Wide Open School, Hayward Gallery

The Hayward Gallery at London's Southbank Centre is running what they call an experiment in public education, inviting 100 artists from all over the world to present workshops. I was still in the Netherlands when Jompet Kuswidananto (b. 1976, Yogyakarta, Indonesia) gave his tour of the Great Post Road of Java. But I managed to attend two other sessions - one offered by Japanese composer and musician Makoto Nomura on group composing and musical notation (which used the Southbank's portable gamelan set, illustrated above) and another by Filipino film-maker and performance artist Kidlat Tahimik which involved the screening of one of his autobiographical films interspersed with comments, performances and a small-scale installation. (See picture below.)

Makoto's workshop involved screenings of a number of his compositions (the most interesting probably being an improvisation he did with pigs), demonstrations and explanations about his melodica techniques, and the use of gamelan essentially as a found musical object. Makoto is actually a dedicated gamelan player and composer - but I wasn't able to attend a session he ran with the Southbank Gamelan Players where he directed a small ensemble of about 8 players in some of his notated and improvised compositions. The workshop was very interactive, and I enjoyed chatting with both Makoto and the other participants, who came from diverse backgrounds.

Kidlat's presentation, in contrast, was much more didactic and performative. The film maker took on various personages, changed costumes a number of times, offered anecdotes about his life and philosophy, dropped the names of Important Cultural Figures. He was introduced by someone associate with the gallery (maybe even its director?) who quoted from a memory a quote about Kidlat's work by Susan Sontag. Kidlat turned 70 this year, and his work feels like it comes out of a different era, filled with righteous anger against the colonizers, intent on reclaiming native symbols, exotic and shamanistic. He urged us to embrace our inner duwende, shed the cocoon of culture that limited our self-expression and sprout wings and fly like the butterflies in one of his films (which we did not see). 

We saw only the first part of a three-part film he made with his son (also named Kidlat) over about 10 years in the 1980s, which documents political change in the Philippines and their travels to film festivals and family life. What I liked best about it was that it reflected a choice he made to prioritise family life over film making. Kidlat tells his students that if you learn anything from me in this class you will learn that I am a father first, a film maker second. I have also tried to integrate my role as father with my professional career - incorporating my daughters into my shows and theatregoing - and so found resonances with my own conceptions. Kidlat's choice also evoked some regret in me that I had to spend much of the last year apart from my daughter. 

Tong-Tong Fair

I have been attending the Tong-Tong Fair (formerly known as the Pasar Malam Besar) fairly regularly since the 1990s, and have written about it (briefly) in my book The Komedie Stamboel. This is an annual celebration of Indonesian, Indo and Indies colonial culture that takes place in the Malieveld, a big field fronting the Central Station of the Hague. 

Word on the street has it that Tong-Tong has run into financial trouble as of late in large part due to declining audience figures. The Indonesian embassy now runs its own Pasar Malam (dubbed Pasar Malam Indonesia) in the same space, even using tents that closely resemble Tong-Tong's, charging lower entry rates, and with (people say) better food. 

Tong-Tong has always bordered on the kitsch. Its central tent is cluttered with vendors selling the sorts of souvenirs one buys on Kuta Beach or Jalan Malioboro. Tshotshkes, we would call such items when I was growing up. Much of the Indonesian food on sale is watered down for Dutch taste. Entertainments on offer range from the embarrassing to touchingly nostalgic to excitingly new.

The Malieveld is a pleasant 50 minute cycle ride from my base at NIAS and the proximity allowed me to visit 5 times - more than I've ever been in past years. 

The most important work of art to be presented was We Came from the East by JeckoSDANCE, which combined street dance (popping and hip hop) with Papua 'tribal' dance based on animal movements (pictured above). This was supported by a number of funding sources. The Fair's complained about visibility (low lights, a lot of floor work) and some were probably mystified by Jecko's postmodern collage aesthetic. Dancers were also uneven in quality -some of the men were very strong, while a number of the women had less energy. A workshop with local street dancers showed that Jecko's movement style is not very culture specific- non-Indonesian dancers responded quickly and ably to his choreographies. 

Harrison & Gamelan was a concert programme by Widosari, with a few compositions by American composer Lou Harrison for gamelan and sax and some standard gamelan numbers. All compositions were diligently performed, but did not inspire. I saw the first performance; the gamelan's director Elsje Plantema complained of a rushed sound check and said the second one went better. 

More interesting was the multi-media piece Douwes by the Bandung-based collective Behind the Actors. (Pictured above.) This teater play was based on a Vincent Mahieu short story about a meek husband who murders his overbearing wife and combined film animation, topeng dance, wayang golek, teater acting, keroncong and gamelan. The blend was not always convincing, but provided some food for thought. I got a chance to do a brief wayang golek workshop with the company's puppeteer (Acep) and also spoke to him at the stand run by the collective about his background and some of the choices made. (For example, why the narrator was a buta puppet, why Semar was used for the sukma of the dead wife.) I got to see the show twice, which allowed me to study its techniques - including the interactions of humans and puppets. 

