'Gambuh' opera company tour revives dying tradition

'Gambuh' opera company tour revives dying tradition

Bali's oldest opera at verge of extinction

GIANYAR, Bali (JP): Balinese folk opera Gambuh is dying.
Gambuh theaters are rare and few people are interested in
learning about the most important traditional performing art.

Gambuh opera, believed to be the mother of all traditional
Balinese performing arts, is performed mostly at major Hindu
ceremonies. Will the opera become extinct?

There is, apparently, a ray of hope. A Gambuh opera company
has been touring Bali, performing at a number of places since the
beginning of April.

Not only are they performing at Hindu rituals but they will
also appear at the Bali Arets Festival XXI at the Cultural Center
in Denpasar on July 11. The annual festival opened on June 26 and
will close on July 17.

A surprise is the old opera, whose storyline revolves around
the Panji epic of ancient Javanese royalty, is performed by high-
spirited young people. Another surprise is they will perform an
imported story, William Shakespeare's MacBeth.

The new Gambuh opera group is affiliated to the Arti
Foundation, which dedicates itself to the re-exploration and
development of Balinese classical culture.

Under the leadership of Kadek Suardana, the group is planning
to go on a world tour. As a warmup, they have been touring Bali
and performing at several temples free of charge. The hosts pay
for transport and accommodation.

The group will visit Germany and Sweden from Nov. 1 to Nov.
20.

Audiences are generally impressed by the company's creative
and innovative performance. For example, the scene from MacBeth
where the king was murdered was depicted in a curtained room that
was carried around on stage. The war scene was dramatized by
vigorous movements and the sounds of coconut leaves.

Despite some innovation, Suardana does not alter the standard
Gambuh basics. He intends to present Gambuh in its original
version. For example, he has an all-male cast. The plain costumes
the cast wear create an archaic impression and the dance is
classically elegant.

"We want to invoke a Balinese interest in the meaning of
Gambuh in a contemporary context," Suardana said.

In the past, Gambuh was a prestigious performance among the
royal family. It is believed that Gambuh is a legacy of the
Majapahit Kingdom in 13-16th century East Java which came to Bali
some time in the 15th century during the heyday of the Gelgel
Kingdom, Klungkung.

In the era of King Dalem Waturenggong of Gelgel, the Balinese
art was in its golden age. Gambuh was born during his reign and
became a favorite court show. At that time, all palaces in Bali
were provided with Bale pegambuhan, or a stage for Gambuh
performances.

After the Gelgel Kingdom crumbled, Gambuh lost its sacredness
and became public property. In the 1960 Bali Arts Festival, eight
regencies sent their companies but in 1970, Gambuh groups
practically disappeared. In religious rituals at Bekasih temple,
the largest in Bali, the opera is performed by the same group.

Gambuh is in jeopardy.

Some years ago, the Ford Foundation offered financial
assistance for the preservation, research and documentation of
this endangered performing art in Gianyar and Denpasar.

The revival of Gambuh received a boost from Basel Gambuh
Ensambel from Switzerland which performed in Bali in 1998.

As a legacy of the ancient kingdoms, Gambuh opera is highly
sophisticated and serious. It has a fixed pattern and its
presentation follows some protocol procedures. Its artistic value
comes from complex choreography and background music.

The elements of dance and music are tightly intertwined. Every
character has a different background meticulously arranged with
music and specific movements. They all speak Kawi, archaic
Javanese language, with a rigid accent.

Gambuh MacBeth will be a potential success if it is prepared
properly. Special attention should be paid to the pronunciation
of the Kawi dialect, especially intonation. Often, the dialog in
the dead language is neither fluent nor expressive.

In Gambuh, musical and dance esthetics is above all. The
storyline is a mere setting. Therefore, the bitterness and
tragedy of MacBeth are not so dramatically verbalized. The
storyline and emotion is flat. MacBeth might be more dramatic if
it is presented in another traditional Balinese play like Arja or
Gong.

The writer is a teacher at the Indonesian Arts College in
Denpasar.