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Boediono Kicks Off Kid’s Puppet Festival
Camelia Pasandaran | December 16, 2009

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Vice President Boediono took a trip down memory lane on Wednesday as he opened the National Festival of Child Puppet Masters at his official palace.

He said his thoughts flew back to his childhood, when he used to watch wayang kulit shadow puppets with his father.

“During my younger days, going to movie theaters cost money. Puppet shows, however, were free,” Boediono said. “I used to ask my father to wake me up at two or three in the afternoon, because I wasn’t able to watch the entire show, which played on until late into the night.”

The wayang festival, which ends on Saturday, features 22 puppeteers under the age of 15 and will be held at the Kautaman Puppet building at Taman Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta.

Originating from Java, wayang kulit is a form of theater featuring intricately handcrafted puppets. It is an art form that flourished for more than 10 centuries at royal courts in Java and Bali.

The puppets, which are made of buffalo hide and mounted on bamboo sticks, are held up behind a white cloth screen and against an electric bulb or an oil lamp to project a shadow. The performer who controls the movement of the puppets is usually also in charge of the play’s story direction, dialogue and music.

“You can sense the character of a child based on his favorite wayang kulit character,” Boediono said.

Unesco classified wayang kulit as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in November 2003.