Program 2004

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The University of Pittsburgh

Department of Music 

presents

 

Wayang Golek

Puppet Theater Of West Java

 

University Gamelan

Andrew Weintraub, Director

 

 Guest Artists:

 Dalang Otong Rasta

Dalang Atik Rasta Prawira

 

Bellefield Hall Auditorium

April 9 and 10, 2004

8pm

   

 

          How can a single individual experience full human potential, expanding past the given circumstances of one’s life?  If born to low status how can one know what is to be royal; if male, female; when young, how can we understand age?  And, if we only dimly comprehend other humans, how can we pretend to know other beings; animals, plants, gods or demons?   

          In South and Southeast Asia from for over a thousand years men solved these conundrums using the puppet as a tool.  The lively doll theatre traditions found throughout South and Southeast Asia today are the legacy of men who shrunk the cosmos into a miniature world of figures.  The vast expanse of the earth could be reduced to the few feet of a puppet stage.  The puppeteer’s lamp became the sun, throwing light on myriad creatures who, in their nobility or baseness, represented the world. The greatest stories ever told could be sung with one voice and battles which shook the world could be fought by two hands.  

 

—Kathy Foley, 2002  

 

Introduction

          The modern nation of Indonesia consists of 13,000 islands (of which a few thousand are populated), the fourth largest population in the world, hundreds of ethnic groups, and nearly as many languages spoken. The cultural and musical diversity of this modern island community is staggering. 

          Outside Indonesia, perhaps the most well-known musical ensemble type is gamelan. Gamelan refers to a set of predominantly percussion instruments including tuned gongs, metal-keyed instruments, and drums (as well as bowed lute and voice). Gamelan music is played as accompaniment to dance, drama, puppet theater, and martial arts, as well as for concerts of listening music. Gamelan is performed for special occasions and to mark important life cycle events.

          Regional gamelan styles are associated with different ethnic groups on the islands of Java, Madura, Bali, and Lombok. The University of Pittsburgh gamelan ensemble plays the music of the Sundanese ethnic group, made up of approximately 30 million people who inhabit a large area of West Java. The Sundanese share a common language and culture. While the majority of the population live in rural or semi-rural settings, urban patronage networks actively support the performing arts. 

          The University Gamelan Ensemble is comprised of Pitt students, Carnegie-Mellon University students and community members. The ensemble presents several concerts during each academic year, and regularly invites guest artists from Indonesia and the U.S. to participate in workshops, lecture-demonstrations, rehearsals, and concerts. The participants in the gamelan program are encouraged to use Sundanese processes of learning as much as possible; oral transmission of musical parts is preferred over written notation. Students are also encouraged to learn and play more than one instrument and to learn the relationships among them. The University of Pittsburgh Music Department offers classes in Gamelan, Jazz, and African music and dance as part of its program in Ethnomusicology.  

 

Wayang Golek Purwa

 

          Wayang (pronounced “why-yong”) refers to many genres of theater practiced in various forms and regional styles on the islands of Java, Bali and Madura in Indonesia. Genres of wayang utilize various media—puppets, masks, or people—to dramatize stories from an extensive and varied repertoire. Wayang performances involving puppets are traditionally directed by a central performer (dalang, pronounced “doll-ong”), last most or all of the night, share a common story repertoire, and involve complex interaction among performers. Each form has its own particular ethos, cultural aesthetic, and performance practice. Wayang golek purwa, the rod-puppet theater primarily based on the Ramayana and Mahabharata story cycles, is the theater tradition most frequently performed for Sundanese-speaking audiences in West Java. 

          Wayang golek purwa can be viewed as an ensemble of social relations between the host or patron, the performers, the audience, and other peripheral figures.  The main source of patronage for a wayang golek purwa performance is the host who sponsors a performance in conjunction with a ritual feast, called a hajat. The most common type of hajat is a wedding or a circumcision for a young boy.  Less common hajat are organized for other life cycle events, the fulfillment of a vow (kaul), and ritual purification (of a person or place) called ruatan. The host who invites the dalang to perform arranges for the construction of a stage at a designated performance site, provides seating and food for invited guests as well as space for uninvited guests, and generally ensures that the entire affair runs smoothly.  

