Gunungan International Mask & Puppets Festival 2016

Sat, May 14, 2016 / 01:31 pm

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Suyadi’s 1980s puppet icon Si Unyil is displayed at the Gunungan International Mask and Puppets Festival. The Si Unyil puppet show was a famous Indonesian TV series for children running from the early 1980s to 1993. [JP/Arya Dipa]
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Puppeteer Tantan Sugandi, helped by his students, plays various puppet characters picturing the real life of people in a village as a part of series of events at the Gunungan International Mask and Puppets Festival. [JP/Arya Dipa]
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Young artists, part of the Panggak Men Mersi group from Bali, perform a puppet show titled Kaja-Kelod, telling the story of the creation of the universe at the Gunungan International Mask and Puppets Festival. [JP/Arya Dipa]
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A dancer from the Malang Dance community performs a mask dance called Topeng Malangan at the Gunungan InternationalMask and Puppets Festival. [JP/Arya Dipa]
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French artists from Remouleurs work with Indonesian puppet artist Herry Dim to present The Bird, a puppet performance at the Gunungan International Mask and Puppets Festival. [JP/Arya Dipa]
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Puppeteer Apep Hudaya performs a puppet show along with other artists at the Gunungan International Mask and Puppets Festival. [JP/Arya Dipa]
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Senior puppeteer Sih Agung Prasetyo from the Lima Gunung community in Magelang, Central Java, chooses an animal character in a shadow play at the Gunungan International Mask and Puppets Festival. [JP/Arya Dipa
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Artists from the Lima Gunung community start the Ritus Gunung ritual prior to performing the show White Noise. The artists criticize environmental damage through body language. [JP/Arya Dipa]
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Dancers from the Lima Gunung community in Magelang present a creation of White Noise. [JP/Arya Dipa]

Bandung, the Indonesian Paris Van Java, has held the fifth two-day Gunungan International Mask and Puppets Festival. The celebration aims to gather those who love mask and puppet’s art in Bale Pare, Kota Baru Parahiyangan, West Java, on May 7-8, 2016.

The aim of the festival is to conserve the mask and puppet’s art and culture in Indonesia. The event’s committee therefore presented various mask and puppet arts performances from across the country. Audiences enjoyed the show, which was using local and foreign languages. Art always knows how touch the heart of people with universal language.

The recent festival upheld a theme of ‘Tribute to Pak Raden’. Pak Raden [puppet name] isthe creator of the famous Indonesian TV series, a puppet show for children, called `Si Unyil’ in 1980s. Suyadi, the real name of Pak Raden [Mr Raden] passed away last year at 82. Pak Raden often seen on TV screen in his typical appearance by wearing Javanese traditional attire and thick mustache. The festival’s committee presented his creation in the form of documentary video.

The attractiveness of the art performance is philosophically to engage the audience to do self-introspection in regards with the characters of the mask and puppet representing the characters of human being, such as feign, emotional, humble and willing to sacrifice. [dan]

JP/ Arya Dipa