Wayang Animasi, Dalang Digital?

March 26, 2011 at 8:40 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: , , , , ,

When I started this project I thought Wayang Kancil (and by extension other forms of traditional Wayang theatre) could not be sustained apart from “new media channels” – that is, animations or films. It seems that the younger generation of Wayang practitioners feel the same way as well. They not only incorporate new media elements by animating puppet shows, but also employ technology to reinvent elements of the form.

The Jakarta Globe - "Ki Ledjar Subroto's Vivid Shadow Puppets"

(Click on the picture to follow the link)

“At the start of the millennium, many people thought that they should abandon traditional arts and embrace post-modern culture and advanced technology instead,” said Nanang, Ki Ledjar’s grandson, who now studies pendalangan (wayang puppeteering) at the Indonesian Institute of Arts (ISI) in Yogyakarta.

Nanang tries to incorporate modern technology into his wayang performances to capture the attention of children who usually look to computer games or cable TV for entertainment.

In 2005, he developed wayang-based animated movies on his computer. (You can see one here)

“I have become a dalang digital [digital puppeteer],” he said with a laugh.

The 25-year-old student has also arranged popular songs, orchestral music and Javanese gamelan music on his computer to accompany live wayang puppet shows.

Today, whenever Nanang performs alone or with his grandfather, he always brings along his laptop to play accompanying music. In the old days, wayang was usually performed to live gamelan music.

“Of course, we respect pakem [traditional guidelines] as the basis of wayang performance,” he said. “But merely following tradition should not be an excuse for being complacent and not developing the arts.”

Nanang has offered his animated wayang films to local TV stations in Yogyakarta. But none have been interested so far. “They said it would be difficult to attract advertisers for such programs,” he said.

But today you can see Nanang’s short wayang animations displayed as visual arts at Museum Nusantara, Museum Bronbeek and Museum Tropen in the Netherlands.

“I’ll continue to make innovations,” Nanang said. “I want Indonesian people to love the traditional arts of wayang.”

Here’s an example of Wayang Kulit created using animation:

Other Wayang Kulit creations with new media:

1. Wayang Kulit with animated background

Advertising Malaysia: 

2. Animated Arjuna pointer

How principles of the Wayang Kulit can be used to teach animation:

Principles of Animation from Ice Age 2:

In response, principles of Animation from Wayang Kulit:

Perhaps it’s time to usher in the next wave of traditional Wayang performers – the “dalang digital”s – and the first step would be to get them in touch with their new audiences: the surfers on the web.

Leave a Comment

Variations: Genres of Wayang Kulit

March 24, 2011 at 6:20 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Since the 1500s, the Wayang Kulit art form has been appropriated for both religious and political messages:

1. Wayang Sadat (1500s)

Wayang Sadat was employed by teachers of Islam to show the Muslim ethics and religion to the people of Java and Bali.

Wayang Sadat

(AFP PHOTO / R. Rekotomo/hp/08)

Roughly translated, the caption reads: A visitor holds the Sadat Wayang (shadow puppet Muslim dress, like a sarong and turban), the Islamic Cultural Exhibition Variety, at the Museum Ronggowarsito, in Semarang on Wednesday (13 / 8 ) . In the Wayang performance usually Sadat told about history and the history of the spread of Islam in Java at the end of the Majapahit kingdom until the beginning of the kingdom of Mataram.

2. Wayang Revolusi (1945 – 49)

Wayang Revolusi (revolution for independence) played a pivotal role in educating Indonesians about the revolution after World War II. It was performed using puppets of Japanese soldiers and of the country’s first president, Sukarno. In her news article “Puppets as Propaganda”, Corrie Callaghan records that spectators watched the actual puppets rather than their shadows since realism was the point of this art.

3. Wayang Wahyu (1950s – 1960s)

Christian missionaries who came to Java commissioned puppet makers to fashion figures of Jesus and other Bible characters so they could spread the Gospel through the popular art form. A version of this theatre, called Testament Wayang, is still performed in Java today. Below is a clip of a Wayang Wahyu performance from 2010:

You can read Matthew Isaac Cohen’s thoughts on a performance of Genesis – including Lucifer’s revolt against God and the temptation of heaven – here.

