Baba the Mountain from Japan

By Ahmad Nurhasim

The child wishes not to leave behind, but Baba has been yearning to be 'cast away' in a mountain.

A young man carried a basket on his back. He walked slowly as to balance himself. Baba (the name given to old ladies in Japan) stood on top of the basket. The light was dim. The atmosphere was quiet and still.

The sound of kecapi music broke the silence. Baba was lifted on to a mountain. Nearing the peak of the mountain, things got even sadder. The child wished not to leave Baba on the mountain, but since a long time, Baba has been yearning to be left there. In the middle of the way Baba told her son to go back to the village. And with all reluctance, for the sake of tradition, Baba was left in the mountain.

The heart-breaking scene is a significant part of the ancient Japanese show of Obasute. Obasute is an old time Japanese tradition that happened in poor villages by the mountains that obligated the act of leabing the Babas in the mountain. The goal was to save food consumption. The mountain was named Obasute Yama.

The Jakarta Art Institute along with Yayasan Peduli Indonesia Makmur and Japanese Hapon Theatre performed it, involving players from Indonesia and Japan/ From Japan, the main character and script writer Hara Tomohiko (also played the Baba), Ando Ayuko, Wakiyama Yasutaka, Chiku Toshiaki, and Owaki Kaoru. From the Jakarta Art Institute, Gatot GP played Baba's son, and there were others such as Asri Mery Sidowati, Nursekreningsih, Deswita Hermawan, and Nana Sunarsasih.

This performance showed another side of Japan. Hara did the story from the 'casted away' side. He elaborated the phases of separation and encounter as parts of life. It was summer then, and the Tsubaki flowers were blooming red and large. It is then that the Babas should be brought up to the mountain. Babas have it in their minds that any implemented customs will bring good luck to the families in the village.

After Baba's few days on the top of the mountain, at the village the red-blood Tsubaki flowers falls down the head of her grandchildren. This is the sign that the life tasks of the Baba will now be carried on by them. At the top of the mountain, the moon shines bright glowing at the smiling Baba.

"At the time a human is being cast away, what is interesting to be left behind for the society? I would like to leave a beautiful dance and the best theatrical art," said Hara Tomohiko.

This is the separation story of a grandmother with her children, grandchildren, and nature. The eternal story of encounter and goodbye, in the path of tradition.

source: arti magazine 31 edition

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Bandung Gamelan and Utrecht

By Ahmad Nurhasyim

Gamelan becomes the cultural dialogue media between two nations that has a long historical relation.

The audience in the Salihara performance room on Tuesday (13/7) witnessed an extraordinary show. Ten white men wearing dark red shot sleeves and 15 tanned men in black sat cross-legged. They all faced Javanese gamelan metals those are arranged by their front. Their hands grabbing the panakol -batons in Sundanese language-.

Not long after the composition of Sanata de Camera that was written by Klaus Kuiper and the Holland Gending Ensemble was heard. At first this composition was played by ten players, but for that night, 20 players were performing. The composition was opened slow, soft and flowing. Jurrien Sligter was the conductor that gave commands to to the gamelan members from the Gending Ensemble and Kyai Fathahillah Bandung. The Bandungs played the pelog while the Hollanders played the slender. As soon as Jurrien came down, energetic tunes surround the entire performance room that was packed by at least 120 spectators.

The show did not only show the gamelan proficiencies of the two nations, but also became the sign of cross-learning. Kyai Fathahillah, as any karawitan groups in Java, in general uses number notations, while the entire composition played were using block notations. The issue was that Gending is used to the Bes as their ground note. Fathahillah uses A base note. Iwan Gunawan, the conductor and leader of Fathahillah must interpret the two different notes so that is can be accepted by the two groups of two different backgrounds.

Although enchanted the audience, the collaboration show that only took place at the beginning and end of performance was a 90 minutes show. The rest was filled with each groups playing their own composition separately.

The next show was filled by the Gamelan Ensemble. The second composition, Petruk, was one of the compositions chosen by the judges at the 2010 International Gaudeamus Musicweek. The composition combines Chinese techniques and Indonesian musical instruments, including the Balinese and Javanese instruments. Fast and slow tempos were going one after another.

The performance began with a theatrical act. At first there were only two persons on stage, then one by one the players come on and played the music directly. The same act was then repeated to close the composition. For the next composition, Pengaget by Iwan Gunawan, fast music pattern was used.

The show that night showed that traditional musical instruments can serve as the inter-nation dialogue embassy. It did not occur overnight, but since 2006 both have been travelling around under the collaborative project of Tribute to Ton de Leeuw. This is the concrete form of East meets West dialogue.

source: arti magazine 31 edition 

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