Indonesian music will ring out from the Flinders University Pendopo tomorrow – but it won’t just be the mesmerising traditional sound of the resident gamelan orchestra.

Instead, a group of talented first-year Indonesian language students have formed a band which, together with an Indonesian vocalist, will perform covers of Indonesian pop songs.

They will be taking part in an end-of-semester celebration presented by Flinders Asia Centre and the Indonesian Postgraduate Students’ Association.

Lecturer Dr Rosslyn von der Borch said the formation of the band was something of a first for Indonesian at Flinders.

“Coincidentally, there are lots of very accomplished and talented musicians among our Bahasa Indonesian language students this year,” Dr von der Borch said.

“It will add a different and contemporary dimension to the end-of-semester celebration, which is always great fun,” she said.

“There is a great variety of performers, musicians and dancers, from different parts of Indonesia also taking part, so the audience will have a taste of the tremendous cultural variety of Indonesia.”

The celebration begins with the screening of a film, Sang Pemimpi (The Dreamers, rated PG), at 4pm in Room 149 of the Social Sciences South building.

There will be Indonesian food available from 6pm and the music and dance program runs in the Flinders University Pendopo from 6 to 9pm.

Members of the public are welcome and admission is by gold coin donation.

Dr von der Borch said the event was not only an opportunity for the students to share their understanding of Indonesian language and culture with family and friends, but a chance for members of the public to engage with Indonesian at Flinders.

“Gamelan, the most famous traditional music of Indonesia, has been taught at Flinders University since 1986, by a succession of accomplished Adelaide-based musicians,” Dr von der Borch said.

“It is also taught each year to hundreds of primary and secondary school students who are brought to this campus to experience the unique ambience of the Flinders University Pendopo, and the satisfaction of learning to play simple gamelan pieces together,” she said.

“Visiting the Pendopo helps students to connect in a concrete and meaningful way with their studies of Indonesia and Asia more generally. But opening the Pendopo to the wider public is also a means of creating relationships between the University and the community at large.”

Access to the Flinders University Pendopo can be gained via Car Park 4 at the University’s Bedford Park campus.