Indonesia
Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world with a population of over 200 million.
The Muslim religion forbids the representation of the human body. However, the puppeteers are the only ones who have managed to circumvent that prohibition by deforming the puppet (long neck and shoulders, tiny waist ...). So the puppet becomes a sacred object of worship.
The puppeteer or Dalang, which is also a kind of sacertote, is a soloist and is accompanied by a percussion orchestra (Garmelan).
The arguments of puppet theater in Indonesia are mostly passages from the Mahabharata and Ramayana. In both, make their own versions and may even mezclarse.Los characters are easily recognizable: the round eyes, red and bulging represent ogres, giants and demons, like the claws and hooves instead of holding hands. While slanted almond eyes and represent princes, gods and heroes.
The puppets called Wayang in Indonesia and distinguish three types: Kulit, Golek and Klitic.
Wayang Kulit
Shadow puppet theatre established with documentary evidence in XI century. The puppets, made in untaned buffalo skin (goat or cow), perforated and painted, measuring about 40 to 80
cm.
The shadows are black, and the sticks are made of buffalo horn, turned by heating.
The soloist puppeteer, called Dalang, performe the Mahabharata story during severalk nights, acompanied by musicians (Gamelans) and chorus.
Wayang Golek
Popular rod puppet theatre , made in carved wood, measuring 30 to 60 cm hight.
The Dalang performe Mahabharata epic.
As in the Wayang Kulit , we can appreciate the difference between evil characters ( red and round eyes, canine teeth, flattened nose and claws) and the good character (almond eyes, and thin
nose).
