Puppet masters attend course

BANYUMAS, Central Java: A two-day course was held here on Tuesday and Wednesday for Javanese puppet show masters, which was aimed at guiding them back to basics.

Course organizer Suhardi said the course was part of efforts to resist "a worrisome trend of prostitution of the art" among puppet show masters.

"Nowadays, many puppet show masters sacrifice the mainstream to satisfy market demands," Suhardi said. He added that, ideally, puppet show masters should be able to conform the long-standing mainstream with the present sociocultural condition.

During the course, the 52 participants learned basic techniques of the puppet show performance from renowned tutors, including leading master Ki Sugito Purbocarito. (45)