Wayang Educational Package

Sesaji Raja Suya

~ The Grand Offering of the Kings ~

(Village Classical Style) 

FILMS

For centuries, the people of Indonesia have reveled in the art of the shadow puppet theater (wayang kulit or wayang). The international significance of wayang was testified to by UNESCO when it declared the art form a “masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.” The organization’s action plan calls for the creation of inventories, publications, and audio-visual recordings.

The Lontar Foundation’s audio-visual production of six wayang performances, along with its publication of the six performance texts in Javanese, English, and Indonesian, and one volume containing the gamelan notation of all six performances form a partial answer to this call.

In Javanese wayang today, there are three major performance styles: classical (klasik); contemporary-interpretive (garapan sedalu); and condensed (padat). The films of the six performances are of two different wayang tales as performed in three different styles each, by the renowned dhalang Purbo Asmoro. All films contain English and Indonesian subtitles.

By Purbo Asmoro (dhalang); Kathryn Emerson (English subtitles); Sunardi and Wikan Satriati (Indonesian Subtitles)

Short Description:

In the classical style of the villages, particularly Klaten, Central Java, dhalang use much of the same traditional structure represented in the palace classical style. However, in places there are different choices of gamelan accompaniment, sung poetry, dialogue patterns, narration, and dramatic pacing, leading to a slightly different aesthetic.

About the Author:

Purbo Asmoro is an instructor in the Pedalangan Department at the Institute of Indonesian Arts in Surakarta for over twenty years. In 1989 he was created and debuted an innovative system of story-telling, applied to traditional seven-hour wayang performances, which he further developed the style over the subsequent decade. After studying gamelan performance practice intensely for over a decade.

Kathryn Emerson, originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA, began to focus her studies on Javanese wayang kulit purwa. In 2004, she developed a technique for simultaneously translating wayang performances. She has worked as Purbo Asmoro’s translator since 2004.

Buy at:

Outside of Indonesia, Lontar’s Wayang Educational Package’s DVD is sold through:

Multicultural Media (100 State Street, Suite 249, Montpelier, Vermont 05602 USA).Phone: 802 839-0371; Email: support@worldmusicstore.com