A big toy: Children get a chance to have a closer look at a barongsai, at the café in Hotel Mulia, on Feb. 13 and 14.

Hobby, creativity and passion are the deadly trio of creation.

Just ask 25-year-old Frams Wirandy, a barongsai dancer who also created the barongsais his troupe — the Koe Seng Tong Foundation – use during its performances.  

The dancer’s foray into barongsai artisanship started when he took interest in fixing minor damages on old barongsais such as peeled off paintwork or small dents, rather than sending them for repair to workshops in Bogor, West Java.

Mending old barongsais taught him about their structure and encouraged him to make his first piece in 2006. He admitted it was a trial and error process.

“I studied the original pieces carefully to learn how they were made, to [eventually] make my own. My first [attempt at making a barongsai] wasn’t so bad but still needed plenty of improvements,” he said.

Deciding what kind of paper to use confounded him the most. Barongsai heads, which normally rest on the players’ shoulder, have to be as light as possible to enable the player to move with agility. Therefore he ruled out HVS paper and cement paper bags that proved too heavy before finally settling on the thin cassava paper.

He then glued layers of the paper around a lion’s head-shaped frame made of thinly sliced bamboo pieces.
The frame, which took two weeks to make, was the deciding factor for the quality of the final product.

“It was initially difficult to make the frame. I was not allowed to get the calculations wrong. If the eyes were not the same size, the barongsai would look ugly,” he added.

He then stuck a seven-meter hologram sticker over the paper, which acted as a canvas for the neon-colored designs he would later paint on.

Frams browsed a few barongsai websites to get design ideas before applying his own swirling lines accentuated with neon paint and sprinkles of glitter.

His designs are void of symbolic meaning since the barongsais he made were not for religious ceremonies, but for entertainment. Thus, color mix and pattern attractiveness were the most important considerations for him to capture the audience’s attention.

Frams desire to express his creativity was the main driver behind him creating barongsais for his troupe, instead of buying them from well-established artisans in Semarang, Central Java and Bogor.

 “If I buy [barongsais] from Bogor, I have to choose from a ready-made stock. But if I make my own, I can express myself through the colors and patterns.”

After letting the paint dry, Frams lined the eyes and mouth of the barongsai with synthetic fur trimmings of different colors – from bold orange to sober black.

Impressive: Guests sitting at their tables at Hotel Mulia Table 8 restaurant admire the barongsai.

He chose synthetic over Angora rabbit’s fur, which was expensive and hard to obtain, and used around one meter of fur costing approximately Rp. 500,000 (US$53) for each barongsai.

One needs to be resourceful when making a barongsai, Frams found out. A barongsai typically has a shiny convex circle placed in the center of its forehead. To make this, Frams cleverly broke off an aluminum ladle from its handle and stuck the convex scoop above the eyes, concealing the lining with fur trimmings.

As for the eyes of the barongsai, Frams used a large torch’s bulb so the eyes would light up in the dark.

Three months and Rp 1.5 million (US$160) later, Frams finally completed his barongsai.

Two of the 12 barongsais his troupe own were made by Frams, and used during their Feb. 13-14 performances at Hotel Mulia’s Chinese New Year celebration.

His orange barongsai exuded energy and a spirit of fun with its puffy, neon orange fur lining the wide mouth and large, round eyes, while his black barongsai oozed elegance with a slivery white fur against a black sequined head.

Hotel Mulia’s Table 8 Restaurant manager Calvin Chow ended up choosing Frams’ designs over the other 10 barongsais the troupe owned – which mostly came from China.

 “I asked the troupe to use Fram’s orange and black barongsais when performing here because of their special colors I believed would bring good luck to the hotel,” Calvin said.

Koe Seng Tong dancers have performed at Hotel Mulia’s last 12 Chinese New Year festivities. The troupe was paid approximately Rp. 5 million (US$533) for their performances this year.

Frams still refuses to rest on his laurels. There are many improvements he wants to make to his barongsais, from reducing their weight from 3 to 2 kilograms – the average weight of a China-made barongsai, to using more colors for his designs.

China-made barongsais are still the top choice for many troupes, followed by Malaysian-made ones, as they are considered the best in terms of durability, weight, design, quality and in the case of Malaysia, richness of color. Locally, Bogor and Semarang are the reigning champions.

Expressive eyes: Two barongsais stand on the stage at Hotel Mulia for Chinese New Year celebrations.
Lilijan of the Hoang Ho Say barongsai troupe said it was difficult for Indonesians to match the quality of Chinese and Malaysian barongsais. Chinese are world experts in traditional barongsais while Malaysians have successfully created their own signature of modern-styled barongsais.

 “The copied versions are definitely different from the original ones,” he said on Saturday, before his troupe’s performance at Emporium Mall, Pluit, North Jakarta.

The most important features for him were the barongsai’s mouth and eyes for these are the two features that breathe life into the barongsai.

“Once we hold and play with the barongsai, the eyes and mouth must give a realistically expressive feel to the barongsai,” he said.

Frams, who currently makes barongsais for his troupe’s exclusive use, is not keen on giving up his new craft.
He plans to moonlight as barongsai maker after his day-job in a marketing company, although he will only sell his work to other troupes when it reaches a certain quality standard.

“I still want to make barongsais. However, making one is a work of art. One must be relaxed and not feel rushed in making it,” he said.

The challenges in making high-quality barongsais rest in the availability of premium quality materials. Local materials are still limited compared to Chinese materials, China being the birthplace of barongsais.

The younger generation’s lack of interest in mastering the making of barongsais poses another problem.

“Teenagers these days prefer to spend their free time playing Playstation. They do not view barongsai artisanship as a hip thing to do,” Frams said.

But there is still hope.

Secretary general of the Indonesian Dragon and Liong Dance Federation (PLBSI), Ripka Widjaja, said the barongsai-making business had great financial potential thanks to the development of barongsai dance in Indonesia.

“It is up to the older generations to teach the younger ones. If there is a large demand from dance troupes, then there will a bigger need for barongsai makers,” she said.

Some schools have added barongsai dancing to the list of extra-curricular activities they offer. This is all good news nor only for the preservation of Chinese heritage, but for its development in Indonesia.

Indonesia will stand a good chance of not only winning local and foreign barongsai dance competitions, but also of exporting barongsai artisanship to other countries. (gzl)

— Photos Courtesy of Hotel Mulia