Bali artist offers modern wayang performance

A fusion between a traditional wayang (shadow puppet) performance and modern technology has impressed Jakartans during a two-dayshow at Graha Bhakti Budaya hall in Taman Ismail Marzuki, Cikini, Central Jakarta.

The performance, called Wayang Listrik (electric puppet), amused the audience with its funny and critical dialogue presented by one of Bali's most accomplished puppet masters, I Made Sidia.

Sidia presented a provocative show and proved to his audience that a traditional performance, which might be unappealing to most youngsters, can indeed be entertaining.

The 40-year-old puppeteer kept the audience laughing with his brilliant and innovative jokes in both English and Kawi, an ancient Javanese language.

In his Thursday performance at the hall, Sidia mocked Malaysia over the country's recent dispute with Indonesia through use of the traditional Indonesian song Rasa Sayange, which Malaysia had used in its tourism campaign.

In Sidia's Tualen's Journey story, Tualen, the main character, meets a wild tiger on his travels that he tries to tame by singing the Indonesian national anthem, Indonesia Raya.

However, the tiger in the story becomes angry upon hearing Tualen sing the anthem, after which Tualen asks, "You must be a Malaysian tiger then, huh?".

Sidia said he used jokes like this to deliver criticism about social and political issues in today's world through an art performance.
(Source: Thejakartapost.com)