Wayang Animasi, Dalang Digital?

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

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Newsflash: Mbah Ledjar and Nanang in Holland!

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

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Kancil and the Buayas

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

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Matur nuwun!

December 24, 2010 at 5:17 pm (Facebook)
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(Matur nuwun is “Thank you” in Javanese)

Yang sangat, sangat besar terima kasih kepada teman-temansaya di Jogja untuk bantuan Anda dalam lapangan saya dari 10sampai 21 Desember 2010 – video ini adalah untuk Anda:

A very, very big thank you to my friends in Jogja for your assistance in my fieldwork from 10th to 21st Dec 2010 – this video is for you:

Terima kasih untuk membiarkan saya ke dalam budaya Anda,karena pasien dalam menjawab banyak pertanyaan saya, danjuga untuk kemurahan hati Anda dan perhotelan di menunjukkanSilei dan saya sekitar. Saya pikir kami mungkin punya seleralangka dari Yogya Real! 

Berharap bahwa kita bisa bertemu lagi di Singapura atau Jogja(atau tempat lain)! Beritahu saya jika Anda datang ke Singapura.Sementara itu, melihat Anda di Facebook : D

Thank you for letting me into your culture, for being patient in answering my many questions, and also for your generosity and hospitality in showing Silei and me around. I think we might just have got a rare taste of the Real Yogya!

Hope that we can meet again in Singapore or Jogja (or anywhere else)! Let me know if you come to Singapore. Meanwhile, see you on Facebook : D

Catatan: klip pendek “Wayang Kancil: Natal Khusus” dibuatmenggunakan Wayang Menulis, sebuah program yang dapat Anda gunakan untuk menceritakan cerita Anda sendiri WayangKancil digital. 

Untuk mempelajari lebih lanjut tentang Wayang Menulis, lihatvideo di bawah ini:

Note: The short clip “Wayang Kancil: The Christmas Special” was made using Wayang Composing, a program that you can use to tell your own Wayang Kancil stories digitally (developed by Marcus Ecken and Joachim Dietl).

To learn more about Wayang Composing, see the video below:

Jika Anda tertarik untuk membuat sendiri cerita Wayang Kancil,Anda dapat men-download program gratis dari:http://dimeb.informatik.uni-bremen.de/wahju/prototype/2.0/login-form.php

Dan kita bisa berbagi cerita! Username saya joanna90.

If you are interested in making your own Wayang Kancil stories, you can download the program free from: http://dimeb.informatik.uni-bremen.de/wahju/prototype/2.0/login-form.php

And we could share stories! My username is joanna90.

Selamat Natal! Merry Christmas : )

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Ayam Goreng back to Singapore – 2 / 2

December 23, 2010 at 6:47 am (Facebook, Interview)
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(ii) Meeting Mbah Ledjar and Nanang at their Studio!

Date: 19th Dec 2010

Venue: Jalan Mataram Dn 1/ 370

Mbah Ledjar at his studio

When we found Mbah Ledjar, he was working on a new gunungan, the leaf-shaped puppet that marks the beginning and end of the Wayang, which literally translates into “little mountain” (“Gunung” is Indonesian for mountain, e.g. Gunung Merapi). Traditionally, the Wayang Kulit gunungan has a structure that marks the entrance to a Javanese house painted in the centre. In his gunungan, however, he was experimenting with replacing it with a Dutch veranda.

He invited us to sit and have some tea, and began taking out the files of newspaper articles and academic journals he had compiled over the years that traced the development of the Wayang Kancil in Java and abroad. He kept track of its migration of the Wayang Kancil to England (Sarah Bilby), America (Tamara Fielding), Australia (Irene Ritchie), Germany, and even to a museum in Holland.

