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Take Me to Paradise | |||
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Review by Chisato Hara: Finding One's Paradise Within Australian writer finds her creative renaissance in Bali Cross-cultural arts collaboration Singer strikes gold in Bandung Jan's new CD:
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About the Author Writer / singer / poet, Jan Cornall, is a late arrival in paradise. She always meant to come but didn’t get here until June 2002, when her ex partner treated her to a ticket to Bali, to accompany their daughter on the first leg of her trip around the world. Like so many before her Jan fell in love, from the moment she stepped into the warm scented air at Denpasar airport. “Through the airport doors, out into the warm air bath, where palm fronds dance in the hot jet fuel breeze…” On a friend’s recommendation Jan and her daughter headed straight for Ubud and found a room at a family-run guesthouse, close to the centre of town. Their host Ketut drove Jan and Cyd to all the usual attractions – Kintamani, Tanah Lot, The Elephant Cave, Gunung Kawi, silver jewellery, weaving warehouses… “The last jewellery shop is the best. The young male assistants in traditional pink sarongs and woven shirts lolling about in the heat, jump to attention as we drive up, open my car door and treat me like a celebrity….” As Ketut gave all the usual explanations about religious ceremonies, the caste system, Balinese names, the banjar, all the Balinese arts - carving, painting, dancing, and Jan immersed herself in the spiritually creative atmosphere of Ubud and its surrounds, she knew she would have to find a way to return. Four months later the island was devastated by the terrorist attack on the Sari Club. Jan watched the drama unfold from her living room in Sydney and put her plans on hold. She did return in 2004, running her first writer retreat in conjunction with the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival and to make up for lost time, crossed the Timor sea every three months to run more retreats attended by aussies, expats, Indonesians and international visitors. In January 2005, with plenty of material in hand and at the suggestion of poet Sitok Srengenge, (they met at the 2004 Ubud Writers Festival), Jan began writing her novel, Take Me To Paradise. In October 2005, disaster struck the island again, This time Jan did not postpone and travelled to Ubud, four days after the Jimbaran and Kuta bombings, with a half full plane of very special aussies, all determined not to let a terrorist attack ruin their holiday plans. Jan kept taking notes. By now Jan was also travelling to other parts of Indonesia; Jakarta and Yogyakarta, working on a poetry collaboration with Sitok Srengenge and catching up with the Indonesian artists and writers she had met in Ubud. She was invited to take part in the Utan Kayu International Literary Biennale performing with other poets and writers in Lampung, Bandung and Jakarta. She extended this relationship into an Asia Link Residency with Teater Utan Kayu in 2006. Completing her novel while living in a kost (boarding house) in Utan Kayu, Jakarta, (see article, Jakarta Post). Jan took part in a number of other projects; recording a music/poetry CD Jan Cornall, Singing Srengenge, with jazz pianist Imel Rosalin; a performance poetry project: Mom and Her Bastard Sons, with Yogyakarta bands Black Ribbon, Sentimental A Go Go, and Phyto and Latex; and participation in Perfurbance, Yogya’s annual performance art festival. To document her Yogya activities Jan produced a short film with Buta Buti, independent film makers called: The Friendship Between You and Me Depends on Art. Jan continues to be inspired not only by the artists and writers she has met in Indonesia but by Indonesian people in general - a message she wants to take back to Australia, through her novel and other collaborative works. Jan says “the creative atmosphere in Indonesia is what keeps bringing me back. There has been a great upsurge of activity obviously since 1998 accompanying a new found freedom of expression, but the commitment and dedication of artists supporting each other in arts communities to produce incredible works with little or no funding, reminds me of Australia in the 70’s.” Marilyn echoes Jan’s thoughts about Bali in the her final chapter saying, Her next project in Indonesia will be in April 2007, working with the Performance Club in the small earth quake affected village of Gemblangan, near Yogyakarta on a month long workshop program leading to the performance art festival, Perfurbance. And plans are afoot to translate and publish Take Me To Paradise in Bahasa Indonesia, by Kata Kita Publishing Jakarta.
Take Me to Paradise by Jan Cornall, design and publishing by Saritaksu Editions 2006, ISBN: 9791173-00-1, Soft cover with flaps, 116 pages, 290 mm x 145 mm. About the Author
Jan Coranll Singing Srengenge, Written by Sitok Srengenge |
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