Cetho and Sukhu Temple trip

This picture is special for Lauren, Lore and Liz - good jumping spot! wish you were here!


The countryside, terraced rice fields, coffee plantations, farmlands, Mt. Lawu towering above, winding streets climbing on the slopes of the volcano, awe-inspiring landscapes, breathtaking views, peace and exhilaration . On the slopes of Lawu stands Cetho temple full of phallic symbols, a place for male virility ceremonies. Cetho means clear because from the gateway of this temple one can see clear to Surakarta and all the plantations and villages flowing down the mountain.

Climbing through successive pyramid like gateways you reach the temple and squeeze through and up a steep staircase to the top where a giant linggus (penis) once stood and rites were performed (the linggus is now at the National Museum in Jakarta).

Further and steeper on the slopes of Mt. Lawu is Sukuh temple that was used for female fertility and marriage preparation ceremonies. At the gateway of this temple is a place that is believed by the Hindu to help a woman who cannot become pregnant be fertile by performing a ritual there. The temple grounds have various levels that were used for different rituals and meditation practices. The grounds are landscaped and gamelan music rings up the mountainside from a nearby wedding.

Mt. Lawu looms in the distance.



Coffee plantations line the slopes and hills up Mt. Lawu



The Cetho Temple after going through the successive gateways. It is about 1 story high. The temple being at the back of the site is in the East Java style, the Central Java temples of Borobudur and Pramadan built earlier have the temple in the center. The style is reminiscent of the ancient Maya and Aztec temples of Central America although there is no evidence of contact between these cultures.



View from the temple steps leading to top out to the various descending levels and gateways.



Sukuh Temple is also built with various levels that ascend towards the temple but has only one gateway that looks more like a mini temple and fertility rites would be performed there.

By the way, this trip was done on the back of a motorcycle with a guide. A motorcycle is the best way to see and experience Indonesia.

Ki Purbo Asmoro performs Gendreh Kemasan

This story is a Javanese episode based on the Mahabharata and has been part of the Javanese story for many generations. The story is quite complicated and requires some background knowledge of the whole, or previous episodes, thanks to Kitsie I got a good synopsis of what would be happening and was able to follow Pak Purbo's performance.
Pak Purbo is quite spectacular and awe inspiring. His puppet manipulation is graceful and vibrant. His passion comes through in his voice and his beautifully expressive face. I had the privilege and honor of being close enough to see his hands and face throughout the performance. And even when the puppets were in dialogue (not moving) I was mesmerized by his expressive voice and face somehow having an understanding of the story without actually understanding the language. I realized watching him how important the voice of the dalang really is. His voices for the characters all have a special quality. His singing was lovely. And his passion really comes through in his voice and his attentiveness to the characters. It really seemed he was in character, or multiple characters, switching back and forth with ease like a talented actor.

He is a more traditional dalang and is charismatic, passionate and funny as he performs. He plays off as well as with the audience, the singers and other "special " people in attendance. During the first comedic interlude he proceeded to interview me while Kitsie translated. He asked me why I am interested in wayang and what I feel is important about it to bring back to America. I felt like he went on and on mentioning "Mbak Melissa" and America and New York city, but am still not completely sure what he was talking about. He also had Kitsie and Marc play gamelan during this portion. He also mentioned Pak Tristuti who was in attendance that evening as well. During the second comedic interlude he seemed a little flirtatious and commonly a dalang will flirt with the singers. I was told Mas Purbo always flirts with the singers and its really fun as he has a good sense of humor. And in flirting with one singer, they were going back and forth, they mention me and then the singer turns around and says "Mbak Melissa I would like to tell you that Mas Purbo loves you" and then that turned into this whole comedic thing going back and forth between he and I. And then he asked me to sing. So, I did my best rendition of "La Cucaracha". Singing is really embarrassing for me so I did the one thing I can't mess up and requires no singing voice. He had fun with it and the puppets did a little cucaracha dance. It was recorded and I will be getting a copy so we'll get to see the whole 8 hour show with my 5 minutes some day. The performance continued well into the morning and by that time only a few die-hard audience members were left.

