Wayang - Indonesia Extraordinary Puppet Theatre
Wayang is a classic form of storytelling, which took a huge part of Indonesian culture and tradition, in terms of sharing Indonesian history, and fairytales. The word “wayang” actually comes from Javanese phrase for shadow, utilising a puppet figure's shadow to deliver a tale to the audience. However, not all wayang utilise puppets and shadows. There are a few types of wayang performances that do not use the silhouette of the puppets:
- Wayang Kulit is a wayang that is made from leather
- Wayang Wong in which the overall performance is performed by the actors, as opposed to puppets
- Wayang Gedog is much like Wayang Wong, but the actors wear masks)
- Wayang Golek which is similar to wooden puppets but in the style of Wayang
- Wayang Klitik, a small wayang this is made of timber
- Wayang Beber which overall performance has been advised by the use of scroll paintings
Wayang Kulit and Wayang Klitik are two examples of wayang performances that rely on the puppets' shadows and the dalang's voices to tell their stories. The puppets' shadows are traditionally thrown onto a large white screen by an oil lamp or an electric bulb during the play. However, some wayang styles don't employ shadow to tell the tale. For instance, Wayang Wong performs with actors whereas Wayang Golek utilises wooden puppets. Nayaga (gamelan players) and sinden typically accompany the wayang performance while the dalang (puppet master) recounts the narrative (female choral singer).
Even though there was a time when wayang lost its popularity, it seems to be forgotten. These days, wayang got massive recognition as a pop culture by the rise of Gundala (Indonesian indigenous superhero) which steals people's hearts. There are people like Is Yuniarto, and Metalu that brings wayang into the mainstream media by making Iron Man, and Genshin Impact wayang.
JOOi believes that we as the young generation should nurture this tradition and help to introduce wayang to the world so we won't lose one of our remarkable cultures and traditions since Indonesia is well known to be one of the most diverse countries in terms of culture, and tradition.
Now come to the fun part, on October 7 2022 in celebration of Yogyakarta's 266 birthday, the city will celebrate it by having Wayang Jogja Night Carnival. Yogyakarta's head tourism department makes sure that the event this year will be a spectacular one. This year's event theme is about telling a story about the marriage between 4 big figures in wayang history, which are the marriage between Arjuna and Sembada, as well as Baladewa and Erawati. JOOi as your best travel buddy is ready to accompany you witnessing the biggest wayang performance in 2022.
