Wisdom of Keeping Arts Alive in the Valley of Five Mountains

KOMPAS/REGINA RUKMORINI

Musicians jam on 30 Sept. 2020 at an outdoor stage set up at Studio Mendut in Mungkid district of Magelang regency, Central Java, during the 19th edition of the annual Festival Lima Gunung (FLG; Five Mountains Festival).

Even though they had to perform under precaution in accordance with the health protocols, the dancers’ movements were smoothly integrated with the traditional music that accompanied them. The performers all had to adapt so they could continue to work during these difficult times.

Sculptor Ismanto expertly wielded his chisel to carve a large stone while sitting. Around him, four dancers whirled with passion before a pile of coconut leaves and coconut fiber that had been set alight and were burning slowly. The day’s performance showed that distance was no hindrance to them in giving expression to their artistic forms.

The performance was physically held at the Studium Generale of the cultural studies faculty of Mulawarman University in Samarinda, East Kalimantan. It was then broadcast online on 30 Sept. 2020 from Mendut Studio in Mungkid district of Magelang regency, Central Java.

Komunitas Lima Gunung (KLG; Five Mountains Community) is a community of artists who live and work among the five “mountains” in Magelang regency: Merapi, Merbabu, Andong, and Sumbing, as well as Menoreh Hill.

Performed to the accompaniment of traditional music provided by the Ki Ageng Qithmir music group from Pati, Central Java, this particular performance was rehearsed just once. As a result, several impromptu adjustments were made just before the actual performance.

Dancer Singgih Arif Kusnadi from Pakis district, Magelang, for example, said that he was originally asked only to light a fire for a visual effect. However, because he was wearing traditional Javanese clothing, he was suddenly asked to perform until the end of the piece at the suggestion of his colleagues.

"I’m just dancing as best as I can," he said with a laugh.

KOMPAS/REGINA RUKMORINI

Dancer Lyra de Blauw performs atop a 2.5-meter-high chair on 30 Sept. 2020 at Studio Mendut in Mungkid district, Magelang regency, Central Java, during the 19th edition of the annual Festival Lima Gunung (FLG; Five Mountains Festival).

Singgih is a member of Padepokan Wargo Budoyo, a cultural group from Pakis district that calls the slopes of Mount Merbabu home. However, the improvised dance was not without meaning, nor was it arbitrary. He still had to demonstrate his physical strength and skills in aligning the movements of his body, legs and arms to correspond with the movements of the other performers.

Unlike Singgih, dancer Nabila Rifany had rehearsed on her own to prepare for the show.

"The dance doesn’t have a special name. The dance actually involves more spontaneous movements that are adjusted to the others [during the performance]," she said, smiling.

Even though the performance involved no special stage design or choreography, all the dancers appeared to move in synch with each other to the musical accompaniment, drawing the eyes of around 200 people, including students, who came to watch the show.

It was not only the performance, but also the venue that was arranged carefully so that both performers and audience members could follow the health protocols. In the actual dance, which lasted around 10 minutes, the dancers left ample space between themselves and avoided touching each other. In one segment of the show, dancer Lyra de Blauw from the city of Magelang climbed atop a high chair that was suspended around 2.5 meters above the ground.

The dance demonstrated that performers could provide a good example of how to adhere to the health protocols to prevent spreading Covid-19, even maintaining physical distancing.

Hybrid performance

The performance at Mulawarman University’s Studium Generale on Wednesday (30/9/2020) was the 30th show that the Five Mountains Community had held during the health emergency. Creativity and the arts can never die. However, each show had to make several adjustments before they could be performed, as they were being staged during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The 30 shows were presented as a kind of hybrid between holding live events and streaming them online. The community implemented the appropriate restrictions to stage the live shows, inviting less than 10 people to each show.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

A carved wooden sign adorns an exterior wall of the Museum Lima Gunung (Five Mountains Museum) in Magelang regency, Central Java, as seen on 22 Aug. 2020, when the Komunitas Lima Gunung arts group featured Ecuadorean dancer Cristina Duque performing the Satu Darah (one blood) dance at the Mati River. The dance conveys the message that people should improve their ties with nature, a timely message during the 19th Five Mountains Festival, which restricted audience numbers and applied the Covid-19 health controls.

Social media posts published on Wednesday on the staged portion of the performance immediately noted that the event did not invite an excessive number of guests. As a result, while the artists were busy with preshow preparations and changing into their costumes, only a handful of guests and journalists were milling about the venue. Many prearranged chairs were thus left empty, as were the stone pieces that had been set up to provide seating.

Taking their performances online was not easy for the artists of the Five Mountains Community. At last Wednesday’s performance, several dancers were busy reviewing their individual blocking so their movements would not interfere with those of their fellow performers, to ensure that they could present the best show, both in person and on the livestream. In addition, the journalists who were there also had to take care where they went so they did not interfere with the shots of the two cameramen who were recording the show.

