Yogya shares it's fame at the centre of traditional royal Jawanese arts with the nearby city of Solo. Since the partition of Mataram (1755), subtile differences developed between both cultures. So points the term
mataraman at the specific Yogyan style of dance, arts, theathre and clothing. On the whole Yogyan music and dances are big and powerfull, in contrary to the refined, closed style of Solo. The instruments are often bigger and more numerous.
Nowadays the mass-media and tourism especially have a stimulating effect on the traditional forms of art. The best watched tv-program is the weekly
ketoprak, local theathre, made by professionals as well as just local people with less experience.
Wayang-kulit shows still attract numerous peoplen and on quiet evenings you can hear some gamelan music as well.
Royal dances
When Hamengku Buwono I founded his new court, he also introduced several new dance styles with a strong military character. He is believed to be the creator of the
Beksan Lawung, a dance for fourty man, which lasts for as long as five hours. The
wayang-wong dance theathre was shown during his reign, was abou the battle between the two sons of Arjuna, and was to justify the new principalty. Even the Yogyan female dances have something military, when they express fighting scenes slowly.
A more lifely dance is the
golek, in which a young girl discovers is has become a woman. Originally it's a dance by the people, it was accepted in aristocratic societies, and it was put in the repertoire of the kraton in 1954. The rythms and the movements of the sole dancer have made this dance very popular, also in dancing schools. The male opposite, the masqued
kelana topeng is just as loved.
Great audience
When the court lost is political power, the dances kept on developing. The dances were only showed to the sultan, but in 1918 Hamengku BuwonoVII (1877 - 1921) gave permission to found two dance societies outside the kraton, the
Krida Beksa Wirama and the
Dalem Tejolusuman were founded. However most students were from royal origin, this also made it available to the big audience. It's mainly because this society - which was a model to other schools - that the traditional Yoyga dances are still alive.
Under Hamengku Buwono VIII, who was the representative for many of the dances held in the kraton, the arts and culture had a 'Golden Century'. Shows with 300 to 400 dancers were given, from sunrise to sunset. Costumes were inspired on wayang-puppets, and props were extensifely used. The young princess, accompanied with the
garuda, is a much seen appearance in the Yogyan dances.
Dancing schools
Yogya has a number of private dancing schools, most of them are directly connected to the kraton. However their dancers are somewhat adapted to the nowadays styles, but they don't really differ from the early traditions. Dances are also thought in the surrounding villages, this means that the royal tradition could not only maintain, but also reinforce it's position.
Two official educational institutes guard the high grade of the traditional forms of art. The SMKI, founded in 1961 and housed on a campus in the southwest of the city, organises courses in gamelan music (
karawitan) and the traditional play of puppets. The universitairy dancing academy ASTI, founded in 1963, is part of the Indonesian Institure of Arts (ISI). The campus is in Bulaksumur near the Gajah Mada University. During rehearsals in, mostly in June and December, the neglected traditional dances are revived and the modern western movements are shown on traditional Jawanese music.
The
Padepokan Seni (colony of art) of
Bagong Kussudiharjo and the
Institut Kesenian (art institute) of
Wisno Wardhana aim themselfes on new creations, based on the traditional movements. Bagong gives six-month-long training courses on a coty court south of the city. In his choreographies he combines regional styles with the styles of Jawa, Pasundan and Bali with the modern elements of Martha Graham.
Modern dances
The populair
sendratari, (a contraction from
seni-drama-tari, art-theathre-dance) has come from the need to make the traditional dances more open non-Jawanese spectators. The spoken word is replaced by sign language and expressions, movements from regional dances are used, and the most important is that the dance is a dynamic and reasonably quick unity.
Other than the traditional
wayang wong, which got it's repertoire from the Mahabharata, the
sendratari is usually based on Ramayana. The most spectaculair show is the Ramayana-ballet, held at full moon on the foreground of the Prambanan temples. On a giant stage, the hundreds of players play the scenes against the century old reliefs of the temple. A new theathre appeared not too long ago, of course it doesn't have the temples on the background, but it used a computerized light installation. Year-round shows are given by school- and village-groups.
