The Story of Vigilantism That Goes a Legend by Word
Verbal tale of Begal Jamaludin in the Tegal society is rather popular. The resting place of Jamaludin, a local figure that lived around the 16th or 17th century in Dukuh Sembung of Tegal is considered mystical and is often times visited by local people to pay respects or to pray for wasilah (to ask for mediation to god), in order to end their life ordeals or to get their wishes answered by god. Here, only Dalang Darto dares ti give a performance of it. “ others are afraid of bad luck,” said Sry Waluyo Sebat, a Dalang from Tegal, graduate of the Indonesia arts Institute (ISI) of Surakarta.
The stage is arranged with modern theatre concept. Black colored cloths as high as 180 meters are aligned in three rows. The last row was the longest, descending shorter to the front. It was above those cloths that the puppets (golek uppets) are moved around from behind the scenes. Each person could only play one character. Different from the traditional dalangs that are able to play many characters in one show, waluyo was assisted by 4 of his friends.
The concept of performance was similar to a radio play put into a theatrical show. Then where are the narrators? They stay at the upper stage along with the musicians and singers. For this play, central Javanese, eastern Javanese and Cirebonan sound were performed one after another with connections. though utilizing traditional musical instruments, the melody was diatonic. The experiment of combining golek puppets with theatre that commenced back in 2005 is worth the appreciation. The characters of golek pupprts are shown through the costumest, facial and body contour and the dialect.
Geger Jamaludin tells the story of Jamaludin’s love to Sutijah, the daughter of king Anggreng Truno of the Kali Kemiri Empire. Though she is loved by the son of counselor Sobrang Barang, she would not accept the love from elites in the Kingdom. Jamaludin and Sutijah met in the celebration of sea offerings by the beach. Jamaludin is the son of bergas, the head of sub-distrct Dukuh Sembung. His father wished to propose Sutijah for him, but he was told to go even before reaching the front porch of the palace. “Shame on you! Who are you to intrude the greatness of this aristocracy? Shouted the counselor.
The people of Sembung were upfront in not paying retributions to the palace. This was a major issue for Kali Miri Empire. Upon consent of thr king, counselor Sobrang Barang assaulted the sub-district for their allegedly rebelliouns act. He did not only set fire to the whole area, but took the retribution then by force. Murders and lootings occurred massively.
Jamaludin was outraged for the destruction of his father’s people. It was evident injustice and cruelty. “ No need for royalty to fight. No need to be crowned to set justice forth. I shall prove thet even a scoundrel deserves to show love to his land!” exclaimed Jamaludin.
As the army of counselor Sobrang was heading back to the palace central post he barricaded them and raid backthe retribution and lootings from Sembung. This fight was victored by Jamaludin. He was considered a hero by the villagers. As it turns out, this story of this raid was spread by words to all places and agitated the Kingdom. No one was able to defeat Jamaludin.
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