Pau Hana in Yogyakarta

Right before departing for Solo on 13 February, Aviva, Hannah and I saw the first part of a Pau Hana - a sharing of workshop materials by students from SMKI and nearby SMP in Bantul.

Four three-week workshop for children roughly aged 13-16 on taiko drumming, bharatanatyam dance, Hawaiian dance and drum band were faciliated by 4 American artists under the auspices of Judy Mitoma' centre for intercultural arts at UCLA. Funding was provided by the American state department - a cultural attache from the US was present and spoke briefly before the presentation.

The overall mood was joyous, even festive. Pau Hana is a Hawaiian term imported to Yogya via LA. The children wore brightly coloured t-shirts with a picture of Obama (who was of course conceived in Hawaii) surrounded by a mega mendung motif. They seemed comfortable performing in public - though we arrived early there seemed to be little in the way of stage nerves.

The event was attended by many of the big names in Yogya performance. We recognised the head of the Ndalem Pujokusuman dance foundation, Didik Nini Thowok and Miroto. There was also a delegation from ISI Yogya etc. Before the show, we spoke briefly with Jeannie Park (who now heads the Padepokan Seni, Bagong's old dance school), Joan Suyenaga, Judy Mitoma and Garret Kam -- who has been living in Bali for the last 15 years or so and was providing an 'outsider eye' to Judy on this occasion.

The event was simply structured. A group of 30 or so kids played 2 pieces for taiko drums along with Shoji Kameda. All but two of the drums were locally manufactured from used tires with sticky tape heads - two were imported from California and were made from recycled wine vats.

Then there was a demonstration of bharatanatyam - various stretching exercises, children demonstrating various asta (hand positions that convey semantic meaning) and a dance. The only slightly jarring note here was the use of black leotards under the dance costumes and the fact that the boys did not expose their chests either. Another sign of encroaching Islamism, and a reminder of how much has changed since Indian dance was first displayed by Yogya school kids by Goesti Noeroel and her classmates back in the 1930s (see the KITLV website for some lovely pictures of this!).

Sadly we had to miss the Hawaiian dance and drum band.

This was a very endearing display of American multicultural in action. While the head of SMKI, in his opening address, misidentified the workshop facilitators as being from Japan, India etc rather than Japanese-American etc the intention was clearly to demonstrate the power of arts to cross cultures. One of the opening talks expressed the hope that the children would take away skills with them. (One fellow spectator commented that perhaps the taiko drumming will influence bedug playing in mosques in the future.) But more than that they also took in a way of delivering the other's arts in an alien context, and a new appreciation of the diversity of America today.

This event will be followed up by a residency of seven Yogya artists at UCLA later this year - who will be performing and auditing classes and courses to further implement this sort of workshop-based, hands-on practical teaching.

I find it a relief to see such straight-forward cultural exchange going on - without having to offer excuses or make empty gestures to current 'strategic' interests.

Wayang Wahyu

Attended for the first time a performance of Wayang Wahyu, a Christian wayang form last night. The occasion was a reunion of a Christian Sekolah Dasar (primary school) called Pangudi Luhur in Solo, and the event took place at the school's new building on Jalan Haryono in Solo.

Wayang Wahyu emerged in Solo some 60 years ago as a way to popularize Bible stories among Christian believers in Javanese. The musical accompaniment is standard gamelan (a gamelan pelog was used in last night's performance) but a whole new set of wayang figures was created - with Jesus and others with halos. (A recent article in Asian Theatre Journal provides the essential history.)

Last night's show of Purwaning Dadi (Genesis) was by Blacius Subono, one of my teachers at ISI Solo between 1988 and 1990. It was a three hour performance about Lucifer's revolt against the Almighty and the temptation of Adam. The language and puppet movement was characteristically Solonese - but the theme obviously very different than the normal Mahabharata/Ramayana fare. Subono brought much energy to the show - the transformation of Lucifer from angel to demon was particularly engaging - with some wonderful dancing and beautiful singing. (Pak Bono taught me suluk at ISI.)

The puppets and gamelan and beautifully carved screen frame (with a crucifix in the middle held up by two winged cherubs) was owned by a foundation called Paguyuban Wayang Wahyu and all the musicians (an ensemble of some 30 players and singers) were teachers at Pangudi Luhur or associated schools. They were a strong ensemble for an amateur group - and ably accompanied Bono even through difficult musical transitions.

The group has performed about 5 times over the last couple of years with three different puppeteers (one of them a woman). The next performance is scheduled for Easter in April - and bring an obvious passion for the work.

