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The Dalang Innovator
Ki Manteb, deep in his heart, is faithful to the pattern of wayang performance, although he is not a strict conservative. Everybody is aware that wayang performance is in Javanese "tontonan" and "tuntunan" to the public (tontonan means entertainment, tuntunan means guidance). As a tontonan everything must be beautiful and enjoyable: the wayang (leather puppets), the gamelan, the gamelan musicians, the singers, the dalang etc., whereas as a tuntunan, it should be able to give a valuable guidance, it depends to the story and the dalang.
In order to bring more life to the show, Ki Manteb has introduced something new to the gamelan music by adding the use of some percussion music instruments such as trumpet, drum and organ for certain act. This introduction makes the show more vivid, moreover it is combined with his high skill to move the puppets in the right way, sometimes very fast, acrobatic style and he could expose movements which clearly show the feeling of the wayang figure - sad, happy, angry, naughty etc. The audience has impression that what they see are not merely leather puppets, but real human.
His initiative of improvement faces controversial reaction some praise him as
Some criticize him as
Ki Manteb does not mind to any criticism, what he has in mind is how to always preserve the art of wayang performance, adore and develop it. He argues that long time ago, the gamelan set used in wayang performance was only Slendro, now the Pelog set is also played.
In a discussion of wayang kulit performance attended by some cultural experts such as Prof. DR. Wisnoe Wardhana, Gendon Humardani and dalangs in Surakarta some pundits are of the opinion that dalang could appear differently for the sake of creativity and aesthetics as long as it could be accepted by the public. This discussion is very significant for Ki Manteb's future style. He further benefits from the progress of technology by adapting sound and light effect, to produce a more vivid show.
He strongly says that he does not teach dalang to stand on stage and make a disgusting movements (like some junior dalangs do) and he does not ask also some pesinden (women singer) to stand on stage while singing. According to him, it is absurd.
The Gurus
He admits that he has several favorite dalangs. They are not only his favorites, more precisely they are his gurus. Who are they?
First of all, of course his own father Ki Hardjo Brahim, His uncle Warsono, Ki Wigjo Sutarno, Ki Gondo Darman and of course the most respected guru of many dalangs - Ki Narto Sabdo. Every guru has special different skill. Ki Manteb adopted those skills to penetrate to him. So this is Ki Manteb's style of wayang performance.
The Successful Performance
The key of success in every wayang show is its preparation. Ki Manteb seriously prepares himself before every performance. He writes his own script, especially for stories with high philosophical teaching such as Bima Suci - Bima searches life purification. He has to master well the story and the meaning of it. It also depends where should be the place of the show. The crew, the wayang, the instruments, the transportation must be well taken care.
With successful performance, it should give a good image of him, in turn he would have more clients. He has some faithful regular customers who always invite him to perform wayang.
Speaking of customers, he make no difference whether he is ordinary citizen, a conglomerate or high ranking officials. He has to perform at his best.
Deep in heart, he is very happy if he is invited by ordinary people - that's mean that people still love the art of wayang performance. He feels quite happy.
For the preparation of special events, the open minded dalang are sometimes supported by various experts who give advice in different fields among other: ideas, technical matters, gamelan arrangements etc. He himself is very concern to always develop his skill to perform wayang, it is a call of his personal life.
Not many people are aware, that even in his bed he always has four wayang puppets namely: Anoman, Gatotkaca, Cakil and big giant. Before sleeping, he plays those wayang puppets to maintain his skill.
The Most Touchy Experience
In 1975, he was invited by an old widow to perform at her house in the village of Gondang, not far from where he lived. Her house was a very modest one, a wooden house. Upon arrival at her house, Ki Manteb knew at once that she was a poor woman. But why she could afford to invite him to stage a wayang show? The woman, who earned a living to sell rice-siftings told him frankly, that she has made a vow to her sick son four years ago, when her son recovered and healthy again, she would invite Ki Manteb to perform wayang in her house. She, then, saved hard for four consecutive years. Upon listening her explanation, Ki Manteb was very touched, he could not stop his tears, he cried emotionally embracing the woman with sincere respect. He was very seriously performing show with the story "Gatotkaca Winisuda" - the appointment of Gatotkaca as Pandawa's Commander - in - chief. After the show, as usual he paid all his crew, the rest of the money he gave them back to the honest village woman. Although, he did not bring home even a cent, he had made other people happy.
Artist solidarity
As an artist, although he has now a big name, he still remembers the fate of a lot of artists who live very modestly, for instance the traditional artist of Ketoprak (Javanese traditional theatre) and Wayang Wong (human wayang). Only a few people see their performance nowadays. Ki Manteb, wherever he has time, should gladly participate voluntarily in their shows to attract more spectators.
From time to time, the "expensive" dalang, is also invited to perform wayang by his fellow - traditional artist. In that case, he did not set a price, usually his show is a contribution to his friends. Once again he is happy if he could make other people happy. In many of his shows, there are several artists - guest stars, two or three famous pesinden and two or three jokers participating. The guest stars besides make the performance merry, they receive also considerable honorarium from the organizer. His fellow - artist are happy to join his performance.
The Charity Show
For that kind of show he would do with pleasure. His fee is not that important. The goal is to help other people who need some help, for instance the victims of flood, volcanic eruption, donation to orphanage etc. Sometimes, he himself spontaneously has initiative to collect donations while he is performing wayang. Of course, he has to set an example by donating some money of his own, usually some of the audience would follow.
Advice to the younger generation
Ki Manteb would like to see our younger generation to believe accordingly by working hard to earn a living, polite, have a good conduct, not greedy, always doing everything in the right way, the way blessed by God. He asks why the ill - mannered Buto Cakil was killed by his own keris? It has a symbolic meaning, the lust or greediness of a man, should be stopped by the man himself, not by others. Human life consist of: birth, marriage and death. It's very simple. For a man who understand this way of life, to be greedy is out of question, the most important goal is to have a decent and peaceful life. For the younger generation who loves the art of wayang performance, they have to preserve our own culture in this era of globalization. Our culture is our protection of life, our existence within the world society.
Ki Manteb Soedharsono
The Dalang - Innovator of Wayang Kulit (leather puppet) Performance should be the title of his book to commemorate his 50th birthday in 1998. In this book he should speak about himself, the art of wayang and development of wayang kulit performance.