Samaners Busking On Grafton Street

IndoIrish.com - A group of 12 Indonesian wearing beautiful Red and Yellow outfits were seen dancing on Grafton Street yesterday, Sunday, 8 November 2009. This group is known as Samaners. The name Samaners is taken from the name of the dance itself, Saman Dance. In which it originally comes from Aceh, Sumatera, Indonesia.

Nowadays the Saman Dance has been well-known abroad as dance of a “Thousand Hands”.
The unique part of this dance is that the performers do not use their feet at all. They sit and kneel on the ground. The music is from a singer that sings live while hitting a traditional drum called Gendang. Besides from the singer, the music also comes from the dancers singing and clapping their hands, slapping chest, thigh and
slapping floor. They start the movement slow and it gets faster and faster.

Samaners busked were to raise funds for the earthquake victims in Padang, West Sumatera, Indonesia that happened on 30 September 2009 ago. Earthquake 7.6 SR that killed hundreds of people, destroyed villages, and made big damage in several places. Samaners busked in 2 places, in front of St. Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre and on Grafton Street (near HMV). The first performance was at 1PM and the second one was 3PM. During the break Samaners and crews had a picnic in the St. Stephen’s Green Park. Even the weather was very supportive. It was one lovely day. They were sitting on the grass, overlooking the pond, had lunch and chat. Everybody can feel togetherness was in the air. With total 4 performances and each performance took about 10 minutes, Samaners raised 250euro!!

The money will be donated through Indonesian Red Cross. The kids were also so brilliant and cute in supporting the busking by passing through the money baskets. After dancing, Samaners did not hesitate to dig their own pockets to contribute to the money baskets too. Sore knees, cold breeze, hard base are just little
things compare to what the earthquake victims have been through. Samaners & Crews are willing to do anything they could to help the earthquake victims to have a better life. The busking went very well. It was the first busking experience for all Samaners. Something they never thought they would do, but they did it to help others. Some eyes were shedding tears because of the great dedication.

Samaners & crews felt overwhelmed and thanked Dubliners for their support. The complete
members that support busking are:

Saman dancers: Abdul Mudjib, Ipung Purnomo Hadi, Yuanitari Aziz, Sonya Kaber-
Wawolumaya, Mogi Nadia Prasetyo, Sarah Effendi Stevenson, Yulinda Fitriana, Sherly Henry, Corry Pambuko, Hiswaty Hafid, Amalia Zahra.

Crews & Supporters: Maya Yusuf Kirby, Olive Kirby, Hazel Kirby, Aileen Balfe, Yanti Soeharsojo
Faisal, Sri Meifiana Sari, Rayhan Irfan, Callista Irfan, Mark Suleiman, Asyilla Suleiman, Hanna Suleiman, Aben, Bambang Sumantri, Tosh Browne, Samson Kaber, Vic Terlier, Ulfah Beauvillain, Patrice Beauvillain, Loane Beauvillain, etc.

Nevertheless, this busking was also an event to promote Indonesian Cultural Night that will be held on 13 November 2009, 7PM, at Break for the border, organized by Indonesian Irish Association in aid for the earthquake victims. For those who haven’t booked or buy the ticket, please do so to avoid disappointment as the place is very limited. Ticket is €15 including entertainment, finger food, and free entry to BFTB night club with DJ. Hope to see you there. (Mogi Nadia Prasetyo).