Traditional performances find place in changing times

Traditional performances find place in changing times

By Prapti Widinugraheni and I. Christianto

JAKARTA (JP): It is dinner time. A couple of Balinese dancers
prance energetically onstage to the sound of lively traditional
music. Foreign guests watch the show from their tables and move
in closer to snap pictures with their pocket cameras.

This could be Bali, where dance performances are common
attractions for tourists at many star-rated hotels and
restaurants.

Yet the scene was in Jakarta, a city whose residents are
supposedly so affected by the hustle and bustle of
"modernization", "globalization" and everything else that
displaces the fragile and traditional.

Jakarta, it turns out, still has its gentle side.

Look no further than Raden Kuring restaurant, the site of the
dance performance. Instead of hiring a jazz band or a foreign
singing group to entertain guests, it keeps traditional
performances going, even if it's purely for the sake of
attracting foreign tourists.

The restaurant operation manager, Soekardi, said the
restaurant never intended to "go traditional" when it opened for
business in 1986. The idea came from an employee.

"To my surprise, the employee said she could dance and was
willing to perform," he said.

Raden Kuring began staging regular traditional dances and more
employees became involved.

"In 1988, we started cooperating with several dance groups to
make things more professional," he said.

The winner of last year's Adikarya Wisata tourism award now
has two hour-long traditional dance performances every day. The
dances originate from West Java, Central Java, Bali, Sumatra and
Jakarta (Betawi).

He acknowledged the restaurant was unable to offer live
traditional music because of limited funds.

"I believe what we are doing can still help preserve the
country's traditions," he said.

Another place in Jakarta contributing to preserve the national
heritage, albeit in quite a different way, is Hailai
International Executive Club in Ancol, North Jakarta.

Traditional dances at this club are performed as opening acts
for foreign pop entertainers.

Hailai's stage manager G. Aditya said his restaurant presented
four traditional dances daily. The performances start at 8:05
p.m. and last 25 minutes.

The major entertainment lasts a full two hours. How do the two
compare in cost and value?

Soeriatno Santoso, the club's director of operations, said a
local group was usually paid Rp 400,000 (US$163) per day while a
foreign singer got an average of $250 per show.

Yet there are still many niches for traditional entertainment.

Sampan Bujana Sentra, for example, is a place where people can
get "something different", according to dancer and choreographer
Sampan Hismanto.

His restaurant offers live traditional performances and music
played entirely by his employees.

"I hire 40 personnel, each of whom can perform traditional
dances and play traditional musical instruments," he said.
Sampan Bujana Sentra is open daily, except Sundays, with a 90-
minute traditional performance starting at 8 p.m.

"My major market is mostly foreign tourists. These are the
things they are looking for," he said.

"But I would be more grateful if Indonesians also come here so
they can understand more about their own culture and art."

Restaurants and other tourist spots are not along in the
struggle to remind Indonesians of their national heritage.

Several television stations, such as Televisi Pendidikan
Indonesia (TPI) and Indosiar, are also doing their part.

Theresia Ella Sari, TPI public relations manager, said the
station aired traditional performing arts shows as it was
"committed to prioritizing local products, including traditional
arts".

The audience rating is low -- about 2 according to Survey
Research Indonesia (SRI) -- and revenues from advertisers are in
general insignificant, but TPI intends to go on with the show.

"There are times when programs shouldn't be created merely for
the sake of commercial profitability, but for idealism as well,"
she said.

Popularity

She added that the popularity of traditional performing arts
should not be underestimated despite the SRI ratings, which apply
only to the major cities of Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya
and Medan.

The reason TPI's wayang (leather puppet performances or
traditional plays) programs were aired late at night was not
because of unpopularity, she added.

"Live wayang plays, and many other traditional performances,
in their original village setting only start late at night and
end at dawn. So we don't want our audience to feel shocked or
disturbed by airing such shows earlier in the day," she said.

The actual fans of TPI's traditional performances, most of
whom are not covered in SRI ratings, are very enthusiastic, she
said.

"Once, when our wayang show was not shown, we got hundreds of
phone calls from all over the country asking about it."

Ella said TPI was almost likely to continue airing location
recordings of performing arts because it was about three times
less expensive than having traditional groups come to TPI's
studio.

"We once tried studio shooting for such programs, but it was
too expensive and advertisers weren't interested," she said.

"But if we discovered a good, reliable studio format (for
this) plus the appropriate financial support, we'd choose the
studio format."

Indosiar is another TV station whose proportion of traditional
performances make up about 5 percent of a day's programs,
comparatively large in proportion to the three other private TV
stations.

The station, unlike TPI, has no plans to studio-record
traditional programs.

Indosiar public relations manager Andreas Ambesa said the
station would never consider the studio format, "because our
audience prefers on location recordings". He added that it was
also a lot cheaper.

The airing of traditional performing arts programs on Indosiar
started as a purely non-profit project, he said.

"When Indosiar first went on air in 1995, it decided not to
make segmentations of its audience," he said. "This means it was
committed to making sure that everyone -- be it lovers of
Hollywood films, soap operas, music shows and traditional
performances -- could enjoy the station's programs."

The station's debut with traditional shows started on Aug. 17,
1995 when it aired a full 24 hours of wayang kulit shows.

"It turned out that the audience gave a very positive
response, which we learned from the telephone calls and letters
we received later on," he said.

Like TPI, Indosiar is circumspect about the SRI ratings, which
give the programs ratings between 0 and 2.

"Our audience for these programs is in small towns and
cities," he said.

"They're definitely not profitable programs, but over the
years advertisers have become increasingly interested because
they know that many high-ranking government officials like them."

One exception to the low profitability is Srimulat, a program
aired every Thursday night, which is popular in SRI-covered
cities with a rating of 12.

"Indosiar has managed to make the Srimulat cast very popular.
Now they are asked to perform at various events," he said.