Pak Purbo Asmoro

My first impression is sweet, handsome and sincere. I am soon to find out he is a passionate genius of his art (and sweet, handsome and sincere).
We talk about puppets. How they are designed, what they look like and why, what makes a good puppet and he brings out some of his puppets to illustrate.
He explains that a good puppet is currently hard to find as is a good puppet maker. He does make his own puppets, but does not have the time to make all of them, so works collaboratively with an artist that will create puppets for him. The qualities he feels are important when he is designing his own puppets is the stance, elegant lines and complex designs as well as the importance of symmetry, balance and proportion. His collection of antique puppets constantly informs and inspires his designs and performances. Traditionally puppets were painted with natural pigments and are very durable. They may even be over 50 years old and look as vibrant and strong as a brand new puppet. Presently, natural pigments are not being used and the good quality leather is also more difficult to acquire because the leathers are not being cured and tended to with the same time and care, opting for quantity rather than quality the leather is cured quickly and not stretched various times creating a thicker, less flexible leather than those made 50 or 100 years ago. In the past, dalangs were also puppet makers and they oversaw the entire process from beginning to end (curing process of leather to its carving and painting). Mas Purbo believes that the best puppets are made by dalangs or puppet makers from dalang families because they understand the characters to a degree that others do not therefore having a greater sensiblity to the personality hence its visual representation. He showed us an example of two giants each of them wears a necklace, one was quite large and the other of a good proportion to the body and created in a more elegant manner. He explains that the one puppet maker who made this over sized necklace simply thought - giant=big ornamentation- and made it that way without contemplating the character. He equated it to creating a portrait of a friend wearing a big hunk of gold jewelry that anyone who knows them would know right away that is not their style.
We talk about young people and their interest in pursuing art careers. Pak Purbo claims the best puppets come from an area near Solo, one of the villages nearby, called Klaton. He tells me that in this area many of the children of dalang families are either not interested in pursuing the art form or are not able to create refined puppets like the older generations. He also explains how there is a conflict between industry and art and that there is little interest in art for art's sake. Few people who have the opportunity to pursue a career as an artist are interested and others who may have some talent opt for making money especially considering that most people live in economically deprived situations and have to find ways to support themselves and families. Many artists from Klaton have gone to other areas where there are large production facilities that create "mass produced" puppets. These are still hand made but are not created for the refined performer rather for tourists or amateur puppeteers. In this situation these artists have a more stable and steady income, but sacrifice their talent to create extraordinary puppets.
When I ask about the preservation of the tradition of wayang, I am informed of various organizations that were given money from UNESCO when they declared wayang kulit an art of oral and intangible history. He is not sure what they are doing if they are doing anything since he hasn't heard anything of them except that they exist. Senawangi and PEPADI are the organizations. They haven't funded any wayang that he knows of either.
In discussing the evolutions of wayang from his father's generation to his and to the now younger generation we discuss the evolutions that occurred during the late 60s and 70s where wayang was shortened from the all night versions. In the 80s he is known for taking taking the idea of the shorter wayang and making it into a long, all night wayang that is made of multiple stories like chapters, taking out or condensing longer scenes. In the 90s an organization Pantap began to support the appreciation of wayang and created an evolution into a form of entertainment where multiple screens and dalangs would perform together with comedians, singers and dancers creating more of a variety show type feel. Many other dalangs carved out their own identities by changing the forms of puppets such as Ki Sukasman with wayang ukur and Ki Bambeng Suerno with his innovations in kayons and puppet styles. Wayang continues to evolve with artists employing technology into their shows, different themes and forms such as wayang menak and sadat which is Islamic or wayang suluh which is more realistic.
We talk about how dalangs comment on social, political issues or their beliefs while performing and Pak Purbo tells me that this is part of their job. It has always been part of their job as a dalang to comment on life as they see it. And unlike the 1960s or 70s he feels that he has the freedom to express himself without any repercussion. He feels that with H.A.M - human rights group of Indonesia that they are protected and free to speak their minds. I am told that he regularly comments on women's rights and jokes and flirts with the singers as well. He also feels that if the parliament were to become more Islamic fundamentalist that the arts would still be preserved and respected because they have always respected each other (the arts and religious beliefs).
Check out this article about Ki Purbo Asmoro in the Jakarta Post:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/05/30/ki-purbo-asmoro-preserving-art-wayang.html

Surakarta Coronation Week Festivities

This week in Solo the royal family is celebrating their coronation ceremonies with all sorts of art events, concerts and parades around the palace, the Kraton. The family I understand is pretty much penniless and other government officials are actually funding these events, but they have mostly taken place at the Kraton.
On Sunday and Monday Pak Tristuti's works were performed in the Wayang Orang tradition which is the equivalent of Indonesian musical theater. The actors are also dancers and singers in the Javanese style. The costumes are quite spectacular, their faces may be painted or they may wear masks in order to represent their characters which are the same as the wayang kulit, shadow puppet theater, characters. The actor's costumes look exactly like the kulit puppets with crowns, jewels and body ornaments, bright clothes with ornate draping and folds, weapons and lots of gold. Their movements are slow, articulated, expressive and at times very subtle just like Javanese dance. So, the wayang orang incorporates the movements of Javanese dance with the Hindu stories and highly stylized characters. The characters even have particular ways of standing or moving depending on each character much like the wayang kulit.

Tuesday night an extravagant Wayang Kulit performance was put together that incorporated 3 dalangs using a very long screen with 3 lights in which they collaboratively tell a story and during certain intervals there would be dance performances on a stage in front of the screen. Also, it is much more common now to watch Wayang Kulit from the dalang side which is technically backstage than from the shadow side. Both larger events that I have gone to have had chairs set up on the "backstage" section and nothing on the shadow section. There are always some who will watch from the screen side but most people will watch the puppets and the dalang. And in this case three dalangs, dozens of performers and singers at the palace pendopo.

Dalang 101 continued

My teacher's name is Pak Sri Joko. He doesn't mind being called Joko. He is really funny, cool and super patient. We started learning how to make the puppets fight. So, now I have to hold two puppets. One in each hand with all three rods tucked in there in such a way that you are supposed to be able to move their arms (punching motions) with the flick of a finger. Well...this is quite comical or frustrating...I like to laugh at myself and quietly curse my unrefined hands in Spanish. Every time I try to make the puppet punch only moving one hand with one finger the rods slip out or it does nothing and is stuck. These guys can move both arms of one puppet with one hand with the larger middle rod in their hands. Its hard to explain and I wish I could load videos on here, but unfortunately the internet connection out here isn't that fast so when I have tried after 4 hours of loading a 1 minute video clip I give up.
Also Pak Joko was explaining how the fighting is a representation of the inner conflict inside anyone and the duality of the human being. The battles are figurative of the power struggles that go on between the mind and the soul or the good and bad in everyone. And that the Hindu stories are all based on these spiritual beliefs so the wayang kulit stories and puppets are all representations and ways of expressing these beliefs.