4. Feminist Wayang (1960s)

The Srikandi Women’s Movement, a women’s movement in Indonesia, also turned to the Wayang Kulit to help spread its message. It made use of female archetypes – the characters of “Srikandi” (from which its name derives) and “Sumbadra”, two of Arjuna’s seven wives – to represent the feminist ideology. Srikandi is intelligent, decisive, assertive, courageous, and combative, standing in an upright posture with face tilted upward and a kris (a man’s dagger) in her belt. On the other hand, Sumbadra is permanently in a submissive, bowing pose, she does just as she is told and is alus (refined). She is Arjuna’s favourite wife.

Left: Srikandi, a powerful and assertive female figure; Right: Sumbadra: a submissive female

Leave a Comment

Newsflash: Mbah Ledjar and Nanang in Holland!

March 22, 2011 at 3:52 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: , , , , , ,

When I met Mbah Ledjar at his studio in December, he was in the middle of innovating a new Gunungan (a large leaf-shaped puppet used to mark the opening and closing of a Wayang performance): instead of painting the conventional Javanese architecture, he was painting a Dutch house.

Mbah Ledjar’s latest innovation (Dec 2010)

I was very impressed by his youthful spirit of experimentation despite being 73, and willingness to play with Wayang conventions to create even more amazing art. He even made a puppet of himself (and Nanang, his grandson):

L to R: Nanang and Mbah Ledjar (with Nanang and Mbah Ledjar puppets)

At present, Mbah Ledjar and Nanang are in the Netherlands performing the “Willem van Oranje Wayang” – made in the image of William of Orange, who is recognized as founder and liberator of The Netherlands – at the Museum Nusantara.

The Willem van Oranje Wayang is a masterpiece creation of Ki Ledjar Soebroto, a Yogyakarta’s well known puppet-master and the creator of the very unique wayang kancil, specially made on the order of the Museum Nusantara in Delft, the Netherland. Ki Ledjar made the wayang designs based and according to the faces of characters found in the historical epic of William’s battle taken from paintings that are already hundreds of years old, still preserved in the collections of the Prinsenhof Museum. Aside of making the design of the characters, Ki Ledjar also designed some wayang forms of artifacts found in Delft such as the Nieuwe Kerk (the New Church), where Prince Willem and the Dutch Kings were laid to rest.

[…]The making of this wayang which depicted Prince Willem’s battle at the same time his leadership of the revolt against King Phillip II, Netherland’s ruler from Spain, have as its purpose the education of children to gain more knowledge of Dutch history. Besides the exhibition of the wayang forms, there will also be the screening of the Willem van Oranje Wayang animation film, made by Ananto Wicaksana (the grandson of Ki Ledjar Soebroto). – “The Williem van Oranje”, Jogjapages.com 3rd March 2011

(Emphasis mine. Click on the pictures to follow the links to the articles!)

Mbah Ledjar even transposed the clown from traditional Javanese Wayang Kulit culture into this performance to make it even more engaging:

"Wayang with a touch of Dutch"

The hundreds of audience members burst into laughter when an old puppet character Jan Klaasen appeared on stage as an intermezzo in the middle of a war.

Jan Klaasen’s funny voice, humorous chat and silly movements became an instant ice-breaker. A Spaniard soldier tried to attack his head to no avail because it was so flexible — it could rotate, turning forward and even backward.

Ledjar said Jan Klaasen was an additional character that was comparable to Punokawan — four royal jokers in the regular puppet shows.

“I inserted the Jan Klaasen character so the audience did not only have to stick to the story, but be entertained by the humor as well,” he said. – “Wayang with a Touch of Dutch”, The Jakarta Post 22nd May 2011 (emphasis mine)

The traditional Wayang Kulit performance was also adapted in terms of the music and medium (Nanang created an animation for it!):

“At first, I was thinking of full gamelan for the music, but then I changed my mind because this was a European puppet show. I don’t want to make it an ordinary wayang purwa [traditional puppetry],” he said.

His effort paid off. The Willem puppet show performed in the Karta Pustaka was far from boring.