Members of the Paguyuban see themselves as launching a Wayang Wahyu revival of sorts. Wayang wahyu was performed sporadically during the 1980s (I heard about but didn't attend Christmas and Easter performances at the Sriwedari amusement park in Solo) but declined in the 1990s. The puppets they used initially were made from cardboard, but their current set (perhaps 100 figures? supplemented by a few purwa figures such as buta and setan and macan) is beautifully carved from buffalo hide with lovely colouring.

The event as a whole had a gentle nostalgic feeling to it. The performance took place under a tarub canopy set up in the SD's courtyard with customary plant decorations. Kaki lima (food carts) offered characteristically Solonese foods like srabi. A number of vocal ensembles sang pop and keroncong songs both before the wayang and during the limbukan and goro-goro intervals. (The presence of Limbuk and Cangik etc was explained as being a 'dream' of Adam.)

I found out about this event through Facebook and feel very privileged to have been there. I have been promised a DVD of the show, and also was offered food and even a parting gift. Extraordinary generosity, really.

Wayang Kulit Gaya Yogyakarta

I have been spending the last couple of days hanging out with dalang - including Ledjar Subroto and his grandson Nanang (at their house and elsewhere), Dewanto and Agung (at ISI Yogya) and with members of PEPADI (the dalang association; at a rehearsal for a multi-dalang show to be held on 19 February at the Balai Kota). This has gotten me thinking about the anxieties of Yogyakarta style dalang and wayang more generally.

For a long time, Yogya and Solo style wayang were viewed as near-equal complements, each with their own strengths and qualities. Solo style took off really in the 1970s and came to dominate most of East and Central Java. Today Yogya dalang say they are only actively hired in 5 kabupaten of DIY, and even then they need to mix elements of Solo style to appeal. Only in the traditionalist dalang courses such as Habiranda can you find 'pure' Yogya style. Dalang worry about the disappearance of Yogya style.

I see Solo and Yogya style as very,very closely related - at least as close as the gaya lor and gaya kidul styles of Cirebon - and the divisions between them as being more ideological than aesthetic. But this is an outsider's eye. To the Yogya dalang the problem feels real and pressing. Unfortunately it is also a distraction - as it prevents (some) dalang from seeing that the more real issue is how to integrate and appropriate flows of global culture.

Some Yogya dalang (such as Catur, who performs much 'wayang kontemporer') are aware of this. Catur tells me he is off to Tegal on 28 February to konsultasi with Enthus, who has been asked to perform a 2 hour wayang in bahasa Indonesia in Semarang for the governor.

But ISI Yogyakarta is behind the time - almost all of the Yogya dalang I identify as significant (Ledjar, Sujiwo Tejo, Heri Dono, Sukasman) have never taught at ISI. And when I asked Dewanto and Agung what sort of kontemporer work the students look at for their komposisi class, the answer was none - they just invent their own stuff, for better or worse. It is no wonder the department is having so much trouble attracting students.

Yogya Semesta

Last night I attended an event at the pendopo of Kepatihan - Yogya Semesta - a monthly gathering sponsored by Sri Sultan and Sri Paku Alam. Most of those in attendance seemed to be businessmen of variou description. A young dalang named Catur - the co-creator of Wayang Pixel - performed scenes of a wayang between talks about the connection of Javanese and banking culture. It was a rather untraditional event in a very traditional setting. (Kepatihan is no longer connected directly to the kraton but is a govt building - but the architecture seems to have remained the same.)

The seats facing the speakers and puppet side of the screen were all left empty - in case the walikota or Sri Sultan should show up, it was explained to me. (The puppet screen was situated so that it was impossible to see the shadows.) Guests received a coloured booklet describing previous events (titled Yogya Semesta: Buletin Seni & Budaya, edisi xvii: no. 2/-2/09) and a standard snack box.


Catur did his best under trying circumstances (at one point he was instructed - 'don't sing an ado-ado, go right to the funny bits'), trying his best to emphasise light comedy, topicality (the upcoming elections - with Togog etc each representing a different political party with associated 'yel'), light musical numbers etc. He also attempted to integrate points raised in discussion into the wayang.

I was attending with Nanang (Ledjar's grandson) and we left after a little under 2 hours. Catur sms-ed me this morning (yes! at last I have a hp) and said he was looking out for me but didn't see me. He also apologised for the format - normally the show precedes the discussion.

