Faizal Sidik
Translated by: Surinam
"Penglipurlara: Alkesah Yang Empunya Cherita"
24 Jun – 1 Sep 2013
National Visual Art Gallery (NVAG) Malaysia
Curated by: Faizal Sidik
24 Jun – 1 Sep 2013
National Visual Art Gallery (NVAG) Malaysia
Curated by: Faizal Sidik
Introduction
A museum is a place that conserves memories. Works of art, artifacts
or materials on display in a museum are the memories of a people which are
preserved and showcased as they serve to tell us about the people’s lives and
their creative endeavors. This exhibition looks at the enchanting world of the penglipurlara (storyteller) of Malay
world. Who is he the penglipurlara?
For the curator, in today’s context, the museum would be a good place to explore
this question further.
We may have heard or frequently encounter edit, but for those who
are not familiar with the term, it does sound rather antiquated. The term“penglipurlara”means
a person who soothes woes by telling funny folk tales infused with poetry,
rhymes, lyrics and songs. Before the emergence of the written text, the penglipurlara embodied the oral
literature of the Malays. During his time, the penglipurlara was considered a star whose role was to bring news,
entertainment and education to the people.
In today’s contemporary life,however, with the presence of the
electronic and print media such as newspapers, television, radio and the social
media such as Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and blogs, anyone can be a penglipurlara or a storyteller. Andy
Warhol once said that “in the future, everyone will be world famous for 15
minutes”.The advances made in the field of communication have changed the way people
socialise. From the verbal tradition, word of mouth handed down by generation
after generation of storytellers to the writing down of words. From the written
text to motion pictures such as video and film, we are,in effect, truly
surrounded by storytellers. Now anyone can declare herself or himself as a
storyteller with the help of any of the mediums mentioned above. They can a
play role in building and creating messages that relate to spirituality,
justice, human rights and history.
The exhibition “Penglipur
Lara: Alkesah Yang Empunya Cherita”is presented from the
historical perspective. You may have read works of
classical Malay literature that begin with old words which are spelled in
the old way such as “Alkesah”, “Shahdan”, “Hatta” or
“Sebermula diceterakan”, which all indicates the opening
of a story or a scene in a story. The
title of the exhibition is especially chosen to open a narrative about the penglipurlara so that you’re seeing this
show like you’re “reading”a traditional Malay literary work which begins with “Alkesah
yang empunya cherita”.
Curatorial Strategy
The curatorial approach employed hereis to show how the works in
the NVAG collection can engage with the chosen themes. Rarely do we see an
exhibition where works on the same topic or narrative are displayed together in
one room. At the same time, the curator
also wanted to see how the collected works “interact” with the latest works and
loaned works such as films from Finas and Aswara, which then gives new impetus
to the works and themes used.
Curating is an activity which links objects, images, processes,
people, locations, histories and discourses in real space. The idea of having this exhibition was inspired from a
discussion between Khairuddin Hori, who at time of this writing, is a senior
curator at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and this curator himself who was
invited as a co-curator at the Singapore Biennale 2013 Curatorial Workshop. The
topic of the “storyteller”in the Malay world captured our interest, especially
the shift of the story telling tradition from the oral to the textual and
visual in contemporary forms such as produced by artists and performers through
media channels like music, movies and the internet. This exhibition has been
curated in such a way so as to illustrate and provide the experience of this
shift to the audience.
Hikayat Sang Kancil
The exhibition begins with folk stories, myths and legends. Hikayat Pelanduk Jenaka,which tells the
tale of wisdom of the mousedeer in escaping from danger, is part of the old Malay
literature that existed circa 1650. A copy of the manuscript is kept in the
Department of Manuscripts of the National Library of France in Paris. This hikayat is also known by another popular
name, i.e. the Sang Kancil Stories.
The title has 82 pages and 6,702 words, as recorded in the Werndly register
written in 1746.
