SUPERSTAR PUPPET

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Yesterday (29 Jan) I was invited to the opening of exhibition about "Wayang Superstar" (wayang is puppet) with the 'dalang' (player) Ki Enthus Susmono. It was in the restaurant of Tropen Museum, Amsterdam. The guest were welcomed by traditional Indonesian drink, 'cendol' or 'dawet' and Indonesian snacks. And in this kind of occasion for sure I met a lot and a lot of friends and acquitances from cultural heritage network.

Back to Ki Enthus, he delivered his speech in a special way with a self portrait puppet and a translator because he doesn't speak much of English. He didn't hesitate a bit to tease the female translator in public; his puppet did it but who moved the puppet? Him.

Ki Enthus is nowadays popular in Indonesia because of his unconventional approach to perform his puppets. He made contemporary profiles like Saddam Hussein, George Bush, etc. He created also different kind of stories for his various public segments : young, old, urban, village, believers. It is not that he did all of that without barriers and problems, but he said that is his way to save puppet tradition in Indonesia.

The big amusement yesterday was when he said that he didn't want to be called a superstar because usually something terrible happens to a superstar, for example, someone threw shoes on George Bush, he mentioned one. He said that while took his shoes to the table. We had a good laugh.

During the cocktail party, I had a chance to sit next to him and talked to him. He was very funny, I couldn't make difference anymore which one serious and which one jokes. This kind of spontanity, I have to admit that I miss it here. Ki Enthus is interesting because he is so simple, honest and to the point. He said as simple as "Before, the Dutch were my enemy because they were colonial, but now they are my friends."

Ki Enthus this time only stayed for few days but in June he will give a big performance in Tropen Museum. I am looking forward to laughing again then.

(pictures resource : www.kit.nl)

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