English-version 'Wayang' loses something in translation

English-version 'Wayang' loses something in translation

By Dini S. Djalal

JAKARTA (JP): The sight, even viewed closely, was familiar.

Two pesinden (singers of traditional Javanese songs), sitting
demurely in their red kebaya, let out a melancholy lament as
their male peers scaled the delicate melodies of a gamelan tune.
Mallets fell on the gongs of the saron, cudgels struck the
xylophone-like gender, filling the room with wistful harmonies on
the sly side of unpredictable.

Behind a white screen flanked, at both ends with decorative
leather puppets, crouched the dalang, playwright and producer of
the evening's wayang kulit (shadow puppet) performance.

Then, just as jaded urban eyes were slowly adjusting to the
air of Javanese mysticism, a tray of Dunkin Donuts boxes was
ushered by, somewhat marring the view. And when the dalang
launched the lakon (wayang storyline), introducing the Pandawa
brothers of India's Mahabharata epic in slightly hesitant
English, astonished spectators describing the event no longer had
use of words such as "ordinary".

Extraordinary, odd, incomprehensible, mind-boggling, yawn-
inducing: these were the adjectives bouncing between the walls of
the American Embassy Club last Saturday night. One-in-a-million
can also describe this rare wayang kulit performance in English.
Unfortunately, the distinction wasn't enough for the restless who
walked out halfway through the show, already shortened to two
hours from the usual nine hours.

"I'm Western, I tried to follow the script and there wasn't
any. The puppetry is magic, but it was just such hard work trying
to understand," said an escapee from the audience.

The weary observers probably just didn't know what they were
missing. As the plot onstage thickened, more and more Indonesians
streamed in, their eyes intermittently glued to the stage and
then wandering -- just like in traditional wayang performances.
Hindered by linguistic obstacles it was far from perfect, the
thought-provoking show was nevertheless a brave venture into
unexplored territory.

Tradition

Among the myriad of arts embellishing Javanese society, few
rival epoch-enduring wayang in social and even political
importance. Having a 2000-year history pre-dating Hinduism's
arrival to the archipelago in the 1st century A.D., wayang was
first an animist means of communicating with one's ancestors.
Dalangs mediated between the living and the dead whose shadows
came and went on the screen dimly lit by lanterns.

When Hinduism (and later Buddhism) permeated Java's kingdoms,
local leaders used this spellbinding media to spread the word of
their new religion, eventually transplanting Indian heroes and
stories in place of the indigenous ones. What remained of the
native touch were the domestic settings and the beloved panakawan
-- the wise clowns Petruk, Gareng, and Semar.

And it's these court jesters, particularly Semar, who embody
wayang's philosophical soul, at least for the Javanese. Semar is
stout, lumbering, and full of bad jokes, much like the common
man, but his unpretentious judgment commands unparalleled power
-- perhaps because his ordinariness is so easy to relate to. In
wayang's multifarious world, Semar is not just the chief clown
poking fun at the state of the nation; he's also chief deity.

Yet as any language novice unintentionally throwing down
insults instead of jokes will concede, humor is often the first
victim of translation.

Clowning

Unabashedly rowdy humor, often what makes all-night wayang
performances so engaging, was the first thing noticeably absent
from the English show. Blame this, and the show's other
shortcomings, on the language barrier, explained the show's
amateur dalang Siswadi Atmoyuwono.

Editing of the clowning segments (guyonan), he said, was
necessary partly to save time -- "the jokes could have gone for
an hour and I don't think they're that necessary" -- but also
because they wouldn't muster much laughter.

"If I had translated the jokes into English, it just wouldn't
have been so funny," said Siswadi, a native of Madiun who's job
with the Department of Agriculture had taken him all across
Indonesia.

It wouldn't be so easy, either. Although Siswadi became a
language instructor at LIA (Language Institute of America) in
1975, he confesses, "My English isn't that good, but it's good
enough." And although he has been a dalang for eight years,
performing in Javanese at LIA, he says he was "more than a little
nervous" at performing in English.

"Wayang doesn't have any text, it's all improvisation. Imagine
improvising all that in English," he said.

If it was hard work for the dalang, it was even more difficult
for some members of the audience. Yet when reminded that non-
Indonesian watchers were losing the plot, Siswadi replied that
wayang is an accumulated cultural experience rather than a
singular performance. The key is familiarity.

"If people don't know the story to begin with, of course it's
hard for them to follow," said Siswadi, referring to the enduring
popularity of the wayang stories in Indonesian popular culture.
Living with all-night wayang shows and folk theater in the
countryside, and stage dances and television shows in the cities,
many Javanese grow up with wayang tales as bedtime stories.

Siswadi was more apologetic about the event's poor sound
system, which often obscured the clarity of the monologue.

A script garbled by faulty technology, however, cannot be
blamed on the language barrier. But another problem Siswadi found
challenging to overcome was the difficulty in modulating his
voice in a second language.

Mastering a vocal range of up to nine tonal and pitch
variations is part of the dalang's curriculum, as he alternates
from aping the coarse Raksasa to the gentle Arjuna. A dalang,
after all, is not only the director of all the scenes, juggling
up to six puppets at a time, but also all the actors.

"It's so much easier changing your voice in Javanese. I was
trying to modulate my voice, but sometimes these Javanese words
would just come out!" said Siswadi.

Siswadi was encouraged, however, by the positive feedback
given despite the show's faults. Enthusiastic support is what
will keep Siswadi "experimenting" with the wayang craft.

"I don't know if he was just paying lip service or not, but
after the show, this man told me he finally understood what
wayang is all about!" said Siswadi.

And exactly what of the story's philosophical messages did his
newfound fan pick up? Confessing that efforts at wayang education
should be taken one small step at time, Siswadi laughed: "I don't
think he got that far."