FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    

Rains Hold off for Equinox Pre-Event with Born Free Tour

Music Bus, Luluk and Helsdingen Trio Create Sunshine and Magic at Children's Museum
  Hundreds, both young and old bask in the music; "It's Lovely" voted by one young toddler
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16 September 2002 – Boston MA –  Under threatening skies, and with balmy winds, the Born Free 2002 Tour of Luluk Purwanto and the Helsdingen Trio, with their custom, music stage bus, delighted hundreds yesterday at the Children's Museum of Boston in the special, Pre-Event of the 2nd Annual Equinox Music Festival, featuring the 25th Annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert.

From 10:30AM, when the huge music bus pulled in, museum visitors hovered and watched intently as Rene van Helsdingen opened doors and folded down panels to expose the performance stage, complete with drum kit and grand piano. And the children drew nearer as Luluk Purwanto began laying out and setting up her assortment of percussion items, resembling lizards, turtles and elephants, many handmade in Indonesia.

With Helsdingen on piano, Luluk on violin, Essiet Okon Essiet on bass and local Berklee instructor and tour member, Marcello Pellitteri on drums, the music began flowing at 12-noon, with crowds three-and-four-rows deep. And as more visitors began streaming onto the museum grounds, the first stop they made was the music bus.

Mixing original compositions and traditional Indonesian songs, as Helsdingen deftly worked the keyboards, or Essiet dug in on bass, Luluk would wander off-stage and continue playing, to the delight of the children she would slide up to.
After one extended solo, Helsdingen was complimented by a very impressed young toddler, who walked up close to the stage and shouted, "That was lovely …" Helsdingen returned the favor to the roar of the audience.

The Born Free Tour, with Luluk Purwanto and the Helsdingen Trio continues this week, with stops in Virginia and Georgia, then a swing through the deep South  before moving on to California in early October, where the tour ends on October 15th. For more information, or to follow the Born Free Tour, visit www.luluk.com