Anoman Duta in Vancouver

I've recently been invited to do a wayang with Gamelan Madu Sari of Vancouver, Canada. This will be for Gong! The Vancouver Gamelan Festival, celebrating 25 years of gamelan in Vancouver.

Also on the programme festival will be my friend Nyoman Wenten, who teaches at CalArts.

The lakon will be Anoman Duta (Anoman the Envoy), in a 90-minute telling of this iconic tale of the Ramayana. I'll be basing the story mostly on Cirebonese sources, though the gamelan will be playing mostly Solo style pieces (perhaps with some new compositions thrown in), and most of the wayang (borowed from resident artist Sutrisno) are in Yogya style. A real mix.

My telling will play up some of the grotesque elements of the story - including Anoman's meeting with his god-brother Gunung Parasu, the various demons of Ngalengka, and the like. I also hope to interweave the rather more serious story of Wibiksana, who changes sides to ally himself with Rama, even though it means fighting against his homeland.

Should be fun.

Spiderman Wayang ad

Just ran into a fun TV ad for the Spiderman movie franchise on Indonesian television featuring wayang versions of Spiderman and various Spidey villains - 'our play is not here [in the world of wayang], but on Trans TV'. The sabetan skills aren't great, but worth a look - and listen too to the pesinden's melody, based on the old cartoon show.

Limbukan from Anom Suloyo

From time to time I surf youtube looking for unusual wayang videos. Here's a rather random one, a very 'kampungan' Limbukan from dalang Anom Suloyo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je2d5iIxZaA

The dancing at the screen by Limbuk seems rather gratuitous juxtaposed with the bump and grind routines of the two penyanyi dangdut left of the kotak.

Ki Dalang Udaya R.I.P.

Inna lillahi wa inna lilahi rojiiun. I received a text message today from my friend Purjadi that Ki Dalang Abihudaya from Palimanan, Cirebon, passed away on 5 February 2011.

Udaya, as he was better known,was one of the most respected puppeteers in the Cirebon area. After the death of his father, Abyor, and his two uncles, Wari Priyadi and Akirna Hadiwekasan, Udaya took charge of the running of the Sanggar Wening Galih, a small arts centre located in the shadow of Palimanan's factories. This sanggar was best known to puppeteers for its annual 'tutup panggung,' a collective end-of-season ritual where puppeteers performed for puppeteers for free. I contributed to the tutup panggung on a number of occasions. The sanggar also trained many musicians.

Udaya prided himself on being the people's puppeteer. He spoke primarily through the straight-thinking Cungkring in performance, and used wayang as a vehicle for the expression of lower class aspirations. He was not liked by many wayang patrons. He disrupted song requests with battles, as he believed wayang was a verbal art form that should not be compromised by songs. He was a great storyteller and the source of many, many stories. He was known to challenge his assistants to pull out any wayang in the puppet chest, which he would instantly deploy as the main character in the first scene of a newly created story.

I devoted a chapter to his work in my PhD thesis, An Inheritance from the Friends of God (Yale, 1997).

Udaya was one of my 'sesepuh' or elders in Cirebon, somebody I regularly turned to for artistic inspiration, advice and philosophical engagement. Too many of these are now deceased - Saal, Darmabakti, Wartaka, Sujana (Gegesik Kidul), Basari. Yet they live on still in the region's arts.

Wayang Kulit in Thessaloniki

Off tomorrow to give a talk about and solo performance of wayang kulit in Thessaloniki, Greece, for a festival of Asian theatre organised by my PhD student Athina Dragkou. I've always resisted giving wayang kulit performances without live gamelan accompaniment, but for this occasion I am experimenting with a contemporary wayang style developed by Ki Slamet Gundono (pictured above) that combines wayang puppetry with storytelling. I had the opportunity last month of seeing Ki Slamet rehearse and perform one of his contemporary wayang in Cirebon, and am excited to try this new style out. We'll see how it goes.

The Indonesian news service Antara has a short article about the festival - which also features mask expert Margaret Coldiron, who got her PhD at Royal Holloway. Have a look here.

Agus Nur Amal

Coming to the end of my first day of a two-week trip to Indonesia. I am spending the first two days of this trip in Jakarta, where I am conducting a few consultations and interviews in relation to a planned book on theatre and performance in modern Indonesia.

Today I met Agus Nur Amal at TIM and went to visit his sanggar. Mas Agus is described in Indonesia sometimes as a monologue artist, but his work more closely approximates what is known as object theatre outside of Indonesia.

I had the opportunity to do a long interview with him, and got to see and photograph some of the 150 or so objects he uses in performances, as well as one of his television booths.

I also got a VCD and a comic to take home with me - which I am looking forward to watching and reading.

Mas Agus is just starting to become known outside of Indonesia- in part because of a documentary film made about him after the Bali bombing titled Promised Paradise. He's performed and conducted workshops in New York, Boston, Zurich and Japan and will be giving a workshop in Prague in June.

I hope to write about him in my book, and might also want to write a stand-alone article about him, or possibly include him in a more general discussion of post-traditional puppet and object theatre in Indonesia.

Jakarta's Performing Monkeys Fall on Hard Times

I have just arrived in Jakarta for a couple of weeks of catching up with friends, consulting with a few colleagues and senior figures in the world of Indonesian performance about future research, and attending a conference at UGM.

I was interviewed by a reporter from AOL News last month about Indonesia's monkey show - a long-term interest of mine, which I have written about on a number of occasions.

The article appeared last month under the title 'Jakarta's Performing Monkeys Fall on Hard Times' (http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/22/jakartas-performing-monkeys-fall-on-hard-times/). Much of it is based on the interview with me - and while there are one or two points that I think are not quite accurate, it is a pretty good reflection of the dialogue.

Not sure if I will see more topeng monyet on this trip -- but certainly hoping I will catch the act described in the article where the monkey gets into a motorcycle accident!