Theatre Arts

... As the dalang sings, his focus moves from the puppets. He burns incense in the charcoal burner. He takes a kris [dagger] and holds it over the smoke. ... The ash is God Wisnu. God Sambu opens and closes the Heavenly Gate Selapetangkep to the pavilion. ...

Revista de Estudos sobre Teatro de Formas Animadas MÓIN-MÓIN Resumo: O boneco como objeto performativo propõe uma vocalização que é diferente da voz humana normal. Escolhas feitas para adequar escala corporal, estilização de feições e a tendência dos objetos animados à sonoridade extra cotidiana-canção e música-reforçam a alteridade do objeto performativo. Os três principais tipos de conceitos vocais são apresentados: 1) O show do artista solo de muitas vozes, que pode usar diferentes ressonadores, tons e velocidades, como exemplificado no wayang golek de Java Ocidental; 2) O show de duas vozes, onde o bonequeiro pode falar com modificadores de voz, como o swazzle e o diálogo interpretado por uma voz humana mais normativa, que no teatro de bonecos tradicional geralmente será interpretado por um músico/musicista ou interlocutor/respondedor, do lado de fora da empanada; 3) o show de muitas vozes no qual falantes individuais são muitas vezes utilizados para cada figura, enquanto diálogos previamente gravados, dito pela coxia por atores especializados, ou por cada manipulador individual, que fala por sua própria figura.

Eastern Cherokee Fishing, by Heidi M. Altman, is a welcome addition to the corpus of literature on Cherokee ethnoecology. Using a diachronic approach, Altman interweaves archaeological, linguistic, and historical documentary information with her own ethnographic field research to examine traditional and contemporary fishing practices among the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians living on the Qualla Boundary, western North Carolina. Her objectives are to understand the function of fishing in past and present-day Cherokee economy, to examine indigenous ecological knowledge and its adaptation to local changes, to analyze the boundaries of identity construction within the context of today's ethnotourism, and to compare fish terminology between Cherokee and English vernacular. The resulting publication is an informative presentation of how Cherokee fishing evolved from a seasonally significant aspect of a mixed subsistence economy in the past to a profitable, nearly year-round role in a cash-based tourist economy today. Moreover, from the perspective of fishing, Altman explores cultural, linguistic, and environmental changes, as related to aquatic resources, spanning the period from European contact to the present. The book is divided into six chapters followed by six short appendices. The introductory chapter presents the methodology and theoretical approach used, the objectives of the study, and a brief discussion of the Cherokee language. Ethnographic fieldwork includes conducting interviews with local Cherokee and non-Cherokee people to collect life histories, folktales, and reminiscences about fish and fishing; arranging fishing expeditions to observe traditional and modern fishing practices; and holding directed elicitation sessions to obtain names of fishes. Documentary sources are consulted for information on traditional cultural practices and beliefs related to fishing. Chapter 2 reviews Cherokee history in relation to changes in the local environment. Perspectives on the environment are gleaned from early contact narratives, later ethnohistorical documents, and recent ethnographic interviews. Altman examines environmental changes resulting from the earlier impact of colonization and the later pro

Dalang of Wayang Golek rod puppetry of West Java Indonesia use mantra from "ruwatan" (healing performances) to create hold water which is believed to bring benefits. This ability means that they function in ways rather analogous to dukes, indigenous healers. But while dukun are seen as drawing their power from a variety of sources, dalang have access to it through their art practice itself.

Delhi-based puppeteers Dadi Pudumjee, Ranjana Pandey, Puran Bhatt, and Anurupa Roy negotiate the balance between the local and global. What do these transnational puppeteers, who represent "India" in international forums such as UNIMA, choose as their foci and how do they relate to older traditions of puppetry? Karen Smith is Chair of the UNIMA-International Publication & Contemporary Writing Commission. In September 2017 she launched her editorial project, World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts in French, English, and Spanish online (https:// wepa.unima.org).

Asian ancestral deliverance narratives are epitomized, in the Chinese puppet show stories of Mulian rescuing his mother and the Balinese puppet show tale of Bima saving his parents. The Mulian story with links to the Hungry Ghost Festival and Bima's story with ties to cremation ceremonies in Bali are comparable, showing that puppetry across different Asian religious and national divides has link to rituals honoring the dead.

Indonesia has a rich array of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) forms on which artists can draw to create new forms and variations. Among these, two of them are the sibling arts of wayang puppetry and topeng mask dance which show significant overlap in character typology, repertoire and other features. Outsiders often focus on narrative content and surmise these forms – first documented in the Hindu-Buddhist period (around the ninth century), are merely Indian materials in the Indonesian dress. However, anyone who has studied the wayang/topeng complex, knows that Indian practices, especially as we see them today, only partly inform these arts. Understanding the macrocosm via the microcosm of art is a core point of wayang/topeng. The numerology of Muslim esoteric ideas is also deeply embedded. Indigenous ideas of personhood and intergenerational links are inherent. The wayang/topeng tradition compresses cosmic conceptions into performance’s limited space-time continuum. Masking/pupp...