The Art of Puppet Making

Delicate, laborious, repetitive, striking, brilliant and methodical. These artists leave little to chance. Every mark carefully planned. Compositions worked over for months, sometimes years. Since arriving in Solo I have been to a puppet making study near the kraton close to the market. There were two men working there, one which is pictured above. We only stayed a few minutes. Both artists painting different puppets. The one the artist is painting above is called a kayon, which usually represents the tree of life. Although upon visiting another puppet maker and dalangs I have seen this convention changed to suit different stories or even just in the spirit of creativity. There is a specific composition for the kayon of the Hindu tree of life which is used frequently and for many years in wayang. Such as the one above on the right. At the bottom is a type of pendopo or gateway into a palace with columns and a triangular tiled roof. This pendopo is flanked on either side by a giant. Above that are wings that represent the element of wind. Then there is a tiger and a bull. In the middle rising up to the top above the pendopo is the tree of life. Above that is a an eagle and surrounding are smaller monkeys and birds.

From my interviews with various dalangs, primarily Pak Purbo Asmoro and Pak Bambeng Suorno, I have obtained a wealth of information on how dalangs choose puppets, how they design , make or oversee the production of their own puppets and how important the puppets physical nature is to the performance and the dalang's interpretation of a character.
There are subtle qualities that to an untrained eye one would fail to notice about the aesthetic details not only in the quality of the carving, but the curves of the lines, the angles of the body, the proportion/balance of the puppet and its weight and feel that make a puppet good and desirable to a dalang. First of course is the ability for it to move fluidly this quality craftsmanship comes from those who are creating for performance purposes. Many puppets that one finds in the market are of lesser quality (in many other ways as well) and will not move properly. Other basic craftsmanship issues are in the quality of the leather. The best puppets are not too thick and flexible. This quality of leather is hard to find presently. Traditionally dalangs made their own puppets, starting from the curing process of the leather. These days many of the older dalangs still make their own puppets or in the least make some and oversee the creation of their others possibly only using one trusted puppetmaker that comes from a dalang family. Pak Purbo says that for him the best puppets come from the area of Klaten. He only buys and uses one puppet maker from that area. He creates his own puppets and showed me a kayon he has been working on for 2 years. They go back and forth with designs and the puppet maker will carve the puppet and before painting it let Pak Purbo live with it for a while and see how he feels about it. Pak Purbo also has a vast collection of antique puppets which he feels are of ideal design and many of his own designs will stem from the qualities of those puppets using them as a foundation for his own puppets. Pak Purbo is very passionate about his wayang. He points out all the subtle details that make a puppet look alive and expressive rather than static. His sense of aesthetic for wayang is highly refined as well as intuitive. He is connected to his puppets, his tools become an extension of himself.
Pak Bambeng is well known as an innovator of kayons. He has created many different ones for himself as well as other dalangs that express various concepts or themes and some to create special effects.

Sukoharjo celebrates an anniversary with wayang kulit

Another all night wayang kulit performance in a town just outside Solo. Its considered a satellite city of Solo, so, its the suburbs of Solo. They are celebrating their anniversary. A young, very agile dalang was performing. At only 25 he is the son of a famous dalang and so is very respected at his young age not because he is the best dalang, but because he is actually one of the most agile and has the potential to be one of the best as he gains more life experience.
This performance had an unusual element, sponsorship. The performance was sponsored by the local government since it is the city's anniversary and partially sponsored by a bank whose banner was prominently placed. This is not common, I've been told, but when there is an issue that concerns some institution and it is in their interest to use the medium of wayang to disseminate some important information they will have the dalangs work their social message into their show. This night's issue of importance to the bank and the people is proliferate amount of counterfeit bills being produced and exchanged in Indonesia at the present moment. Another message that has been sponsored by government is family planning.
So this dalang was amazingly agile with the puppets. He was doing the move that I learned with Pak Sri Joko, the cancud, with one hand and two puppets at the same time and with such grace and crisp movements. It was quite outstanding. And the fight scenes were stupendous. Puppets were flying and flipping over each other. He was flicking them and making them flip by throwing them and catching them. He was basically juggling puppets (kind of like juggling knives) while they are flipping and making sound effects. It was like a choreographed kung-fu film. And they were funny too. The puppets would make these huffing sounds, groaning and grunting. The puppets really look like they grab each other and ram heads into the ground or punch them so hard they flip backwards. They have a slew of weapons and clunk each other with them, each one having specific sound effects and the puppets would switch alternate switching weapons. One came out with a club, the other took it away, smashes him with it, the other one then so quickly now has a spear, they go at each other and in a second the other one now has another weapon and they switch back and forth getting more powerful weapons to use against each other until the last one the good guy (I believe Arjuna's son) has a machete and slices the other guys head off.
We didn't stay until the end. We left at around 2am after the battle scene. After that it slows down and we were a bit aways from Solo and getting a cab at 3 or 4am isn't so easy around here.

