Take five: Life on the road means that the daredevils have to catch sleep whenever â and wherever they can
Two motorcycles roared at the bottom of an immense barrel six meters wide and a towering eight meters high.
On one bike sat Muhammad Anwar alias Meyek, 31. On the other was Widodo, 17. The sound was overwhelming as the men revved their engines, warming up.
The two-stroke motorcycles, both made in 1997, started moving, going around the base of the barrel at moderate speed. They gradually increased speed, circling even faster as if trying to catch up with each other.
The cycles continued to circle, driving along the side of the barrel and then, amazingly, reaching its uppermost edge, near where the spectators sat.
The crowd cheered as the men went round and round, tossing money into the hands of Meyek and Widodo as they passed.
It was all part of the tong setan, or devil's barrel, presented as part of the Sekaten night fair, held each year in the North Square of the Surakarta Palace in Central Java to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
The riders continued with acrobatic feats. At one point, Meyek stood up off his seat, taking his hands off the bike's handle bars. He then sat down with one leg crossed over the saddle. Meanwhile, Widodo sat sideways, later raising his feet over the handle bars.
Meyek and Widodo continued to ride at high speed to the cheers of the crowd.
'It's really exciting,' one spectator, Joko, 26, said. 'This is an expensive show, because we can't find at any other time.'
The show used to be called the barrel stand and was only later changed to its current moniker to match the daredevil tricks on display.
In Surakarta (Solo) and nearby Yogyakarta, such extreme entertainment is typically only during special occasions such as traditional ceremonies or school vacations ' or for night fairs such as Sekaten, Cembengan for the sugarcane harvest and Syawalan for Idul Fitri.
The events also offer entertainments such as boating, merry-go-rounds, Ferris wheels, revolving choppers and haunted houses. The performers and carnival workers are part of a tobong, or traveling group, moving from place to place.
'I've been away from home for three months,' Meyek said. 'Before Solo, I followed this tobong to Lampung, Sumedang, Indramayu [West Java] and Demak [Central Java]. I may be able to go home after this fair.'
Meyek, a native of Klaten, Central Java, has worked as a tong setan rider with the Berkah Ria group for five years. 'I've been a daredevil rider for 12 years,' the slender man said. 'I frequently fell down at first, which was natural for a beginner.'
With Berkah Ria, he can get paid between Rp 300,000 (US$24) and Rp 600,000 a night, depending on the size of the crowd. However, he has performed for as little as Rp 20,000 when audience numbers were off. 'As long as it doesn't rain, the pay is fairly good,' he added.
Widodo's story is much the same, working for the group for just two years, with Meyek as his mentor. 'I still have to train a lot more, especially for acrobatics. I still dare not ride while standing without gripping the handle bars like Mas Meyek,' said the youth from Sragen.
Other tong setan groups were on hand for the Sekaten fair: Kelana Karya from Demak; Sido Makmur from Ngawi, East Java; Mitra Jaya from Kendal, Central Java; and Berkah Mulya from Klaten.
Sido Makmur's Supri, a father of three, said that he was able to keep a healthly family life, despite his itinerant schedule. 'Over a month, the boss of the tobong allows three days off in rotation, which can be spent at home with my family. Working for 15 years with Sido Makmur, I've maintained good relations with my family.'
The 44-year-old, however, no longer works as a stunt driver, and instead supervises the Sido Makmur crew. He also trains riders from other groups. 'I'm no longer agile due to age. But I still have a good command of riding techniques to teach them,' the man from Madiun, East Java, said.
For daredevils such as Supri, Meyek, Widodo, the night fairs are a dynamic world. In 15 years on the road, Supri has visited most of the major cities in Indonesia.
'In a year, we're moving 16 times on average, not only in Java, but also in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi,' according to Supri. 'We also once performed in East Timor when it was part of Indonesia. Papua is the only one left.'
He says that the job does have its downside, such as sleeping on ticket counter floors, truck decks and even on the floor of the barrel ' all for about Rp 7 million a month. 'Under such conditions I often miss my wife and children. But I can't help it, because without living like this I would lose my income.'
Life on the road is tough for everyone, even for the bosses, such as Muhammad Wahyudi, 57, who runs several tong setan groups, including Berkah Ria. 'Now we're opening in Solo so I can go home to Klaten. Usually I can return only once in two to three months. When I miss my family very much, I will ask them to come to my tobong,' said Wahyudi.
Operating four groups with seven games in different cities, Wahyudi is a busy man, despite the individual team managers under him.
The grandfather of two started in the business from the bottom up. After senior high school, he was a ticket seller with his uncle's tobong. He was later named supervisor, head of games and finally group manager.
After working for 20 years, he decided to run his own tobong. A tobong can net about Rp 5 million a night, he says, while renting space for two weeks for the fair costs Rp 20 million. Wahyudi laughs. 'It's still profitable.'
'Photos by Ganug Nugroho Adi
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