Dance doyennes highlight Makassar Arts Forum

By Tanra Alam

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): The weeklong Makassar Arts Forum '99 ended on Sunday after satisfying arts lovers with quality performances from around 200 local and foreign artists.

Held in three venues -- the Ford Rotterdam fortress, the South Sulawesi Cultural Park and the Societet de Harmonie Art Center -- the forum, which kicked off on Sept. 5, featured performing arts, a fine arts exhibition, a cultural exhibition, a photo exhibition and an international film festival.

But traditional performances by two Sulawesi doyennes, Mak Coppong and Mak Cammana, proved equal to the performances of their foreign counterparts, including Korean-born dancer Sen Hea Ha, who is also scheduled to kick off the Indonesian Dance Festival in Jakarta on Sept. 16. Mak is a respectful title for an older woman.

Calm and graceful. That was the first impression that came to mind following the appearance of Mak Coppong on stage. Amid the clamorous sound of drums, this 79-year-old woman began to dance. Age was no barrier for her; her body was flexible and her hands as supple as those of a younger dancer. Even an audience familiar with the Pakkarena dance would see the dance in a very different light when performed by Mak Coppong.

In her hands, the Pakkarena looks different because Mak Coppong is the doyenne of the Pakkarena. She first performed this dance at the age of 10.

Mak Coppong learned to dance the Pakkarena from her father, Daeng Sa'do, who was a dancer in the Gowa royal court. After mastering this dance, she was made a court dancer, dancing at various royal parties, including those thrown to welcome and honor royal guests. Since then the Pakkarena dance has become part of her daily activities.

According to Mak Coppong, the Pakkarena was created especially for female dancers. The dance itself symbolizes the supple movement of a woman, while the accompanying music, clamorous and roaring, symbolizes agile and powerful males. The Pakkarena and its accompanying music, therefore, constitutes a harmonious blend of male virility and female gentleness.

The arts forum presented not only Mak Coppong, but also Mak Cammana, a doyenne in the rebana, the local tambourine, and an excellent singer. Although she is 60 years old, her voice remains supremely melodious.

As in other songs accompanied by a rebana, Mak Cammana's songs, underlined by their religious themes, are sung in the language of the Mandar, one of the tribes of South Sulawesi. She told The Jakarta Post the songs she sang at the forum's opening were a call to the people to be virtuous and to never forget their religious service to God.

Besides being actively engaged in playing the rebana, Mak Cammana leads classes on reciting Koranic verses in her village. She said these two activities supported each other, because for her, playing the rebana was also a way to propagate Islam.

"The songs sung accompanied by a rebana are always songs imbued with Islamic values and, in essence, these songs call on man to be virtuous," she said.

Mak Cammana began playing the rebana when she was 19. Now she is the leader of the only female rebana group in her home village of Tinambung, Polmas district. Being the only group of women rebana players, locally called parrabbana to waine, Mak Cammana's group often receives invitations to perform at certain events. Mak Cammana and her group have traveled to a number of places, both inside and outside of South Sulawesi, including Central Sulawesi, Jakarta and Singapore.

"We are usually invited to perform at wedding parties or circumcision celebrations. Once we performed in Singapore at the initiative of the Polmak district administration, which wanted to introduce our regional culture to others," she said.

These two doyennes are worthy of admiration. Despite their age, they are still active in performing their respective arts. Halim HD, one of the organizers of the arts forum, said these women were two of the few remaining doyennes.

"These two doyennes did win kudos and admiration. Mak Coppong is one of the few doyennes left in dance, and Mak Cammana has really mastered the rebana. In this art, there are two schools, one especially for men and one for women. But Mak Cammana has mastered the style of both schools. She can play both styles, shifting from one style to another freely," said Halim.

A picture of a performing Mak Coppong was used on a TelePIN card in recognition of her talent. The card, priced at Rp 10,000, shows Mak Coppong dancing very gently and supplely.