many circles around each ladies, enjoying their personal stories and hearing explanation from Banyuwangi Expertise. After this, we drank some specially-brewed coffee and tea, and it was simply heaven.
A good story, merry dance, beautiful batik, delicious cofee, lots of friends.
Couldnt asked more.