Dalang

Dalang is highly respected and is often believed to possess supernatural qualities – especially healing – because of his position as mediator between people, gods and spirits. Linguistically, the word dalang is thought to be associated with langlan, which means ‘to go round’ something. Adalang is a ‘wanderer’, but also a ‘diviner’, a protector in a religious or magical sense. The work of the dalang is difficult because he needs to have many talents and to conform to a number of court-derived prescriptions and traditions: antawacana (intonation), to make the distinction between the voice of each character, all of which have their own characteristic voice, and whose register and sound are determined by the combination of the shape of the eyes and the position of the head. A dalang has nine voices for the main figures, as well as the typical language of each one; rengep (to involve completely), to keep the performance alive; enges (emotion), to create interest in the characters and involve and move the audience, for instance, during a dialogue between lovers; tutug(eloquence), to recite prescribed dialogues or pagedongan (traditional, fixed explanations); banyol(comedy), to  make the audience laugh; sabet (flow, wave), to handle the puppets correctly, and properly distinguish between their movements, especially during fight scenes; kawiraja (kawi refers to the old Javanese mode of speech, raja means ‘prince’), to be able to recite the traditional eulogy prior to the performance; parama-kawi (parama is the Sanskrit word meaning ‘high’), to correctly explain the nicknames of the kings and nobles in the performance; amardi-basa (to focus on language), to know the different ways that gods, giants or humans speak in their various social positions (hierarchy is strongly embedded in the Javanese language, which has two completely separate vocabularies: if the listener has a higher status krama is used, but if he has a low statusngoko is used); parama-sastra, to know the writings (layang) on which a performance may be based, and which are necessary to determine the content of the suluk (narrative announcements) and greget saut (pieces of music); awicarita (knowledge of many tales), to know all the tales referred to in a performance, the character depicted by each puppet, and the significance of each stage requisite;amardawa-lagu (melodious singing), to know the verse measure and singing techniques which are used in performance. A dalang also needs to observe the following courtly prohibitions: he may not change the form of a performance once it is recorded in the pakem (handbooks of the court); he may not show any preference for a character; he may not show himself during a performance, or speak out of turn; he may not focus criticism on anyone, or anger his audience; he may not make uncouth jokes; he must make sure that the performance lasts for the correct duration and that each aspect of the performance lasts the appropriate time.

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/