Dalang 101

aka Puppeteering lesson for the clumsy, stiff, ungentle western hands.

Moving these puppets is not easy. Dalangs make it look like the most graceful thing. They barely move their fingers and the puppets move entire arms like ballerinas. The puppet movements are much like dancing, especially Javanese dancing. I learned about 3 movements in 2 hours using both hands. Its not as bad as one thinks to use the left hand, but the whole thing is really hard. I started to get the hang of it and then the lesson is over. My back, hips (from sitting cross-legged), arms, shoulders and hands were sore. I learned 3 different ways of walking, a cancud and 3 entrances. The walking bit can ranges from really easy sliding using a slightly curved motion with arm raised high or bent towards the body to this other walk where the arm does these circular motions and moves and pops the elbow that is beautiful and really hard. A cancud (pronounced chanchoo) which is how the warrior fixes his clothes before going to battle and its a series of 6 movements that look like a dance. And I learned 3 different entrances/first step of a puppet which is how they are first presented to the audience. They do this little dance where they appear with one arm bent the other straight down and then the straight arm's hand comes up towards the face with a bent elbow and then reaches up, move the puppet up, then down, then bring arm down to a walking pose, walk 3 steps, then arm goes up and swoosh off the screen using a curving motion.
Its a dance in my mind. I think in 8 counts as if memorizing choreography. Did I mention its really hard? Next lesson, monday. I'm sure I'll practice walking. I'm really bad at making that look smooth. I know it seems like that would be a really simple thing to master, but its NOT. And you should see some of the things they do like flicking and spinning them around, its like cirque du soleil in minature.

A Javanese Wedding

An extravagant ceremony to rival any American wedding. I've been told this is the closing ceremony and that various others have already taken place for example, the previous day there was a religious ceremony at a church. Chairs are set up in rows facing a long aisle that is covered with white petals. At the end is a raised stage with flowers and male and female marriage statues at the front. On the stage is a beautiful carved and upholstered bench in the middle. On either side are a couple of chairs. The bride is escorted in with an entourage of women and two little girls. The women are dressed in traditional Javanese formal wear of a lace, sequined long sleeve tunic with a corset (or silk top) underneath and a batik sarong very form fitting with paper fan type pleats in front and heels. The tunics are all a hydrangea green and the sarongs shades of browns. The bride is wearing a similar outfit but her lace, sequined garment is floor length with a tail that is being carried by one of the women. Her mother is wearing cream. The brides hair is in a sculptured up do wrapped in a crochet of real flowers with golden antenna-like flowers sticking up out of the sculptured bun and woven flowers hang scarf-like from her hair asymmetrically shorter on one side and to her waist on the other. Her hairline is painted into her forehead in a waving pattern. She walks extremely slowly, the two girls in front and the entourage behind until they arrive at the stage where she takes a set at the bench. Now we wait, what seems like a very long time for the groom. Alas, he appears. All the men are dressed in typical Javanese formal wear of sarongs (similar to the womens but not form fitting) with a jacket that is longer in the front than the back where you can see a type of cumber bun with a kris tucked into it and a round batik cap. The jacket front usually has buttons, no collar and a medallion and chain hanging horizontally. The groom's jacket is very ornate with beading and sequins. The bride stands and now they approach each other with their entourages in tow. They meet at the middle where there is a plate with some greens and an egg. And a bowl of water and aromatic flowers. When they reach each other he takes his shoes off and steps carefully on the egg breaking it and she washes his feet. There hands are then placed together, a red shawl is placed around their shoulders and they walk to the stage together and sit at the bench. Gamelan music is playing and the master of ceremonies begins to read blessings written by the parents. Food begins to come around and people eat and talk while the ceremony proceeds. When the dessert is served, shortly after the ceremony is over and the bride and groom walk down the aisle and wait outside to say thank you to all of their guests.
My friend Furquon was the one that brought me but he was playing in the gamelan and I was asked to come in and sit down so I did and spoke to a professor of shadow puppetry who is the neighbor of the bride. He and his wife were dressed in the formal wear as part of what seemed to me was the bridal party. Guests were wearing different things, everyone was very well dressed except kids older than 5 into the young teens who were wearing T-shirts and jeans. Everyone else looked very nice. I felt a little under dressed in my long cotton dress and flats. Luckily a couple and the man's brother invited me over to sit with them. The two men knew English the one man's wife didn't but she was so happy for me to be sitting with them. They explained to me that everyone wants to know who I am but they are too shy to say Hello so that I should smile a lot. They took tons of pictures with me and when we were leaving people were smiling and shaking my hand. At first I didn't know how they felt because I felt really isolated and I would smile at people if I noticed them looking at me, but they would just look away, I guess out of embarrassment. I even noticed the photographer taking pictures of me and so I turned and smiled for the picture making it obvious that I knew he was taking pictures of me and then he asked if I would take a picture with him.

War scenes to pacify the money snatching spirit of Kleton

The stage is set up with all the good characters on the right and the evil characters to the left (when you are looking from the dalang's perspective). The kayon (leaf shaped puppet, represents the tree of life) is in the middle at the beginning of the performance and is used to separate acts/scenes and also to create abstract effects for which they don't have a puppet or prop such as wind or water. Here there are two one where the characters on the left begin and one on the right closest to the middle. When the dalang is going to start he will take one and move jam it into the bamboo (fresh). Puppets have rods made of buffalo horn and the one in the middle (it has a specific name) is pretty tapered and slices right into the bamboo allowing the puppet to stay in a position without the dalang holding it yet its arms are still free to be moved. Also, this black also leaf shaped object you see in the pictures is the light source not a puppet.



