A fragment of Yogyakarta culture

A fragment of Yogyakarta culture

Cikar Bobrok (Ramshackle horse cart);
By Sindhunata;
Kanisius and Bentara Budaya, Yogyakarta;
277 pp + xii

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Journalism is a both noisy and silent world.
Its clamor is marked with the demand for high mobility and a
strong spirit of adventure. First of all, it is the job of a
journalist to expose a reality so that everybody can learn of
what has happened, is happening and will happen.

Furthermore, it is also demanded of a journalist that he
should have rich experience and profundity in processing a
reality so that each may touch the conscience of a human being
and in this way improve man's quality of life.

In fact, the foundation of the noisy world of journalism is
the world of silence, one of solitude and clarity of mind. A
reality will never have its echo within the heart of a human
being unless one who writes about it has processed it in such a
way that it will be a reader's spiritual wealth.

Journalism is not concerned merely with hard-and-dry facts.
Rather, it is a portrait of the reality of the world, the reality
of human beings and human interaction.

This compilation of Sindhunata's pieces has these two aspects.
The facts presented are not extraordinary. In the hands of
Sindhunata, a Catholic priest-cum-journalist and literary writer
who studied anthropological philosophy in Munchen, these facts
produce a louder and more pounding echo and as such bring the
reader closer to the facts themselves.

Writing in a reflective and profound style, Sindhunata
successfully brings up themes of human beings and their ordinary
lives, culture and arts and makes them extraordinary. It may be
simply put that the writer has presented ordinary things in an
extraordinary manner.

Sindhunata's reports presented in this book are divided into
seven sections. All reports deal with performances and
exhibitions at the Bentara Budaya arts center in Yogyakarta.

The first section dwells on individuals with their respective
expertise.

Ki Darman Gondo Darsono is a professional puppeteer, Ibu Dewi
is a dancer, Pak Gepuk is well-known for his grass shadow puppets
and Martopangrawit is famous for his gamelan musical
compositions.

In this section the writer successfully features hidden and
peculiar aspects of each figure. In this way, Gondo Darsono is
not merely an ordinary shadow puppet master, Ibu Dewi has become
an extraordinary dancer and Martopangrawit appears as the
outstanding master of gamelan musical compositions.

He writes, "As for Martopangrawit, feeling is indeed the main
point of departure in his creative process. This feeling is then
processed in his heart to become sounds. The sounds in his heart
cannot be just expressed. He must work on these sounds to adapt
them to the sounds and the capacity of a gamelan."

In the second section, the writer resorts to the same pattern
as in the first when exposing the world of art and culture.

His pattern is concerned with figures -- individuals or groups
-- and their works of art. This section exposes four figures with
their respective peculiarities. One of them is the master of
jemblung, a folk theater unique to Banyumas. This theater is
developed from a Javanese poetry recital art form and includes
historical stories.

Section five is specially devoted to painting. In this
section, Sindhunata introduces the lives of Lucia Hartini, Rusli,
H. Widayat and Affandi, one of the country's late masters.

The painting world often sets itself apart from scientific and
academic norms. Inspiration about the theme of a painting may
vary.

Take Lucia Hartini, who has drawn inspiration for her
surrealistic paintings from kitchen activities. "As long as there
is a kitchen, I believe I will continue to be inspired," she was
quoted as saying.

Affandi was a different case. In one discussion, young artists
and academics tried to scientifically and academically analyze
one of his paintings. The painting, created without a paint
brush, is not the outcome of a technique which can be
academically or scientifically explained.

In fact, it all began accidentally when he happened to lose
his paint brush. This loss of a paint brush prompted him to
simply pour the paint onto the canvas. Unexpectedly, this
produced an effect that he liked very much.

From that time on, he no longer used a paint brush. To
Affandi, the painting world had its own logic, something which
could not be strictly formulated.

The world of art is subjective. Once an artist falls into the
trap of certain patterns or guiding poles, his identity as a
painter will be submerged in these patterns and he will lose his
own self.

Most of the reports collected in the book dwells on the lives
of artists and writers and on culture in general. There are
portions for painting, literature, sculpture, singing and other
forms of art.

Considering the pattern of writings in this book, we may say
that they reflect Sindhunata's unique writing pattern, which is
different altogether from his other writings.

The central figure on one occasion is explored in great detail
and these details are then given the context and reflection as
this figure's own unique experience. Therefore, the impression we
get is that there is no distance between the writer and the
subject he features.

It seems as if Sindhunata has successfully represented the
emotion of the subject he is going to illustrate.

One point of criticism about this model of presentation is
that sometimes the emotion of the figure is submerged in the
subjectivity of the writer.

It is true that subjectivity in a human-interest report is a
complex problem. Nevertheless, using this style of writing,
Sindhunata has successfully produced reports on humanity, arts
and culture with a greater echo among the public.

His strength in presenting themes in which the public rarely
has an interest lies in his way of exposing the themes and
processing the facts.

Indeed, reading this book seems as if one were reading texts
on man, art and culture. Although one may still get the
impression that the book as an art or cultural fragment, it may
be placed in a cultural mosaic, giving room to the humanity
aspect in a world sustaining the blow of modernism.

-- A. Wisnuhardana

The reviewer is a alumnus of Gadjah Mada University, and a
researcher at Forum for Studies on Humanity. He resides in
Yogyakarta.