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Abstract
Scholarly studies on the performing arts in Bali have been heavily focused on traditional dance and drama. Modern theatre therefore has not only become a neglected subject but is treated as though it is non-existent. This study focuses on the development of modern performing arts in Bali from the late 19th century until the 1960s. It begins with the arrival of the popular Malay theatre styles, stambul and later tonil, from Java, and describes the nature and impact of these two styles on Bali. It then proceeds to show how they were changed into sandiwara during the Japanese occupation and the period following independence, when western-style theatre was also introduced. The final theatre form discussed is drama gong, created in the late 1950s and achieving great popularity in succeeding decades. It discusses how these modern performing arts act as a barometer of changing ideas of Balinese identity, particularly in regard to drama gong which was considered modern when initially performed in Indonesian, but was then regarded as a ‘traditional’ form when performed in Balinese as a reflection of an increasing sense of regional identity.
Notes
1 Penoelis perhatikan lagak lakoe lakoenja dan bahasanja anak anak moerid Bali itoe melakoekan pertoendjoekan dengan pakaian dan bahasa serta tjara tjaranja setjara Europa, timboellah perasaan hati penoelis seolah olah dasar Balinja soedah berobah sipatnja sipatnja mendjadi Europa. … kalau selaloe begitoe serta moelai ke anak anak hanja dididik setjara Europa sadja apakah anak anak moerid Bali itoe tiadakah akan loepa kepada sesananja Bali?
∗ This paper was presented at the Indonesian Council Open Conference (ICOC), Monash University, Melbourne, 24–25 September 2007. I thank Keith Foulcher, Barbara Hatley, and Joost Cotè for their encouraging comments during the seminar, and Adrian Vickers and Laura Noszlopy for their suggestions regarding the earlier draft of the paper. I am grateful to Matthew Isaac Cohen and Michel Picard for sharing their research notes with me. I would also like to thank IMW's two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions as well as Helen Creese for invaluable input and insight, and Christopher Dames for editing my English. I take responsibility for any shortcomings.
2 Except for the name of a specific stamboel group, the Indonesian spelling stambul is used hereafter.
3 For a detailed discussion of 20th century newspapers published in Bali see Darma Putra (2003b).
4 Bangsawan was a term for plays about royalty and their personalities (Tan Citation1989: 233).
5 The newspaper Makassarsche Courant (12 June 1895, p. 2) reported that: ‘[…] De Srie Stambool vertrekt binnen een paar dagen van Macassar naar Boeleleng’.
6 ‘Komedi Sri Stamboel, which is going to perform in Mangga Besar [in Batavia] left on the ship Poo Hin Goan yesterday morning from Buleleng [North Bali].’
7 Matthew Isaac Cohen, personal communication, 14 August 2007.
8 Surya Kanta, published by an organisation of the same name which was restricted to lower caste membership, was a newspaper which attempted to appeal to all castes, while valuing education above caste. It appeared from 1925 to 1927.
9 See ‘Perasaan Hati’ by Djiwa (Bali Adnyana, June 1925, pp. 4–5). This article reports that the audience filling up komedi hall comprised Dutch, Javanese, and Balinese (Penonton tiadalah koerang sehingga memenoehi kamar Bola jaitoe orang Belanda, Djawa Bali…). The term orang Belanda was used to refer to all Europeans and not just the Dutch.
10 It was common at that time for students studying in Java to form student or youth organisations based on their ethnic or regional origins for mutual support and examples include Jong Java Bond, Jong Sumatranen Bond, Jong Celebes, Jong Ambon.
11 I am unable to work out the meaning of the acronym HUDVO. Articles about the activities of this organisation, which were published by Surya Kanta and Bali Adnjana, do not provide any information about its meaning.
12 This organisation continued to function in Bali once its leaders and members completed their study and was one of the most important organisations in Bali in the 1930s. Apart from promoting the importance of education, Bali Dharma Laksana published its own cultural journal called Djatajoe (Messenger), initially edited by the Balinese novelist, Panji Tisna. Through this magazine, Balinese youth published literary works and general articles in which current local issues related to education and culture were discussed.
13 The group also went to Lombok but there is no information about this tour.
14 Bali Adnyana represented the three upper castes (triwangsa) in the caste conflict of the 1920s and so generally approached matters from the opposite viewpoint of Surya Kanta.