Livestreaming the show also presented technical challenges and could not be done from just anywhere. The artists’ houses were located across several villages and most were situated on mountain slopes, which presented the classic technical issue of poor mobile phone signals or patchy network connections.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

A small group of artists perform the Lumbung Donga ritual at dawn on 12 Sept. 2020 at Lumbung Temple in Sawangan district of Magelang regency, Central Java, during the 2020 Five Mountains Festival. The ritual, a collaboration between the Sanggar Saujana and the Katon Art artists groups that was performed without an audience, symbolically called on people to grow vegetable to promote food security during Covid-19.

However, the artists of the Five Mountains Community were ready to face any obstacle. KLG member Riyadi from Pakis district said that the artistic journey of the community had traversed a variety of obstacles, including natural and nonnatural disasters. The members of the community had not only adapted with each disaster, but also used them an as occasion to spread their joy of the arts.

During the 2004 Aceh tsunami and the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, for example, the artists of the Five Mountains Community were moved to head to the disaster areas to perform for the survivors. Each show was improvised and did not involve any spectacular stage design. Their only intention was to help ease the burden of the survivors of the disasters through their performances.

At that time, neither the local economy or the people of Keron hamlet had recovered from the impacts of the Mt. Merapi eruption.

The natural disasters that struck at home did not prevent the KLG artists from holding their annual Festival Lima Gunung (FLG; Five Mountains Festival). For example, they still held the 10th edition of the festival (FLG X/2011) in Keron hamlet of Krogowanan village in Sawangan district. At that time, neither the local economy or the people of Keron hamlet had recovered from the impacts of the Mt. Merapi eruption. The village was also busy providing shelter to the many evacuees from neighboring villages who had been affected by the volcanic eruption.

However, even in the midst of such difficulties, the people in the village still found a way to raise Rp 25,000 per family to hold the festival. Meanwhile, the women in the village contributed by making homemade snacks for serving to the invited guests.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

A crowd of people watches a performance by local performing arts group Pedepokan Wargo Budoyo on 30 July 2017 during the Five Mountains Festival in Gejayan hamlet of Banyusidi village in Pakis district, Magelang regency, Central Java. The 16th edition of the annual, independent festival features performers from the five mountains of Magelang regency – Merapi, Merbabu, Sumbing, Andong and Menoreh – was themed “Mari Goblok Bareng” (Let’s Be Stupid), inspired by the social media phenomenon.

KLG artist Ismanto from Dukun district, who was then the chairman of the Five Mountains Community, said that arts events and activities could be held, even amidst tje difficult conditions.

"Art always finds a way, and there is always a way for us to be happy," he said at the time.

Arts awareness

Riyadi said that the artists of the Five Mountains Community were encouraged to continue performing, partly because of the people’s enthusiasm to come watch their shows. He also said that he personally could not forget how touched he was by the responses of disaster survivors in the emergency camps where they performed.

He recalled one occasion when a woman who had survived the Mt. Merapi eruption had burst into tears of joy while watching a show they put on at a refugee camp. After months of living in grief at the refugee camp, she became overjoyed that she was able to watch a performance that had comforted her soul.

"On seeing this woman, we became aware that the need for entertainment and the arts is as [fundamental] as the need for food and drink," said Riyadi.

KOMPAS/REGINA RUKMORINI

Pink bamboo scaffolding stands at Studio Mendut in Mungkid district, Magelang regency, Central Java, as seen on 30 Sept. 2020. The structure was installed to maintain physical distance between performers and the audience during the annual Festival Lima Gunung (Five Mountains Festival), which restricted audience numbers and applied the health controls as it marked its 19th edition amid Covid-19.

Meanwhile, KLG president Sutanto Mendut said that the various events the community’s members had experienced had sharpened the artists’ sensitivity towards various crises. Not only were they aware of the behavioral impacts of the health protocols that were being imposed as part of the Covid-19 response, they were also long accustomed to being flexible in responding to financial difficulties and crises.

On many occasions, the community had proved their resilience by holding shows with minimal funding, which meant that a number of artists often had to go without pay. However, this did not change the individual awareness and effort of each artist in helping each other out while getting ready to perform as well as they could.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

A pair of dancers perform the Lengger dance on 9 Aug. 2020 during the Lima Gunung Festival (Five Mountains Festival) in Krandegan hamlet of Sukomakmur village in Kajoran, Magelang regency, Central Java. The 19th edition of the annual, independent festival, which features performers from the regency’s five mountains – Merapi, Merbabu, Sumbing, Andong and Menoreh – was themed “Donga Slamet: Waspada Virus Donya” (Praying for Safety: Beware the Virus), restricted admittance to members of the local community as part of its efforts to raise public awareness and educate people about the Covid-19 health protocols.

It is this awareness among the artists that has kept the Five Mountains Community alive until today, even during the ongoing pandemic. Their awareness of adapting and maintaining their creativity has helped them overcome the uncertainties during the health crisis. They are keeping the arts alive, just as the arts continue to support their lives.