At the end of the 1970's, the Ministry of Culture started to organise art festival, nowadays it's even more important than the palaces at eh protector of the arts. The busily visited
sendratari-festival is normally held in October in the
Kepatihan-pavilion.
Wayang puppets and theathre
While the royal dancer and theathre only arrived in the villages not too long ago,
wayang kulit hasd always been a pastime for the people. However the number of shows is descending because of the high cost, radio and cassettes have also brought wayang into the people houses. However the minimal differences in style, character and music won't be noticeable by the normal ear, the magical world of gamelan and shadows is very populair.
In 1925 the kraton opened the dalang school
Habiranda in the
Gedung Pracimasono, west of the Pagelaran at the Northern square. Students are from all ranges of families: students, farmers and
becak-drivers. The lecture money is as low as possible. Twice a year, the evening after Grebeg Puasa, and Grebeg Mulud, the kraton gives a
wayang-kulit show at the southern court of
Kemangangan
The
wayang golek with it's puppets with wooden sticks are populair in Yogya. In contrary to Western Jawa, where the Mahabharata is used, the repertoire in Central Jawa originates from the Arabic-oriented Menak-stories; besides that, the Ramayana is played a lot for tourists. The puppets wear black jackets instead of the usual clothing of the Sundanese puppets, and have long faces, the faces from Cirebon are shaped triangular. Most
golek-puppets are made in Sentoto, west of Yogya. The reasonable simple creations change into real beings if in the hands of a good dalang.
By far the most popular form of theathre in Yogya is the
ketoprak, one of the melodramatic dances from the countryside in which local stories are told with rhythmical sounds from blocks of rice. Around the turn of the last scentury (18th to 19th century), several groups were founded in different places in the city. The word
ketoprak originates from the sound it actually makes,
prak, prak.
Once officially known as a form of art, the gamelan replaced the wooden blocks while the local repertoire was extended with historical stories and Jawanese versions of classical stories like Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella. The Jawanese dialogues are improvised, however written texts are used sometimes too. There are just a small number of professional groups, but every kampong can bring together enough people to perform a show (especially during the celebration of Independence Day on the 17th August).
Modern arts in Yogya
In the first years of the republic, between 1946 and 1949, Yogya was flooded by talented artists, which were dragged with the revolutionary spirit. They used the social-realism as expression for a new national awareness. After the independence different styles started to differ. The political need weakened, and egocentrism and self-satisfiedness took the place. Still, Yogya counted almost two thirds of Indonesia's artists like Affandi, Hendra, Rusli and Saptohudoyo.
However the art-scene relocated itself more and more towards Jakarta, many artists stayed in Yogya, especially the oil-painters and the sculpturists (with strong influences from Kalimantan, Sumatera and Papua).
Indonesia's most famous modern artist is Affandi, originally from Cirebon, which died in 1990 when he was 81. His entire life he was an active portrait painter; one hour of posing used to be enough. His house/gallery/studio is built on pawls and covered with a playfull roof in the shape of a bananaleave; the rememberance of the time that he used to shelter from the rain when he was just a starting artist.
Affandi's private collection of about hundred pieces - among them excellent self-portraits - can be seen, together with works from his daughter Kartika, in two galleries; both are open to public.
Batik
Yogya is known at the most importan producer of traditional textiles, especially batik. On this area, Solo and Yogya do also have some small differences for what about style, motives and techniques. However the motives are usually named the same, they differ a little. In Solo the flower motives are most common, and in Yogya the geometric brown, indigo and white colors are most common.
The Batik Reseach Institute (Balai Penelitikan Batik) at Jalan Kusumanegara 2, was founded in the 1960's to revive the sluggish batik industry. They researched the traditional methods of coloring and waxing and experiments with new color and techniques, which are more complicated than the old methods.
The institute organises batik courses, especially made for the batik maker, varying from a week to three months. It also gives technical guidance to private companies and persons. Groups of visitors can have a walk around, but a guide is not always there to guide you.