The music was a collaboration between pop orchestra and traditional gamelan. Some of the conversations in the show, which included an English translation, were even set to opera-esque music, such as during a romantic chat between William and his fourth wife Louise de Coligny.

Ananto, who has been a wayang puppeter since he was four years old, said the Nusantara Museum’s visitors could also watch his 15-minute animated film of the William puppet show in addition to enjoying the real puppet performance.

The museum also plans to tour the puppet show around several cities. Ledjar said the marriage of modern and traditional genres could attract young people. The most important thing, he added, was to preserve the traditional nuance. – “Wayang William – Wrap the Dutch History in a Wayang Story”, Tourjogja.com. 15th March 2011 (emphasis mine)

Congratulations! 😀

Leave a Comment

Newsflash: Mbah Ledjar and Nanang in Holland!

March 22, 2011 at 3:48 pm (Uncategorized)

When I met Mbah Ledjar at his studio in December, he was in the middle of innovating a new Gunungan (a large leaf-shaped puppet used to mark the opening and closing of a Wayang performance): instead of painting the conventional Javanese architecture, he was painting a Dutch house.

Mbah Ledjar's latest innovation (Dec 2010)

I was very impressed by his youthful spirit of experimentation despite being 73, and willingness to play with Wayang conventions to create even more amazing art. He even made a puppet of himself (and Nanang, his grandson):

L to R: Nanang and Mbah Ledjar (with Nanang and Mbah Ledjar puppets)

At present, Mbah Ledjar and Nanang are in the Netherlands performing the “Willem van Oranje Wayang” – made in the image of William of Orange, who is recognized as founder and liberator of The Netherlands – at the Museum Nusantara.

The Willem van Oranje Wayang is a masterpiece creation of Ki Ledjar Soebroto, a Yogyakarta’s well known puppet-master and the creator of the very unique wayang kancil, specially made on the order of the Museum Nusantara in Delft, the Netherland. Ki Ledjar made the wayang designs based and according to the faces of characters found in the historical epic of William’s battle taken from paintings that are already hundreds of years old, still preserved in the collections of the Prinsenhof Museum. Aside of making the design of the characters, Ki Ledjar also designed some wayang forms of artifacts found in Delft such as the Nieuwe Kerk (the New Church), where Prince Willem and the Dutch Kings were laid to rest.

[…]The making of this wayang which depicted Prince Willem’s battle at the same time his leadership of the revolt against King Phillip II, Netherland’s ruler from Spain, have as its purpose the education of children to gain more knowledge of Dutch history. Besides the exhibition of the wayang forms, there will also be the screening of the Willem van Oranje Wayang animation film, made by Ananto Wicaksana (the grandson of Ki Ledjar Soebroto). – “The Williem van Oranje”, Jogjapages.com 3rd March 2011

(Emphasis mine. Click on the pictures to follow the links to the articles!)

Mbah Ledjar even transposed the clown from traditional Javanese Wayang Kulit culture into this performance to make it even more engaging:

"Wayang with a touch of Dutch"

The hundreds of audience members burst into laughter when an old puppet character Jan Klaasen appeared on stage as an intermezzo in the middle of a war.

Jan Klaasen’s funny voice, humorous chat and silly movements became an instant ice-breaker. A Spaniard soldier tried to attack his head to no avail because it was so flexible — it could rotate, turning forward and even backward.

Ledjar said Jan Klaasen was an additional character that was comparable to Punokawan — four royal jokers in the regular puppet shows.

“I inserted the Jan Klaasen character so the audience did not only have to stick to the story, but be entertained by the humor as well,” he said. – “Wayang with a Touch of Dutch”, The Jakarta Post 22nd May 2011 (emphasis mine)

The traditional Wayang Kulit performance was also adapted in terms of the music and medium (Nanang created an animation for it!):

“At first, I was thinking of full gamelan for the music, but then I changed my mind because this was a European puppet show. I don’t want to make it an ordinary wayang purwa [traditional puppetry],” he said.

His effort paid off. The Willem puppet show performed in the Karta Pustaka was far from boring.

The music was a collaboration between pop orchestra and traditional gamelan. Some of the conversations in the show, which included an English translation, were even set to opera-esque music, such as during a romantic chat between William and his fourth wife Louise de Coligny.