I can only imagine how taxing it was to perform in this way.

More on wayang po teh hi

I returned to the Festival of Chinese Culture (alias Imlek) on Sunday to see a small wayang po te hi exhibition of antique puppets and the final in the series of performances. I also managed to talk to the puppeteer - an elderly Javanese man named Sesomo -- and while waiting for a pop concert to end and the po te hi show to start we were able to talk for a bit. Sesomo also demonstrated some of the more difficult puppet moves and encouraged me to have a go.

I found the techniques of spinning puppets and turning them around on my hand and stabbing with a spear etc more difficult than I imagined. The puppets are held in the English glove puppet style - with the index finger in the head, thumb up one arm and the other three fingers in the other arm.

Sesomo began performing po te hi in 1968. Both his mother and father were Javanese but he grew up in the area of a klenteng in Surabaya with regular po te hi performances and grew attracted to the idea of puppeteering. He performed as a puppeteer assistant for 2 years before establishing himself as a puppeteer himself. I asked whether one could first play music and then become a puppeteer. The answer was no - it was possible (though difficult) to become a puppeteer through self study, but almost all puppeteers first worked as assistants - typically for 2 to 3 years -- before becoming a puppeteer. Musicians never became puppeteers.

At his peak in the 1970s, Sesomo was performing continuously for 7 to 10 months a year - usually one month stints in klenteng around Java.

Rates for puppeteering are low - he gets about 200 thousand rupiah a show sometimes but for the Yogya shows only 100 thousand rupiah (plus lodging, food etc). Better than working a a coolie hauling stones at 50 thousand a day, he said.

His shows are mostly a mixture of Indonesian and Javanese. Hokien is used to introduce characters. Sesomo recalls an old Chinese puppeteer who used only Hokien.

Sesomo seems to think the best puppets come from China, and speaks with high regard for Chinese glove puppetry. Puppets today are typically carved by a Jepara carver (or sometimes a carver from Tulung Agung) and clothed locally.

Sesomo sadly lost his own collection of puppets during a mud slide in 2006 which destroyed his house. He is still waiting for compensation. The puppets on display and being used in the show belong to a rich collector.

This is the fourth year that po te hi has been performed for Yogya's imlek celebration and it seems an audience is growing. I noticed a number of people who came to both nights I attended - suggesting that they were actively following the story and not just coming as a novelty.

According to Sesomo there are only about 12 po te hi puppeteers in all Java - mostly located in East Java - and about 50 performers (including both musicians and puppeteers) still active. It is hard to say how long po te hi will continue. But the new pride that Chinese-Indonesians are taking in their culture suggests that a po te hi revival might be possible....

Gamelan, ketoprak, arak-arakan, wayang potehi and teater kontemporer - all in one day!

As I write this in the lobby of the Inna Garuda hotel I am listening to the sounds of the hotel's gamelan - tonight made up of kendang, gender, sletnthem, siter, gambang, bonang, gong and 2 pesindhen - a much richer sound than previous nights.

What a pleasure it is to be in Yogyakarta. Both Sekaten and Imlek have been in full swing the last couple of days- with many other performances going on as well.

Yesterday, there was a major arak-arakan procession down Malioboro - for Chinese New Year. There were the expected barong sai and liong, but also dozens of other groups - ranging from an Islamic ibu-ibu group from Malioboro, a Balinese processional gamelan, a group of drag queens (banci) camping it up with sexy poses, a small gong-chime group representing Nusa Tenggara Barat, a replica of the kraton's military band, a drum band from a telephone company, a group chanting Javanese poetry, tv mascots and on and on. The line of spectators was only one or two deep, and the liong passed so close they almost touched us. I've been teaching about Chinese New Year celebrations in London to RHUL first year students the last years. There are certainly parallels in the way that London and Yogya's Chinese communities use New Year to display and affirm their commitment to multiculturalism. But the Yogya event had a joy and vitality I haven't witnessed in London. Hannah was thrilled by the event.

In the evening, I went (by myself) for the first time to Teater Garasi - an experimental theatre located amidst rice fields on the road out of town to Parangkritis. The piece was solo performance art titled 'Tubuh Sepatu Kulit' (Body Leather Shoe) by Tony Broer, earlier associated with the Bandung avant garde theatre group Teater Payung Hitam and now studying in Yogya. This was a close encounter with the butoh type - an anti-war piece that involved the performer (dressed in bandages, wearing a kebaya, with white body makeup and long beard and white hair) removing shoes of audience members against projected film and images of war. The image of a rippling American flag was projected - and the performer saluted it in a kind of seig heil as the flag slowly faded out and an image of the Israeli flag faded in.

