The original forest on Kalimantan in Indonesia is disappearing rapidly. And that has everything to do with consumption patterns in Europe. The Indonesian composer Nursalim Yadi Anugerah and the Dutch librettist and director Miranda Lakerveld are creating a new opera with extensive deforestation as the subject. They base this on two classical works, one from Eastern and one from Western culture: the Kayan epic Takna' Lawe' and Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Both stories are about the importance and veneration of nature and natural resources. By interweaving the two storylines, they connect the rich cultural tradition of the Kayan of Kalimantan with Western mythology in Wagner's interpretation. The result is a moving musical, theatrical fusion of two cultures that are linked in many ways.