          Patronage for live all-night or shorter performances may also come from national and local government sources. Government-sponsored events may be commissioned to mark an anniversary of local or national significance, or to entertain government and non-government workers. High schools and universities may sponsor a performance in conjunction with graduation ceremonies. In addition, performances may be held at hotels in urban areas in which an admission fee may be charged. But nearly all live performances are open to the public and free; private performances and admission fees are extremely rare practices. 

          The host is responsible for all the costs incurred by the event. The preparations, offerings, and staging range from simple to elaborate. However, compared to other Sundanese performance genres, wayang golek purwa signals heightened prestige because of the relatively elaborate preparations and high cost of the event. Costs include hiring a large performance troupe (including musicians and, sometimes, a technical crew), constructing the large stage, renting and operating a public address system, and preparing food for invited guests, performers, and crew. Loud amplification encourages people from miles away to participate in the event. 

          A large crowd enhances the status of the host and brings particular notice to the event beingcelebrated. Well-known dalang ensure large crowds, which increase a hosts prestige and bring particular notice to the event being celebrated. However, performances by lesser-known dalang also generally ensure that the atmosphere becomes sufficiently lively, exciting, and noisy (ramé). 

          Preparations for the event begin weeks, and sometimes months, earlier when the date for the celebration is chosen and the performance troupe is booked. By the time the performance date has arrived, the completed arrangements will have included the procurement of permits from local government, police, and neighborhood administrative bodies, distribution of invitations and preparation of food for the invited guests, spatial demarcation of the audience area, andconstruction of the stage. The musicians begin playing the overture (tatalu) after people have had time to do the sunset prayer (isa), around 7:30-8:00.  The dalang and sinden (female singer[s]) take the stage around 9:00-9:30, and after introductory speeches and announcements by the host (or a representative of the host), police, and local officials, the introductory musical piece begins. The performance continues without a break and usually ends before the morning call to prayer (azan), around 3:30-4:30 the next morning. 

          The performers sit on a raised platform constructed specifically for the event. The dalang sits behind a banana-log “stage” (gebog) which rests horizontally on a wooden stand. Host family members and invited guests are generally seated in front of the stage or in the house. Uninvited guests gather informally around the rear and sides of the performance platform as well as behind the seated guests. The dalang, who manipulates the puppets from behind the gebog, is partially hidden from the spectators view.  

          The dalang manipulates all the puppets, delivers the majority of the narration and dialogue, and sings many of the songs during an all-night performance. The dalang coordinates an ensemble of 8-12 male instrumentalists (nayaga), who play the musical ensemble called gamelan, and one or more female singers. He is clearly the dominant member of the wayang troupe in performance and in non-performance domains. The dalang is in complete control of the pacing and flow of events throughout the performance. 

 

Puppets

           A puppet consists of nine parts: the head, the body, four parts that make up the articulated arms, two sticks attached to the hands, and a central rod that extends through the puppets skirt and into the puppets head. Although a dalang’s puppet box (kotak wayang) may hold 90-120 puppets, only about 60 are typically used in a performance. Most puppets range from 15 to 30 inches in height. All dalang are capable carvers, but certain makers excel at the art. Expert carvers shape puppet faces and headdresses from soft, lightweight wood, without pre-drawn lines or tracings. After the head, body, and arms have been carved, they are treated and painted. The costumes are sewn and beaded by family members. Costumes are made of velvet, colored fabric, sequins, colored plastic beads, and batik cloth. 

          Water buffalo hide is used for certain puppets, including the mountain shaped gunungan (also called kayon), which is “danced” at the beginning of each performance, and may also serve as a bed, throne, or scene divider. The gunungan shows a pair of ogres and winged gate guarding a tree growing in a pool of water. The tree’s branches hold all the animals of the forest, representing a “tree of life.” Separate puppets representing animals and weapons are also made from carved water buffalo hide and attached to thin wooden sticks.

 

Character types

 

          Puppets can be categorized into character types, which relate to puppets status and temperament. Kathy Foley, an American dalang, has identified four main types of wayang golek characters (1979): 

 

1) refined characters may be either very cultivated (lungguh) or proud (ladak).This group of characters includes knights (satria), ladies (putri), and some gods (dewa).  

 

2) strong characters may be either brave warriors (punggawa) or emotionally uncontrolled demons (angkara-murka). In addition to warriors, this group includes some gods (dewa), monkeys (wanara), and kings (prabu). 