Here you see Bima on the right with upward curved hair. He is the most powerful warrior of the Pandavas (good), but is also known for his kindness. Bima is one of the larger puppets. I am not sure who the other characters are, but one of my goals is to be able to differentiate the main characters in my time here.

I believe this is Arjuno's son heading off to the battle field. This is one of the few props type puppets that are used in wayang. This one is a chariot with horses. There is also a horse, an army and sometimes animals, arrows or when really breaking from tradition a tree or bug. But generally speaking from the conversations I have had with various dalangs is that they do not use many props and that the imagination must be used to understand the settings.

An hour SW from Solo in Klaten, which is made of up about 15 villages we attend an all night wayang kulit performance of the war episode from the Mahabharata. When we arrive we are met by the coordinator of the event in Klaten, a gamelan musician who has dedicated his life to promoting the arts of Klaten. We are escorted to the wayang and he explains to us as we walk by a small bamboo grove that has been cut down that this bamboo is where people believe the spirit resides and is even the site of black magic to the spirit.
This area was severely affected by the 2006 earthquake. It is still recovering and many times artists will come together and do these shows for free because the village does not have the funds to pay them.
We are asked to sit with the gamelan musicians in what we would call backstage, but in wayang kulit it seems more like theater in the round since people watch from every angle. Hundreds were there already. It is close to nine o'clock. We shake hands with the dalang, a man in his late eighties and sit amongst the instruments. Sitting on the floor all night was really nerve wracking for me, I brought a pillow to sit on or sleep with not sure if I could stay up the whole night. I vowed to stay awake and called upon all my inner Buddhas to be able to stand the pains of sitting on the floor for so many hours while fighting exhaustion. The show begins. Dialogues. The Mahabharata is basically about two families, the Pandavas and the Kourovas, that are in a feud for many years. After years of arguing and such they decide that nothing will be settled and that they must go to war. The performance is just about the portion of the story of the war and throughout there are details that one is expected to know aside from the obvious about characters and their histories since this episode is at the end of the Mahabharata epic. All wayang is performed in Javanese, not Indonesian, therefore it does one no good to study Indonesian if you are going to be studying wayang because it is a completely different language. This performance was very special and unique in that this ritualistic purpose to pacify a money snatching spirit is not common in Java because wayang has adapted to suit Islamic ideas and has become more a form of entertainment thereby losing its ritualistic and spiritual qualities that stem from Javanese mythology and beliefs. As the story develops the main characters', brothers of each family, sons are killed off. Each time one of the sons of the Pandavas, the good family, is going to die, a large incense is lit and placed beneath the screen for the scene of the killing. Smoke rising up the screen. They do this three times. They also throw flower petals into the screen covering the bamboo base of the screen. They also do this twice throwing flowers three consecutive times each instance. Kitsie who has seen many performances has never seen either of these ritualistic acts.
I can't go into the details of the story but essentially they go out to the battlefield and the sons get killed. The Pandava and Kourova's sons are now all dead. And the brothers go into battle with each other. In the end the Kourovas (100 brothers, they don't go through all of them getting killed) are all slain. Leaving the victorious 5 Pandava brothers with their grandchildren.
There are no intermissions or breaks during wayang. Their are various acts that are indicated by the kayon being placed in the middle of the screen. The dalang controls the gamelan music by beating on a box that contains puppets signaling the drummer to speed up or slow down who in turn directs the rest of the musicians which can number up to 30. For eight or nine hours the dalang will be performing, musicians playing and the audience captivated. Well maybe some are. The atmosphere of a wayang kulit performance, I think especially because they last so long, is very casual. People have conversations. The musicians converse, eat and smoke cigarettes. Food and tea is in constant flow. Fruits, sweet bread, sake rice, other treats and of course a meal of rice and meat in a stew with yummy rice crackers are served and shared throughout the night. The best was the sake rice presented in a banana leaf wrapped like a beautiful gift box. Indonesians make their own type of fermented rice drink that tastes like sake. People in the audience come and go as they please and behind them is a full market selling food, drinks, cigarettes, toys probably anything you might find at their regular market. I didn't get up and have a look even on the other side of the screen because it would mean having to step over musicians and instruments during the show and it seemed rude and no one else moved except to trade positions with another musician. Kitsie and her husband are both musicians as is my friend/guide Furquon and they all played for a while. In fact 2 funny stories. First, Kitsie's husband is an amazing well known gamelan musician and apparently the musician sitting next to him got tired turned to him and said "I'll give you two cigarettes if you play this for a while". He took the cigarettes and started playing what is like a large wooden xylophone. I'll have to find out the names to all of these instruments. They thought this was hilarious. Maybe its really funny in Javanese. Then during the entertainment/comedic interlude of the performance which since it was being performed by an older dalang and for a ritualistic purpose we thought would be very short and not too lively. He began by poking fun at the organizer of the event and then proceeded to say hello to the 2 former colonialists which would be Kitsie and myself. The clown characters are talking now. He explains to us what they are doing and that once a year they do this performance for that "pile of sticks over there". He then suggests that one of us play the drums and the other one sing. They occasionally invite random people who can't sing to sing during this time. But I was too embarrassed to sing (next time I'll just do a Michael Jackson song if I'm asked), but Kitsie did play the drums and one clown says to the other "aren't you ashamed you called her a former colonialist?". Many of the villagers on the other side of the screen had to come look at who they were talking about and poked their heads around to see.
Many older dalangs have been known to pass away at the screen. The dalang performing tonight did not last the whole performance. At around 3am near the end he passed the performance on to his son who continued. He looked so sad and tired. Older dalangs usually do not do such long performances because they are so difficult and as one gets older their voices aren't as strong and clear, but he did an amazing job considering how old he is.
It was an amazing experience and I didn't fall asleep. I was definitely the most fidgety person in the whole place. I think I adjusted myself every 3 minutes and I was really trying to breathe through my poses, but its just torturous. What I really need is one of those bleacher seat things that people fold up and you have a back rest. Can someone send me one from the next baseball game you go to? Thanks.

