PPIA Unimelb

The countdown to “Et Cetera” begins: only 10 more days to this highly anticipated event! Taking place in Ramen Ya at General Post Office Building, a relaxed and fun night began at 7 pm where people were given the chance to enjoy dinner and get-together to the soothing sound of Melbourne’s own talented musicians. The informal night was organised as a “Soft Launch” for “Et Cetera” and included Melbourne’s New Talent: Vania who will be also be singing on the 9th of April 2010.

Starting with a duet performance by Joanna Sutia and Jennifer Sumia who sang a beautiful five-piece, one by one, the crowd started to grow. It was the perfect atmosphere to enjoy delicious dinner while listening to such lovely tunes. After preparing the little stage right on the outdoor part of the restaurant, our second performance, Vania took the mic and blew us all away.

At this Soft Launch, tickets for “Et Cetera” were also sold for only $20 instead of the General Admission for $25. So, for those people who missed out on the early birds price, they were more than happy enough to receive another chance while taking a sneak peek of their money’s worth. While mixing and mingling with the crowd, our attention was soon captured by the lively performance of Indomonashis and Dexter And The Band.

Without realizing it, the night went by so quickly and it was time to leave the venue already. As “thirsty” as we were for more, we knew that there would be a next time. Put your jazz tunes on or learn your Glenn Fredly lyrics and get psyched for “Et Cetera”!

The search for Melbourne’s New Talent continues.. Taking place at South Melbourne’s Deluxe Studio, on the 14th of March 2010, the PPIA Melbourne University committee, judges and participants are already set and ready to start their bright Sunday morning with a jamming session as an audition for -what most of you would probably be very familiar at this point- “Et Cetera”, Melbourne’s own Indonesian Cultural Night filled with jazz, traditional music and heaps of fun. At 10.30 sharp the event started and one by one emerging musician filled up the stage and presented their songs. A traditional song, a jazz song and the participants’ own choice of one song were each presented by all seven soloists and six bands during the day. Judges who are present were Anoel Dault, Sissy Saragih and Dexter Pradi. In order to make the audition day more efficient and successful, the team had already decided the order in which the band/soloist would perform.

First came Arvin Hartanto and then followed by Chrisvania Handita, Joanna Sutia, Fanoy, Irene Burhan, Naomi Anastasia and ended with Gayo Tjokrosoeharto for the solo part of the audition. After lunch break, the first band, 69 were already prepped up for their performance and gave their heart and soul for the performance. Second band, Siskamling which sounded more rock were rocking the stage. Cheerful members of Nubees that showed a little break dance in the middle of their songs then got the judges and audience pumped up by their upbeat tunes and original tracks and got us all clapping to them.

Next up was a group that had a very synchronous vocalists and great use of traditional music and they were called Indomonashis. Armed with black and white for the musicians and red for the singer, Waflees then hit the stage with spectacular trumpet playing and the talented young singer’s husky voice. Last but not least, there was Global Warming which consisted of musicians from all over the world: from Hungary, Indonesia and the Mauritius. Even though the judges and committee were very worn out listening to live music since the morning, we are all very thankful to all of the participants who came. You guys made our job easier and more enjoyable by playing such beautiful music; all of the singing, dancing and laughter made the dim studio a friendlier place to be.

Results from the audition will be announced in a few days. The judges and committee will choose one soloist and one band to perform at “Et Cetera”, however, for the unlucky participants, you guys still have plenty of other chances to show your talents and entertain us at PPIA Melbourne University’s other events, such as on the Soft Launch for “Et Cetera” that is scheduled to be on the 27th of March 2010.

I am sure all of you have heard of the famous annual jazz night that is organized by PPIA Melbourne University. I am pretty sure some or most of you have even been to one. What I am sure some of you haven’t been to is a music night that has a cultural aspect to it as well. Well, on the 9^th of April 2010 you can experience Melbourne’s own Indonesian Cultural and Music Night at Melbourne Convention Centre. Named “Et Cetera” this year due to its concept of delivering not just jazz, but other types of music and cultural performances, mark this date on your calendar because I am sure you don’t want to miss out on this!

