Festival puts Indonesia's folk arts heritage on the map

JAKARTA (JP): Dancers woo onlookers with their erotically charged movements in the Gandrung Banyuwangi dance, beckoning them into an arena which usually measures eight meters by six meters.

When dancing in pairs, the dancer will serenade her partner with the typical Banyuwangi songs of East Java as the night grows old and more sultry. Even when the dancing has stopped, the dancers continue to engage in a flirtatious repartee as the enthralled audience looks on.

The accompanying orchestra is modest, comprising one large and one small drum beaten by one drummer, two violins, one kethuk, instrument to produce a complementary sound for the percussion and strings, four gongs and kluncing, an instrument made of metal bars attached to each other to produce a distinctive sound.

The shows, held either for individual or group functions, usually last from 8 p.m. until dawn with a relatively fixed pattern. The show is always initiated with jejer, in which a dancer performs while singing folk songs of Podho Nonton and Kembang Menur. Jejer performances usually last for about an hour and no audience members are allowed to participate.

However, when it is finished the audience is encouraged to join in. A master of ceremonies called the geddog, usually also representing the host, will offer a yellow or red scarf to selected members of the audience. Whoever receives the garment must move to the arena to dance with the dancers. The show concludes when a singer performs the Seblang Subuh song.

This folk art combining dance and songs to musical accompaniment is popular in Banyuwangi and Jember, East Java. This song-and-dance show is mostly staged in the Islamic months of Syawal to Rabiustsani with the exception of the haj month.

There are currently 12 gandrung groups in Banyuwangi, most of them in Glagah district. Surveys conducted in February and April 1999 found Gandrung Temu was the most popular group. It is not only loved by the local Osin community, but also by Javanese and Madurese living in Banyuwangi.

Its popularity is one of the reasons the Association of Oral Traditions (ATL) invited one of the Gandrung dance groups to perform in the International Seminar and Festival of Folk Oral Tradition held at Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts center from Oct. 14 through Oct. 19.

It closes the one-month Festival Budaya Nusantara, the Nusantara Cultural Festival held at four venues -- Tirtagangga (Bali), Pontianak (West Kalimantan), Tanjung Pinang (Riau) and Jakarta, from Sept. 9 through Oct. 19.

During the daytime, numerous scholars, artists and experts will attend the third International Seminar on Nusantara Oral Traditions with a special theme: The Voices of the Millennium; An Intercultural Dialog.

The seminar aims at revitalizing and enhancing the potential of traditions in the process of nation building.

The festival on folk performing arts and oral traditions will be held at nights.

"The festival is expected to provide a forum for intense interaction between local and global cultures; traditions and contemporary works," explains Pudentia MPSS, chairwoman of the festival's committee.

It presents a true picture of this pluralistic nation, going beyond the paper cutouts in Jakarta to present pieces of Indonesia which most people, urbanites in particular, seldom get the chance to experience.

During the festival, the Jakarta audience enthusiastically took in the rare folk performing art, Wayang Potehi (Potehi puppet) from Semarang, Central Java.

The performing art, performed Thursday night at the plaza of Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center, resembles the wayang golek (wooden puppet) of West Java. The puppeteer, usually the offspring of a mixed ethnic Chinese-Indonesian marriage, plays the gamelan. The story tells of the gods in mainland China and the show uses Malay or Chinese or a combination of the two.

It is unclear whether the Chinese community embraces wayang potehi as their own, but the art form's devoted fans are from the multiethnic community residing in Semarang. Sets of the puppets are on display at Semarang's Great Temple Sampokong.

In addition to Gandrung Banyuwangi and Wayang Potehi, visitors to the festival will also be able to enjoy the beauty of the Cokek dance from Betawi, the indigenous Jakartan population, with its roots among the ethnic Chinese in the city once known as Batavia.

It is similar to the Sundanese jaipongan of West Java, Tayub of Blora in Central Java and Tandak from East Java. The cokek tradition dates back to the Dutch colonial era in Batavia in the 19th century.

The festival also features the Dade Ndante oral tradition from Central Sulawesi. This tradition hails from Tanpa village, Sindue district, in Donggala regency, Central Sulawesi. It has existed for generations among the Kori community who speak the Kaili dialect. The song not only functions as entertainment but also as a traditional medium for spreading information.

Another unique tradition is Hoho fetataro, a folk song from Nias, North Sumatra, that relies on poetry to express adoration toward respected community figures like traditional chiefs and heroes. (raw)