Keeping Betawi’s Magical Tradition Alive - Today’s ondel-ondel tradition has slightly shifted from its former function of warding off evil spirits at rituals and ceremonies — to a more tourism-driven spectacle featuring the iconic giant puppets.
On a hot Wednesday afternoon, sitting on a tiny bench on a wooden bridge, under which a river is flowing, ondel-ondel maker Hasyim Maulana tells his stories about the traditions of Betawi people, who are native Jakartans.
Listening to his stories in the front yard of his studio and rehearsal space for his Inti Jaya group, it does not feel as if ondel-ondel, a traditional genre of theater in Jakarta that uses giant wooden puppets for performers, is anything but very alive.
At this small studio in Tanjung Barat on the southern outskirts of Jakarta, the employees of the studio are working hard. They not only create and sell ondel-ondel puppets but they also rent them to hotels, ceremonies and individuals.
Those looking to hire out an ondel-ondel performance can also find here a wide selection of traditional Betawi goods — from gambang kromong, or Betawi music ensemble, music to dodol — sweet cakes made of glutinous rice — and bir pletok.
Together with his co-worker Abi Kurniawan, Hasyim is responsible for the artistic work and managing the studio, while his mother-in-law brews bir pletok — a refreshing non-alcoholic beer that Hasyim claims is good for the health and warms one’s body from the inside.
Ondel-ondel has a long history in this metropolitan city and to this day it remains one of the defining cultural symbols of Jakarta, Hasyim says. “It is not like Monas [The National Monument]. Monas is a national symbol but ondel-ondel stands for Jakarta,” he says proudly.
The form and subject matter of ondel-ondel, which is influenced by Arab and Chinese cultures that entered the former Dutch East Indies through Sunda Kelapa harbor and mixed with Betawi traditions, are designed to ward off evil spirits. Every performance uses two large puppets; one representing the female and the other male.
Today ondel-ondel performers are often invited to hotels and wedding ceremonies.
“When Jakarta is celebrating its birthday, of course there has to be ondel-ondel at the forefront,” Hasyim, who started working in the ondel-ondel business in 1992, says proudly.
He says he has witnesses many changes in the art during his years as an ondel-ondel puppet maker.
“Yes, the music has changed,” he says. “We try to adapt a form of kromong modern, and the musicians are young and handsome so that young people can start getting interested in ondel-ondel again.”
The large group of kids and young adults rehearsing ondel-ondel in his front yard suggest that Hasyim’s strategy may be working.
However, while the music has already been modernized, Hasyim’s studio still prefers the traditional way of producing ondel-ondel masks; carving them from wood. Other studios today use plaster but here everything is done in the traditional way.
“If you focus on your work, you can finish a mask in one day. Sewing the clothes takes two days. In three days, the puppet is complete.”
Most importantly, the faces of the masks have to be friendly, so “they won’t scare away children. I am making the expressions on my masks as gentle as possible,” he says.
“Art is beautiful, and if we show people something beautiful they will stay interested.”
Nevertheless, he realizes that today’s ondel-ondel tradition has slightly shifted from its former function in rituals and ceremonies — as a protection from evil spirits — to a more tourism-based show that incorporates the same giant puppets that can measure up to 3 meters in height.
“Many people who appreciate ondel-ondel come from outside of the country,” Hasyim says, adding that many Betawi people who live far from Jakarta remain faithful to their roots.
“They have moved somewhere else, to Papua or to Singapore,” Hasyim explains. “But they want ondel-ondel puppets sent to their place so they can put them in front of their house, hotel or restaurant as a symbol of their Betawi roots.”
In this sense, Jakarta’s tradition is far from forgotten.
Post a Comment for "Keeping Betawi’s Magical Tradition Alive"