Among the stories found in the old Malay manuscript of the 17th
century was the introductory story of how the sang kancil takes the title of “Sheikh
of the Jungle”to hold sway over all of the animals in the wild. The next story
tells of how the sang kancil pretends to have magical powers and manages to calm
down the goat and the tiger who agree to abide by his authority. The next story
tells of how animals in the wild are threatened by a vicious creature and come
to be under his protection. Pages 31 to 55 tell of the stubborn monkey who
looks to the lion for support, but the sang kancil beats the lion by using a
hornet's nest. The final part relates the story of the monkey who seeks the
support of an elephant, nevertheless the sang kancil still beats the elephant in
the sepak keting (kick the shanks)
competition.
The effort to turn the story from the original manuscript Hikayat Pelanduk
Jenaka into an animated film began in
1961 by the National Film Malaysia, formerly known as the Malayan Film Unit
established during British colonial rule in 1946, which aimed to produce a documentary
film and public information announcement.It was Anandam Xavier who worked as a
set designer, however, who managed to produce Hikayat Pelanduk Jenaka with the title “Hikayat Sang Kancil” in 1978, the country’s
first animated feature and this short movie was released for public viewing in
the early 1980s.
The short animated movies by Filem Negara are purposefully
slotted in. The penglipurlara could be traced by the voice-over narration of
the story. The films which are on loan from the National Film Collection include
“Hikayat Sang Kancil”which premiered
in 1983, and other stories from Hikayat
Pelanduk Jenaka written and directed by Hassan Al-Muttalib such as “Sang Kancil and the Monkey”, “Sang Kancil and the Crocodile” which
were shown around 1984 and 1987. Other Filem
Negara movies that are shown in the
exhibition include “The Wise Crow”, “The
Arrogant Rabbit”,“Budi
Baik di Balas Baik”,“The Greedy
Lion” and “Telur
Sebiji Riuh Sekampung” which are shown
repeatedly in every 30 minutes.
Hikayat Seri Rama
Wayang
kulit, said to be the earliest animation in
Southeast Asia, is played by moving the puppets to a source of light to project shadows
on the screen. The penglipurlara folklore
that still remains and played to this day is the wayang kulit Kelantan which is based on Hikayat Seri Rama. According to Ali Haji Ahmad,the coordinator of Hikayat Inderapura, the
origins of Hindu influence in Malay literature can be traced to the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Research shows that the penglipurlara version of Hikayat Seri
Rama was the oral tradition brought in by Hindu immigrants and conquerors
that conquered parts of the land once upon a time. An art form apart from poetry
that introduced Hindu literature to the region was the wayang kulit. It is very popular on the East Coast and still performed
to this day. In this exhibition, the dalang
(puppet master) who performs the wayang kulit
is the entertainer who combines the verbal, visual and musical arts in his
show.
The Story of Dewek
included in the exhibition tells of Dewekwho was commanded by King Seri Rama to
seek knowledge and given a magic staff. “WayangKulit
Kelantan”(1959) the work by Nik Zainal Abidin is displayed alongside to show
the characters in the performance. The use of modern technology can make penglipurlara storytelling look likea movie showand it can
run not just for two or three nights. The use of audio-visual equipment means
the storytelling can be recorded and played over and over again.In fact the
communication revolution has enabled the wayang kulit
or any show to be uploaded and downloaded by anyone on the You Tube channel on
the internet
The video footage shown is from of the National Academy of Arts,
Culture and Heritage or Aswara playing the Dewek
Story from Hikayat Seri Rama. The dalang is Che Mohd Nasir Yusof, who is
assisted by two assistants and musicians from the academy. We normally see a
wayang kulit performance from the front of the screen without seeing what happening
is behind it. In this video, however, the viewer has the opportunity to see
what is happening on both sides of the wayang kulit
screen on the split tv screen.
The dalang tells the Story
of Dewek in three successive nights as recorded this video. We ought
to appreciate the fact that there are still dalangs
around to tell a story and serve as penglipurlara.
Hikayat Gunung Daik
The works of Tengku Sabri Ibrahim “Pandir Daik”and “Pawang Gunung Daik” are displayed side
by side and face to face to initiate a“dialogue” between the two. Using the
traditional material, wood, the works make use of a popular Malay pantun called
“Gunung Daik” (Mount Daik) which goes as follows:
Pandan Island is far out in the waves
There’s a mount called Daik which is three-crested
While a dead man’s body decomposes in the grave
His good deeds remain to be remembered
There’s a mount called Daik which is three-crested
While a dead man’s body decomposes in the grave
His good deeds remain to be remembered
Gunung
Daik
Pandan Island is far out in the waves
There’s a mount called Daik which is three-crested
While a dead man’s body decomposes in the grave
His good deeds remain to be remembered
There’s a mount called Daik which is three-crested
While a dead man’s body decomposes in the grave
His good deeds remain to be remembered
The people were all in pain. Cries and tears
mingled. They thought things would return to normal as before. They had hoped
that this would not have happened.