In a brief after-show discussion Broer confirmed the piece was about Gaza. If you felt uncomfortable about losing your shoes, imagine how much worse the pain of the Palestinians is.

The piece was naive politically, strong theatrically and uncomfortable to watch for me - but clearly engaging for the spectators.

Interestingly the audience was drawn largely from subscribers to Garasi's facebook site. Some 90 or more spectators said on facebook they would be attending the show - perhaps half of the total number attending.

Afterwards, I caught the end of a Chinese themed ketoprak with Nini Didik Thowok and a charming 90 minute wayang po te hi show - by the group Fu Ho An from Jombang - at the Imlek celebrations right off Malioboro.

And there were many other things going on - ranging from traditional dance at the alun-alun to popular Javanese language theatre sponsored by the radio station 99.4 FM that I didn't even have a chance to get a glimpse of !

Experimentation dansee avec Veronique Delarche et Sudiharto

Just returned from my first real performance event in this trip to Indonesia (discounting the gamelan gadon from Bantul playing in our hotel lobby) - a very pleasant demonstration by French dancer Veronique Delarche and Indonesian dancer Sudiharto at Lembaga Indonesia Francis (LIP), Yogyakarta's French cultural centre. I was invited personally by Marie Le Sourd, the centre's director. The centre has been in existence for 35 years according to Marie, and houses a very pleasant lending library (with DVDs), French language classes and an active cultural programme, as well as a nice cafe.

Marie explained to us that Delarche had come to Indonesia for another project but stayed on for a few weeks in Yogya in order to work togetheer with Sudiharto and deliver some talks on cultural management (with a focus on her experience of managing a French dance company). She had previously worked with other Indonesian dancers, including Martinus Miroto (whom we met briefly before the show) and wanted to spend some time exploring the techniques of contact improvisation.

Marie explained further that this was not a performance per se, but a demonstration of working principles -- something which was reiterated by Delarche in her opening talk.

The event took place in LIP's theater - using both the auditorium space in front of the raked seating area as well as the theatre's proscenium stage - and was attended by a mostly young crowd of SMA and university students.

Delarche and Sudiharto began by offering demonstrations of 3 principles for improvisation developed by Lisa Nelson (wife of Steve Paxton, who developed contact improvisation) involving mirroring and exchange of balance. There was then a long section of some 8 numbers involving degrees of audience participation and a final duet by Delarche and Sudiharto using Nelson's 'Tuning Score' as a structure.

Both of the dancers were strong performers, and showed imagination in the exploration of space - complementing each other nicely and clearly at home with each other's bodies and movement proclivities. There was little in the way of drama or tension, but much to - and -froing in changing musical tracks. Humour was promised for one of the improvisations but not delivered - and overall the event felt formalistic rather than truly experimental.

Most interesting to me were the moments that called for audience improvisation. Delarche structured this by handing out numbered tickets beforehand and asking us to come to the stage when our number was called. Ten tickets numbered '1' were handed out for the first audience participation improv - but only one person descended to the stage, a Dutch woman with a 4 year child. She is is doing a 2 month stint teaching at UGM.

The ice broken, audience members became more enthusiastic. Though not without some problems in translation. (Delarche spoke in English with her words translated - a double translation in effect as her English was sometimes hard to follow.) Asked to do one 'action', some of the audience participants kept improvising away. (And were mildly castigated by Delarche for this.) One young audience participant, asked to improvise together with Delarche and Sudiharto with a chair, used this as a moment for histrionic display - pouting and posing like a runway model - which got big applause from her friends in the audience. Others went into 'teater' mode - very bold young man one used a handbag as a kind of mask.

What I found fascinating was that although this was a free dance concert which (I assume) was attended by many dancers, none of the audience members showed the poise and grace and balance and control I normally associate with trained Javanese dance bodies. Some probably study Javanese dance but this did not show in the ways they presented themselves in public.

It makes me think about the relation of dance and the world, and how different the dance culture of Yogya now is compared to the seminal moment of 1918 when Krido Bekso Wiromo was founded. Then one could assume that many if not most Javanese elites would deport themselves in a particular way. This assumption can no longer be made.

The event lasted longer than expected -- my daughter Hannah fell asleep a number of times and I also found myself nodding off a couple of times. But it had a friendly feel to it, and I hope to attend further events at LIP in the future....