Women play pivotal role in Javanese 'wayang' shows
Women play pivotal role in Javanese 'wayang' shows
By Kanti Walujo
JAKARTA (Antara): The dalang (Javanese shadow puppet master) usually needs supporting personnel in charge of the orchestra, stage management, sound system, lighting, offerings and logistics to enable the show to go on.
These team members can be a man or a woman. And so are people who benefit from the show: food and drink vendors, toy sellers or parking attendants.
People in the particular area usually hear of the planned show by word of the mouth. The information usually concerns who hosts the event, on what occasion and who is the dalang. The more popular the dalang, the greater the number of people will turn up to see the show.
Residents will come together in an act of gotong royong (working together out of solidarity) to build the stage, while vendors erect their makeshift tents outside.
The stage-building is the job of men, while the women largely work in the kitchen preparing meals.
But Javanese culture allows a woman to become a dalang, a gamelan player, a singer or to prepare the traditional offerings.
In the Javanese wayang show, women may assume practically any role -- just like men. This is unlike the Sundanese puppet show, which confines the role to men.
In the Javanese wayang, there are women characters that become idols, such as the beautiful, tough-talking Srikandi. In real life, a national heroine is often called "Srikandi".
Women's involvement is tolerated at the event and they are allowed to stay up. However, tradition does not allow women to stay up the whole night outside the house. Female dalang, pesinden (singers) and gamelan players enjoy this privilege.
The dalang, who can be a man or a woman, plays the pivotal role in the wayang show.
A female dalang who enjoys huge popularity is Nyi Suharni from the Central Java regency of Sragen. She is a disciple of the late Nartosabdo, a legendary male dalang from Semarang.
Suharni is distinguished for her voice, which is appropriate for both male and female characters.
In Jakarta, Nyi Rumiati from Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) and Nyi Suliansih are quite well-known.
East Java towns produce a number of well-known dalangs. They come from Madiun, which is proud to have Nyi Hesti Tarsih, while Magetan has Nyi Titik Pujiastuti, Tuban has Nyi Winarni, and Lamongan has Nyi Yayuk.
Surakarta boasts Nyi Siti Aminah, an employee of RRI Solo. This disciple of Ki Probohardjono has a mission of promoting Christianity.
Some foreign women who have serious interest in local culture have also become dalang. Dr. Kathy Foley of the U.S., for example, is a dalang of Sundanese wayang golek.
She introduced wayang golek to her students at the Santa Cruz University in California.
A pesinden, or singer, is the most common role for women to play in wayang shows. She earns a reasonable amount of tips from her fans.
But singing is, apparently, not a woman's monopoly. Ki Anom Suroto is known to have a male pesinden, who boasts female voice capacities.
The dalang usually has a permanent singer. He may also hire a local singer when performing outside his or her usual area, or he may have a guest singer. Dalang Timbul Hadiprayitno, for example, will usually be accompanied by a Jakarta singer when performing in the capital. Many of Jakarta's pesinden are employees of RRI Jakarta.
Anom Suroto will usually do the same thing, on the grounds that bringing 10 pesinden from Surakarta to Jakarta would be very expensive. Nyi Sukarni of Jakarta is his preferred singer.
The permanent pesinden will accompany her dalang wherever he performs. Usually, the dalang will pick his wife to become his fixed singer as Ki Mantep Sudarsono does.
Ki Anom Suroto has several permanent pesinden -- Dewi, Darsini, Harjuti, Sumiati, Muriah Budiati and Maryanto -- the lattest being a man.
Waljinah, a Javanese keroncong folk icon is probably the best- known guest singer of Anom Suroto.
A guest star is usually paid by the host, while the permanent and local pesinden are paid by the dalang.
The gamelan orchestra players are generally men who wear traditional Javanese attire. But short performances of one to two hours often involve women. The best example is the performance by teenage dalang Pamungkas Sakti Sedono, who recruits his fellow SMPN 149 junior Jakarta high school friends, both girls and boys.
Indonesian women have published fewer articles or journals on wayang than foreign women. Local women scholars need more encouragement to study the cultural heritage.
Every wayang performance needs a collaboration of men and women artists to make it a success.
The writer is chairwoman of the Post Graduate Communication Studies Program at Dr. Soetomo University in Surabaya.