Behind the Actors were designated artists in residence at the Fair, and I also saw them do a 'dangdut' show, which actually combined dangdut and keroncong. (Pictured above.)

Other shows I caught (in whole and in part) included a Pacific island dance troupe, a nostalgic cabaret concert by Anneke Gronloh (pictured above), a batik carnival with songs by the 14-year-old Diah Ayu Lestari from Solo, bits and pieces of the various Indorock bands that played in the Indorock Cafe and the Tong-Tong Podium, Balinese dance by the Dutch company Dwi Bhumi, pencak silat from Maastricht (some well choreographed moved, but ngawur gamelan playing), a concert of nostalgic colonial-era songs and Colin McPhee's Balinese piano arrangements by Duo Merpati, arrangements of some of songs of the same sort for a jazz combo called Parekata and a superb concert by the jazz quartet Boi Akih (below).

There was a lot I missed -- including a talk by Jakarta chick-lit author Ayu Utami, a reading by the great Indo author and film maker Marion Bloem and a dance group from Boven Digul. 

Quality control is definitely a problem - some of the artwork on offer was of a very high standard, other entertainments felt to me to be under-rehearsed and even amateur. Food also ranged from the barely edible to the superb. (My favourite food stand by far was a little outfit that specialised in tahu products, including excellent tahu goreng with an accompanying kecap sauce.)

But the intentions of the Tong-Tong Fair are still good, and I for one can't resist a sing-along version of Nina Bobo. The Fair still struggles in defining itself for and has trouble reaching out to the so-called derde generatie of the Indo community. Perhaps more space should be given to discussion, debate and controversy rather than presentation (and marketing) of product?

Lady Gaga, Anggun

Returning today again to the Tong Tong Fair on the Malieveld of Den Haag- a pleasant bike ride from Wassenaar on a sunny day. I have promised to blog about this annual cultural celebration (which I've been attending regularly since the 1990s) after my final visit this year.

 In the meantime, pop music is making big news in Indonesia. This morning the BBC announced that Lady Gaga cancelled her Jakarta concert due to threats from a radical Islamist group and the 50,000 tickets sold will be refunded.

 And the Indonesian pop singer Anggun, who has been living in France since the 1990s and became a French citizen 15 years ago, represented her adopted country in the Eurovision Song Contest last night with the song 'You and I'. The song was techno pop in a mixture of French and English but the flowing scarves, hand gestures and tight bodice evoked Javanese dance. Merci, thank you, terima kasih Anggun thanked the audience at the song's end. She came in 22nd out of 26.

 So not great news for the pop music world of Indonesia - but interesting nonetheless to see this coincidence.

Gathering of the Gamelans

I attended the first three days of Gathering of the Gamelans, a national gamelan symposium and all-night wayang performance held at the University of York on 26 to 29 April. More than just attended in fact as the wayang was by yours truly, accompanied by more than 150 musicians from around the UK. I'll let others blog about the wayang show (I know my friend Simon van der Walt is planning something) but wanted to say a few words about the symposium (organised by PhD student at the university), which did an excellent job in showcasing recent developments in UK gamelan. I didn't get to half of the sessions due to preparations for the wayang, but what I did see and hear struck me as both respectful of tradition and also very innovative. One of the more startling revelations was a presentation by Bristol-based music educator Andy Gleadhill (titled Employing gamelan to reach pupils who do not readily engage in school music) which revealed that he had developed a simplified version of gamelan (with textbooks, teacher training etc) and had brought 60 sets of instruments made from recycled metal in Bali into schools around the UK. A workshop by Nikhil Dally (“The Song of the Gong”: teaching Javanese gamelan to the early-years with reference to Kodály, Dalcroze & Alexander) was wonderfully participatory, asking 15 volunteers to behave like 6 years olds in learning a simple gamelan piece through song, movement and play.

Also noteworthy (for me at least) was Bapak AL Suwardi's presentation on his instrument making practices. I studied suling with Pak AL briefly in Solo in 1988, and he made me a couple of suling as part of this- but his 'gamelan planet' instruments today are very innovative indeed. Congratulations are due particularly to Ginevra House - who did so much of the organising!

