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Introduction to the Arts of Cirebon
by Richard North
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Cirebon’s Royal Courts
Visitors to Cirebon’s ancient keraton (royal courts) sometimes have the sense they have stepped back in time. The visual impact of the palace architecture is startling. With their dramatic gapura split gates and numerous ornately carved pagoda-like pavilions surrounded by mortarless red brick walls with inset Ming Dynasty Chinese plates, the Cirebon Keraton seem much closer to colorful Balinese Hindu temples than to the staid Muslim palaces of central Java. This is not surprising since they date back to the last days of Java’s Hindu era in the 1400’s. In fact, scholars believe Cirebon’s royal courts are a kind of “missing link” to Java’s Hindu past.
Hindu-Javanese architecture of Keraton Kasepuhan. (photo: R. North)
Since ancient times the rural villages surrounding Cirebon have been the living centers of the traditional arts, a fact that is still very true today. In addition, as Cohen mentions in his 2002 article Multiculturalism and Performance in Colonial Cirebon, “There is ample evidence demonstrating that the kraton (royal courts) were important centers for the refined arts in the past”. In the last century or so the artistic activities of the Cirebon palaces decreased, due in part to “their desperate financial straits.” Recently however, all three of Cirebon’s keraton have once again become active in the perpetuation of Cirebon arts.
Keraton Kasepuhan is generally considered the oldest of Cirebon’s three palaces. located at the site of the 15th century Pakung Wati, the palace of Cirebon’s first sultan, Sunan Gunung Jati. The palace maintains an impressive museum displaying the sultans’ iconic royal carriages (kereta kencana), heirloom keris daggers, dazzling woodcarvings, and several gamelan orchestras, the most important of which—the Gong Sekati, or Sekaten—is played twice a year in one of the numerous ancient Javanese pavilions on the palace grounds. The Yayasan Keraton Kasepuhan organization under P. R. Arief Natadiningrat has embarked on various programs to help promote and preserve Cirebon’s cultural heritage, including hosting Cirebon’s participants in the periodic national Keraton Festival.
Entrance to the Sultan’s residence at Keraton Kasepuhan. (photo: R. North)
Keraton Kanoman is walking distance from Kasepuhan and boasts equal claims to antiquity and cultural importance. Along with its ancient Hindu-Javanese pavilions and gateways, Kanoman too has a museum displaying ancient Cirebon carriages, keris and gamelan, although their venerable Gong Sekati orchestra is not on public display. Keraton Kanoman has an active sanggar (art group) called Klapa Jajar, under the direction of Pangeran Agus Djoni.
Pangeran Djoni (with yellow scarf) dancing tayuban style at the annual “birthday” of the Keraton Kanoman sanggar, Klapa Jajar in 2006. (photo R. North)
But it is the smallest and youngest of the Cirebon three royal courts—Keraton Kacirebonan—that has really taken the lead in opening up and preserving Cirebon’s previously restricted royal cultural treasures. The late Pangeran Haji Yusuf Dendabrata, more well-known as Elang Yusuf, was a virtual renaissance man of Cirebon culture. In addition to being the Lurah Seni (Arts Director) and Patih (second in command to the Sultan) of his palace, Elang Yusuf was personally active in the revival of the Cirebon arts of gamelan music, traditional dance, wood carving, glass painting, batik cloth, Cirebon architecture, and shadow puppet theater, performing as dalang (puppet master) in the Kacirebonan Palace shortly before his death in 2000.
Pangeran Yusuf Dendabrata alm. demonstrating a Cirebon dance movement at his home in the Kacirebonan Palace in 2000. (photo Jacques Brunet)
Elang Yusuf’s eldest son, Pangeran Haji Tomi Dendabrata, is the current Lurah Seni and Patih of Keraton Kacirebonan, and has continued in his father’s footsteps. Haji Tomi is the founder of the Sanggar Sekar Pandan, whose members are ubiquitous at performances in all three of Cirebon’s keraton, as well as at other venues in Cirebon. Haji Tomi has been placed in charge of numerous events featuring Cirebon arts, including the Cirebon group in the Festival Keraton Indonesia showcasing the arts of Indonesia’s 23 recognized royal courts. He has been very active in getting official support of the Cirebon dialect of Javanese, Jawa Cerbon, in the curriculum of local schools. As a choreographer with a degree in traditional dance, he has created new court dances for his palace. Haji Tomi’s other projects include helping to revive the three ancient gong ensembles of Cirebon: gong renteng, denggung, and gong sekati.
Pangeran Haji Tomi Dendabrata at the Kacirebonan Palace in 2006 demonstrating movements of a character from the wayang golek (rod puppet theater), thought to have originated in Cirebon and spread to other parts of Java. (photo R. North)
Haji Tomi’s younger brother Elang Iyan Arifudin, in addition to being a prominent member of the palace sanggar, is actively involved in documenting and preserving Cirebon arts. He is currently studying the art of Cirebon-style batik in the “batik village” of Trusmi, and has apprenticed himself to the official court puppeteer at Keraton Kacirebonan, Ki Kurnadi. Elang Iyan had his “pengukuhan”, or official debut as a dalang, at Keraton Kacirebonan in August of 2006.
Elang Iyan performing wayang kulit at Keraton Kacirebonan in 2006. (photo R. North)