15 I speculate that the seemingly Javanese name, M. Soetawiria, is a nom de plume of M. Wirjasoetha, formed by reversing the halves of his name. After finishing his study at HIS, Wirjasoetha went to Malang to continue at MULO. For a detailed discussion of Wirjasoetha's intellectual development and social activities in the 1920s–1930s, see Schulte-Nordholt (Citation2000: 71–88) who stated that in 1941 Wirjasoetha wrote a nationalist theatre play, entitled Matahari terbit (The sun rises), but it is not known if this play was ever staged.
16 The article was sent from Malang on 27 April 1925, a month before scheduled performances. See M. Soetawiria ‘Pertoendjoekan moerid BALI dari MULOSCHOOL di Bali’ (Bali Adnyana, 10 May 1925, p. 3).
17 …djanganlah sampai meloepakan SESANA toean sebagai orang Bali Hindoe adanja (Djiwa Citation1925: 5)
18 Penonton Bali biasa pada stamboel, jang berpakaian keemasan dan disertai oleh njanjian, tetapi tak mengerti akan kias dan kehendak pertoendjoekan sebagai jang diperlihatkan oleh Hudvo. Itulah menjebabkan toemboeh pikiran koerang poeas hatinja penonton tentang pertoendjoekan itoe. Sebaiknjalah menoeroet pendapatan kami, djika Hudvo beroesaha akan lebih mendekati penontonnja dengan bahasa Bali atau Melajoe, serta poela memilih pertoendjoekan lakon-lakon jang tiada djaoeh dari pemandangan dan pengertian bangsa kita oemoem.
19 Personal communication from Matthew Isaac Cohen, 14 August 2007.
20 Interview with Luh Kompyang Natih (1929–), 15 December 2007. Kompyang Natih saw tonil performances in Klungkung in the late 1930s.
21 Janger is performed by a female dancer called the janger, and a male dancer called the kecak. The performance commences with the janger and kecak dancing and singing and exchanging words of love through the singing, and is followed by a play with a story that is usually part of the Indian Mahabharata epic or a Panji story. Janger as a dance can also be performed without a story, consisting just of exchanges of words on a particular topic between the kecak and janger.
22 Images of janger as a religious and politically-motivated performance are presented in the novel Jangir Bali (1964) by Nur Sutan Iskandar. Although published in the 1960s, the novel is set in Bali in the 1930s, against the backdrop of the emerging nationalist movement on the island. It tells a story about the love affair between a nationalist youth from Java and a Balinese janger dancer whose performances are used to express the spirit of nationalism.
23 Interviews with Gde Dharna (13 January 2008) and Jero Wilaja (16 January 2008).
24 See ‘In memoriam I Ketut Sukrata Tokoh Kebudayaan Bali’ (Suluh Marhaen, 17 September 1967, p. 2).
25 Bentuknya adalah sebuah drama yang terbagi menjadi lima atau enam babak. Di antara babak satu dengan yang lain ditampilkan atraksi selingan yang terdiri dari sajian lagu-lagu, akrobatik, termasuk tari-tarian srampang dua belas. Semua pemain berbahasa Indonesia dengan latar belakang berupa layar yang berlapis-lapis (I Wayan Dibia, personal communication, 16 August 2007).
26 Bhakti, ‘the magazine for the public – non-party’, founded in 1952, published both Balinese and non-Balinese writers and translations, and had correspondents throughout Indonesia. It appeared three times a month and contained a wide range of material, so that its politics could not be specifically defined – although it proclaimed itself to be inspired by the Pancasila philosophy.
27 See ‘Teratai Berayun akan dipentaskan di Singaraja’ (Suluh Marhaen, 17 March 1968, p. 1).
28 Personal communication, Prof Dr I Gusti Ngurah Bagus (19 December 1999).
29 See ‘Festival LKN seluruh Bali berakhir sukses’ (Suara Indonesia, 12 March 1965, p. 1). For festival reviews see Buddy Satria Citation(1965). The reviews were published weekly in Suara Indonesia, between 28 Maret 1965 and 18 April 1965.
30 A forerunner of the Bali Post, PNI-oriented at the time.
31 Buddy Satria wrote ‘apabila pemain-pemain muda ini terus ulet berlatih dan mementaskan maka kemajuan drama modern di Bali akan jauh lebih pesat daripada di kota-kota besar di Jawa’; see ‘Sedikit Catatan Festival Drama & Deklamasi LKN Bali’ (Suara Indonesia, 18 April 1965, p. 3).
32 Since it is an oral story, Mayadenawa has been rewritten by other drama directors. Anom Ranuara, for example, wrote a script of Mayadenawa for a performance on 31 August 1967 in Sembung, Kabupaten Badung.