Pak Tristuti Rahmadi Suryosaputro

Pak Tristuti (pak is short for bapak, a term like Mr. used for older respected persons) is a living piece of Indonesian history. I have had the honor of meeting him, spending time in his home and speaking with him about wayang kulit, his art and his life.
Pak Tristuti is a dalang in his seventies now who during a time of political instability during the dictatorship of Sukarno in Indonesia was imprisoned and exiled to a prison island for 14 years. When freed he was oppressed and not allowed to work in pretty much any area for another 20 years. It wasn't until 1999 that he resumed being a dalang.
He told us today that he was very respected in the 60s as a young dalang by Sukarno himself. Having been invited numerous times to perform for him. His last name Suryosaputro bestowed upon him as a blessing.
In 1965 he was taken from his home in the middle of the night without reason and without trial, imprisoned. First in numerous prisons finally to be exiled to a prison island. Most claim that he was imprisoned for being a communist, but he was never a part of the communist party and he believes that because he was so admired that he had many enemies, people who were jealous and in the political turmoil at the time anyone's word was enough to imprison another.
He was and continues to be admired for changing the world of wayang as well as for being a talented wayang script writer and dalang. Before Pak Tristuti dalangs did not use scripts, they memorized and adapted stories as they saw fit. But unfortunately as he told me the world of wayang has left him behind. His generation almost gone now is no longer desired in the world of wayang kulit. His plays are still being performed.
While in exile he converted to Christianity and is now trying to develop a Christian wayang. He has created a kayon that represents the story of creation, but does not have the means to have his special puppets created. He wants his puppets to have their own aesthetic language, movements and music that differentiates it from the tradition. He hopes I will help him since I don't know too much about wayang I can probably create something that isn't imitating it. I hope I can help him. I feel so strongly for this man. His story so similar to that of many Cuban artists of the same time period, oppressed, imprisoned and tortured for being artists. He is now with little work, old and without means to support himself or his art. Other dalangs come to him for scripts and pay him cents to then turn around and make a few thousand performing his works.
He asked me to help him and that I could do this by buying his Christian kayon and taking it to the states and hopefully creating wayang with it. I decided I would also buy his script for a lot more than people give him here and have it translated. I hope to do him honor and create a piece that does his work justice. I feel so ill equipped to take this on, but I feel it is part of my purpose here.
I have been so moved.

Javanese People, their Children and Celebrations

My experience although quite brief at this point is of people who are genuinely helpful, polite, diverse and full of life. Yeah, there's the occasional man sitting on the curb at dusk with his behind completely exposed (I've seen way worse in NYC). Sure there are the odd strange looks, but mostly lots of smiling and laughing when trying to communicate. They easily show off any English they know and are glad to hear you try some Indonesian, affording bright smiles and responses with every "terima kasih" (thank you) or "selamat pagi" (good morning) you throw their way.
Oh, and the children, so excited to speak English and welcome foreigners with a "Hello, Mister" even when you are a Miss. I wonder if they think all white people speak English? Probably not. They learn English I am told in school although supposedly quite poorly, leaving young people like Furquon to nourish their thirst for speaking English with American movies, music and TV trying to make sentences from random words learned in school. The Javanese love their children. The nature of a child always the same regardless of religion, race or culture. Some timid, some outgoing, always entertaining themselves somehow, some staring at you and others boldly saying hello or asking your name. They ride their bikes to school in their uniforms. They sit next to me at the internet cafe, three around a computer surfing the web. They have mobile phones and text message each other.
Javanese baby grounding tradition. I'm not sure if this is what its called, but essentially it is a ritual where an infant's feet are placed on the ground. I read in a book about the Balinese tradition and I am sure that they are related, but being that in Java it is intertwined with the Muslim religion and in Bali it is not, surely they are different. The tradition is a Javanese or Indonesian tradition in the ceremony I attended the baby's feet were not actually placed on the ground, but a symbolic grounding of the child. Blessings were given. The child's hair cut by the grandmother and parents, his hair placed on a napkin in a plate. A grand ceremony much more elaborate than any baptism, perhaps regarded more importantly in their culture. A lavish feast, a catered event. People dressed in traditional clothing, the parents and new baby wearing the same pattern fabric, mom's hair woven in a high up do with golden ornaments. Chairs arranged in rows, a dj, a band, singers, a drag queen (more about that later), video cameras recording the event, all to celebrate this new life coming into the world.
A new friend, Xenholya, a nine year old girl who at this party became quite interested in me. Asking me all sorts of questions. Wanting to be near me, but too shy to sit next to me, yet very animated, outgoing, a little firecracker, full of inquiries, facial expressions, whispers and attitude. After I bit into a fresh chili and my mouth proceeded to catch fire, she asks "Is that very hot?" and then jokes that she is going to go around and save all the chilies for me. A few minutes later, she comes over with some water. She asked me lots of questions like if I visit England a lot and if I like cats, dogs, turtles and lions. She wanted to know if I was married and if I would be coming back to Indonesia. I told her I would invite her to my wedding when I get married and she replies, "well if it is in Indonesia then I will probably come, but if its in the US then you will have to buy us all the tickets to come. And anyway, how will you invite me?" I take out my notebook and she writes her address in it. Noting that she cannot remember the number of the house, but we can get it later from her sister who is friends of Furquon.

