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Introduction to the Arts of Cirebon
by Richard North
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Indonesian Artists and Scholars
Among trailblazing Indonesian scholars and documenters of Cirebon arts is Pak Enoch Atmadibrata, whose magazines Buletin Kebudayaan Jawa Barat and Kawit in the 1970’s and 80’s surveyed the multitude of traditional arts of West Java—including many from Cirebon’s villages and royal courts. I was lucky enough to be a guest in Pak Enoch’s home for five months in 1976, during which time he instilled in me his fascination with Cirebon as an ancient source of Indonesian culture.
Cirebon scholar, musician, shadow puppeteer, mask carver and dancer Endo Suanda performing the Kelana character of Topeng Cirebon. (photo: John Crispin, New York Times)
Another luminary is Endo Suanda, an amazing polymath from Majalengka, on the border of the Cirebon region. Pak Endo studied and mastered the arts of Cirebon gamelan music, topeng (masked dancing), mask carving, and wayang kulit (shadow puppet theater.) His 1983 thesis is the most comprehensive work on Topeng Cirebon to date, and he has a dissertation on Cirebon wayang kulit in progress. Pak Endo is currently director of an ambitious wide-ranging project of teaching art in Indonesian schools, and is a tireless advocate for traditional artists in modern Indonesia
A slim paperback book from 1982 entitled Cerbon edited by the late Paramita Abdurachman was very instrumental in exposing Indonesia and the world to Cirebon’s rich cultural heritage. Profusely illustrated and written in both Indonesian and English, it was the first widely-available survey of the spectrum of Cirebon’s visual and performing arts.
Noted Cirebon cultural expert and novelist T. D. Sudjana has written widely on the subjects of Cirebon history, wayang, and culture. In 2001 he published a dictionary of Cirebon Javanese. Also worthy of mention is author and scholar Lalan Ramlan, who teaches dance at the STSI academy in Bandung. He has written about topeng Cirebon, Cirebon religious practices, tayuban social dance at Keraton Kasepuhan and the sacred Bedaya Rimbe dance of Keraton Kanoman.