Entertainment in Jakarta

Entertainment in Jakarta is all about theaters, movies and music clubs. You will get ample of scopes to explore the culture of Indonesia including the growth of cinema and evolution of the traditional theatre and cosmopolitan music. Jakarta in Indonesia also has a medley of ethnic and migrant population. So entertainment here varies serious theater halls, to refined music clubs to cinema halls for the popular yuppies.

As you visit the shopping malls you will find huge young crowd flocking to the tech-savvy, plush and sophisticated cinema halls. Interestingly enough, you will get latest Hollywood action-flicks to regional productions in Indonesia here. If you are a kung-fu lover, you also have the option of watching action pot-boilers from Hong Kong in the cinema halls like Drive Inn Theatre and Keong Emas Imax Theater. Thus, movie-buffs shouldn’t worry about their full-course entertainment in Jakarta. If you are lucky enough, you can also visit Jakarta during the Jakarta International Film Festival which is annually held. You will get the scope of watching some of the internationally famous films, which are rarely screened in Jakarta otherwise.

For the refined and the erudite class even, Jakarta has plenty of options for cultural entertainment. You can also enjoy the famous gamelan or traditional Javanese music in the music clubs. In fact, in Pasar Seni in Ancol, you can relish live gamelan music and dangdut or Indonesian pop music with a strong Indian influence as well. If you are instead looking for some western numbers, then you can visit certain music clubs offering western classical music. In the southern part of Jakarta, you will find many music cafes like Twilight Café where you can tap to Jazz and classical tunes. You will also find music clubs offering Latin music such as mambo, cha-cha and samba.

You can also enjoy ballet performances in the theatres or relish traditional performances of Indonesia like as Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet shows). Entertainment in Jakarta also includes visit to Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) Arts Center, the Jakarta Arts Center, which has art galleries, cinemas and theaters. During the annual festival at the Jakarta Arts Building, internationally famous dances, music and theatres are performed by international and locally popular artists.