Woman Dalang Singing

Woman Dalang Singing

And there’s the woman dalang (puppeteer), Ny. Kenuk, conducting the gamelan (Javanese orchestra) with her knocking stick: tock, tock, ..., enchanting the wayangs or puppets to life, singing so beautiful. I couldn’t follow her narration as I haven’t mastered the Javanese language, yet it was so captivating. Imagine, it’s something as a puppet opera and this shortened version staged in the wayang museum takes 4 hours, the real show staged in the open air could hold the common folk the whole night.

 

My pocket camera couldn’t capture a sharp picture of her and the puppets, but most important is, I got her singing, the gamelan playing. Where should I start recording, where should I end?

I felt she sings as beautiful as wellknown professional opera artists singing in a concert hall or bewitching as a Lorelei. Just hear her and the gamelan. It is sad when the traditional wayang show will be forgotten, lost.

May 2012