Enchanting the Audience: Dramatic Devices of Sakura Mask Theatre in West Lampung, Sumatra (original) (raw)
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The Indigenous Performing Arts in a Sumatran Province: Revival of Sakura Mask Theater, 1990-2012
Due to a vast transmigration program instituted by the Dutch from 1905 and persisting under the Indonesian government from the 1950s to the present, the ulun Lampung (indigenous Lampung people), comprising just 13 percent of the total population of Lampung province in Sumatra, have for decades remained a forgotten and neglected minority in their own province. The indigenous Lampung performing arts illuminate this social problem as demonstrated by the topic of this article—sakura masked theater performed by the Saibatin ethnic group living in Lampung’s mountainous northwest. Unlike the performing arts in Java and other parts of Indonesia, which were largely regulated by the national arts’ policies of Depdikbud (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Ministry of Education and Culture) out of the national capital, Jakarta, the history of sakura masking has been determined by the marginalization of the ulun Lampung via the century-old transmigration program; this has resulted in their social stigmatization, perpetuated by communities of pendatang (newcomers). Reviving the arts was to take place through a program of promoting the Lampung philosophy of pi’il pesenggiri (self-respect) by drawing on components of traditional hospitality, including bestowing Lampung titles at traditional ceremonies on both guests visiting—and immigrants residing in—the province. This program wasinitiated by the current ulun Lampung governor not long after his appointment in 2003, and continues to be implemented today. This article begins with a description of a sakura event, which took place in 2010 in Canggu village, West Lampung, and discusses its traditional meaning and social function. It then traces the history and changed function of sakura under the colonial through the national New Order and Reformasi governments to the present.
In this article I focus on the performance practices of one of Sumatra's little-known mask varieties, that of sakura theater, performed in the southernmost province of Lampung. I also draw attention to four other Sumatran mask types, namely, those used in funeral ceremonies of the Karo Batak in North Sumatra, mak yong theater of Bintan, gobang ritual of the Anambas islands, and mendu theater of Natuna. In order to gain a greater understanding of the Sumatran mask images and to illuminate their use in performance, I first trace the history of Sumatran mask design, sourcing relevant iconographical and archeological data dating back to the migrations to the island in the Dongson era (500– 1000 bce) and the subsequent Hindu-Buddhist period (first to fourteenth centuries ce). The masks' facial features and their functions in Lampung personify animals, gods, demons, and humans and resemble carvings of supernatural beings on Buddhist temple remains throughout Sumatra. The ancestors are believed to have traveled along South Sumatra's and Lampung's extensive river system to Skala Brak in West Lampung along the southwestern Bukit Barisan mountain range, bringing with them their cultures and artistic skills. Moreover, the later interethnic contact between southern Sumatrans and the Benanek Dayak community in Kalimantan may have influenced the designs of the masks, given the similarities between them in the two areas. Today Lampung sakura masking in its various forms, dating back to the pre-Hindu-Buddhist period in Skala Brak, takes place in mystical healing and village cleansing ceremonies, at pole-climbing festivals, and in street processions on the Muslim feast day of Idul Fitri. As an indirect means of affecting the people's mindset, sakura processional performance practices and their allure affirm the Lampung worldview. Karen Kartomi Thomas is an adjunct senior research fellow in the Performance Research Unit, Centre for Theatre and Performance at Monash University. Her primary research projects focus on theater in Sumatra, including the Riau Islands.
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I had carved three Topeng bondres 1 masks. My recollection of how this was achieved is now rather dim, but I suspect that mask maker and teacher Ida Bagus Alit had a large hand in the accomplishment. My masks were at the temple in Lodtunduh waiting to be blessed and, as a part of the temple Odalan, 2
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I had carved three Topeng bondres 1 masks. My recollection of how this was achieved is now rather dim, but I suspect that mask maker and teacher Ida Bagus Alit had a large hand in the accomplishment. My masks were at the temple in Lodtunduh waiting to be blessed and, as a part of the temple Odalan, 2 There was an intense business in and around the different court yards of the temple as women carried in towers of offerings and occasionally appeared to break into dance movements as they wove a path following a priest and the Barong towards temporary shrines in different parts of the temple complex. People continually entered the inner courtyard to offer prayers; throughout the chants of the priest could be heard over loud speakers and the gamelan played. there was to be a Topeng Pajagen performed. Topeng Pajagen is a solo form of the Topeng masked performance considerd in Bali to be bebali, a ceremonial form of sacred performance, which is often but not exclusively, performed in the second courtyard of a temple and, while an optional form, is considered explicitly religious thus appropriate for a temple festival. 1 Topeng is a masked style of performance from Bali and bondres refers to a range of half masks that denote comic characters performed as part of Topeng performances. 2 Odalan is the term given for a temple festival or ceremony in Bali.
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