Ananto, who has been a wayang puppeter since he was four years old, said the Nusantara Museum’s visitors could also watch his 15-minute animated film of the William puppet show in addition to enjoying the real puppet performance.

The museum also plans to tour the puppet show around several cities. Ledjar said the marriage of modern and traditional genres could attract young people. The most important thing, he added, was to preserve the traditional nuance. – “Wayang William – Wrap the Dutch History in a Wayang Story”, Tourjogja.com. 15th March 2011 (emphasis mine)

Congratulations! 😀

Leave a Comment

World Without Walls: Tradition 2.0 (1 / 2)

March 22, 2011 at 8:49 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

1. Tradition reconstructed:

a. Turn by Turn we Turn (The Finger Players)

Zhang Zhong

 

I recently interviewed Chong Tze Chien, artistic director of The Finger Players, about their upcoming play, Turn by Turn we Turn (of which he is the scriptwriter).

Turn By Turn We Turn is a sweeping epic about the lives and fates of members in a traditional Chinese hand puppetry troupe from 1920s China to present day. Holding steadfastly to their craft, traditions, beliefs, and one another in the face of civil and world wars, political strife, changing times and tastes, the puppeteers survive one ordeal after another, testing their mettle and resolve to perform, entertain and preserve the lineage of puppetry.

This attempted re-staging of the traditional art form of hand puppetry made me curious. After sitting in for a seminar on Modern Malay Theatre, Religion and Culture in Singapore (featuring Alfian Sa’at, Zizi Azah and Mohd. Zulfadli) last October, I came to the conclusion that theatre practitioners were generally more concerned with constructing creative fictional experiments than performing tradition.

The Finger Players have set out to re-create a deconstructed staging of the traditional form through the use of a modern set and electronic live music (“not exactly your Tok Tok Chiang”). Tze Chien shared that he is more concerned with re-presenting the lives of the people who created the art rather than traditional performance.

It’s very difficult to get new people, a younger generation, to appreciate it and also to take it up…But what I hope to do with this play is to (a) of course to pay homage to the puppeteers, these artists…but at the same time to inherit their spirit…I think what is more important is that we preserve the spirit and we preserve the resilience and the dedication of the artists and hopefully that will shed light on what the role of an artist is, not just in Singapore but in the entire world as well.

b. Cross-cultural artistic products: It seems that traditional Southeast Asian arts have found their way into Singapore universities through enrichment activities organized by the respective Theatre Studies departments.

i. Terra Musica (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand)

Last week, I attended “Terra Musica: A celebration of the earth through stories and performances”, three visual pieces devised by students from the Performing Arts Department of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Communication Arts. The event was organized by the National University of Singapore’s Theatre Studies Department.

Wind

Thai Creation Myth

These pieces sought to demonstrate the relationship between and nature in an abstract way, particularly through gesture and music. The first two stories (titled “Wind” and “Fire”) were taken from the Buddhist bible, while the last was a Thai creation myth.

Near the end of the last performance, packets of rice were distributed to the audience (that mostly consisted of Thai people! – cultural solidarity across borders indeed), each grain of rice representing the soul of a human being. This was to remind us of the interdependent relationship man has with the environment, and the need not to take nature for granted.

You can watch a video I compiled of the performance below (unfortunately the quality isn’t very good):

ii. Garrett Kam (Indonesia)

A month ago, I had the chance to attend a performance-workshop on Wayang Sampur-Na, a form of Javanese sash dance, conducted by Garrett Kam (I’ll talk more about him in future entry :)). This was organized by the National Institute of Education for aspiring Theatre Studies and Fine Art teachers as part of their Asian Theatre module. Silei and I first watched him perform at Pak Roger Alan Long’s 1000th day death anniversary.

Here is part one of three videos that I took of his performance:

Wayang Sampur-Na: Epic Turning Points

In this solo performance choreographed and performed by him, Garrett Kam re-tells select scenes from the Ramayana narrative. Accompanied by an oral narrator, Kam dances out the tale of ogre king Ravana, monkey warrior Hanuman, refined hero Rama and Princess Sita with Javanese sashes. At points, he even steps out of these characters, recreating them as slip-knot puppets.