But the scourge only got worse. Their hair
began to drop and their eyeballs began to pop out and their flesh began to fall
off…
Without a Title -
Stories of SeniRupa
Tengku Sabri Ibrahim, 2009
‘Gunung Daik’, p 158
In the Gunung Daik story, Tengku Sabri looks at the dark side of the
people who once lived around the mountain when all were hit by a huge
catastrophe. This mysterious calamity is portrayed by these sculptures, strange-looking
figures resembling plagued skeletons, skulls and bones.
Hikayat Inderaputera
Another side explored in this exhibition is how three works with
their own narratives are displayed alongside. The major work by Anuar Rashid “The Birth of Inderaputera” (1978) based onHikayat Inderaputera
is brought together with “Flight No. 2 Rajawali” by Mad Anuar and “Riang-Riang Rimba” (1995) by Ismail Latiff. This “3 in 1” formula tries to activate the two-dimensional
and the three-dimensional sense of space. The garuda, rajawali or giant
peacock is important in the story told.
Hikayat Inderaputera tells of how a young Inderapura was taken
and flown off by a golden peacock and then dropped in the garden of a nenek kebayan as in the following text:
The Golden Peacock
The story has it that
Inderaputera was taken by the Golden Peacock and flown away, that he was raised
as a grandson by a nenekkebayan and was later adopted by the Prime Minister and
favoured by Minister Raja Shahian.
One a day, King
Bikrama Buspa gave audience to princes, chief ministers, noblemen as well as the
common people. He had Inderaputera on
his lap. Then appeared the one who presented tribute from a country and along
with him two representatives and a gold craftsman and a wood craftsman.
So both the craftsmen came forward with deference; the wood craftsman created a
perfect fish that resembled a live one. Then he offered it to the king who put
the fish in a pot and water was poured into it.
The fish then laughed and sang and spoke poetically. The king was surprised to see a fish
laughing, singing and waxing poetic.
Then his highness said to the gold craftsman. "O ye goldsmith, make me a
craft of yours that I may see it."
The goldsmith moved forward with deference and made a picture of a peacock of
gold. It was exceedingly lovely. He presented it to the king who beheld before
him a golden peacock of the finest appearance. He laid it on a platter of gold
and silver. The peacock quivered while singing the most beautiful songs and
waxing poetic.
King BikramaPuspa then
told the representatives who brought in the craftsmen, "You two, today I
shall not take tribute from your lands."
So the representatives fell prostrate in joy
before the king. Meanwhile, Inderaputera
arose from his father’s lap to go look at the beautiful golden peacock on the
platter strutting his feathers. Suddenly
the bird grabbed the boy and flew away with him. They soon
disappeared from view and King Bikrama Puspa saw his son gone from
sight. He was stunned momentarily. When
he came to he started to cry, and all the palace burst into an uproar as the
people started crying, and soon entire the land was overcome with grief on the
loss of Inderaputera. King Bikrama Puspa
became very despondent.
The golden peacock flew
off with Inderaputera and dropped him in the garden of a nenek kebayan (old
woman). He walked slowly and stopped by a pomegranate tree. Then he ate the
fruit thereof.
When he had finished eating, the
nenek kebayan arrived home from selling flowers.
She kept her basket inside and came out to the garden. When Inderaputera
saw the old woman coming, he was reminded of his predicament and longed for his
parents. He thought to himself, "Alas, this is my fate."
Then the nenek kebayan came to the gate of her garden. She saw that it was tied
and she also saw in the garden a child sitting under her pomegranate tree. Extremely fine-looking and well-attired he
was.
The nenek kebayan said, "Whose child could
this be and whence did he come? Plus, the garden gate is tied and bound and my
village is very far from other villages where most people live."
