Theater groups strive to save Sundanese

Theater groups strive to save Sundanese

BANDUNG (JP): The latest effort to preserve the Sundanese
language is to perform traditional plays.

And the most recent theater group to perform these plays is
Kiwari, a Sundanese theatrical group combining traditional and
modern elements. For its maiden performance to help push the
campaign to save the Sundanese language, the group has chosen a
play by Hidayat Suryalaga titled Tatangga (Neighbors).

In September, the group staged the play several times and this
month they perform it every Sunday. In later months, the group
will perform other plays.

There used to be several similar groups in West Java,
particularly in Bandung, such as Sri Murni and Miss Cicih. The
latter used to be famous and idolized by the community. However,
these groups have virtually disappeared because of their
inability to innovate.

Some former members of these groups told The Jakarta Post that
they could not continue because of financial problems and
reluctance from the local administration to sponsor their
performances, let alone extend financial support.

Other traditional or folk theatrical forms such as longser,
pantun (a kind of dialog in poetry), dance dramas, terbangan,
tarling and so forth have also disappeared from Pasundan, the
Sundanese Land.

Since its establishment in early 1988, Kiwari Theater has
staged Sundanese plays and tried to revive longser in their
performances. Kiwari Theater chairman, R. Dadi P. Danusubrata
told The Jakarta Post recently that Kiwari Theater was obsessed
about cultivating the culture and language through theatrical
performances.

This obsession conformed to the regulation of the West Java
provincial office of the national education ministry which
requires all students in West Java to use Sundanese every
Wednesday.

To Kiwari Theater the compulsory use of Sundanese was taken as
an expression of great worry about the fate of the language
because, unlike speakers of Javanese, Batak and other regional
languages, Sundanaese speakers are greatly reduced in number.

In light of this situation, Kiwari Theater tapped this
opportunity by performing lighter plays easily understood by
school students.

On Oct. 1, Kiwari Theater performed Tatangga (Neighbors) under
the director of R. Dadi Danusubrata at Rementang Siang Arts House
in Bandung. After the performance, Dadi said apart from
preserving Sundanese folk theater, Kiwari Theater intended to
cultivate the language through its theatrical performances.
Kiwari Theater's performances are not purely traditional as it
incorporates a blend of Sundanese traditional and modern
theatrical elements.

Black-and-white

Tatangga was chosen for its easy plot, its black-and-white
depiction about human traits and advice of not to forget the
regional languages spread throughout Indonesia's provinces.

Tatangga has been performed over the last several months and
will continue to run in the coming weeks. The play has earned a
warm welcome from students, teachers and parents.

The performance is only an initial step toward preserving and
popularizing the Sundanese language. Of course, Kiwari Theater
will later perform high-brow plays.

The play revolves around two girls, Neng Elsye and Neng Emmi,
who are both very fond of showing off their wealth and their
parents' positions in society.

To cultivate and preserve the Sundanese language, there are
some art forms other than theater, such as kecapi suling (string
instrument and flute), reog (singing comedy group), calung
(bamboo xylophone), degung (gamelan), pantun (traditional
poetry), angklung (suspended bamboo tubes which make a sound when
shook) and a host of other art forms and genres, which may be on
the brink of extinction or have, perhaps, become extinct.

Meanwhile, the only surviving Sundanese mass media
publication, Mangle, is read by the elderly. It is almost unknown
among the young. (matdon)