Wangi devotes life to dying folk art

Zora Rahman, Contributor, Yogyakarta

Wangi ("fragrant") is a very unusual name, but whoever meets Wangi Indriya Taham discovers that this name suits her. The petite and tender woman has the presence and vivacity of a beguiling fragrance, filling all corners of a room with her charisma, as soon as she begins to interact.

This is -- besides her talent, of course -- probably the main reason for her success as an artist. Having not only a well-known reputation in mask dance or traditional theater, Wangi is also one of the very few women actively performing as a dalang (puppet master), a strictly male-dominated art.

Another likely reason is her heritage, as she originates from a family of popular dalang, deeply rooted in the traditional arts of Cirebon, where everybody from childhood is exposed to all kinds of traditional arts -- dance, wayang, theater, wood carving or sculpture.

"The art runs in my family, it has been our bread and butter and will continue to be so," Wangi said. "The older ones are used to bringing the younger ones to their performances, so they will learn how the art is practiced. But we never force anybody to become an artist. Some of our children learn the arts as a hobby and later they can choose to make it their profession."

The 41-year-old mother of three sons today leads Sanggar Mulya Bhakti, a dance school in her hometown of Jatibarang, founded by her father Taham in 1983. The permanent members of the Sanggar (studio) currently represent three generations: Wangi's father's generation, artists of her own age as the majority, and a couple of beginners from her children's generation.

"Most of us are related in many ways, so we are all part of a big family -- either by blood or by marriage. Two of the most important musicians in the group are my cousins and we have been playing together since we were very small," she said.

Although she has a very cautious and modest appearance, the second of four sisters learned to assert herself from an early age. Since her adolescence, Wangi learned the mask dance from her grandfather, who was a very strict teacher.

"Training at home was far from the entire program," Wangi says. "After school, I had to cruise the streets and dance from door to door. Sometimes I cried and ran away from lessons."

It was also her grandfather who first took her to wayang performances.

"When I was nine years old, grandpa was already quite old and his popularity started to drop. So he asked me to open the performance, like an introduction, before he started to play."

However, at first Wangi was not very keen on becoming a dalang. Theater and dancing seemed more interesting to her. In addition to extensive training in all traditional arts (wayang, Cirebon mask dance and theater) in Indramayu, Wangi had taken contemporary dance courses at the Indonesian Arts Institute (STSI) in Solo and Bandung.

"I appreciate my experience in contemporary dance projects, considering that period an important learning stage for me," Wangi said. "Contemporary arts give artists space to express their feelings. This is in contradiction with traditional arts, where freedom of expression is limited by rules and specific techniques we have to comply with. Of course, there is room for interpretation and improvisation, but much less than in contemporary arts."

Wangi stopped performing after she got married. It was only in the beginning of the 1990s that she started to practice again at the request of her father. She initially just took over parts of her father's wayang performances, until the people got to know her, then she herself was asked to play in local ceremonies.

To perform as a dalang is particularly challenging for women, mainly because of the voice register. Especially the very deep and hoarse voice of the ogre, a regular character of almost every wayang play, which is in a range that is very difficult to manage for a woman.

"In some villages they refuse to have female dalang, because they are not satisfied with a woman's voice," Wangi said.

Though rare, there are other female dalang in Indonesia, as Wangi knows since she participated at the Women's Dalang Festival in Solo in 1996.

"There are a few women dalang in Cirebon, but they are already quite old - maybe two of them are still alive," she says. "But there hasn't been a female dalang in Indramayu since the 1930s."

The art of wayang has recently started to change. To keep the audience interested, the performances have become more flexible and interactive. If a spectator requests a special song, the dalang will comply.

Wangi responds to this development with her own style. "I try to be more communicative with the audience, for example by inserting several jokes, just to build up a more comfortable atmosphere."

Her latest project is the interpretation of an old German silhouette film from 1926, The Adventures of Prince Achmed by Lotte Reiniger. Instead of the original symphonic soundtrack, Wangi and her orchestra accompany the silent movie, whose figures are inspired by Asian shadowplay, with traditional narration and gamelan music.

Even though working with an animation film seemed very strange to her in the beginning, she dared to experiment with incorporating the two media. The final success surprised her and reconfirmed her decision to keep traditional arts alive through the integration with modern art.

Since she is the one continuing the family tradition, her father is always with her. He even accompanies her on her regular travels with her group, performing at various dalang or dance festivals throughout Indonesia, or touring several other countries to introduce and exhibit wayang and the mask dance.

"Of course, I am deeply influenced by both my father and my grandfather. But the three of us have been staging performances in three different eras, so I think each of us also has a unique character and style", Wangi says. "Even while performing with my father, I have to fulfill the requirements of a good artist regardless of whom I work with."