Preserving 'reog' Ponorogo through festival

Preserving 'reog' Ponorogo through festival

By Sulistyo Budi N

PONOROGO, East Java (JP): Besides being known as a city of
santri (students of traditional Muslim schools), Ponorogo is also
famous as the city of reog (traditional masked dance).

Reog is well known across Indonesia, and a number of regions
have their own reog groups. Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in Jakarta
regularly features Ponorogo reog shows for tourists.

If you happen to find yourself in Ponorogo, take the time to
go and see the reog show. The dance is so impressive, the East
Java provincial administration has made Ponorogo reog one of the
province's recognized tourist attractions.

Reog has been featured in a number of activities held by the
organization Cultural Relations between Indonesia and the United
States, including one in California in 1991. It also was part of
a cultural expo in Sevilla, Spain, in 1992.

From March 31 through April 6, 2000, the Sixth National Reog
Festival was held in conjunction with Ponorogo's 504th
anniversary.

The East Java provincial administration included the festival
in its tourist packages for the province. This year's festival
was participated in by 35 groups from Ponorogo and around the
country, including from Balikpapan (Singo Manggolo), Riau
(Lancang Kuning), Kutai (Korda), Malang (Singo Lodra), Surabaya
(Singo Mangkujoyo), Jember (Sardudo Anurogo), Semarang (Singo
Barong) and Wonogiri (Singo Wiyono).

Each group performed its own masked dance in the city square.
Some of the groups winning the audience's admiration were Singo
Krido, Sardulo Birowo and Singo Mulangjoyo -- all from Ponorogo
-- and Sardulo Anurogo from Jember, East Java.

The audience was mesmerized by the agile movements of the
dancer from Sardulo Birowo, who was wearing a three-meter tall
peacock mask weighing some 40 kilograms.

A reog dancer requires great strength to be able to dance
while wearing such a heavy mask. During this festival, which
featured some of the top troupes from the country, the dancers
had the skill and strength to carry off their performances with
few difficulties.

According to Sudarmo, 40, a reog dancer from Ponorogo, before
performing the dance he, like any other reog dancer, must first
fast for a couple of days to prevent any possible mishaps. He
also said a complete reog troupe consisted of between 20 and 40
people with one of them, called the Singobarong, being called on
to perform the peacock dance.

"This dancer represents a knight whose face is that of a
tiger, and on whose head a peacock, with its wings fully
extended, is perched," he said.

Formidable strength

A Singobarong must have formidable strength to be capable of
dancing with the peacock mask, which weighs from 40 to 100 kilos.

Besides the peacock dance, a reog troupe traditionally
features a dancer playing the role of King Klana Sewandono, who
is depicted as a person with magical powers and a magic whip
called Pecut Samandiman. There is also a dancer assuming the role
of Bujangganong, the king's chief minister, usually depicted as
an ugly faced knight with comical gestures, and two or more
dancers as the king's cavalry soldiers. These roles used to be
danced by male teenagers called gemblak, but now female teenagers
fill the roles.

Then there is an escort group comprising dancers donning
costumes usually worn by warok, ascetics who are martial arts
experts. They are fiery-looking men with thick moustaches and
beards, wearing belts which nearly reach the ground. A reog
performance is usually accompanied by music played on traditional
instruments known as kendhang, kempul, kenong, angklung
and slompret (a flute which produces notes unique of a reog
dance).

According to a well-known legend, the reog dance depicts a
procession of the entourage of King Klana Sewandono, who is
traveling to Kediri Kingdom to ask for the hand of Dewi
Sanggalangit in marriage.

A version of this legend says the reog dance originated during
the Kediri Kingdom in the 11th century.

The story goes that in the days of yore there stood a kingdom
known as Batarangin, which was ruled by a wise young king called
Klana Sewandono. His chief minister, Pujangga Anom, possessed
magical powers. (In a reog dance he is known as Bujangganong.)

So one day the king dreamed that he had met a beautiful
princess of the Kediri Kingdom, Dewi Songgolangit. At once the
king fell in love with the princess and sent Pujangga Anom to
Kediri to ask for the hand of the princess in marriage.

Dewi Songgolangit accepted the proposal on the condition that
the king present to her a show that had never been seen by anyone
before. Hearing this request, Pujangga Anom remembered how King
Singa Barong, who had the head of a tiger with a peacock perched
upon it, was defeated by his king. The chief minister made use of
this battle as the material for a performance to be presented
before the princess. The show was a success and the princess
agreed to marry the king.

Another version of the origin of the reog has it that this
dance was first performed to mock King Brawijaya V, a Majapahit
king married to a Chinese princess. The mighty Majapahit king had
been subdued by the beauty of the princess.

It is for this reason, so this version goes, that the peacock
dancer is depicted as a knight whose face is that of a tiger and
on whose head a peacock is perched. The tiger represents King
Brawijaya V, while the peacock symbolizes the Chinese princess.

Toward the end of the reog festival, there was a round-the-
town procession of the town's heirlooms in remembrance of its
founding. Before the procession, the participants paid homage at
the grave of Bathoro Katong, believed to be the town's founder.

The procession commenced at the grave of Bathoro Katong in
Setono village, Jenangan subdistrict. The heirlooms carried
during the procession were the Songong Tunggul Wulung, Tunggul
Nogo, the spear of Kyai Baru and Cinde Puspito.

The procession was led by Markum Singodimejo, who is in charge
of the day-to-day operations of the regency. Interestingly, all
Ponorogo regency officials and participants of the procession
donned costumes unique to Ponorogo: black shirts with jarit wiron
and loose black pants. They also carried a keris, a Javanese wavy
double-bladed dagger. Some participants were attired in penadon,
which is also unique to Ponorogo, with udheng gadung headbands
and loose black pants.

Now that the festival is over and all the participants have
returned home, one question remains: "How long can this national
reog festival last?" Can the festival help preserve reog as part
of our national heritage?