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Wayang - One Of Indonesian
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Wayang is an Indonesian and Malay word for theatre. When the term is
used to refer to kinds of puppet theater, sometimes the puppet itself is
referred to as wayang. "Bayang", the Javanese word for shadow or
imagination, also connotes "spirit". Performances of shadow puppet
theater are accompanied by gamelan in Java, and by "gender wayang" in
Bali.
UNESCO designated Wayang
Kulit, a shadow puppet theater and the best known of the Indonesian
wayang, as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on
7 November 2003.
 Wayang kulit, shadow
puppets prevalent in Java and Bali in Indonesia, and Kelantan and
Terengganu in Malaysia are without a doubt the best known of the
Indonesian wayang. Kulit means skin and refers to the leather
construction of the puppets that are carefully chiseled with very fine
tools and supported with carefully shaped buffalo horn handles and
control rods.
The stories are usually drawn from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata or the
Serat Menak. The island of Lombok has developed its own style of Serat
Menak called Wayang Sasak. The
puppets figures themselves vary from place to place. In Central Java the
city of Surakarta (Solo) is most famous and is the most commonly
imitated syle of puppets. Regional styles of shadow puppets can also be
found in West Java, Banyumas, Cirebon, Semarang, and East Java. Bali
produces more compact and naturalistic figures, and Lombok has figures
representing real people. Often modern-world objects as bicycles,
automobiles, airplanes and ships will be added for comic effect, but for
the most part the traditional puppet designs have changed little in the
last 300 years.
Historically, the performance consisted of shadows cast on a cotton
screen and an oil lamp. Today, the source of light used in wayang
performance in Java is most often a halogen electric light. Some modern
forms of wayang such as Wayang Sandosa created in the Art Academy at
Surakarta (STSI) has employed spotlights, colored lights and other
innovations.
Wayang golek are wooden doll puppets that are operated from below by
rods connected to the hands and a central control rod that runs through
the body to the head. The simple construction of the puppets belies
their versatility, expressiveness and aptitude for imitating human
dance. Little is known for certain about the history of wayang golek,
but scholars have speculated that it most likely originated in China and
arrived in Java sometime in the 17th century. Some of the oldest
traditions of wayang golek are from the north coast of Java in what is
called the pasisir region. This is home to some of the oldest Muslim
kingdoms in Java and it is likely the wayang golek grew in popularity
through telling the wayang menak stories of Amir Hamza, the uncle of
Muhammad. These stories are still widely performed in Kabumen, Tegal,
and Jepara as wayang golek menak, and in Cirebon, wayang golek cepak.
Legendary origins of wayang golek attribute their invention to the
Muslim saint Wali Sunan Kudus, who used the medium to prosletize Muslim
values. In the 18th century the tradition moved into the mountains of
West Java where it eventually was used to tell stories of the Ramayana
and the Mahabarata in a tradtion now called wayang golek purwa, which
can be found in Bandung, Bogor and Jakarta. Wayang golek purwa has
become the most popular form of wayang golek today and the most famous
puppeteer family is the Sunarya family which has produced several
generations of stellar performers.
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