Ancient Bugis odyssey begins its modern journey

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Singapore

A white transparent screen with ancient Bugis script, golden rain against a cold-blue sky, costumes playing up the beauty of the neckline and the abstraction of the body, skilled lighting and the music of 12 musicians with 60 instruments.

All these elements contributed to a sense of the spirit of ancient times for the few journalists lucky enough to watch a workshop of the Galigo troupe at the Singapore Esplanade Theaters-on-the-Bay.

The group of 70 artists and technicians with their assistants had just started their third and last workshop before the world premiere of this ancient Bugis epic myth this Thursday.

As I sat watching it for three hours, the only scene to be witnessed was part of the rehearsal of the Prologue; even so, I felt drawn into the ancient world, changing our sense of time and our place in the world. As the white transparent screen printed with the archaic Bugis script started the journey through the time tunnel, the notion of being part of a much larger continuum persisted.

Against a green-blue background with dominating hues of blue, and a tip of the rising sun at the far horizon, about 30 actors -- each holding a basket, spear or other objects -- walked in slow procession.

As they proceeded, the sun spread its light, resulting in a gradual lighter blue of the background. Blue crawling figures on the ground suggested the flowing of water or the underworld, and flying figures now and then evoked the notion of natural movements like that of the wind or thunder, breaking the rhythm of slowness and the silence of the world that lies far behind us.

Wilson's meticulous design was evident in the process of determining the lights, colors, the artists' bearing. At times they had to persevere in standing motionless for 20 minutes or more. This, I was told, was to allow them to get a perfect sense of where they stand, their position in relation to other artists and the light.

It also gives Wilson the time to "play" with the color of lighting until he found the right shade for what the scene should express.

The wisdom of Bugis philosophy revealed to him by Puang Matoa Saidi, the head of the bissu transgender shamans, is of major consideration. Every shade has a meaning, every place its significance, said Saidi in a brief interview. Yellow, for instance, is the color of the Luwuq kingdom and of royalty, purple is for the aristocracy and red is for commoners. Blue stands for clarity, beauty and the environment in which life can prosper.

Asked why he, a priest of the highest level, should be in the theater, Saidi answered that it was his task to guard the ancient epic poem of the Sureq Galigo, held sacred by many Bugis people, whenever and wherever it needs to be guarded.

This visual work for the stage is inspired by Sureq Galigo, that has been interpreted to represent the Bugis world at the dawn of their history. Longer than the Mahabharata and comparable to Homer's Odyssey, it recounts the creation and destruction of the Middle World, the realm of white-blooded descendants of the gods. Here nature is created.

In the Bugis cosmos, there is an upper, middle and under world, each of which is open to go in and out of.

The story of the first seven generations of the white-blooded royal residents of the earth starts with the decision made by the gods in the upper world and the under world to fill the empty middle world by sending their children to live there.

Encased in bamboo, Batara Guru, son of the ruler of the upper world, comes down with a thunder clap along a seven-color rainbow, where he creates the flora and fauna before his spouse- to-be Wi Nyiliq Timoq, daughter of the ruler of the under world, emerges with the rumbling of the ocean's foaming waves.

When they wed, they become the first rulers in Luwuq, the center of the Middle World. The core of this heroic poem begins with the birth of a set of Golden Twins: a male by the name of Sawirigading, and a female called Wi Tenriabing, the grand children of Batara Guru and Wi Nyiliq Timoq. A prophecy predicts the twins would commit incest; as this would destroy the whole world, the Golden Twins are separated at birth.

But Sawirigading, the main protagonist of this epic, eventually hears of his beautiful sister. He uses his magical power to sneak into his sister's chamber at the palace. He falls passionately in love, doesn't care about an eventual destruction of the world and insists on marrying his sister. She, however, persuades him to seek their cousin Wi Cudaiq in faraway "Cina" (pronounced "chee-na"), who is her precise likeness. To provide him with the means to go there, the largest and most sacred tree is felled, which sinks into the under world, to emerge again as a fleet of ships.

After many adventures and violent battles, Sawirigading asks for Wi Cudaiq's hand in marriage. But, due to a case of mistaken identity (her servants take Sawirigading's ugly servant to be him) she refuses to marry him. Sawirigading and his men defend their honor by waging war on Cina. To save her kingdom, Wi Cudaiq finally agrees to marry Sawirigading, but on the condition that all her kingdom be restored and all her soldiers brought back to life, that there is no public wedding and that she never receives Sawirigading during the day.

Sawirigading ultimately succeeds in reaching Wi Cudaiq who had wrapped herself in seven sarongs and seven mosquito nets, locked behind seven gates. She gives birth to a son, named I La Galigo, who grows up a rascal, marrying many women and stealing other men's wives.

At one time all the Gods' descendants are called to return to Luwuq, as the middle world would be purged and all the royalty must go back to the upper world and the under world.

Sawirigading and Wi Cudaiq are sent to rule the under world, and Wi Tenriabing and her husband become the rulers of the upper world. After seven years of chaos in the middle world, the gods send Sawirigading's daughter from the under world, and Wi Tenriabing's son from the upper world to the middle world.

After they wed and have a child, the gates that used to connect the middle world with the upper and the under world are closed for good, bringing into existence the first human settlement in the Bugis kingdom of Luwuq at the northern tip of the Gulf of Bone in South Sulawesi.

As this wondrous pre-Islamic, 14th century epic comes to life with Robert Wilson's visual work at the Esplanade Theaters-on-the-Bay, I La Galigo calls to world attention the riches of Bugis poetry, signaling a new and major contribution to world literature.

A public forum on I La Galigo, co-hosted by the Asia Research Institute and The Esplanade, will discuss the role of this great epic in Bugis society and its transition to the current production.

It will include three distinguished scholars -- Prof. Leonard Andaya (Hawaii), Ian Caldwell (Leeds) and Roger Tol (Leiden/Jakarta), as well as Bugis cultural figures, director Wilson and artists and organizers involved with the production.

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I La Galigo, world premiere 12-13 March Center Stage, Esplanade Theaters-on-the-Bay Singapore Forum 13 March: 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Esplanade Recital Studio ---------------------------------------