Then she asked him,
"My child, who might you be and whence did you come?"
So said Inderaputera, "I am the son of
King Bikrama Buspa and my name is Inderaputera.
The reason why I am here is because I was flown in by a golden
peacock." And he told the nenek kebayan all that had happened.
Hikayat
Inderaputera
Most of the gods or heroes in the folklore would give help when
it was needed. Most of the popular
superhero characters like Superman, Batman, Spiderman are all Western heroes except for Ultraman who is Japanese.The thing
that distinguishes these heroes from those found in the penglipurlara stories is that they wear a disguise. You’d wonder if Western artists also read our penglipurlara stories? What is certain is
that each nation or race have ancient stories and heroes of their own and Hollywood director do use old
tales in their storytelling and entertainment production.
Hikayat Sulalat al-Salatin
The mountain as a subject is rather so familiar in the Malay
cosmology. It is regarded as a canopy or
a protective shelter. Therefore, it is just
as well that in Malay architecture the roof that protects the home from rain
and heat takes the form of triangular mountain. Then there are others who are
of the opinion that the peak formation is a symbol of the apex of power and
strength.
In this exhibition, the works with Gunung Ledang theme namely “Semangat Ledang” by Syed Ahmad Jamal and
“Alam Ledang” by Ramlan Abdullah are paired.
Syed Ahmad had devoted himself to this theme since the early 1990s. Impressed
by the story of power-hungry leaders as told in Sulalatus Salatin or The Malay
Annals as rewritten by Tun Seri Lanang in 1612, it inspired him to render
it in his own inimitable style.
The story is about Sultan Mansur Shah’s desire to marry the
Princess Gunung Ledang, who ordered Tun Mamad to
go and ask for her hand in marriage. The princess made a number of seemingly
impossible requests, but there was one that could not be fulfilled by the
Sultan as he had to sacrifice his own son in order to fulfil it. The story
below inspired his work:
Asking
for Princess GunungLedang’s Hand in Marriage
One day, all
the nobles, mentris and hulubalangs, assembled and Sultan Mansyur Shah said to
them, “We are grateful to Allah Subhanahuwa Ta’ala, that we have a great kingdom
that God has bestowed upon us. But there is another thing that we wish Allah
would grant us. We wish to have a wife
who shall surpass the wife of any prince in the world.”
The chiefs
said, “Is there such that you desire, sire, as you have married a princess of
Java and a princess of China. What can surpass that, as only Alexander the
Great in the olden days had a Chinese princess for a wife?
Then said
Sultan Mansur Syah, “For one prince to marry a daughter of another prince, even
other rajas do that. But what I desire
is a bride that no other raja possesses, that is the girl that we wish to
marry.”
The chiefs said, “What is your wish that it be
carried out?”
Said Sultan
Mansur Syah, “We desire to ask for the hand of the Princess Gunung Ledang and we
will send the Laksamana and Sang Setia.”
Hang Tuah
and Sang Setia replied, “Yes, sire.”
Tun Mamad
first set out with the men of Inderagiri to clear the way to Mount Ledang, for
he was the head man or penghulu of Inderagiri.
Then the Laksamana and Sang Setia went with TunMamat.
After a few
days of journeying, they reached the foot of the Mount Ledang and began to
ascend it. Halfway through, they were struck by a strong wind, and could proceed
no further. The path was excessively difficult.
Tun Mamad said to the Laksamana and TunSetia, “Stop you here, gentles,
let me ascend.”
The Laksamana said,
“Very well.” Then Tun Mamad with two or three hearty men ascended further as
well as they could till they come to the bamboos which produced a melodious
sound, all that ascended felt like birds flying in the furious gusts of
wind. It felt like the clouds closed
round so near that one might touch them, while the birds lingered to hear the
bamboos’ melodious music and equally enthralled were other creatures of the
forest. Then Tun Mamad came to a garden and in he went; there he met with four
women, one of them an old woman of elegant appearance with a plaid thrown
across her shoulder.
She asked Tun Mamad,
“Whence do you come and whither are you going?” Tun Mamad said, “I am a Melaka
man named Tun Mamad. I am sent by the Sultan of Melaka to ask in marriage the
lady, Princess Gunung Ledang. Do tell me
your name?”
