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 beautifully.
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. So
said my Choir Conductor.
May 2012
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