An update · 15 August

Yesterday a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off Flores, causing loss of life and widespread damage across the island.

After speaking with the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, we will go ahead with tomorrow's evening · but not as we planned it. MERDEKA is now a fundraiser.

Entry is free. Anyone who has already bought a ticket will be refunded in full. Every donation made on the night goes directly to the relief effort in Flores.

We will begin the evening with a moment for those affected.

Independence Day is about a people who have carried each other through a great deal. Tomorrow we gather in that spirit, and we hope you will join us.

What does freedom sound like across generations?

An intimate gathering at Hotel Jakarta Amsterdam marking Hari Kemerdekaan, on Java-eiland, at the former departure point of the ships to Jakarta.

This is not a party. It is a listening room.

For 1945 · 45 places · Sunday 16 August

The evening takes place in Malabar, the skybar on the eighth floor, named after the volcano in West Java. Glass on every side, the IJ below, and the city laid out beyond it. For one night it belongs entirely to us.

A seated listening session with the Indonesian selector Sekan. A break for dinner in the hotel's Indonesian restaurant. And a closing solo performance by the cellist Alfian Emir Adytia, played against archival film footage from before Indonesian independence, as the sun goes down over the water.

The intention is to honour the day quietly and with care, through the music that carries Indonesian memory across generations and across the diaspora.

Merdeka.

Contact the host of MERDEKA: An Evening for Indonesian Independence Day

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