Teater Garasis Globalisation

Teater Garasi finds the perfect hybrid between local and global: Tarling.

The latest performance of Teater Garasi in Komunitas Salihara, Tubuh Ketiga (The Third Body) (october 12-13, 2010) was made as if it is a wedding ceremony. The audience must first exchange their tickets with souvenirs packed in a box, while the door towards the theatre was decorated with young coconut leaves, customary decoration for a Javanese wedding.

Stepping inside the theatre, an empty dais on which the bridal couples sits awaits, on the plank on top of it said  Congratulations on Your New Life in the Globalisation Era. On the other corner of the room, a solo organ band played tarling dangdut songs. Welcome, for you, our honorable guests we have served boiled peanuts on the left side of the room, said Gunawan Maryanto, one of Teater Garasis member who played the part as the MC.  You can take picture, but please dont use the flash lights, said he.

The room seemed narrower than usual. After awhile, the backdrop that turned out to divide the room into two parts was opened. The audience was then brought to enter the atmosphere of a village during the harvest time.

For the following hour, the villagers told their life stories, the stories of ordinary and simple peasants, that intertwines with habits of the so-called modern life. A farmer took his own picture obsessively with the camera on his handphone, a woman stood in front of a blue screen spoke with slapstick tone and articulation that reminds us to a certain presenter of an infotainment program in a television channel.

Tubuh Ketiga (The Third Body) tried to illuminate the fluidity of the tarling dangdut music that could move in various space that seemed to be the opposite of the other, Agrarian and industrial, rural and metropolitan, traditional and modern. On the other side, the area hat made Tarling as one of its identity, Indramayu, was also considered as the third space that grows in the midst of numerous other areas that tried to implanted their own influences: Central Java, West Java, and Jakarta.

The mixture of globalization could also be sensed from the combination of music, for a while the popular Tarling song Kucing Garong was heard, and the next minute Bjorks Its not Up To Me was played from a tape.

The performance has similarities with the previous play by Teater Garasi, Je.ja.l.an, where the audience was plot to not see the show conventionally. The theater was transformed to become a huge stage that seemed alive and continuously changing. The audience must changed their seats and perspective, stand up, or give way to the actors.

In the end, the stage went dark. The backdrop that depicted the beautiful country side was pulled down, and the actors changed their costume to black outfit, while the speaker played a serious discussion between two men. They used unclear yet seemingly sophisticated and intricate jargon to talk about globalization and how the globalizing process should not be faced with a defensive attitude, and how the mindset of the villagers in indramayu who are open and confidence, is one of the best option in facing globalization.

Is it really? Well, probably, but the mixture of Globalization from Teater Garasi was surely pretty enjoyable.

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Bandung Gamelan and Utrecht

Gamelan becomes the cultural dialogue media between two nations that has a long historical relation.

The audience in the Salihara performance room on Tuesday (13/7) witnessed an extraordinary show. Ten white men wearing dark red shot sleeves and 15 tanned men in black sat cross-legged. They all faced Javanese gamelan metals those are arranged by their front. Their hands grabbing the panakol -batons in Sundanese language-.

Not long after the composition of Sanata de Camera that was written by Klaus Kuiper and the Holland Gending Ensemble was heard. At first this composition was played by ten players, but for that night, 20 players were performing. The composition was opened slow, soft and flowing. Jurrien Sligter was the conductor that gave commands to to the gamelan members from the Gending Ensemble and Kyai Fathahillah Bandung. The Bandungs played the pelog while the Hollanders played the slender. As soon as Jurrien came down, energetic tunes surround the entire performance room that was packed by at least 120 spectators.

The show did not only show the gamelan proficiencies of the two nations, but also became the sign of cross-learning. Kyai Fathahillah, as any karawitan groups in Java, in general uses number notations, while the entire composition played were using block notations. The issue was that Gending is used to the Bes as their ground note. Fathahillah uses A base note. Iwan Gunawan, the conductor and leader of Fathahillah must interpret the two different notes so that is can be accepted by the two groups of two different backgrounds.

Although enchanted the audience, the collaboration show that only took place at the beginning and end of performance was a 90 minutes show. The rest was filled with each groups playing their own composition separately.

The next show was filled by the Gamelan Ensemble. The second composition, Petruk, was one of the compositions chosen by the judges at the 2010 International Gaudeamus Musicweek. The composition combines Chinese techniques and Indonesian musical instruments, including the Balinese and Javanese instruments. Fast and slow tempos were going one after another.

The performance began with a theatrical act. At first there were only two persons on stage, then one by one the players come on and played the music directly. The same act was then repeated to close the composition. For the next composition, Pengaget by Iwan Gunawan, fast music pattern was used.

The show that night showed that traditional musical instruments can serve as the inter-nation dialogue embassy. It did not occur overnight, but since 2006 both have been travelling around under the collaborative project of Tribute to Ton de Leeuw. This is the concrete form of East meets West dialogue.

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The Struggle of Kraton’s Teenager in 18th Century

Discovered the human side of a teenager: guilty felt, sex adventured, and searched for the faith of God. This is the story of a teenager in 18th century, Cebolang, the child of Kiai Syekh Akhadiat in Sokaya. His parents were religious persons. Cebolang was ashamed for doing disgraceful things. He ran away from his home in the night of takbiran (the last day of fasting month). The adventure was begun.

He walked along the Serayu River with his four friends: Nurwitri, Saloka, Kartupla and Palakarti.

In this journey, he entered the dark side of life. He satisfied his desire of sex to different kind of women: maiden, widow, ronggeng (paid dancer), warog reog (masked dancer), even regent. Not only with women, he had a passion with a man and so was the man. He adventured of sex in various techniques and styles. He walked through Ngawi, Ponorogo and any forest in hinterland of Mataram just for finding the light of the life.

Cebolang described as the teenage boy who had the smooth body like the Ramayana’s dancer and his good-looking face reminded of the blooming girl. “No wonder, including man had passion to him,” said Ki Slamet Gundono. The performance, in the event of the Art Summit Indonesia 2010, titled Minggat Cebolang (Ceoblang Ran Away) which had been adapted from the Centhini’s Fibers and had translated-interpreted by a French Journalist, Elizabeth D Inandiak, as Centhini Kekasih yang Tersembunyi (Centhini, the Hidden Lover, 2008).

Slamet Gundono played the puppets and narrated by Elizabeth D Inandiak. Sometimes they both made dialogue such as wayang (traditional puppet). “This is the incredible script and very important for the present generation. It’s very rare that the ancient script told about the teenager life like Cebolang,” uttered Elizabeth. The scene located only in living room. The stage designed as in the room of Javanese house.

Cebolang was a grey person. He experienced the theology adventure. He respected and obeyed the Kiai, in the same time he ate pork and dog’s sate. “He penetrated life not only in its norms and dogmas, but also from nature. Isn’t the nature as well the God’s verse?” said Slamet Gundono, after the performance. He also performed Bambang Kumbayana (Hanidawan) who wanted to go to Java Island, but he could not swim and no boat. Then, he made a contest – which is very cliché plot in the Javanese stories – anyone who could took him to Java Island, if a man, he would make him as a brother, if a woman, he would marry her. Therefore, Sembrani’s female horse (Ida Lala) which could swim appeared. Kumbaya succeed to across, but he did not marry her. “Person is easy to make promise, but a lot easier to break it,” uttered Slamet.

The strength of Slamet are in his words and stories, they could made the audience imagining another space and time construction. And it was right, the prayer in the night of takbiran reverberated. The drum in the mosque sounded. Cebolan came back to his parents.

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