 

3) special characters, including clown servants (panakawan), do not follow the conventions of type. They are one-of-a-kind and cannot be substituted by or for other puppets. Although the panakawan did not belong to the Hindu epics brought from India, they have become essential to Sundanese wayang golek. 

 

4) Ogres (buta) appear in a variety of physical manifestations. Except for a few cases, their forms are not fixed like the other three character groups. Instead, puppet makers apply a “vocabulary” of features to identify ogres. Buta generally have the largest bodies, biggest eyes, largest fangs, biggest noses, most striking colors, and most grotesque expressions. 

         Another way that audiences identify character types is through their dance and movement patterns.  Wayang golek draws from a vocabulary of Sundanese dance and movement patterns including their manner of stepping (walk) and arm gestures. All Sundanese dance genres share certain traits including the prominent drumming, manner of stepping, and graceful arm gestures. In dance music, the drummer accompanies the movements of the dance by playing corresponding sound patterns for each movement.

 

Gamelan

 

          Each gamelan has a unique tuning and character—instruments in one set are tuned to eachother and are notgenerally interchangeable with instruments from other sets. Gamelan sets are often named to reflect their individual character. The University of Pittsburgh gamelan, which arrived in October, 1995, is named appropriately “Kyai Tirta Rukmi,” or “Venerable Rivers of Gold.” The gamelan is actually comprised of two sets of instruments, and each set is tuned to a different intervallic structure (laras). Tonight’s performance features laras salendro (a five-tone tuning system made up of approximately equidistant intervals), and laras pelog (a seven-tone tuning system of large and small intervals). 

          Each instrument is associated with one of four primary musical functions or roles, which contribute to the rich polyphonic layering or strata of sound. Instrumental functions include 1) structural melody (saron I and saron II), 2) elaboration (panerus, peking, bonang, rincik, and gambang), 3) punctuation (ketuk, kenong and goong) and 4) time-keeper (kendang). In vocal pieces, the instrumentalists play an accompaniment to the female vocalist and male vocalist (alok). The player of the two-stringed spike fiddle (rebab) plays his own melodies based on the basic structural melody, and reinforces the vocal line of the singer in a heterophonic manner.    

The music of wayang golek

         Music is crucial to a performance of wayang golek. The dalang uses music to depict characters and scenes and to create dramatic “moods.” Types of music include: instrumental pieces that are only played in wayang; character-specific pieces, including those used to accompany solo dances; scene-specific pieces, including songs that describe places and settings; “mood” music that creates the mood for a scene; and entertainment music sung by the female singer. 

          The first piece cued by the dalang in every performance is “Karatagan,” an instrumental piece specific to performances of wayang golek purwa. “Karatagan” precedes the removal of the mountain-shaped gunungan  and the entrance of the characters in the first scene. In a very practical sense, “Karatagan” allows the dalang to “prepare” and set the position and sound level of the kecrek (a stack of metal plates) and campala (wooden knocker), two instruments that are used for cueing the gamelan.  

          The beginning of the performance proper is marked by “Kawitan” (literally, “beginning”), in which the dalang removes the gunungan, introduces the characters in the first scene, and sings the murwa, an opening invocatory passage that requests the blessings of ancestors, spirits, and Allah, and asks forgiveness in case mistakes are made. 

 

Nyandra are sung narrative passages that are used to introduce scenes, character types, or specific characters.

 

Kakawen  are sung poetry in the archaic vocabulary of the Sundanese language. Kakawen texts are verbally foreign, given that they are not offered up for understanding and comprehensibility. Each kakawen is associated with a particular  mood (rasa), scene (adegan), character (tokoh), or character type (for example, a priest, knight, or demon). The dalang usually prepares each scene by singing a kakawen to set the appropriate mood. Dalang may not understand the literal meaning of the text, but they know which kakawen to use for a particular mood, scene, or character.

 

Lagu perang are loud instrumental pieces played for battles or scenes involving excited action.   Gong cycles are short and irregular. An elaborate cueing system is employed: the dalang relays aural signals to the ensemble by using specific kecrek patterns and the drummer interprets these cues — which call for the beginning and ending of pieces, gong strokes, tempo changes, and dynamic levels — and relays them to the other instrumentalists. The drummer further accentuates the sound of the puppets strikes and blows by playing drum strokes at appropriate times. In addition, the musicians add senggak (vocal calls and shouts) to make the scene more exciting. Lagu perang occur most frequently toward the end of a performance when the dramatic action is most concentrated and intense. 

