Kampuchea Crossings » indonesia

Indonesia: Jogjakarta

nabejero — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:33:00 +0000

Yogyakarta is the only province in Indonesia still formally governed by a precolonial Sultanate, the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat. It’s a center of classical Javanese fine arts and culture (batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry and puppet shows). This is a view of Mount Merapi outside our hotel window. It’s been active for 10000 years and today is the most active as well as produces more pyroclastic flows than any volcano in the world.

We started climbing the 345 steps to the Royal Tombs of Imogiri at the same time as this lady, and by the time we were done and ready to come back down she was just barely getting to the top with her load of 2 banana bunches and 6 bottles of water to sell. We bought all she had, exchanged sentences neither party could understand, and then she turned around and walked back down the stairs to fetch more fruits and water for selling.
Durian Montong and Durian Petruk from Purworejo (in Sulawesi), apparently much better than the durians from Sumatra when locals weighed in. It’s a denser texture and is more bitter than the Kampot, Cambodia, durian.
Around the Kraton (Sultan’s Palace) are densely-populated neighborhoods. At various intervals on the streets are these huge hollow ‘bells’. When there’s a fire or danger, the nearest bell is rung, and those hearing it down the street will ring theirs, and on and on. They’re painted in bright colors, much like the whimsical painted fish in Philadelphia and cows in Chicago for public arts.
A musician from Kraton (Sultan’s Palace) with a Kris in his belt. Apparently this dagger (which is not symmetrical) is indigenous to Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Philippines. It’s both a weapon and a spiritual object, with each bearing either good or evil essence.

Indonesia: Wayang Kulit

nabejero — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:23:00 +0000

Wayang Kulit (wayang=show, kulit=skin, as in the leather the puppets are made of) is a type of shadow puppet theatre from the Indo-Malay archipelago. Its Javanese Hindu-Buddhist tradition has its origins in India. Hand-crafted leather puppets depict epic stories of the gods in shadow play.
This artist was prepping the puppet show, at the Museum Sonobudoyo (Javanese archeology museum) on Jalan Trikora 6 at north alun-alun. The puppets are usually made of buffalo or goat hide and mounted on bamboo sticks. The best puppets are made of young female water buffalo parchment with curing time of almost ten years.
A traditional Gamelan orchestra would accompany the story-telling. Their typical repertoire include an overture, travel and battle music, and character pieces.
The next photos are of musicians playing their Gamelan instruments, preparing for the same puppet theatre at Kraton (Sultan’s Palace). This first instrument is a Bonang and the one below is a Saron Demung, followed by a better photo of that instrument in red.

This musician was playing the Kenong, the next down is a Bonang, and the third is the setup behind the stage where Sinden singers are practicing.
Most shadow play is based on two epic stories from India – the Mahabarata and its sister work, the Ramayana. The Balinese and Javanese combined the Hindu stories with Buddhist and Muslim elements as well as their own folklore.

Indonesia: Making Batik

nabejero — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 04:44:00 +0000

Batik is a resist dye technique with hundreds of years’ history in Java. Since I wasn’t with K when someone showed him how to batik, here’s the general gist as I know it:
A natural light-colored cloth is used to make batiks (synthetics or blends won’t work). A rough sketch is made on the cloth as in the first photo. Then you paint wax on top of the areas you do not want to dye. This woman uses a tool sort of like a crude fountain(?) pen to take the dye to the areas she’s drawn. When the paint has absorbed into the cloth it is allowed to dry, then a hot water bath is used to melt off the wax.
Here’s the finished product. It’s a very thin cloth so it’s beautiful framed with light shining from behind, such as daylight or if indoors then a frame with an embedded lamp. I love bright designs, but this region (Jogyakarta)’s color palette consists of the varying shades and tones of brown.