While his performance is mostly based on the Yogyakarta style of Javanese court dance, Kam infuses gestures from ten different countries, such as Okinawa, Burma, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and Cambodia. His choice of sound only accentuates his wide range of cultural influences, including a score created by an Australian film composer, traditional Javanese-Balinese music, and the experimental work of Canadian musicologist Colin McPhee, which incorporates ideas from both the East and the West.

Enjoy 🙂

Leave a Comment

World Without Walls: Relief 2.0

March 21, 2011 at 4:48 pm (Uncategorized)

The Internet has matured as an ecosystem that bridges cultures and communities. This is made evident particularly in times of crisis.

1. Teknologi as a means of disaster response: Japan

Remember the viral Facebook note on Japan’s earthquake as seen through the eyes of Twitter that began its circulation slightly over a week ago? On his note, Jun Shiomitsu, an MBA student at the Judge Business School (University of Cambridge) posted English translations of Twitter status updates by the Japanese people who have been affected by the disaster.

Even that’s old news by now.

Shiomitsu has since received thousands of emails and mobilized his Facebook group of 800 people to act as “eye-witnesses from the ground”. He has created a data structure to consolidate these testimonies on his blog, Voices from Japan:

Voices From Japan - voicesfromjapan.blogspot.com

Photographer James Macwhite, an American videographer who lives in Tokyo, has also started his own Facebook community page, Sendai Tsunami through Western Eyes. On this page, he keeps a log of the Japanese response to the quake, particularly commenting on media coverage in Japan and from the West. He also engages his online platform for a good cause by encouraging his readership to donate to relief efforts on his website.

James MacWhyte Facebook Community Page

These two examples demonstrate how average Internet users become newsmakers and key go-to persons in times of crisis through harnessing social media. The urgency of relief efforts becomes intimate and immediate through the dissemination of viral (not to mention vital) messages through online communities. Internet users are also offered convenient avenues where they can make a difference in alleviating the damage from the comfort of their homes. Reading first-hand accounts of the disaster from those who suffer in its wake, we feel for them. We feel like we know them. We ask: what can we do to help?

Andy Carvin, Senior Strategist for National Public Radios Social Media Desk, addresses this phenomenon, as well as how the Internet has evolved to meeet the needs of disaster crisis management, in his talk “The New Volunteers: Social Media, Disaster Response, and You”:

(Slides from the talk are available here)

2. Teknologi as a means of reconstruction and rescue: Indonesia

In Indonesia, updates from the eruption of Gunung Merapi (Mount Merapi) in November 2010 still continue today, and they are available on Facebook and Twitter.

Jalin Merapi Facebook Page

Jalin Merapi Twitter Page

In an article dated 21st November 2010, the Jakarta Globe reported that Twitter was the key tool for mobilization efforts at the point of the eruption. The founder of Jalin, Sukiman Mochtar Pratomo, remarked that “Within a very short time, we had more than 9,000 followers (Now 33,520 followers). We share links from various sources and re-tweet information from people related to the crisis of Mount Merapi.”. In one week, the Jalin Merapi account mobilized nearly 500 volunteers to assist relief efforts around the area.

The posts continue even months after the eruption. Some messages are attempts to gather resources to hasten evacuation – reads a post from Jan 12th: “RT @jalinmerapi #URGENT #DEMAND C:Alvin JMCode 081804033244,need 4 spotlight-flash lights, 2 megaphones to do the watch&evacu” – while others connect people with skills to those who are in need. Reads a post on 4th March: “Elementary Students w. Certificate & unable to continue education, contact Ade Andria Outreach Sampoerna Foundation 085691”. Regardless of the content, these channels provide an readily availble strucuture in which information can be shared.

Furthermore, the Internet has also empowered young people to share their skills and to help the victims of Merapi:

As the government grapples with coordination problems in the disasters’ aftermath, tech-savvy young people are on the front line of volunteers ready to save the day.

Equipped with mobile phones and social networking accounts, they have become a powerful force for aid distribution and operate at a speed that no government officials can match.

“Twitter helps us to inform who needs what — and where, as well as who has the stuff and how much they have,” said Zaki Habibi, 28, a volunteer at Demangan shelter in Yogyakarta.