33 Creese Citation(2000b) discusses the mask dance Mayadenawa, shown on TVRI on 31 January 1994, and other forms of Balinese performing arts in the context of the Balinese interpretation of their histories.
34 See ‘Mayadenawa di Pejeng’ (Suluh Marhaen, Minggu, 29 May 1966, p. 3).
35 Ibid.
36 Interview with Tjokorda Rai Sudharta, (9–10 August 2007). He was chief of the Department of Religion in Bali Province in the mid 1960s and played an important role in the production of this performance.
37 ‘Mayadenawa’, ‘Bertemu di Ujung Keris’ (Suara Indonesia, 11 May 1964, p. 1).
38 ‘Marhaen’ is Sukarno's invented term for ‘poor farmer’, a synonym for the Marxist term ‘proletariat’. Pancasila is the ideology of the Indonesian state. Although LKN and Lekra shared a populist spirit, the difference lay in their acceptance of Pancasila which included belief in God. Lekra never emphasised the importance of Pancasila, in line with their atheistic stance.
39 Interview with Gde Dharna, 6 January 1999.
40 Interview with Ida Bagus Anom Ranuara, January 2008; Gde Dharna 13 January 2008.
41 See ‘Akhir April Festival LKN Badung, “Margapati” dan “Tenin” Tarian Wajib’ (Suluh Indonesia, 22 March 1966, p. 1). A later article announced a postponement to 13–15 May (see announcement in Suluh Indonesia, 7 May 1966, p. 3).
42 See ‘AA Raka Payadnya: Bikin Drama Klasik, Populer Drama Gong’ (Bali Post, 4 September 1999).
43 This is a novel written in the mid 1930s by Panji Tisna and published by Balai Pustaka.
44 Raka Payadnya in an interview with Wayan Windia (1 September 2007). I Swasta Setahun di Bedahulu was again performed as a drama gong in 2004 in the annual Bali Arts Festival by a different group.
45 Raka Payadnya in an interview with Wayan Windia (1 September 2007).
46 The term drama klasik was made popular by Teater Mini in the 1980s, a couple of years after the establishment of TVRI's Denpasar station in 1978. This theatre group, lead by Ida Bagus Anom Ranuara performed a classic drama every week on this station. It became the most popular and widely viewed programme on TVRI Denpasar, and established the reputation of the station. The stories were based on the Mahabharata, presented in Indonesian, and the performers wore a combination of Indian and traditional Balinese costume. Anom Ranuara was an active playwright in the 1960s, and wrote a script of Mayadenawa which was performed under his direction on 31 August 1967 in Sembung, Kabupaten Badung. See also Mayun (1967).
47 See ‘AA Raka Payadnya: Bikin Drama Klasik, Populer Drama gong’ (Bali Post, 4 September 1999).
48 ‘Pekan Festival LKN Success’ (Suluh Marhaen, 26 July 1966, p. 2).
49 See ‘Pekan Festival LKN Success: Pengugah, Penggerak, Pelanjut dalam Bidang Kreasi’ (Suluh Marhaen, 26 July 1966, p. 2).
50 See ‘Masyarakat telah Drama Minded’ (Suluh Marhaen, 14 January 1968, p. 1) and ‘Waktu Pertunjukan Drama Perlu Ditertibkan’ (Suluh Marhaen, 14 January 1968, p. 1).
51 See ‘Waktu Pertunjukan Drama Perlu Ditertibkan’ (Suluh Marhaen, 14 January 1968, p. 1).
52 See ‘Nama Drama Gong Mau Diganti Nama Lain?’ (Suluh Marhaen, 14 January 1968, p. 3).
53 See also ‘Stop Stop Polemik Drama Gong’ (Suluh Marhaen, 25 February 1968, p. 2).
54 See Ketut Aryana ‘SOS Bahasa Bali’ (Suluh Marhaen, 17 July 1966, p. 2).
55 See ‘Masalah Bahasa Drama gong’ by Ida Bagus Mayun (Suluh Marhaen, 3 March 1968, p. 2).
56 Examples of comedians recording on VCD/DVD are ‘Petruk & Dolar Jadi Teroris’ (Petruk and Dolar become terrorists), ‘Dolar Gate’ (Dolar being the name of one of the main characters), and ‘Makejang Jadi Pengedar’ (They all become [drug] distributors). The first was produced by Bali Record and the other two by Maharani Record.