Wayang Topeng or Wayang Gedog

This wayang wong, human theater, with the topics of Jenggala Kingdom, where the players are wearing masks (Gedog comes from the word kedok = topeng, which is meant mask).

A true love story between Princess Candra Kirana of Kediri and Raden Panji Asmarabangun, the crown prince of Jenggala. Candra Kirana was incarnation of Dewi Ratih (goddess of love) while Panji was incarnation of Kamajaya (god of love). The story of Raden Panji and Candra Kirana was written in a poem called 'Smaradahana' the fire of love. At the happy ending, they got married and a son by the name Raja Putra was born. Panji Asmarabangun throned as a king of Jenggala with the names Sri Kameswara or Prabu Suryowiseso or Hino Kertapati.

Wayang topeng is still popular up to the present date. It is performed in a shorter period, in a special gathering, wedding parties, etc, entertaining the guests for about 20 to 30 minutes.
sumber : http://www.joglosemar.co.id/wayangtopeng.html

About Wayang Kulit

Wayang kulit or shadow puppet theatre is a traditional art form from Indonesia and Malaysia. A solo puppeteer, known as a dhalang in Javanese, manipulates and provides voices for puppets cut from animal hide and painted on both sides. The shadows of these puppets fall on a white cotton screen. In Java, wayang performances are watched from both sides of the screen, as either a shadow show or a puppet show.
Performances in Java are accompanied by a full gamelan, which might have 15, 25 or more musicians. A typical performance begins at 7.30 or 8pm with a musical overture and runs until 3 am or later.  Most plays are based on the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics, which were imported from India to Java perhaps 1500 years ago. Dialogue is not written down, but largely extemporized based on oral formulae. Plays blend action, comedy, philosophy, romance and displays of statesmanship. Wayang kulit is so comprehensive in scope that it is described by many commentators as an encyclopaedia of Javanese culture.
Some performances have ritual significance. In these ritual dramas, the dhalang recites magical incantations and presents offerings to invisible spirts. One such performance, designed to drive away malevolent spirits, is translated in Matthew Cohen’s book Demon abduction: A wayang ritual drama from West Java (Lontar, 1999).
Wayang kulit is a living art form, and there are also many contemporary productions and cross-art collaborations.
Wayang was inscribed by UNESCO in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The art form has attracted much attention since the nineteenth century from artists in Europe, the United States and around the world. (See Matthew Cohen’s article Contemporary Wayang in Global Contexts.) In 1999, the first major gathering of international wayang practitioners (dubbed dalang mancanegara) occurred as part of the Pekan Wayang national festival at Taman Mini in Jakarta. Matthew Cohen was among those who performed at this festival, and he also spoke at the festival’s international seminar.

sumber : http://kandabuwana.wordpress.com/about-wayang-kulit/

Museum Wayang Kekayon

Museum Wayang Kekayon adalah museum mengenai wayang yang ada di kota Yogyakarta, tepatnya di Jl. Raya Yogya-Wonosari Km. 7, kurang lebih 1 km dari Ring Road Timur. Museum yang didirikan pada tahun 1990 ini memiliki koleksi berbagai wayang dan topeng serta menampilkan sejarah wayang yang diperkenalkan mulai dari abad ke-6 sampai abad ke-20. Wayang-wayang di dalam museum ini terbuat baik dari kulit, kayu, kain, maupun kertas.
Sama halnya dengan museum Wayang di Jakarta, museum ini mempunyai beberapa jenis wayang, seperti: wayang Purwa, wayang Madya (menceritakan era pasca perang Baratayuda), wayang Thengul, wayang Klithik (mengisahkan Damarwulan dan Minakjinggo), wayang beber, wayang Gedhog (cerita Dewi Candrakirana), wayang Suluh (mengenai sejarah perjuangan kemerdekaan Indonesia), dan lain lain. Berkaitan dengan wayang Purwa, museum ini memiliki beberapa poster yang menggambarkan strategi perang yang dipakai dalam perang Baratayuda antara keluarga Pandawa dan Kurawa, yaitu: strategi Sapit Urang dan strategi Gajah.


sumber : http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Wayang_Kekayon

Wayang Sadat

This newly developed form is used by teachers of Islam to show the principles of Muslim ethics and religion to the natives of Java and Bali.  The term "sadat" derived from shahada (Arabic: الشهادة aš-šahādah).

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayang

Wayang karucil or wayang klitik

Wayang karucil or wayang klitik

Wayang klitik image of Batara Guru

Wayang klitik figures occupy a middle ground between the figures of wayang golek and wayang kulit. They are constructed similarly to wayang kulit figures, but from thin pieces of wood instead of leather, and, like wayang kulit figures, are used as shadow puppets. A further similarity is that they are the same smaller size as wayang kulit figures. However, wood is more subject to breakage than leather. During battle scenes, wayang klitik figures often sustain considerable damage, much to the amusement of the public, but in a country in which before 1970 there were no adequate glues available, breakage generally meant an expensive, newly made figure. On this basis the wayang klitik figures, which are to appear in plays where they have to endure battle scenes, have leather arms. The name of these figures is onomotopaeic, from the sound klitik-klitik, that these figures make when worked by the dalang.
Wayang klitik figures come originally from eastern Java, where one still finds workshops turning them out. They are less costly to produce than wayang kulit figures.
The origin of the stories involved in these puppet plays comes from the kingdoms of eastern Java: Jenggala, Kediri and Majapahit. From Jenggala and Kediri come the stories of Raden Panji and Cindelaras, which tells of the adventures of a pair of village youngsters with their fighting cocks. The Damarwulan presents the stories of a hero (Damarwulan) from Majapahit. Damarwulan is a clever chap, who with courage, aptitude, intelligence and the assistance of his young lover Anjasmara, makes a surprise attack on the neighboring kingdom and brings down Minakjinggo, an Adipati (viceroy) of Blambangan and mighty enemy of Majapahit's beautiful queen Sri Ratu Kencanawungu. As a reward, Damarwulan is married to Kencanawungu and becomes king of Majapahit; he also takes Lady Anjasmara as a second wife. This story is full of love affairs and battles and is very popular with the public. The dalang is liable to incorporate the latest local gossip and quarrels and work them into the play as comedy.

