Wyang Kulit
Wyang kulit refers to both a shadow play and the leather puppets used to create the shadows. It is both figurative art and performance art in which a dhalang (puppeteer) articulates elaborate leather puppet characters to perform a play by casting backlit shadows on a white screen. Its origins may be with the powerful, Srivijaya naval kingdom which flourished in Indonesia in the 7th century, bringing with it Hindu and Buddhist influences and possibly wyang puppet performances as a way of teaching religion, the blend ultimately praised as a harmony between traditional Indonesian Buddhist culture and Hinduism. With the arrival of Islam and its prohibition against images of god or man, religious leaders attempted to skirt the prohibition by presenting the plays as shadows of the characters rather than solid figures. Traditionally, the wyang kulit presents stories from the Mahabharata or Ramayana epic stories. The performance I attended used traditional characters to present a parody and political commentary. The performance was accompanied by full gamelan orchestra in traditional dress. I was fortunate enough to be seated beside a young man who spoke excellent English and who translated much of the play for me. The orchestra, most of whom were high on marijuana, thought it hilarious, a television crew taping the performance for later broadcast, thought it hilarious, based on my translator, I thought it hilarious. It may be that the TV crew and I were a little high from inhaling the ambient haze of marijuana smoke, but truly funny or not, I suspect that the government officials being skewered would not have found it amusing.
© David E. Moon, 2014 All rights reserved
Wyang Kulit
Wyang kulit refers to both a shadow play and the leather puppets used to create the shadows. It is both figurative art and performance art in which a dhalang (puppeteer) articulates elaborate leather puppet characters to perform a play by casting backlit shadows on a white screen. Its origins may be with the powerful, Srivijaya naval kingdom which flourished in Indonesia in the 7th century, bringing with it Hindu and Buddhist influences and possibly wyang puppet performances as a way of teaching religion, the blend ultimately praised as a harmony between traditional Indonesian Buddhist culture and Hinduism. With the arrival of Islam and its prohibition against images of god or man, religious leaders attempted to skirt the prohibition by presenting the plays as shadows of the characters rather than solid figures. Traditionally, the wyang kulit presents stories from the Mahabharata or Ramayana epic stories. The performance I attended used traditional characters to present a parody and political commentary. The performance was accompanied by full gamelan orchestra in traditional dress. I was fortunate enough to be seated beside a young man who spoke excellent English and who translated much of the play for me. The orchestra, most of whom were high on marijuana, thought it hilarious, a television crew taping the performance for later broadcast, thought it hilarious, based on my translator, I thought it hilarious. It may be that the TV crew and I were a little high from inhaling the ambient haze of marijuana smoke, but truly funny or not, I suspect that the government officials being skewered would not have found it amusing.
© David E. Moon, 2014 All rights reserved