 

Lagu jalan are “travelling songs” (jalan=road) that function as bridges between scenes. Lagu kawih are vocal pieces featuring the female singer that may function to entertain the audience during the middle section of a performance.

 

 

Program 

Instrumental music

1. Toropongan (pelog)

2. Banjaran (pelog)

3. Gunung Sari--Panglima (pelog)

4. Sekar Tiba (salendro)

5. Solontongan-Sampak  

 

Intermission 

 

          Wayang Golek: “Jabang Tutuka” (“The Birth of Gatotkaca”)The story for this evening’s performance is called “Jabang Tutuka” or “The Birth of Gatotkaca.” In the story, the three-and-a-half-year-old child Jabang Tutuka is killed and brought back to life by boiling his lifeless body in a hot cauldron with many varieties of metals. The story recounts the birth of the legendary figure Gatotkaca, a nationalist hero since the birth of the Indonesian nation. The tale is associated with the regime of Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno, and the early period of Indonesia’s independence. During the 1950s, the lakon enjoyed wide appeal among Sundanese hosts, particularly since Gatotkaca is the “ideal hero” for Sundanese (Rosidi 1984:149). The story concerns the cutting of a child’s umbilical cord, and the lakon is most frequently requested for a ceremonial feast in conjunction with a Sundanese circumcision (sunatan). Gatotkaca, a warrior who symbolizes strength, bravery, loyalty, and steadfastness, is perceived as an embodiment of the nation’s ideals.  In the Sukarno era, Jabang Tutuka, the young Gatotkaca, was perceived as a metaphor for the nascent nation of Indonesia. In the story, Jabang Tutuka’s umbilical cord must be severed, which may be interpreted as an allusion to the shattering of colonial relations between Indonesia and the Netherlands. The weaker body, represented by Jabang Tutuka, must be destroyed; and then, through supernatural forces and indigenous riches (in this case, minerals), the body is brought back to life as the hero Gatotkaca. But unity cannot be achieved without the talents and resources of many (representing the ethnic, religious, social, and cultural diversity of Indonesia’s population) who are physically melded into one body (the nation). While the story resonates with national Indonesian interests, the music, language, humor, and dramatic elements are aimed at exclusively Sundanese sensibilities.

          Otong Rasta selected this lakon for this evening’s performance because it symbolizes the transition from childhood to adulthood. He felt that it would be appropriate for a university setting, a place where university students undergo a similar transition. The lakon has been represented on numerous Indonesian recordings of wayang golek. Several dalang pointed out that The Birth of Gatotkaca is known by most Sundanese dalang, and frequently performed. The Birth of Gatotkaca  has also been depicted in comic book form. Sundanese dalangs are familiar with The Birth of Gatotkaca because it is considered galur, a classification for stories that belong to “the standard repertory, the ‘classics’ so to speak” of wayang golek (Foley 1979:108-9). However, The Birth of Gatotkaca is not part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata from which it derives, but clearly an Indonesian creation (karangan).

 

Synopsis and Interpretations of The Birth of Gatotkaca  

 

    In the country of Giling Wesi there lives a demon king named Naga Percona. The king wishes to marry a heavenly nymph named Dewi Supraba. He orders his chief minister Diksakepu to dispatch the king’s proposal to the gods in Heavan.

     The gods, who are led by Batara Indra, are warned by Batara Narada that they must prepare for battle because a delegation from earth will soon be arriving. However, at that very moment, Diksakepu arrives. The marriage proposal is immediately rejected, and a war erupts in which Diksakepu is defeated by Batara Bayu, the God of Wind.

     Naga Percona journeys to Heaven to confront the gods. Meanwhile, Batara Guru orders Batara Narada to enlist the help of Bima’s son, Jabang Tutuka, who is a three-and-a-half-year-old child. However, Jabang Tutuka’s umbilical cord has not been cut and there is only one weapon capable of cutting it. Batara Narada is ordered to deliver the Konta, a magical weapon, to Arjuna in order that Jabang Tutuka’s umbilical cord may be cut.

     In a hermitage, Aradea is practicing meditation. Aradea looks so much like Arjuna that Batara Narada gives the weapon to Aradea instead of Arjuna. A huge battle occurs and finally Arjuna ends up with the sheath while Aradea retains the weapon itself.

