Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Wayang Kulit


I remembered a scene from my past. It was night and my brothers and sisters were very excited. Our 'Tok Ayah' had promised to take us somewhere special that night. We were bundled into the car and after a short ride arrived at the special place. It was the field near our grandparents' house. That night we can see many people there. I wondered what was happening. Then, our 'Tok Ayah' found a place for us to sit amongst the crowd. Everyone was sitting on a 'tikar'. In front of us was a big white screen. After a while, the magic started. It was a 'wayang kulit' performance.
As children, it was mesmerizing for me and my siblings to be watching such performance in front of us. The droning of the music at the background and the fluent story telling accompanied by shadows of past kings, princesses, villains and heroes swishing through was pure magic. The audience was transfixed to the screen. Time flew by unnoticed. We regretted the end of the show and our journey back. What happened to that magic now? I've never heard a 'wayang kulit' performance being held anymore even though I'm living in Kelantan. The young ones are missing a lot now. I asked my little sister if she knows what 'wayang kulit' is. She said, "Of course I do. It's like the ubat batuk cap Ibu and Anak ad!"

It's a pity.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

i've never seen wayang kulit too. nk tengok!!!!!!!

and it's funny, coz i instantly ingat the ubat batuk add too!!!

hahahaha hilarious..

kisah seorang anak... ubat batuk cap ibu dan anak diberi..

something like tht la the add...

:)

Azzam?? said...

yeaaaa... i miss em' a lot.. even when im back in kedah, they dont have it anymore.. it was storytelling/reader's theatre/drama at it's best!! xD

Heiso said...

Hana: Ha'a actually I tak rasa salah my sister punya answer tu.. hehe.. tp it's sad kn cuz people miss a lot with our culture. we're more familiar with puppet theater from the west which no offense but I think lack the richness of the art value.

Azzam: wish it's still around kn? just to go sometimes and indulge ourselves in the culture.

Anonymous said...

hmmm..dulu aku mase gi umh ko aku pnh sebut nk tgk wayang kulit kn?but i heard theres a nu movie staring eman manan bout wayang kulit.

Heiso said...

Ben: tu la pasal. kan best if aku bole bwk ko tgk wayang kulit.. hehe.. bwk ct skali.. nnt la bile ko dtg bln 8 ni tgk cane..

opaq said...

oh..ohh...oh...
mencari wayang kulit ya??

sini ada..
bachok...
skali ngan tomoi...
esok final tomoi n wayang kulit will be perform....

Anonymous said...

ko menulis pakai bahasa inggeris berjiwa inggeris lepas tu ko nak marah orang tak tenguk wayang kulit..
Wayang kulit itu ada limitationnya. Orang kpg dulu terhibur la tapi sekarang teknologi dah moden ko nak buat macam mana?

Ko sendiri pun tak nak tenguk berkali2. Itu semua adalah seni yang limited by technology.

Sekarang technology dah moden wayang kulit tu hanya memories. kalau boleh cari makan sebagai tourist attraction adalah orang klate buat tapi kalau tak de orang nak bayar nak tgk pupus lah dia...

Heiso said...

Well hello there 'wayangkool'. I disagree with you that "menulis pakai bahasa inggeris berjiwa inggeris" I think I am Malay enough. I speak and write in Malay fluently. FYI I write in English because I think it's appropriate since I AM TEACHING THE LANGUAGE. Thanks anyways for your comment.

P/s: do i sound mad that ppl dont watch wayang kulit anymore? Not my intention though.