Smaradahana -The Burning of Love

11 June 2004

A love story retold through gamelan, shadow puppetry, masks and dance. 

Dancers: Eka Damayanti and Aviva Kartiningsih Cohen
Puppeteer: Matthew Isaac Cohen
Musical director: Signy Jakobsdottir
Musical arrangements: Jon Keliehor
Production: Luminous Music 

SMARADADAHANA STORY SYNOPSIS

Shiva has gone into deep meditation and must be awoken to fight off a phenomenally evil demon whom no one can defeat, and who is determined to take over the world. Kama the love god is chosen to bring Shiva out of meditation to fight the demon. First Siva's passion must be aroused. Kama fires his most powerful arrow into Shiva's heart. Shiva awakens enraged and burns Kama to a crisp. Kama's wife, Rati (Goddess of Passion) insults Shiva and she too is incinerated. As Shiva 'is' the Universe, there is now little hope of love or passion developing anywhere or for anyone. Shiva's wife Uma devises a plan to restore the lives of Kama and Rati, and a passionate session with Shiva ensues. During their lovemaking Uma see's an elephant pass by the window. As powerful as their love is, a child, Ganesh, is born with an elephant's head, becoming the prime candidate to slay the evil demon whom no pure god, human, nor demon can slay.

NEW THEATRE, OLD ARTS

Tonight’s performance of Smaradahana: The Burning of Love, is a new production of an old story, based on a narrative poem in Old Javanese written by Mpu Dharmaja in Java (Indonesia) about 800 years ago. The story is told through gamelan, shadow puppetry, masks and dance that are contemporary interpretations of age-old traditions from Indonesia.

The dance that is part of tonight’s performance is a confluence of different streams. Some of the dances are character portraits derived from the Javanese tradition of masked-dance or topeng. There is also clowning, with masks and without, of the sort one would find at a rural topeng or folk drama performance. Additionally, there is contemporary dance (tari kontemporer)—an urban art style associated with educated elites, but drawing upon ancient traditions of mysticism.

Gamelan is the most significant traditional music of Java and neighbouring islands of Indonesia. The term gamelan refers to both the music and the instruments that play it. A gamelan orchestra is made up primarily of a variety of gongs, chimes and various sorts of percussion instruments, sometimes supplemented by vocalists, flute and string instruments. Ensemble sizes vary between 30 players to as small as 3 or 4. The drummer acts as the orchestra's conductor, giving signals to start, stop, speed up, slow down, get louder or softer. Traditional gamelan music is cyclical, with the same core melody, punctuated by gongs, repeated in variation. The music is stratified and polyphonic, and does not conform to Western harmonic norms.

Gamelan music can be played by itself as a concert art form, but it is more typical in Java for it to accompany theatre, dance and ceremonials. One of the most important uses of gamelan is in wayang kulit, or shadow puppet theatre, which is Java's most prevalent traditional theatrical form. Stories are mostly based on Hindu sources-brought to Java from India 1000 years ago or more. The story-cycles of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana form the core of the wayang kulit repertoire, but there are also a number of stories-such as the one presented tonight-that precede the actions of these epics.

A single puppeteer animates all the puppets, provides their voices, sings songs and makes rhythmic knockings and bangings to accompany the action. Dialogue is never completely scripted, but partially improvised. Puppeteers integrate political commentary and bawdy humour, dancers and comedians take the stage, non-gamelan instruments are brought out, musicians shout out comments, audiences make song requests. Audiences in Java watch from both sides of the screen. New gamelan music, by Indonesian and non-Indonesian composers, does not always conform to these conventions, of course. New musical pieces featured in tonight's performance are by Jon Keliehor and J. Simon van der Walt; there are also arrangements of traditional standards by Joko Susilo. The puppets used tonight are from rural Cirebon (western Java) and the performance style is out of the village as well.

GAMELAN NAGA MAS is a community combined arts group, specialising in the performance traditions of Indonesia. The group was founded in 1991 and plays on a gamelan pelog (heptatonic gong-chime ensemble) made in Yogyakarta (central Java), owned by the Glasgow City Council and currently housed in the Tramway. Naga Mas has performed music, dance, dance-theatre, folk drama, and shadow puppet theatre throughout England and Scotland. Members of the group include community and professional musicians, composers and university lecturers in the performing arts. Guest artists who have performed with Naga Mas include Dr Joko Susilo (artistic director 2001-2002), Pudji Astuti Jansen, Dr I Nyoman Wenten and Sunarno Purwolelono. A video of Wayang Cuchulain, an intercultural shadow puppet play by Joko Susilo, Matthew Isaac Cohen and Naga Mas, is available for purchase.

LUMINOUS MUSIC develop and present world music performance projects, international gamelan productions, and educational projects for young children. Based in Glasgow, they provide music for contemporary dance and ballet with organisations such as Scottish Ballet, Scottish Dance Theatre, Dance House, Youth Dance Scotland, and Dance School of Scotland.

MATTHEW ISAAC COHEN has been performing as a shadow puppeteer since 1989. He studied wayang kulit for six years in Central and West Java, often performing mostly for village audiences, and has written extensively about Indonesian performance. He lectures in theatre studies at the University of Glasgow.

EKA DAMAYANTI is a London-based contemporary choreographer and dancer born in Bekasi (West Java). She graduated from Institut Kesenian Jakarta (Jakarta Arts Institute) with a degree in choreography, and has studied the traditional dances of Sunda, West and Central Java, Bali and Sulawesi. She has performed with many of Britain's finest gamelan groups since coming to this country three years ago.

AVIVA KARTININGSIH COHEN studied classical dance in Surakarta, Central Java, from childhood. She has performed as Sinta in Naga Mas' Anoman the Envoy and as Sekar Kedaton in The Tale of Suta Kesuma. She is a member of the Glasgow-based artists' collective, Artists in Exile, and also creates and gives workshops in reverse painting on glass.

SIGNY JAKOBSDOTTIR studied gamelan in Seattle with Jarrad Powell and performed for six years with Gamelan Pacifica. In 2002 she joined Naga Mas, studying Kendang (Javanese Drum) with Joko Susilo. She works as a dance musician with Scottish Ballet and Scottish Dance Theatre. Signy is a co-founder of Luminous Music where she gives workshops in gamelan, hand drumming and co-devises creative workshops.

JON KELIEHOR is an American born composer and percussionist living in Glasgow. His music for contemporary dance, ballet, theatre and film has produced a unique catalogue of percussion based composition. He is the director of Luminous Music, a company that originates innovative educational projects and percussion performance. His music can be found on various recordings, most notably Celestial Nile, Create Music, Ocean of Dreams, East Meets West, and Trance Gong for Gamelan Pacifica.

MUSICIANS

Kendhang - Signy Jakobsdottir
Saron, demung, suling - Jon Keliehor
Saron - Hooi Ling Eng
Demung - Natalia Bahrin
Bonang Barung - Mary Anne Carroll
Bonang Panerus - Sophie Pragnell
Slenthem, demung, flute - Katherine Waumsley
Kenong - J. Simon van der Walt
Gongs, flute - Margaret Smith

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Glasgow City Council; Jakob Jakobsson; Tramway; University of Glasgow; Joko Susilo