Tales of '1001 Nights' enliven Ramadhan nights

Tales of '1001 Nights' enliven Ramadhan nights

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): Almost every night during the month of Ramadhan, The Stage presented storytelling sessions by various artists and writers of The Tales of 1001 Nights.

The tales are said to have originated during the reign of the Sasaniah -- a Persian dynasty dating from 226-641 A.D. After being betrayed by his unfaithful queen, the ruler of the area King Syahrayar vowed not to be disappointed ever again. In order to ensure loyalty, he ends every subsequent relationship by killing his lover after the first night.

This continued until Syahrayar falls in love with Syahrazad, the daughter of a state official. Knowing of the king's intention to kill her, Syahrazad offered to tell him a tale. Her storytelling did not end that night and had to be continued the next night. King Syahrayar's curiosity, making him want to hear the end of Syahrazad's never ending tale, ultimately spared her from the king's selfish plight of revenge.

Most of the tales told were based on an Indonesian version of the text edited by Muhsin Mahdi published by Penerbit Mizan. The tale of The Hunchback seems to be the most popular among the stories told. While The Merchant and The Genie is the first tale in the text, the storytelling sessions opened with members of the Didi-Sena mime troupe giving a witty and entertaining interpretation of The Hunchback, interspersed with a comical performance of the genies from the first tale by two mimes.

A handful of other performers also recited the story of The Hunchback, including Ratna Sarumpaet and her Satu Merah Panggung theater company.

After 25 nights, the storytelling sessions finally ended last night, with another unique repertoire of The Hunchback (nights 101-105 of the tales) conceived by Henri Chambert-Loir.

Chambert-Loir is a noted scholar of the Malay language. His interests range from Classical Malay (Melayu Kuno), High Malay (Melayu Tinggi) that emerged in Indonesia around the turn of the century, Market Malay (Melayu Pasar), the Betawi dialect of Jakarta, and even to the Prokem slang of Jakarta. His dictionary of the Prokem language was published by the 1980s and is perhaps the most popular of his works.

Chambert-Loir observes that there are many variations in the Indonesian language used today. "The newspapers even have different languages. In one paper you can even sense different voices. The formal language of the writings in page 4 of Kompas (daily) is quite distinct from the language used in page 1 and the other pages." he adds.

Fascinated by the many variations of Malay, he devised a storytelling session including different varieties of the Malay language to indicate social positions -- in lieu of ethnic identities -- of the characters presented in the original text.

Last night's performance started with Syahrazad (played by Baby Jim Aditya of the Satu Merah Panggung teater company) commencing the narration, in High Malay, of how the tailor accidentally killed the hunchback.

The story abruptly shifts to the execution site, where an executioner gets ready to hang the merchant accused of killing the hunchback. The hangman, in the Prokem slang of Jakarta, tells the story of how the drunken merchant attacked the corpse of the hunchback thinking that it was a thief, got caught by the market guard, and was sentenced to death.

As the merchant is about to be hung, a servant steps forward, and tells -- in the Betawi dialect -- how he found the body of the hunchback in his house. Also thinking it was an intruding thief, he hit the hunchback. After that he realized his assailant was in fact a corpse, he took the body outside and leaned it against a wall.

The accusation of being the murderer shifted to the servant. As he was about to be hung, a doctor appeared. The doctor testifies in a bureaucratic voice that he bumped into the corpse in his own house. Because he thought that he had killed the hunchback, he moved the corpse down to the servant's house.

Then it became the doctor's turn to be accused. As the doctor awaits execution by hanging, again in High Malay, Syahrazad closes the story by reciting how the tailor leaves the corpse in the doctor's house. Finally, a palace treasurer rushes to announce the King's decree to cancel the execution.

Syahrazad was played by Baby Jim Aditya of the Satu Merah Panggung teater company. Poet Remmy Novaris DM acted as the hangman, while his colleague, poet Radhar Panca Dahana played the role of the servant. Radhar's most recent anthology was launched at the end of last year. The doctor was characterized by Tetet Sriwidhi, narrator and choreographer of unconventional dances performed Friday nights at the end of the month at the Hilton's Sriwedari Garden. All performers had appeared in previous 1001 Nights storytelling sessions.

The end of The Hunchback tale last night also ended this year's storytelling sessions held at The Stage throughout the fasting month of Ramadhan. However, the creative spirit that has sparked sessions as unique as this will continue to produce more interesting performances next year, like Syahrazad's endless tales. And, just as Syahrayar awaits Syahrazad's storytelling the following evening, we remain and look forward to the coming of next Ramadhan.