Sacred art of Wayang wong make Bulelleng proud

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Buleleng is worthy of being included as of the regions of Bali that has a rich varied and unique sacred art heritage. The hindus of Tejakula  for instance have a unique and sacred art known wayang wong (human puppet—Ed). In order to preserve and promote the arts of the East Buleleng, wayang wong -that uses strorylines taken from puppet theater, has recently begun to be performed at local and national events, whereas in the past it was only performed at temple ceremonies in clan temple of Tejakula.
Komang Gede, one of the leading  dancers,  while in Singaraja some time ago explained that the birth of the wayang wong art of Tejakula originated in the art of gambuh. Gambuh dancers generally did not wear masks and their movements were accompanied by gamelan music.
In the 18th century the art of gambuh was primarily performed for members of the royal families in Bangli. To Gede's recollection Anak Agung was the one who was especially interested in the appearance of the gambuh dancers and donated a mask to one of the dancers. It is said that this mask was what transformed the gambuh into the wayang wong. “Because Anak Agung from the kingdom of Bangli really liked watching the gambuh art we perform, he donated a mask and since then the mask has inspired gambuh to change into wayang wong and until today the mask that was given remains sacred along with the other masks,” he said.
Ever since gambuh transformed into the art of wayang wong, added Komang Gede, the dancers and the gamelan players are increasingly eager to develop and preserve the wayang wong. The masks of the puppet characters that are played are continuously added to and the older ones maintained. However,  performances in the past were stage in relation to piodalan or the temple birthday of the clan temple at Tejakula. Eventually, demands for performances of wayang wong also came from several large temples in Bali on the occasion of their piodalan rituals.
It is not surprising that the wayang wong of Tejakula is now regularly performed at temples such as the Ratu Gede Sambangan, Khayangan Dangsil and Beji Temples. “These are some of the temples that always have a performance of wayang wong, for their piodalan. Wayang wong dancers will never reject a request to perform because it is for the sake of physical nature, and we sincerely do the performance as a devotional work,” he said.
Recently, the art of wayang wong has started to be performed outside of the ritual context of events such temple birthdays. According to Komang Gede, who is also Head of  Buleleng Social Affairs, such non ritual performances are an opportunity for the dancers and gamelan musicians to preserve and introduce wayang wong as a heritage to general public, so that it does not get buried under the variety of modern influences such as television that take up such a large place in cultural landscape. This is the main reason that the Teja Murti wayang wong  troupe was finally established in the 1970s.
The troupe consisted of 30 dancers and 15 gamelan players who began to perform the wayang wong dance at local events like the Bali Arts Festival (BAF) as well as at tourism promotion events held by the government outside the region. “These performances serve development and preservation. For me, the more frequently wayang wong is staged, the more widely it will become known and will automatically be preserved,” he added.
Komang Gede added that the wayang wong always depicts famous puppet stories like the Ramayana epic that consists of 18 kandas (episodes—Ed). Each wayang wong performance lasts about 2 and 1/2 hours. “Each performance only tells the story of a single episode because it would take too long to play out all the episodes,” he said.
The successors of this sacred dance heritage are already guaranteed as evidenced by the children and grandchildren of the wayang wong dancers and musicians who are interested in continuing this legacy. The preservation of this sacred dance is also strengthened by the belief that anyone who tries to not carry on this traditional art will have an unhappy life due to sickness. “Because this sacred art is inherited, there must be successor and now our children or grandchildren and our nephews have joined in learning this dance or playing the accompanying gamelan music,” he explained. (mud)www.bali-travelnews.com
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