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Ong Hari Wahyu: On the front lines of saving Javanese culture
Ong Hari Wahyu - A
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Ong Hari Wahyu - A. Kurniawan Ulung
Ong Hari Wahyu, 55, is a noted art director for Indonesian films. However, when he returns to his hometown of Yogyakarta, Ong is respected for his conservation of Javanese art and culture.
Despite dropping out of the Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) the father of one has worked with people in Nitiprayan, Bantul, to promote art and culture for more than a decade.
Located around 3 kilometers southwest of Yogyakarta, Nitiprayan is an artists' village, full of painters, singers, dancers, comedians, curators and theater performers.
Nitiprayan, which comprises more than 600 families, has had many of its residents rise to fame as artists on the international stage, such as curator Kuss Indarto, comedian Pak Bendot as well as the painters Putu Sutawijaya, Teguh Wiyatno, Dadang Christanto and Entang Wiharso.
'Yogyakartans say that someone cannot label himself as an artist if they don't live in Nitiprayan,' said Ong, who was the art director for Garin Nugroho's recent biopic, Guru Bangsa: Tjokroaminoto (The Nation's Teacher: Tjokroaminoto).
Ong said that ketoprak, or traditional Javanese historical theater performances, and other cultural events had often been held in the village since the Dutch era.
However, as time passed, performances grew more seldom, so Ong and four ISI alumni founded the Art Community of Nitiprayan in 2002 to revive cultural events ' something that he described as difficult.
Ong said that some were opposed to plans to revitalize the village's artistic community, fearing it might lead to polytheism (syirik). 'I told them that I was Muslim and I understood what syirik meant. Dancing and playing music does not relate to it. God also loves art and beauty.'
Another reason to make Nitiprayan and artists' village was to promote unity, something important to Ong, who remembered the racial and religious conflicts that emerged at the end of the New Order.
The first steps were taken in 2003, when the community held a traditional rain-making festival when a drought hit Yogyakarta.
He said that the feast, opened by the local regent, was held for three days along Jl. Nitiprayan and was attended by thousands of visitors.
Ong said that the feast received positive feedback from people in Nitiprayan and then became an annual event.
The feast prompted residents to learn more about art and culture from the ISI students who rented rooms in boarding houses in the village became their teachers.
Local residents then began to hold small cultural events, such as ketoprak and kothekan lesung and karawitan (classic Javanese music performance) in simple places, such as yards, alleys and rice fields, to preserve Javanese culture. They conducted such events at least twice a month.
'I always told [residents] that being artist and playing musical instruments are easy. In kothekan lesung, for example, we just need to pound a wooden lesung [mortar] by using wooden alu [pestle] to create a distinct sound,' he said.
Ong said that everybody in Nitiprayan could be considered an artist because they can at least play the gong or the gendang (traditional drums).
Overseas artists have also joined the fun after Ong invited them to perform in Nitiprayan.
In September 2004, for example, he staged Kembalinya Legenda Sawunggaling (The Return of the Legend of Sawunggaling), collaborating with the Sidetrack Performance Group from Australia; while in March, the Japanese dance group Unotori Kagura performed in the village.
Ong said that his work to conserve Javanese culture in Nitiprayan never disturbed his regular job as an art director ' and ensured that he would never be bored. 'The powers of art are not only to entertain, but also to enlighten.'
