Slamet Nugroho, Telling Stories in “Sriwijaya Land”

Name: Slamet Nugroho, Telling Stories in “Sriwijaya Land”
Uploaded: 2022-09-15T02:22:11Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: Through storytelling, Slamet Nugroho has also passed on his skill to his students who are interested in this art. Of his hundreds of students, some have become storytellers now rising to the national level.

Through storytelling, Slamet Nugroho has also passed on his skill to his students who are interested in this art. Of his hundreds of students, some have become storytellers now rising to the national level.

RHAMA PURNA JATI

· 5 minutes read

With the passage of time, storytelling is increasingly eroded by the practice of using gadgets, especially the prevalence of social media; yet, the art of storytelling is believed to be capable of cementing the relationship between parents and children and nurturing empathy in children from an early age.

Therefore, Slamet Nugroho, 46, has longed to revive the storytelling tradition in the “Sriwijaya land” (land of 7th-century Sriwijaya kingdom). Thanks to his effort, a number of proficient storytellers from South Sumatra are emerging.

Slamet, intimately called Kak Inug, was talking to Mbah Jarwo at the South Sumatra Cultural Park in Jakabaring, Palembang, on Thursday (25/8/2022). Mbah Jarwo was not a man, but a dummy made to look alive through ventriloquism, the art of producing abdominal voice. This enabled Inug to convince people that he was really chatting with his puppet.

He has been honing his ventriloquial skill since 2007. This art is used as a complement to telling stories. Other than Mbah Jarwo, Inug has a couple of other dummy characters, Cika and Ciko.

Inug became a storyteller after studying English literature at Sebelas Maret University Surakarta (UNS). He used to be a storytelling teacher at a kindergarten in Yogyakarta.

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There, he was telling various stories to children of a character-building class, to promote self-confidence, inculcate empathy and nurture imagination. “Storytelling is a wonderful way of fostering relations between my students and I,” he said,

Kak Inug’s love of stories began when he was a child. At the time, his grandfather always told him bedtime stories. “Every night, my grandpa would tell me stories until I fell asleep.”

His interest in stories was complemented by his enthusiasm for the performing arts. He joined ketoprak (history-based popular play) when he attended junior high school. Convinced of his artistic talent, Inug wanted to further his study in vocational high school by choosing the department of karawitan (traditional ensemble music). However, his intention was opposed by his father, Subagjo.

Every night, my grandpa would tell me stories until I fell asleep.

His father regarded an artist’s career as an unreliable source of proper living. Finally, as desired by his father, Inug entered the mechanical department of technical high school (STM). “I did study in STM, but my heart wasn’t there,” he said.

As time went by, his father felt the son’s strong artistic inclination. Then he sent Inug to a theater teacher named Sutopo aka Pak Topo. “From him, I learned the theater art in its complete form,” he recalled.

In 2005, Inug moved to Palembang, South Sumatra, to teach character building in an international school for 10 years. As he did in Yogyakarta, he applied the storytelling method when interacting with his students. In his view, students absorb more if they listen to stories rather than listening to teachers’ instructions or learning by heart.

One day, he found a student who refused to eat rice. He was only willing to eat noodles. Inug later told a story related to the eating habit. “On the following day, the student’s parents thanked me because their child was ready to eat rice.”

Inug’s storytelling prowess was widely recognized when he won an award from the education minister for the Best Early Childhood Education (PAUD) Teacher II in 2008, representing South Sumatra. Since then, he has been offered to act as a jury and resource person in various competitions and seminars.

According to him, this capability should be disseminated because storytelling is the right tool to save our generation from the dangers of excessive gadget use. “Not only for teachers, the storytelling skill is also important for parents, so as to strengthen their relationship with children,” said Inug.