Wayang Lokananta

I am currently in the UK preparing for a big wayang performance on 28/29 April with musical director John Pawson and a large number of gamelan musicians from around the country - celebrating the 30th anniversary of the University of York's gamelan Sekar Pethak. Rehearsals of this have taken me around the country (London, Oxford, Bristol, Glasgow, Durham, York). One of the organizers of this wayang (which is a high point of a gamelan symposium) has set up a posterous space (http://lokananta.posterous.com) and I've been blogging there - providing 'dhalang updates' for the benefit of contributors to this massive event. The tour has been interesting for me on multiple levels - and provided a nice break from my sabbatical at NIAS this year. Inevitably the experience of touring will work itself into the wayang itself - always a reflexive medium.

Pasar Malam Indonesia

The Pasar Malam Indonesia, a KBRI-sponsored affair, is being held for 4 days this year in the Malieveld, the same location where the Tong-Tong Festival (formerly known as the Pasar Malam Besar) is held annually.

PMI is a government affair - with official events like the "Miss Indonesisch" pageant (for youths aged 16-28 of Indonesian descent) and government-sponsored booths. Many of the artistic groups represent PemDa from around the archipelago and come with lots of sponsors, but not necessarily to offer many performances.

Diponegoro University of Semarang this year sent a small sendratari, Roro Mendut (pictured above), with some 14 dancers- mostly from Fakultas Kedokteran. The group did 2 performances of the show at the PMI (each lasting about 20 minutes or so). They were unable to get microphones, and so nearly all the dialogue (which appeared to be in Indonesian, not Javanese) could not be heard. The group had discussed going to Paris but this proved to be too expensive for their budget.

There was also some involvement from local artists - an angklung group from Eindhoven, and the ever-popular Melanie Foe (pictured above), who is originally from Surabaya but lives now permanently in Holland and is a fluent speaker of Dutch and on very intimate terms with her audience.

The food was as good as everyone says it is - much better on average than the Tong-Tong Festival, though not cheap. There was little else to purchase, though I managed to find a small oleh-oleh I think my daughter will appreciate.

SE Asian films at the Rotterdam International Film Festival

I spent two days last week at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam. This is the Netherlands' biggest film festival, with a long history of supporting the work of emerging film artists in Asia. While there was much on the programme of interest, I focused my viewing on new Southeast Asian films, and also saw one film from India.

Garin Nugroho, the Yogyakarta-based film maker best known for his Opera Jawa, was at the festival to show his new film Mata Tertutup (The Blindfold in English). This was a probing account (even a diagnosis) of Islamist indoctrination. The film follows two sets of people who get drawn into Islamic extremist organisations (referred to as 'aliran sesat'). In one storyline, an attractive university student, a reader of Goenawan Mohammad, is frustrated by poverty around her and becomes a fund raiser for a Negara Islam Indonesia (NII), an organisation which aims to establish an Islamic state and alleviate social injustices. She becomes distanced from her family, but eventually realises that the funds she is raising are supporting the organisation's leaders and not reaching the poor. In the other storyline, two ex-santri living on society's margins are attracted to an Islamic terrorist cell. One becomes a suicide bomber, but is shot by the police before he detonates the contents of his knapsack. The film is told with humour and humanity. I especially appreciated the saluang playing of one character (a Minang living in Yogya) and the use of pesisir Javanese dialect (perhaps bahasa Brebes?) of another. Garin continues to show Java in an interesting light.

I also attended a test screening of Garin's film currently in progress, Buah dan Perang, which concerns the critical decade of the 1940s. A central character is Mgr. Albertus Soegijapranata, SJ, who became bishop of Semarang in 1940- the first Indonesian to become a bishop. Much of the action is told through song and music - Dutch songs, songs blending Dutch and Indonesian, revolutionary songs, church songs, keroncong. In conversation, Garin said that much of the pleasure he gets in making films comes from observing the display of talents by his actors. Indonesia terlalu kaya - it is too easy for him as a film maker to tap into the cultural creativity of Indonesia's many ethnic groups.

I saw two debut films by Thai directors: 'In April the Following Year, There was a Fire' (about an out-of-work young man who returns to Thailand's northeast province, combined with autobiographical aspects of the director's life) and the more impressive 'I Carried You Home' (about two sisters who escort their mother's corpse from Bangkok to southern Thailand where funeral rights are administered).

The final film I attended was Bunohan, by Malaysian writer-director Dain Said, concerns three children of a former tok dalang and is set in a town on the border of Thailand. In some ways this is a genre film -- in a q&a that followed the screening the director mentioned specifically the Westerns of Sam Peckinpah -- and as it was privately financed needed to make money for its backers. (Thus lots of violence- with an emphasis on Muay Thai and knife fights.) The director also wished to show how the old 'animist' culture (the world of bomoh, wayang kulit, main peteri, traditional herbal medicine) was ecologically sensitive. He said this was politically difficult though - he described himself as walking a tightrope.

Cultural traditions live throughout the region, and film is increasingly a privileged vehicle for understanding tradition in modernity.