Zaki told The Jakarta Post how he had collected 500 flood aid packages with only a few posts to his Twitter accounts. Within minutes, he found out where he could find the supplies.

“It is just so quick. I got responses from two people I never met before,” said Zaki, who helps administer  the Merapi Rim Information Network, which has gained a reputation for providing reliable information on Merapi and aid distribution over Twitter.

Young people are also use social networking for fundraising. Several young girls in Yogyakarta used Twitter to raise more than Rp 70 million (US$7,910) for Merapi victims.

“We plan to do it over the long run, dedicating funds for recovery programs also,” Dian Paramita, 22, the group’s spokesperson, told The Jakarta Post recently.

Read the full article here.

3. Relief 2.0 to Tradition 2.0?

Can we apply the same principles of disaster crisis management to the management of cultural resources?

Certainly, the urgency and necessity of preserving tradition (arguable, given how fluid culture is) cannot be compared to the intensity and scale of these natural disasters, and the cost of inaction.

But perhaps the understanding of another culture could be a point of entry for us to be aware of our neighbours. Perhaps this would help us to care about them even before tragedy strikes.

1 Comment

Wayang Kancil on iPad?

March 13, 2011 at 5:30 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: , , , ,

“The company [Malaysian software developer Terato Tech] is working on several upcoming applications, including a mathematics game calledMath Maniac and a graphic novel titled Sang Kancil for the iPad, Apple’s popular tablet PC” (Emphasis added)

See full article here.

Would be interesting to see how the Kancil story is adapted from an oral narrative to a graphic novel, particularly as an e-graphic novel (on the iPad!).

Looks like the Gamelan has already found its way to the iPad / iPhone:

The song played in the video above, is the same one I played a few entries ago (Ricik-Ricik). It sounds slightly different as it is played in a different tuning system In the Gamelan, there are two tuning systems: slendro (five-tones – 1, 2, 3, 5, 6) and pelog (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). I was playing in the pelog scale, while this version is in the slendro scale. A gamelan set comes with a slendro and pelog version of each instrument, but they are never played simultaneously. (I’m not sure why there are two scales; to allow more variation for different pieces of music maybe?)

If you have an iPhone and an interest in Gamelan music you might consider downloading a Gamelan iLands App! More at the website.

3 Comments

Wayang Webcast

March 13, 2011 at 4:20 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: , , , , , ,

Recently my sister introduced me to a series of free violin masterclasses on Youtube. Here’s an example:

I don’t play the violin, but watching the teacher and student in rehearsal helps me to appreciate the music, the instrument (and future concerts, potentially) more.

Wayang Kulit “masterclasses” have found their way online too! World-renowned dhalang Ki Purbo Asmoro has uploaded a series of Wayang Kulit puppet manipulation demonstrations that enable “distance-learning” via the internet.

In this Wayang Tutorial, Ki Purbo Asmoro is demonstrating how to manipulate a shadow puppet fighting with a spear:

Unfortunately, such “masterclasses” are not yet available for the Wayang Kancil but it’s a possible option, especially because of how well-versed Nanang (grandson of Mbah Ledjar, the most famous Wayang Kancil practitioner and puppet-maker in Java, and a dhalang himself) is in technology and internet culture. 🙂

1 Comment

Kancil and the Buayas

March 3, 2011 at 5:02 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: , , , ,

Sang Kancil and the Buayas (Mousedeer and the Crocodiles)

For my playwriting class this semester, I’ve based a few pieces on existing children’s literature (e.g. The Three Little Pigs, The Little Old Lady who Lived in a Shoe). Drawing upon tales embedded in our collective consciousness seems to appeal to ‘audiences’ so far. For my most recent play, I chose the to use the folktale of Sang Kancil and the Buayas as a template for the story. You can read the full tale here.