     In Pringgandani, after the umbilical cord has been cut, Batara Guru goes to Heaven. In Heaven, Naga Percona’s eye is destroyed in a fight with Jabang Tutuka. Jabang Tutuka is killed by Naga Percona.

     The gods decide to bring Jabang Tutuka back to life. They boil his body, as well as various metals, in a large cauldron called the Kawah Candradimuka. Jabang Tutuka emerges as Gatotkaca and he subsequently kills Naga Percona.

 

          While dalangs often discuss the underlying meaning of individual lakon, they readily admit that meanings are multiple and contextual; that is, spectators will interpret the same lakon differently, and these interpretations depend on when and where performances take place. In my conversations with dalangs, they emphasized different interpretations when they discussed the meaning of The Birth of Gatotkaca.  Dalang R.H. Tjetjep Supriadi interprets the tale as a relatively straightforward struggle between the opposing forces of good, represented by Gatotkaca, and evil, represented by the demon king Naga Percona.  Dalang Endang Taryana stresses the transformative process of acquiring power through physical and mental training, represented by Jabang Tutuka’s immersion in the boiling cauldron along with various metals. For Dalang Barnas Somantri, the young and inexperienced Gatotkaca is capable of killing the mighty demon king not because of his strength, but because he has received a blessing from God. Dalang Ade Kosasih Sunarya’s performance compels spectators to question why the gods request assistance from people on earth, leading spectators to interrogate their own relationship with God.  Dalang Asep Sunandar Sunarya uses the gods in Heaven to symbolize the state, which always needs the support of the people, represented by Gatotkaca.

 

Special Guest Performers

 

Otong Rasta is one of West Java’s most talented and knowledgeable puppeteers. His grandfather moved the family from Java’s north coast city of Cirebon to the West Javanese city of Bandung in the 1880s. Otong Rasta’s father, Dalang Rasta, specialized in the performance of wayang golek cepak, a repertoire of tales about the conversion of Java to Islam. Otong Rasta is a master puppeteer of the Islamic tales that he learned from his father, and he also performs the Ramayana/Mahabharata tales, which he learned from Dalang Unjuk Prawira. Otong Rasta and his gamelan troupe Lingkung Seni Galura (galura=joy) performed frequently in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Now retired as a dalang, he has passed the traditional art of wayang golek performance, puppet-making, and music to his six sons. As an educator, Otong Rasta has taught at the college-level academy of performing arts in Bandung (STSI Bandung). He has also instructed many non-Indonesian teachers and scholars of Sundanese gamelan and wayang golek throughout the world. Otong Rasta is one of the most respected musicians of his generation. He plays the rebab (two-string bowed lute) in tonight’s performance. Otong Rasta’s eldest son,  

 

Atik Rasta Prawira, is a highly respected dalang in his own right. The family was the subject of a film on wayang golek produced by the Open University in England, and they are featured in many books on the subject. Atik Rasta Prawira has performed several times abroad, including trips to the United States and England. He performs as a dalang and drummer in this evening’s performance. 

 

Andrew Weintraub is a scholar, teacher, and performer of Asian music, particularly the music of Indonesia. He holds degrees in music from UC Santa Cruz (B.A.), University of Hawaii (M.A.), and UC Berkeley (Ph.D.). As a practitioner of Indonesian gamelan and martial arts, he has performed in the U.S., Canada, Asia, and Europe. Weintraub joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in Fall 1997. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in ethnomusicology and popular music. His most recent book is titled Power Plays: The Wayang Golek Puppet Theater of West Java (University of Ohio Press, 2004). 

 

The University of Pittsburgh Gamelan Musicians 

 

Margaret Barnes

Praphai Boonsermsuwong

Ryan Durkopp

James Evans

Kim Frost

Rebecca Gaus

Dorcinda Knauth

David Matthews

Jasmine Pogue

Kyle Thompson  

 

Please visit our website at

 http://www.pitt.edu/~anwein/gamelan and 

http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/INPAC/faculty_weintraub.htm 

 

Acknowledgments 

 

University of Pittsburgh Department of Music, Asian Studies Program, Indo-Pacific Council, College of Arts and Sciences, Pitt Arts, Annabelle Clippinger, Bell Yung, Dorothy Shallenberger, Phil Thompson, Undang Sumarna, Yoseph Iskandar, and Henry Spiller.

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