Rice

Java. From horizon to horizon, rice. Rice, rice and more rice with a small farming town or village dotting the fields. Any piece of land that can be cultivated agriculturally seems to be doing just that. Rice is served with every meal. The rice paddies are constantly being harvested. So you will see bright green areas that are flooded next to dried out areas and burnt areas. Now, I know nothing about agriculture I can't even keep a houseplant alive, so I'm just guessing here, but I think that once they have harvested the rice they allow the particular area/plot to dry out and then they burn it maybe to nourish the soil for replanting. Some of the terraced fields are quite spectacular looking with hills and mountains surrounding them. Rice, rice, we love rice.

Solo where you aren't solo at all

Only a few hours in Solo and already I have been to three art events and made multiple new friends. I even got an invitation to stay at one artist's house with her. She is doing this experimental wayang called wayang kucing (shadow cat) on a Fulbright grant. She is also working with this serious and funny guy on a dance/wayang performance where the dancers and the puppets interact telling a story adapted from Macbeth and intertwined with Javanese mythology. When I told Jon, the choreographer of the dance/wayang piece, that I would love to find out more about his work he replied in an sms (this is what they call text msg here), "I'd love to find out more about my work too!". These are just some of my new friends. Of course there is my guide for the next two weeks, Furquon. His English is better than some of my student's. He learned English by watching American films and TV. He loves Hillary Duff. Lets not forget Kitsie, the catalyst for this experience, who we visited at her gamelan rehersal. Gamelan is a powerful, spiritual, meditative music. Hearing this music was spellbinding. I also had the pleasure of meeting a professor from Brown University who is a gamelan musician and also happens to be staying at the guesthouse where I am staying.
Cakra Guesthouse (pronounced shakra) is down an alley off a main road. Alley doesn't sound so good, but thats the way things are here. Its probably not an alley I just see it that way. Its a street. It has a street sign and everything. Alleys don't have addresses, right? Behind this beautiful iron gate is the guesthouse. A series of courtyards with rooms all around. A pool at the end with a small pendopo, open roofed structure where public events take place. The rooms are very sparse. The bathrooms are like the one you would find on a 30-40 ft boat. No plumbing so you have to dump water from this basin into the toilet to have it flush. Its clean. The roosters start at about 4 or 5am, not sure. The Islamic prayers start shortly after the crows at 4:30am. I manage to fall back asleep. Its not uncomfortably hot with my fan, but the mosquitoes find the mango blood where ever it might be and set off for a covert attack. Actually I wasn't sure if I just got itchy all of a sudden from the mosquito bites from earlier in the evening or if they were sucking my blood while I slept, nonetheless I took a couple benadryl and slept like a log...until the crows started, you know.
Solo is a busy city. People don't speak much English. I think of myself as a pretty resourceful person, but when you only know a few words in the native language its hard to get basic things done. Like figure out whats for breakfast. I found a bakery and bought some cheesy bread things and then went to a warung and bought some fried up things. For breakfast! Furquon told me that Javanese eat rice maybe with some fried eggs for breakfast. I have no idea where to find this. I love fried eggs with rice! A staple of the Alvarez household growing up. Throw some ketchup on there and you have all your food groups except dairy (drink a cafe con leche and then you have a complete meal).

My adventure for the day....The Mall

The Mall. An American standard. We love it. All those opportunities to spend your money and dig yourself into a pit of debt is the American way. Well apparently its not too different in Indonesia. At least in Jakarta on a Saturday afternoon the mall is crawling with shoppers. This mall is similar in many ways to the malls we know back in the states, food court, kiosks, escalators, crowds and lots of products. In fact, there was a whole floor for cell phones. The mall is all little booths and it turns into this maze of repetition where entire sections are essentially selling products so similar that you think you are looking at the same thing over and over like a broken record. I think I'll call it the broken record mall. Anyway, I was there to buy a pre-paid phone and miraculously I found a salesperson who spoke English and was able to help me. So now, like all Indonesians, I have a cell phone. I can now call all the local people I know which come to a grand total of 1.
The best part about going to the mall was that across the street there is warung, food carts which I really wanted to eat from. So, I crossed the street, again risking my life through 6 lanes (with a median) to get some homemade food from a street cart. It was great, lunch was less than $1 and they have little stools for you to sit down and eat and we didn't understand each other at all. I just knew what the word for chicken was so I got that. It was hot, spicy and its about 85F in Jakarta so I worked up a sweat eating my Ayam sop.

