Art & Culture
Wayang Golek
A lot of people think that the art of wayang puppet come from the country of India. In fact, according to R. Gunawan Djajakusumah in his book Introduction to West Java Purwa Wayang Golek (Pengenalan Wayang Golek Purwa di Jawa Barat) that it is not true. He says that wayang puppet is an original Indonesian culture (specifically in Java Island).
The saying which derived from Wad an Hyang, means “ancestor” but some also say that it comes from and means “shadow”. Those who think that wayang puppet comes from India may have been basing it from the origin of its story which taking place in the setting of Ramayana and Mahabrata (originated from Hinduism Holy Book). But afterwards, those stories are changed and adapted with the culture of Javanese.
In West Java, the art of wayang is called “Wayang Golek”. It means performing the art of wayang using wooden made puppets which similar to human face and body. There are four types of figures in wayang golek, which are Rahwana (the golek wears makuta in the model of sekar kluwih and engraved with carvings which similar to that Pajajaran and Mataram Kingdom with his decendants Suyudana and Dursasana), figure Arjuna (describing the figure of handsome and courageous true warrior; its clothing uses supit urang; in the same generation are Bima and Gatotkaca), figure Garuda Mungkur (the face of garuda with sticking out tongue), figure Bineka Sari (like a casuarina tree arranged upwards like in the wayang of Kresna, Baladewa, Arimbi, Rama and Indra, figure Kuluk, its clothing accessories wears the image of garuda or sumping such as existing in the wayang of Batara Guru, Karna and Kumbangkarna. These figures are made using ugaran and based upon their own art talent (based upon personal taste). The makers of wayang are present in the area of Bogor (selacau Batujajar) and Cibiru Bandung.
Parts of wayang art consist of : Dalang (the one who plays the puppets based on the story),the puppets themselves (hundreds in number), nayaga (group or people who play gamelan, kendang, goong, rebab (scrape musical instrument) and juru kawih as well as juru alok). All of those parts become on unity which can not be separated. One and another synergizes according to the rhythm and story.
Wayang show is usually done during traditional parties, marriages, and circumcision, Agustusan or during special occasion (usually called ruwatan). The showtime could reach whole night or only several hours. The content of the story adapts the principle of galur (take wholly based on Ramayana and Mahabrata stories) and some use the principle of sempalan (take only several parts which usually interesting for the audience such as: battles, and humors).
Wayang show which use the principle of galur usually takes whole night whereas sempalan only one to two hours only. Let alone if the show is broadcasted through television station which has limited broadcasting time, it can only reach 45 minutes only. In the condition of society with high social activity and requiring extra fast time, then the show which has short time but with dense story and interesting humor dialogues will be more favored than the one using galur principle as its story. For older generation audience and galur principle fanatics, they will like the original storyline even though they’ve already watched and heard it repeatedly. But for younger generation who thirst for instant entertainment, stories with the principle of sempalan are mostly liked.
How many wayang character which in the same time is the amount of the puppet itself? The answer, according to R. Gunawan Djajakusumah, is that there are 623 character and not all of them are put up during the show.
According to our observation (the editorial staff) in one show usually presenting betweet 20 to 30 puppets and the one which oftenly appears is mostly the figures which already known to the public such as: arjuna, pandawa lima especially si Cepot, gatotkaca, bima, rahwana, anggota pasukan Kurawa. The amount of dalang which is recorded until the year of 2002 is not more than a hundred and the one who is liked by the people are Asep Sunarya, Ade Sunarya, Dede Amung. These puppetmaster have high technical ability to play the wayang, able to tell the story well, interesting humor and communicative with the audience.