Tamara Fielding brings Wayang to New York

Credits to: The Indo Project (http://theindoproject.org/blog/indo-profile-tamara-fielding)

Irene Ritchie, Australia - Translator of Kancil Stories

Credits to: Irene Ritchie’s Website (http://www.kancilforest.info/Irene%20Ritchie.jpg)

Mbah Ledjar shared how he is never recognized for his work as a Wayang Kancil maker. The exhibits of his work featured in the museum in Jakarta always cite the maker of these puppets to be Bo Liem, a Chinese man who is recorded in textbooks as the first maker of the Wayang Kancil, despite his stamp clearly imprinted on the puppets displayed. He argues that the Wayang Kancil did not begin with Bo Liem, but instead is his own invention. In recounting this to me he was animated with deep conviction; but he also appeared very weary, as if he had told this story to whoever would listen. But little has been done. His contributions, and the Wayang Kancil, still go largely unheard of in his community in spite of international recognition. (For more on this, you can read this article on “Ki Ledjar Soebroto: Puppet master left in the shadows”, written by the Jakarta post in March 2009).

His grandson, Nanang, came over too. Nanang has been performing the Wayang Kancil ever since he was two years old, and has designed programs to create digital forms of Wayang (such as the Wayang animation I posted in this entry which you can watch here). Mbah Ledjar has high hopes for Nanang to continue his battle against the museum authorities and the government for his rights to have his name and work recognized as a puppet-maker.

How did the Wayang Kancil begin? Hopefully I’ll have enough evidence to uncover this aspect of cultural history.

You can see more of the highlights of performances we watched in the video I made below:

This video includes recordings of Wayang Kulit (Purwa), Wayang Kancil and Wayang Beber performances.

Although the fieldwork has officially ended, the investigation of the Wayang Kancil has just begun.

The journey continues

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Facebook note #2: Back to Jogja – Day 0

December 9, 2010 at 5:28 pm (Facebook)
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Ki Ledjar Subroto with Kancil and Snail

 

The countdown begins!

(If you don’t know what this is about, see “Back to Jogja”)

I’m leaving in a few hours! Thanks for reading and liking the first note, if you did – it was an encouraging start. 🙂

Also, things are falling into place: thanks to Shawn (Chua :D) I now have a broader range of ideas / materials on performance anthropology to draw from, which really helps because there is limited academic material available on the Wayang Kancil tradition as compared to other forms of Wayang e.g. Wayang Kulit (shadow-puppet theatre), Wayang Wong (dance-theatre) that is written in English. Most papers I’ve come across are written in Bahasa Indo. Which might just mean that this research is breaking new ground! Well, at least it would be exciting if it did eh. I was also very worried because people I had requested for interviews with were taking some time to get back to me, but they all responded last night at about the same time 😀 Thank God for that.

Just so you get an idea of what the Wayang Kancil is, here’s a video of one of the practitioners I am going to be in touch with.

Note: It’s quite a long video, and I suspect it was performed in Europe because you can hear a translator. Camera angle changes at 1:45 from the shadow puppets on the screen to the puppeteer, and watch closely…an elephant comes in at 0:45! 🙂 (the creature in the centre that talks the most is the mouse-deer / kancil).

The practitioner’s name is Ki Ledjar Subroto (the one in the photo, same one I highlighted in the last entry – there are more, but he is the most famous), and he is a puppet maker as well as dhalang (puppeteer). The dhalang is super cool – he gets to coordinate the gamelan orchestra that plays with him (an Indonesian musical ensemble made of metallophones, pots, and gongs, more on that another time!), and tells the story by voicing all the characters all by himself!!! Ah, can’t wait to watch him in action… xD

On a practical note, here are the most important words on my English-Indo phraselist:

ADDRESS

  • Sir: Pak (// father)
  • Ma’am: Bu (Ibu // mother)
  • Aku: I
  • You: Kamu

GREETINGS / MANNERS

  • Good morning: Selamat Pagi
  • Goodbye: Selamat Jalan
  • How are you: Apa Kabar
  • Please: Tolong
  • Sorry: Maaf
  • Thank you: Terima kasih (Terima kasih banyak – thank you very much)

OTHERS / “STREET CRED”

  • No: Tidak
  • Fast: Cepat
  • How much: Berapa
  • I want: Saya mau
  • Toilet: Kamar kecil
  • What? : Apa
  • What did you say? : Anda bilang apa?

Any other phrases I should take note of? 🙂

And again, I’m trying to test out how effective Facebook / new media technologies are in marketing / preserving digital art forms, and one yardstick is the number of people who read these updates. So if you read this note, please “like” it!

Next note will be an update from Jogja! See you there! xD

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