Wayang Kulit in Yogyakarta

Wayang Kulit or Shadow Puppet is probably the most well-known ethnic culture in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Although there is no evidence, it is belief that this show has been played since hundreds of years ago. Before the TV show become very popular nowadays, Wayang kulit was the main entertainment for the people. My Grandfather loves it very much that he knows almost any scenario for this show which can be hundreds of scenarios. Now, mainly only the elderly people love this kind of puppet, the new generations prefer the western culture which is more gleaming.

Wayang Kulit is a kind of a puppet show which is played by one main person who control the movement and the story of the puppet, he is called the Dalang. He is like the God. He is the main controller. He is assisted by a groups of traditional musician which played the Gamelan, the Javanese traditional set of music instruments. There is also the Sinden, or the singer, which usually are ladies. Then there is the assistant of the Dalang, his duties is to prepare the puppet before being used.

The show itself run for the whole night. Normally it start from 9 or 10 pm until the sun is rising. For the whole time, the Dalang has to sit still in a cross legged sitting position the whole night, even without going to the bathroom. Imagine that!!! Just to sit like that I barely stand for 2 hours, and a whole night without bathroom??? Unbelievable. Some people said that Dalang has some occult power that they can transfer their urine to the audience. And it's not only the Dalang, the Sinden, or the singers, also has to sit still for the whole night. What a strong ladies they are.

The language to play Wayang Kulit is the Javanese. There are three levels of Javanese, which are : Kromo Inggil (used to speak to older persons), Kromo Alus (used to speak to same age persons) and Boso Ngoko (used to speak to younger persons). I can used Boso Ngoko actively or passively, but I can only understand Kromo Inggil and Kromo Alus passively. We rarelly used them nowadays. The songs are also in Javanese, normally in Kromo Inggil.

The story of Wayang Kulit is full of meaning and advice to the audience while the stroyline is normally taken from Mahabharata or Ramayana epic. There can be hundreds of scenario to play and for each show, it can be for a whole night. I am still also amaze on how the Dalang can memorize so many and so long scenario in a difficult language. Of course there are some interlude in the show for the humour and also the songs but the story is still very long and there is only one man that play all of it. The Dalang is like a monolog. He has to do the conversation between various character himself, with different vocal range and vocal character to diffentiate each character. An amazing man, I must say.

Wayang kulit is normally made of animal leather, normally cow's leather. This letter is dried and then carved traditionally and carefully by a wayang carver according the each character pattern, and then painted and given a bufallo hornstick for the handle. The whole process can take up to one full month to complete for each character. This work required a detailed and artfull dedication.

Nowadays, Wayang Kulit is also broadcast by the TV's which is very good because it may sustain itself from extinction. Among more popular western shows, Wayang Kulit tries to struggle its existence in this beautiful country. If you are some how stayed in Yogyakarta, you can ask your hotel to take you to a Wayang Kulit show in Yogyakarta. For the whole night you can feel the amazing athmosphere of ethnic here in Java, Indonesia