Non-Puppets and Non-Gamelan: Wayang Parody in Banyumas

Abstract

T hough I didn't realize it at the time, the piece I'm My Own Walkman, had a special significance for me while I was conducting fieldwork in Java in 1986-87. I had a cassette-recording of Bobby McFerrin (an album called The Voice) back then, and I used to listen to it through a set of headphones late at night as it played on my Sony Walkman.3 Aside from being an example of incredible vocal technique and versatility, the piece struck me as rather funny. It is a gentle spoof, a parody of sorts, but only recently did I ponder the object of McFerrin's humor and realize that this particular brand of music-making popularized by him has a great deal in common with the unique village theater tradition I want to describe in this paper. The tradition I want to examine is known as wayang jemblung, or dhalang jemblung, or simply, jemblung. I had first heard about wayang jemblung when I began my research in 1985 on village music traditions in the mountainous region of Banyumas in western Central Java. The people of Banyumas are known throughout Java for their sense of humor, and no other local performance tradition reflects this trait better than wayang

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