'I La Galigo': The women behind its international acclaim

Carla Bianpoen Contributor Jakarta

The ancient epic myth I La Galigo will be presented to the world on March 12 on Asia's latest contemporary stage at the Singapore Esplanade Theaters-on-the-Bay. I La Galigo is a music-dance- theater piece inspired by Sureq Galigo, an epic poem of the Bugis people of South Sulawesi. There is no doubt as to the grand scale of this exciting event.

It is the first time that this poetic heritage of the proud Bugis people of South Sulawesi will be taken out of the country for a contemporary staging.

It is also the first time that internationally acclaimed Robert Wilson will work not with his traditional international blend, but with a full Indonesian cast of 50 actors, musicians, dancers and martial artists from all parts of the archipelago.

The interpretation of the ancient traditions and folklore of the Bugis with Wilson's contemporary and visionary theatrical language is eagerly anticipated as a revelation.

With national prestige bound to soar as the exhibition moves around the world, it may be interesting to reflect on the women who have made a difference in the process of getting this imaginary epic out of obscurity.

While nobody knows who the author or authors of the dozens of manuscripts forming the Sureq Galigo were, some, like researcher Nirwan Ahmad Arsuka, who is a Bugis himself, imagine the possibility of a woman as the author.

While others, like Galigo scholar Roger Tol, only wish to talk about the beauty of the language, one cannot deny the role of women in promulgating this fascinating epic.

Women are the cleverest beings in the Galigo cosmos, it was a woman who compiled the most complete epic and, besides the palace guards, it was women who were the only ones allowed to have the key to this great manuscript, wrote a researcher of Bugis descent, Nirwan Ahmad Arsuka, in Kompas daily.

The first woman to play her part in the history of the epic is Retna Kencana Colliq Pujii Arung Pancana Toa Matinroi ri Tucai -- Arung Pancana Toa for short -- who was born around 1812. She was the queen of Pancana, a tiny kingdom within the kingdom of Tanite, where her father was succeeded by Arung Pancana Toa's daughter Wi Tenriolle.

Like many women of her standing, she was highly literate, wrote poetry and was well informed about the epic that many in her circle considered if not real history, then at least real pre-history. She also did her father's correspondence.

When she started copying manuscripts that lay scattered in the residences of families of the region, she probably never dreamed that the two large volumes that are now in the Leiden University Library in the Netherlands would preserve a unique piece of history, let alone that her efforts would eventually result in something as grand as a theater play shown on stages around the world.

Arung Pancana Toa was actually in dire need of funds when she began helping the Dutch missionary BF Matthes. Having clashed with her daughter, the queen of Tanete, who may have tended to side too much with the Dutch colonial government, she also quarreled with the rest of her family.

Exiled to Makassar by the Dutch on a paltry monthly allowance and rice allocation, she eagerly accepted when Mathes, a researcher of Bugis script and literature, asked her to gather and copy the old manuscripts, thought to be written between the 14th and the 17th centuries.

She helped him for 20 years, copying the Galigo manuscripts, putting them in chronological order and editing them into 12 large manuscripts, now in the safe keeping of the Leiden University Library. As this was only one third of the 6,000 folio pages of which the Galigo cycle consists, she made an abstract of the whole cycle, and it is thus that the red thread running through the hundreds of episodes is known.

Many scholars have emerged since then -- Christian Pelras, Sirtjo Koolhof, Tol, Ian Caldwell, Gilbert Hamonic, Mattulada, Muh. Salim, FachruddinAmbo Enre and others are well-known. Against such a male formation of scholars stands Nurhayati Rahman, the only known female Galigo scholar with an academic degree, currently the head of the Division of Social Sciences and Humanities, Center for Research, at Hasanuddin University in Makassar.

Nurhayati obtained her doctorate cum laude with her dissertation on Galigo. As many people come to her to learn more about Galigo, she has become known as "Siti Galigo", conducting numerous presentations in local as well as international forums. She was also the co-editor in the translations of Galigo II, a book that was published with the cooperation of KITLV and the Prince Claus Fund.

In 2002 she organized the Galigo International Festival and Seminar, not in a deluxe hotel, but right in the field, amid the Bugis people at Pancana, the birthplace of Retna Kencana Colliq Pujii Arung Pancana Toa. The villagers of Pancana enthusiastically welcomed the event, signaling the beginning of what could be called a revitalization.