Jakarta...

Jakarta, a city of swirling, chaotic movement, full of smog, cars and motorcycles in massive amounts. A city rich and poor, beautiful and ugly, new and old, of opposites, everywhere you look.

I ventured out early to the Wayang Museum (Puppetry Museum) which happened to be rather far from my hotel. Swarms of motorcycles and scooters whiz by with children and/or goods strapped on to the back. The bikes swerve in and out of traffic and honking happens just about every other minute on the road. My taxi driver stops at the end of a road blocked off to cars and tells me the museum is at the end. I get off wearily, since it looks pretty abandoned and in disrepair, but he assures me that this is where the museum is and that it is closed to cars because there are various museums in the area and it is only for pedestrians. I get off and begin to walk down this street being very aware of what and who is around me. Many of the buildings are crumbling, perhaps from a previous earthquake and were never repaired. I am the only person walking down this pedestrian street. At the end I see some movement, but cannot be sure what is going on. As I get closer I realize this opens to a plaza on the right that is flanked by museums on all sides. The buildings are all old Dutch buildings. I see a photographer with a model taking pictures with various assistants, they look rather professional and further down I see what looks like a low grade film crew, filming some type of movie and the Wayang Museum in a nicely kept building with no signage. The building is dimly lit, the entrance fee, 2,000 rupiah which is roughly 20 cents. A serious, almost mean looking woman takes my money and tells me to come get my change later because she doesn't have enough to break my 50,000rp bill (a little more than $5). By the way, people here are very nice, polite and smiles come easily and frequently. Its almost weird and foreign for me to smile and say hello to people so much, especially coming from New York City where my smile or greetings would be a nuisance in a place where people want to be left alone. So a young man proceeds to give me a tour and tell me how beautiful I am. He insists that I look like an American moviestar. We tour the museum which is actually quite small, dark and musty. The displays do not look well kept, but the puppets are absolutely magnificent and they have puppets from all over Indonesia and some from other parts of the world as well. Some puppets from the mid-late 1800's and some bejeweled with rubies and sapphires. He talks to me about the different characters from the epic Hindu stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and how in Indonesia they have adapted the stories to fit their culture. He shows me the Indonesian superman. A mustached blue mythical character with superpowers that he claims must have inspired superman's creator. I agree. Its obvious that these characters are part of the human psyche and have been recycled throughout time. He then tries to sell me some puppets, but I hold off since when I get to Solo I will be going to the actual puppet makers workshops and would rather buy directly from them. His student, a young woman, tells me again how beautiful I am and that I look like Jennifer Connelly. She says she watches a lot of American films. They agree that I am a Connelly look a like. I agree with a bright smile, its the polite thing to do. I then walk around the plaza. Buy some cigarettes for $1 (big change from the $9 in NY...who can afford to smoke in NYC anymore) and a water for 25 cents and sit in the square where a man waves at me, a little girl not very shy sits across from me, looking and smiling at me. A trio of teenagers on their way to one of the museums asks to take a picture, I think they are asking me to take a picture of them, but no, they want pictures with me! Crossing the street here is a dangerous adventure. There are crosswalks but no lights and cars and motorcycles speed by. I stand there for quite a while waiting for an appropriate moment, but none come and others cross by barely getting through. I take a risk...woah! made it! What is across the street that I would risk my life for? Another museum. Of what, I'm not sure since I can't read Indonesian, but it turns out to be a fine art museum...again, dark and musty but with beautiful Indonesian art. I risk my life one more time crossing the street and go to a cafe in the plaza called Cafe Batavia. It is old world colonial looking. It is a beautiful restaurant cafe serving expensive coffee, drinks and Chinese food. Strange combination. Mid-day there are many tourists here all just sitting around in the bar area sipping coffees. I head back to the hotel after having a cappuccino, not very Indonesian of me. For lunch I have Indonesian oxtail soup (rabo encendido!) served with rice and a little plate of hot chili which I proceed to dump into my soup...delicious! And then the jet lag sets in. 3 o'clock I am dead tired, pass out and wake up at 9pm, forced myself back to sleep in an attempt to get myself into this time zone.

I've arrived in Indonesia!!!

So the flight wasn't as bad as one would think it is. It took 15 hours to get to Hong Kong where I had a 2 hour layover in the nicest airport I've ever seen and then another 4 1/2 hours to Jakarta where I am staying for a couple of days. It was daytime for almost the whole trip....I felt like I was chasing the sun. Flying over the north pole is really cool. When there was no cloud coverage you could see all the ice patches floating in the deep blue sea. Flying over Hong Kong was incredibly beautiful, it made me really excited to visit there on my way home from Indonesia. Hong Kong is made up of all these amazing mountain islands. They literally look like little mountains full of lush green (and skyscrapers) popping out of the water. And there were these beautiful clouds floating by them I felt I was in a Chinese landscape painting (with a modern twist). I got in around 8pm and was exhausted since I only slept a total of 4 hours during the whole trip in hour-long naps. I'm not sure if that was good, but I slept almost the whole night and hope that will keep me on the right schedule. It is a 12 hour difference from NYC, so for those of you reading this back home you are 12 hours behind me (its Friday, July 11th right now). I am staying at a beautiful place here in Jakarta and will be visiting the Wayang Museum (Puppetry museum) later and a performance tomorrow also at the museum.