Page 5 | Topeng - masks of Central Java

Characters

Contents

Topeng - masks of Central Java (1)

Basic iconography (2)

Alus masks (3)

Gagahan masks (4)

Characters (5)

The spirit of the mask (6)

In performance (7)

Seleh Notes Volume 1 Number 2 March 1994

© By Jo Shaw

The characters I have mentioned so far all come from the Panji cycle of stories.

Gunung Sari is his younger brother and Rakhil Kuning is the sister of Sekartaji who is betrothed to Panji, but loved by Klana (information from Pak Ripto).

The topeng dances created around these characters seem to have originated in the Mangkunegaran (this point is open to correction) and certainly they have a strong tradition there of masked dance.

Another popular story is the Ramayana, with Sita's abduction and subsequent rescue.

The roles of Garuda the bird, and Hanuman, the monkey give opportunity for fine imaginative masks of their own, in particular the money king's articulated jaw. This was the only group dance I saw in Java, again at the Palace.

The majority seem to be solo dances, usually gandrung (love dances) and Klana is by far the most frequently performed.

It is a very popular dance, as English audiences will know, having had one of its finest performers (Pak Haryono) in residence for two years.

Yet even Klana is danced comparatively rarely. Pak Haryono probably performed it more times during his stay here than he would have done in the same period in Java.

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