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Malang. Among the largely Javanese players of a traditional shadow puppet performance in Malang, two somewhat unlikely names stood out.

Chinese-Indonesian Tee Beon Liong, whose stage name is Ki Sabdho Sutedjo, led the play as its puppeteer. Sitting with a traditional Javanese dress and wig was a Hungarian named Agnes Serfozo, one of the show’s accompanying singers.

The play, which was staged in front of the St. Albertus church in Blimbing, East Java, came about as the product of both of their passions.

Tee displayed a real mastery of the art form as he switched from one puppet to another, giving life to each characters as he fluently narrated the dialog in Kromo Javanese, the highly polite version of the language. He also performed an act from the Hindu epic Mahabharata, depicting the ascenscion of King Yudhistira to the throne of Amartapura kingdom.

Born in 1965, Tee said he had fallen in love with Javanese culture early on.

“My mother was a ticket counter attendant at my grandfather’s [Javanese] drama group,” he said. “My mother always took me to all the shows, so I am not a stranger to the sound of gamelan and Javanese language.”

As he was of Chinese descent, Tee said the only hurdle he ever encountered was from his family, who wanted him to become an entrepreneur.

He worked as a finance manager at a multi-national company for a spell before deciding he was more suited to puppetry.

“I was named an apprentice by Ki Nartosabdho before his death in 1985,” Tee said, referring to the Solo-based puppeteering legend.

It was that icon of the art form who bestowed the new name on him: Ki Sabdho Sutedjo. “Ki” is a Javanese title reserved for people with extraordinary mastery in the traditional arts.

The singer for the play, Serfozo, may hail from a different part of the world, but she is no less passionate about her calling.

The 29-year-old first fell in love with Javanese puppetry at Elte Btk University in Budapest. While studying anthropology there, she happened upon a book about Javanese culture by US sociologist Clifford Geertz.

“Ever since I read his book, I became enchanted with Javanese culture. I applied for a scholarship at Surakarta University in Solo six years ago,” she said.

“I am fascinated by Java, a place which produces philosophies that surpass those of the Western world.”

Serfozo is married to a Javanese musician named Kamto, who travels with renowned puppeteer Ki Manteb Soedharsono.

The mother of two is serious about her singing. She has performed a number of traditional rituals believed to enhance a singer’s performance, including Pati Geni. The practice involves spending a day with no food or drink in a dark room.

“Whenever I can, I like to fast on Mondays and Thursdays,” she said, adding that she was still learning the concept of sumeleh, or acceptance and surrender to higher powers.

Still, Serfozo will not accept a long-term career limited to performing at local puppet shows.

“I want to introduce Javanese-style singing to the world,” she said. “Right now, I am writing my first book in English about it.”