Slowly but surely we are getting used to the limitations imposed by the seemingly never-ending Covid-19 pandemic. Many of us have been compelled to become more innovative and creative in what we do—a trend that has been most evident in Jakarta’s arts and culture community.
Starved for live entertainment, with no film showings at theaters, no concerts or performances, and no arenas hosting sports events, the Indonesian public enthusiastically welcomed the recent airing on YouTube of Sandiwara Sastra (“Literary Plays”), a series of 30-minute audio plays presented by a number of well-known actors. The plays were based on popular literary titles and, for many older Indonesians, hearing the plays read harkened back to the days when the radio was the only source of news and story-telling.
Production of the series represented a collaborative venture between the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Titimanngsa Foundation, an association fostering the performing arts, and the Kawan-Kawan Media group. The adaptations included Ronggeng Duku Paruk by Ahmad Tohari, which Lontar published under the title, The Dancer, and Umar Kayam’s Seribu Kunang-Kunang di Manhattan, which Lontar released as Fireflies in Manhattan, both of which are part of our Modern Library series.
On a sad note, note, we mourn the loss of Indonesia’s preeminent poet and literary guru, Sapardi Djoko Damono, who passed away at the age of 80 on July 19. Born in Surakarta, Central Java, his passion for literature started at a young age, reading copious books, writing poetry while still in high school and starting a lending library in his neighborhood. He graduated from Gajah Mada University in Indonesian Literature, still concentrating on his poetry, but branching out into radio broadcasting, the theater and writing fiction and non-fiction. He was the recipient of many awards, notably the SEA Write Award in 1986 and most recently, the Akademi Jakarta Award in 2012. He taught at the University of Indonesia, serving as the dean of its Literature Faculty from 1990 to 2004.
Pak Sapardi will forever be etched in our memory as one of the founders of Lontar, together with Goenawan Mohamad, John McGlynn, the late Umar Kayam, and the late Subagio Sastrowardoyo who passed away on 18 July 1995—almost exactly 25 years ago to the day that Sapardi left us.
Yuli Ismartono
yismartono@lontar.org