It may not be too surprising that it is women who came with the initiative to bring the Galigo to the stage. From a simple idea, it came about through love for the Galigo and a bond between friends.

Rhoda Grauer, an American filmmaker with vast experience in theater production, was seeking material for a film on bissu, the transgender shamans who once held an esteemed position at Bugis courts, when she was introduced to the Galigo cycle to find out more clues about their existence.

"I couldn't believe that there could be such an amazing story, so beautifully written so long ago, longer than the world's great epics text, that was still virtually unknown to the world outside of South Sulawesi," she explained.

"When I learned that there were fewer than hundred people alive who still read and understood the manuscripts, I thought something has to be done. Something had to be done!"

The theater and Robert Wilson, a stage artist, internationally acclaimed for his epic style of avant-garde theater, were the answers.

Grauer revealed her idea to her friend Restu Imansari Kusumaningrum, an artist and active promoter of arts and culture. She is also the director of Bali Purnati Center for the Arts, which she founded with six friends, focusing on exposing little known cultures to the outside world.

Restu knew Wilson, a visitor to Bali for the last 15 years, and played in his performance of Umberto Eco's The Island of the Day Before. She was immediately enthusiastic about Grauer's suggestion, as Wilson had often asked Restu for an authentic Indonesian drama for the stage.

But Restu wished to wait until there was something new, something beyond the already overexposed Java or Bali.

"I love the Galigo cycle, it speaks of a rich culture. Reading the Galigo is like entering a world of visual arts with images of Salvador Dali's surrealistic world springing up in my mind. The idea of the theater was just perfect, already imagining the mythical epic in a contemporary presentation by Robert."

Fortunately, Wilson immediately expressed interest. This grew into real fascination after he came back from a trip, which Restu and Grauer arranged for him, to South Sulawesi where he came into direct contact with the arts and artists.

Through Wilson the project was introduced to Elisabetta di Mambro, one of the partners of Change Performing Arts, an independent production company based in Milan, that had produced various works by Wilson.

Di Mambro and her partner Franco di Laera successfully worked on finding collaborating presenters to help finance the production and present it in their theater: The first supporters were Esplanade Theaters on the Bay, Het Muziek Theater/Amsterdam, Barcelona and Lincoln Festival, New York. Later Ravenna followed.

Restu was responsible for identifying the performing and creative artists from Indonesia, and making them ready based on international standards. She enjoyed the assistance of various people, including dance master Andi Ummu Tunru and Ida Madjid for the dancers, and Rahayu Supanggah for musicians.

Grauer is responsible for text adaptation and dramaturgy, assisted by a small group of LA GALIGO scholars, including Muhammad Salim in Indonesia and Sirtjo Koolhof and Tol from abroad, who could give her the assistance she needed in becoming familiar enough with the entire epic to start shaping the script for the stage.

The first workshop was held at Bali Purnati Center for the Arts in December 2002, the second the following August. The entire piece was staged and Wilson had completed initial concepts for the sets, props and other visual elements of the piece. The collaboration of Rahayu Supanggah, composer and Ibu Andi Ummu as dance master was solidified.

Now that the last phase of the project is about to begin with a three-week workshop and practice at the Esplanade, Restu and Grauer can hardly believe the end is near. Restu reminisces about the time of lobbying people to understand their vision, and the many obstacles that lay in the way toward the fulfillment.

"When we were to take Wilson to South Sulawesi, bombs and terrorism broke out in Palu (2001)," she said.

But she drew strength from all the people who urged her to go on. Another obstacle came when Wilson and the Change Performing Arts suggested an international cast, as they were used to.

But Restu and Grauer held firm, and Wilson as well as Change immediately understood the significance and artistic value of an all-Indonesian cast, Indonesian assistants to the technical experts, Indonesian-made cloth for the costumes, even Indonesian products for make-up.

What makes this production even more interesting is the friendship between people of various cultural backgrounds who shared a love for this visionary epic, trusted each other, could count on each other to do their part and got down to working out their problems.

And when the curtain opens in March, and the mysteries of La Galigo unfold in the prestigious Esplanade Theaters-on-the Bay, Indonesians will have a reason to be proud of being Indonesian.