sumber : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayang

Wayang beber

Wayang beber

Wayang beber depiction of a battle

Wayang glass painting depiction of Bharatayudha battle

The wayang beber has strong similarities to narratives in the form of illustrated ballads that were common at annual fairs in medieval and early modern Europe. They have also been subject to the same fate—they have nearly vanished. Chinese visitors to Java during the 15th century described a storyteller or unrolled scrolls and told stories that made the audience laugh or cry. A few scrolls of images remain from those times, found today in museums. There are two sets, hand-painted on hand-made bark cloth, that are still owned by families who have inherited them from many generations ago, in Pacitan and Wonogiri, both villages in Central Java. Performances, mostly in small open-sided pavilions or auditoriums, take place according to the following pattern:
The dhalang (puppeteer, narrator) gives a sign, the small gamelan orchestra with drummer and a few knobbed gongs and a musician with a rebab (violin-like instrument held vertically) begins to play and the dhalang unrolls the first scroll of the story. Then, speaking and singing, he narrates the episode in more detail. In this manner, in the course of the evening he unrolls several scrolls one at a time. Each scene in the scrolls represents a story or part of a story. The content of the story typically stems from the Panji romances which are semi-historical legends set in the 12th-13th century East Javanese kingdoms of Jenggala, Daha and Kediri, and also in Bali.

sumber : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayang

Wayang golek (rod puppets)

Wayang golek (rod puppets)

A pair of wayang golek from West Java

Panakawan, the friendly gestures of cepot, the red face; petruk the long noses and gareng the round nose

Wayang golek are wooden doll puppets that are operated from below by rods connected to the hands and a central control rod that runs through the body to the head. The simple construction of the puppets belies their versatility, expressiveness and aptitude for imitating human dance. Today, wayang golek is mainly associated with Sundanese culture of West Java. However the wooden wayang also known in Central Java as Wayang Menak, originated from Kudus Central Java.
Little is known for certain about the history of wayang golek, but scholars have speculated that it most likely originated in China and arrived in Java sometime in the 17th century. Some of the oldest traditions of wayang golek are from the north coast of Java in what is called the pasisir region. This is home to some of the oldest Muslim kingdoms in Java and it is likely the wayang golek grew in popularity through telling the wayang menak stories of Amir Hamza, the uncle of Muhammad. These stories are still widely performed in Kabumen, Tegal, and Jepara as wayang golek menak, and in Cirebon, wayang golek cepak. Legendary origins of wayang golek attribute their invention to the Muslim saint Wali Sunan Kudus, who used the medium to proselytize Muslim values.
In the 18th century the tradition moved into the mountainous region of of Priangan West Java where it eventually was used to tell stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabarata in a tradition now called Wayang Golek Purwa, which can be found in Bandung, Bogor and Jakarta. The adoption of Javanese Mataram kejawen culture by Sundanese aristocrats was probably the remnant of Mataram influence over the Priangan region during the reign of expansive Sultan Agung. While main characters from Ramayana and Mahabharata are similar with wayang kulit purwa version of Central Java, some of punakawan (servant also jester) were rendered in Sundanese names and characteristics, such as Cepot or Astrajingga as Bagong, Dawala or Udel as Petruk. Wayang golek purwa has become the most popular form of wayang golek today and the most famous puppeteer family is the Sunarya family which has produced several generations of stellar performers.

sumber : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayang

Wayang wong

Wayang wong

Pandava and Krishna in an act of the wayang wong performance.

Wayang wong also known as Wayang orang (literally human wayang) is a type of Javanese dance theatrical performance with themes taken from episode of Ramayana or Mahabharata.
While wayang gedog usually the theatrical performance that took the themes from the Panji cycles stories from the kingdom of Janggala, in which the players wear masks known as wayang topeng or wayang gedog. The word "gedog" comes from "kedok", which, like "topeng" means "mask". The main theme is the story of Raden Panji and Candra. This is a love story about princess Candra Kirana of Kediri and Raden Panji Asmarabangun, the crown prince of Jenggala. Candra Kirana was the incarnation of Dewi Ratih (goddess of love) and Panji was an incarnation of Kamajaya (god of love). Kirana's story was given the title "Smaradahana" ("The fire of love"). At the end of the complicated story they finally can marry and bring forth a son, named Raja Putra. Panji Asmarabangun ruled Jenggala under the official names "Sri Kameswara", "Prabu Suryowiseso", and "Hino Kertapati". Originally, wayang wong was performed only as an aristocratic entertainment in four palaces of Yogyakarta and Surakarta. In the course of time, it spread to become a popular and folk form as well.

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayang