CONTEMPORARY WAYANG KULIT PERFORMANCE: A CRISIS IN JAVANESE CULTURE?

Abstract

Wayang kulit or shadow puppet theater performance has
been greatly changing. Changes occur in many aspects such as in
terms of the duration or length of the peliormance, its structure, the
number of dalang who performs it,as well as the number of female
singers (sindhen or waranggana) who accompany the dalang.
Consequently, now wayang kulit performance is seen more as
tontonan (entertainment) than as tuntunan (moral teachings). One
of the main factors of this big change is the intrusion of western
culture into Indonesia in general and Java in particular. This results
in the reluctance of the young, especially, in watching this form of
traditional art. Therefore, the changers) in the performance of
wayang kulit or shadow theater is one of the efforts to make thisform
of traditional art survive.