The woman said, “My
name is Dang Raya Rani and I am the head person here of the Princess
Gunung Ledang. Whatever you want, stay here and I will go represent it to the
princess.” On this, Dang Raya Rani and the young women instantly vanished.
As soon as she had spoken
this, she vanished. According to some accounts, however, the elderly lady who
spoke with Tun Mamad was the Princess Gunung Ledang herself who had assummed
the appearance of an old woman.
Then
Tun Mamad descended and returned to the Laksamana. He informed the Laksamana
and Sang Setia of what had transpired.
Then the laksamana and the men descended and returned to Melaka. The
laksamana, Sang Setia and Tun Mamad related what had been heard from the
Princess Gunung Ledang to the raja.
Sultan
Mansur Syah said, “All these requests may be complied with, but the taking of
blood from our son is utterly unpleasant, we don’t have the heart for it.”
Sulalat
al-Salatin
Tun Seri Lanang, 1612
In the exhibition,“Alam Ledang” is placed
at the same level as the mountain in the painting “Semangat Ledang”. When one
directly faces both the works,a triangle like a resin cone will appear in the
front view with the paintings serving as the background. This kind of presentation
is not new in gallery exhibitions, nevertheless whenever it is done,it yields a
new interpretation to the pieces.
The Online Story
The penglipurlara
tradition in Malay society began to disappear little by little with the emergence
of radio and television. Pacak cinema
that moved from one village to another began to attract more audience with
interesting stories or movies shown. In the past, people only received one-way
communication, whether hearing or seeing the news from the radio and
television. Nowadays with the advancement of alternative online media
communications (www or the World Wide Web) such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, You
Tube, you or I or anybody else can tell our stories to the whole wide world.
A blog (short for web log) is a website with entries written in
chronological order and displayed in reverse order with the most recent entries
appearing first. Online blogs gives bloggers the opportunity to post stories in the form of text, photo, video, music or
audio. This curator has a special blog which brings together modern
penglipurlara stories from multiple genres such as modern art, literature, film
and music. Bloggers listed in this blog link are those that are actively
involved and write in their areas of expertise such as Hasnul J Saidun,
Baha Zain, Ben Filem as well as other penglipurlara who tell their stories
combining both text and image. A blog link such as “contemporary hikayat” allows a two-way interaction so that readers
can comment on a story that is posted.
The presence of blogs as social media has rivalled the mainstream
media owned by partisan bodies, certain agencies and influential individuals in
supplying the news.The media these days is nolonger entirely in the hands of these parties to
mould and channel, it has now penetrated into every home that has internet connection.
Now anyone can hum or sing his story through blogs, Facebook, Twitter and the
like. The choice is ours.
End of Story
While the exhibition“Penglipur
Lara: Alkesah Yang Empunya Cherita”may be seen as a lyrical, visual
narrative, it actually reveals the
quality of Malay thought, providing insights and greater understanding of the wisdom and intellectual prowess of
thinkers of the Malay world. The works and materials gathered and exhibited
here are meant to inspire further thought and appreciation, so that we may all
continue to ponder and wonder, embrace and own more of our empowering heritage.
Exhibition Link:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pameran-Penglipurlara-Alkesah-Yang-Empunya-Cherita/192984330859462?sk=photos_stream
https://www.facebook.com/penglipur.lara.7771/photos
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pameran-Penglipurlara-Alkesah-Yang-Empunya-Cherita/192984330859462?sk=photos_stream
https://www.facebook.com/penglipur.lara.7771/photos
References:
Ali Ahmad, 2002. Hikayat Inderaputera. Kuala
Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Terry Smith, 2012. Thinking Contemporary Curating. New York: Independent Curators
International.
Tengku Sabri Ibrahim, 2010. Tanpa Tajuk –
Cerita-Cerita Seni Rupa. Kuala Lumpur:
Tinta Publishers.
Tun Seri Lanang, 2009. Sulalat al-Salatin ya’ni
Perteturun Segala Raja-Raja (Sejarah Melayu)
Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animasi_Malaysia
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Faizal Sidik, Co-curator, ‘Penglipurlara: Alkesah Yang Empunya Cherita’, Balai Seni Visual Negara, Kuala Lumpur.
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