For the past 6 months, PPIA Melbourne University committee have been planning out bit by bit of the tiniest details of this show, starting from where it is going to be, who are going to perform, what kind of entertainment we would provide, who is our target audience and what do we have to do to make it as successful as possible. When it comes down to making a show as entertaining and satisfying as possible, personally, I think the audience needs to be informed as well and thoroughly as possible about what to expect of it.

For those of you who just happens to stumble upon this website and hasn’t seen our Facebook page and our video teasers of the show, I am going to tell you a bit more about it. For starters, we are holding auditions for fresh and new Melbourne Talents on the 14^th of March 2010. Details can be found on our Facebook page or you can visit our booth at Union House. For those of you who are in a band and like to get better practice with a bigger and wider audience, “Et Cetera” it the perfect place to start. Or just some of us who like to sing in the shower once in a while and wondering if we were any good, there can be no harm in taking a leap and trying out!

As well as performances that can make you reminisce of Indonesia or even broaden your horizons about Indonesia, the international-selling musician, Glenn Fredly and fresh newcomer in the music biz, Aditya are specially flying in from Jakarta to perform their all-time favorite songs for our audience.

You will also get the chance to vote for Taman Nasional Komodo to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World at the event with the help of the committee and win a door prize at the end of the show.

Tune in to this website or our Facebook page and next month’s edition of BUSET and OZIP for more information on this promised-to-be-spectacular night!

Hurry and get your tickets from any of the PPIA Melbourne University committee!

The start of a new semester at Melbourne University..

It can be the start of just another semester of studying or making new friends or getting more involved by joining clubs that fight for a cause or just simply by trying out anything new that this university has to offer. Why not enjoy all three while you can? PerhimpunanPelajar Indonesia Australia held its semesterly BBQ for all Indonesians studying at University of Melbourne on Friday 9th of October 2009. It took place at the BBQ pit near the Melbourne University Sports Center. Our newly elected,friendly committee members thoughtfully organized the place, food and refreshing drinks for everyone who came. We all ate, talked, mingled with each other and left with knowing there are more new faces to smile at in university and budding friendships in progress.

HariKeakraban perfectly sums up the day on one nice, sunny Saturday in Albert Park that was already organised by the “External” people for the committee of PPIA to get together and mingle. After almost all 29 participants arrived, our president of PPIA, Asti Raniasari and our head of External, Nadia SeloAdji gave us a warm welcome speech and soon we started off by forming a circle and played a game of introducing ourselves using toilet paper. I know it sounds gross putting “game” and “toilet paper” in the same sentence but this game was a good start of the day. Putting a name for 20 other new faces was a challenge as well but it was taken care of whilst having fun at it: a game of throwing a tennis ball and you had to say the name of the person who threw it to you and you had to throw it to someone else in the circle and say the person’s name. This went on for quite a while until the losers got punished. Quite entertaining I must say!

So, with about two dozen names in mind and a bright day ahead of us, the team was divided into two groups. By this time it was already almost lunch time and each team was given an hour to use the tools provided to cook as creative and effective as possible. We would get judged by cleanliness, creativity, quality of the food, teamwork and the fact that we maximize all food and tools given. Each team worked co-operatively and had succeeded to present the judges with an ample amount of colourful, creative and not to mention, tasty DIY lunch. However, the judges had to pick one team as a winner and got the other team cleaning up the place in return.

After being fuelled up, we continued a series of games that involved chasing each other around in the park. Laughter, excitement, smell of leftover BBQ and sighs of tiredness and contentment concluded the beautiful evening that sadly had to come to an end. I believe by tightening our relationship as a group, it will lead to not only getting what we have to do faster and easier, but also more enjoyable. To say the event had been a successful one would be an under statement.