Since the genre was musical comedy, I had a character tell this story through a song (click on the link to listen!):

Kancil and the Buayas

Verse 1

So there’s a Kancil, a skinny yellow mouse-deer

And he wants to cross the river but then he quickly stops

Because he sees a crocodile, a huge and ugly crocodile

With teeth so sharp and tears so large they might be twice his size

Buaya, oh buaya, oh buaya, Kancil, oh buaya, buaya, buaya

Verse 2

“I’m so hungry”, Buaya cries, “Yes I’m so hungry

Oh Kancil I haven’t eaten for days, please let me have a bite

Of you”. And of course Kancil, the smart and cunning Kancil

Says “Sorry Mr. Buaya, I think I’d better think twice”

Buaya, oh buaya, oh buaya, Kancil, oh buaya, buaya, buaya

Verse 3

So Kancil says “I know what I’ll do”

Buaya pleads: “Oh please won’t you let me eat you”

Kancil says, “Yes of course but you must help me cross the river first!”

And so Buaya, big and stupid buaya,

Calls his friends to come over, and help him cross the river

And Kancil disappears without a trace

Buaya, oh buaya, oh buaya, goodbye Buaya! oh buaya, buaya, buaya

Verse 4

Buaya – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha

Kancil outsmarts you ha – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha

Buaya – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha

Ha ha ha

It was a fun experiment in refashioning the Kancil story twice: as a song, and as the template upon which the story is constructed. It served as an effective medium for communicating the folktale too!

Other Adaptations

In addition to my own way of sharing knowledge of this folktale, I found two other mediums through which the story of Sang Kancil and the Buayas has been retold:

i. Wayang Rakyat (Kancil)

Below is a Wayang Rakyat (Folk Wayang) performance of the tale of Sang Kancil and the Buayas (The dhalang – puppeteer – is narrating in English! Not sure where it’s held though):

From the video above, we can see that Wayang Kancil preserves the content of the Kancil folktales through the form of Wayang Kulit shadow puppetry.

It also attempts to preserve the form of Wayang Kulit shadow puppetry through the more accessible (?) genre of Wayang Kancil.

It seems that it is only through continual innovation and reinvention that practitioners of Wayang are able to sustain traditional art forms.

In an interview with Mbah Ledjar Subroto conducted by Irene Ritchie and Endah Suseno, Ledjar states that he ‘wanted to revive [the Wayang Kancil] art form as people were losing interest in Wayang Kulit (leather puppet shows)’. He thought that the Wayang Kancil form would be an opener to reawaken people’s interest’. He chose to draw upon the folk story of the Wayang Kancil because it was already a part of their culture, and the people of Indonesia and Malaysia are already familiar with it.

ii. Animation

Because of their particular appeal to children, Kancil stories naturally lend themselves to animation.

It’s interesting how this cartoon is scored by a Western orchestra while being voiced completely in Indonesian. Nonetheless, it does not hinder the ‘Indonesian-ness / Malaysian-ness’ of the Kancil story that is told – I suppose that’s a testament to the universal appeal of (talking) animals.

Leave a Comment

Introduction to Gamelan

March 2, 2011 at 7:17 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The Gamelan is a traditional Indonesian ensemble of tuned percussion instruments, including metallophones, drums, and gongs.

The first song I learned in my Gamelan classes last year was called Ricik Ricik, affectionately known as Ricik square. Included in the video below is the main melody (balungan) on the Saron instrument, accompaniment on the Peking and the Bonang, and punctuation by the Gong and Kempul.

Enjoy 🙂

A Gamelan orchestra is typically used to accompany several genres of Indonesian Wayang theatre performance – Wayang Kulit (shadow – “wayang” – puppets made of leather “kulit” whose designs are based on archetypes of Indian epics), Wayang Kancil (shadow puppets based on the folktales of the Mousedeer – “Kancil”), and Wayang Golek (rod puppets). It is also used to accompany dances and rituals, such as the Kuda Kepang, a warrior horseman dance performed in the context of any [Malay] festive occasion such as a wedding or circumcision. Below is a video of the Kuda Kepang performed at the Malay Village in Singapore (taken Sept 2010):

It takes about 3 – 4 years to become an adept Gamelan player for a Wayang performance. The Gamelan is not able to communicate emotions with the ease that Western instruments are – for example, happiness conveyed in a major key, or sadness conveyed in a minor. However, it is able to establish the extremes of an energetic, tense scene, played quickly and loudly, with dense punctuation; and a relaxed and soothing piece, played gently, with the attention given to the main melody.

3 Comments