Straw puppets on show at Japanese Cultural Center

Straw puppets on show at Japanese Cultural Center

JAKARTA (JP): Javanese traditional art enthusiasts will have a
chance to see a rare show of wayang suket by dalang
(puppetmaster) Slamet Gundono at the Japanese Cultural Center on
Friday starting at 7 p.m.

Wayang suket (straw puppets) basically has the same characters
as the well-known Javanese wayang kulit (leather puppets), and
also has the Mahabharata epic as the main source of its stories.

Wayang suket is a multimedia art which is an innovation of the
traditional wayang kulit. It is a mixture of the traditional
wayang, theater, dance and music. The dialog involves not only
the characters but also the other members of the troupe.

Performed in cooperation between the Japanese Cultural Center
and PT Eksotika Karmawibhangga Indonesia, the show will feature
the lakon (story) of Anak Lanang Putra Matahari (son of the sun).
A show on the same story was performed in Surakarta, Central
Java, on April 11.

It tells of Kunthi who was forced to abandon her baby boy,
Karna, in the Ganges River because he was the result of her
affair with Batara Surya, the sun god. Karna survived and later
became the commander in chief of Astina Kingdom.

In the Baratayuda war, Karna has to confront Arjuna, his half
brother (Kunthi's son with her husband Pandhu). Either Karna or
Arjuna must die in the war and Kunthi has to decide which.

The dialog is mainly in Javanese with occasional Indonesian.
(pan)