Borobudur temple

Borobudur was built around 800 BC or 9th century. Borobudur Temple was built by the Mahayana Buddhists during the reign Sailendra. This temple was built in the heyday of Sailendra dynasty. The founder of the Borobudur Temple King Samaratungga from Sailendra dynasty or dynasties. The possibility of this temple was built around 824 AD and was completed around the year 900 AD in the reign of Queen Pramudawardhani who is the daughter of Samaratungga. While architects who contributed to build this temple according to the story of a hereditary named Gunadharma. 

Borobudur is the biggest temple in Indonesia. Borobudur temple is located in Magelang, Central Java, in addition to being a busy tourist attraction visited, also a center of worship for Buddhists in Indonesia, especially at every celebration of Vesak. This is in accordance with the meaning of the name of 'convent in the hills ". Borobudur is currently designated as one of UNESCO World Heritage.

Currently, Borobudur has become a tourist attraction which attracts many tourists both local and foreign tourists. In addition, Borobudur has become a holy place for Buddhists in Indonesia and become the most important annual celebration of Vesak Buddhist.

Borobudur one of excellence and evidence of human intelligence has ever made in Indonesia. Borobudur become cultural attractions and major in Indonesia besides Bali and Jakarta. After visiting Borobudur, you can also visit the surrounding villages such as Karanganyar which has some interesting attractions. So, what you waiting for? Please visit Borobudur temple or other places in indonesia.

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OLEG TAMBULILINGAN ,A DANCE OF LOVE (a Balinese Dance).

In 1952, I Ketut Maria, a dance maestro from Tabanan regency, Bali, created a dance that is full with the spirit of love. It was John Coast who proposed him to create a new dance since he wanted to take Indonesian artists to Europe and the United State of America for a cultural exchange mission. At the time I Ketut Maria, famously known as I Mario, was around 50 years old and he felt too old and unwell to create a new dance. But after some efforts by John Coast to persuade him, he finally took the challenge. He had already taken some new inspiration but he was stuck, and had almost given up when Coast gave him a collection of books about classic ballet complete with pictures. Those books were the source of the inspiration behind the lovely traditional Balinese dance that we can still see performed nowadays.
The dancers are male and female who perform smooth swaying dance routines. They carry our imagination to a garden where the flowers are blooming and the bees are enjoying their mealtime imbibing the flowers’ essence. The dancers are transformed into bees that are attracted to each other so the male bee is chasing female so on. Flirtation happens over a mealtime which ends up into a beautiful love story where they are finally caressing each other. The whole performance creates such an intense romantic atmosphere also shows that both sexes naturally need each other.
It’s only the routines that are beautiful but also the costumes. The female dancer is wrapped in Balinese traditional fabric called prada (material with gold printed pattern) and has a long transparent yet shiny scarf attached as her wings. The colors of the costume usually bright, a combination of green, rd and yellow and her head carries a massive mountain of golden flowers. The male dancer also wears same type of fabric but with a different way of wrapping. For the male, the end of specific length of fabric is left unwrapped, the Balinese call this kancut. On the head , he wears udeng, the Balinese traditional hat while he carries a prada fan and spins it effortlessly with his right hand.
It has been many years since the maestro created the dance, but Oleg Tambulilingan still has great popularity. The beauty of the dance has successfully charmed whoever has watched the performance over years. The simplicity of the routines, that blends nicely with some routines the Balinese classic dances. Janger and Legong Keraton, show the story the creator wanted to tell clearly. The routines and the colors of what the dancers wear are just simply impressive.

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Wayang Kulit or Balinese Shadow Puppet

Sesame Street may be the ideal storytelling medium of western kids of worlwide, but the Balinese sticks to its aged-old Wayang Kulit or shadow puppets.

An oil lamp flame licks and glimmers through a thin white cloth screen as melodies air from the gamelan ensemble. A crowd gathers in front of the center of attraction. Their eyes struggle to adjust as they begin to focus in the dimly it space. Silhouettes dash across the screen to the typical knocking of wood. The dalang (puppet master) is set and his show about to begin. The screen flutters with hazy objects, moving in the time to the music. The image suddenly becomes clear as all the other puppets appear, pressed against the screen and appearing more in focus.

These shows can be magical, with audiences entranced by the shadow puppets’ movements and the beautiful sounds of the gamelan. Even though most foreigners witnessing the show won’t understand the ancient Kawi or Balinese used in the dalang’s dialogues, most are still entertained by the story. Recently, the next generation island puppet masters have twisted the custom a bit and displayed out of the box creativity, such as Nardayana and his humorous Cenk Blonk puppet characters, and many other dalangs occasionally interject some Indonesian slang, Balinese accented English, and quirky Japanese, inviting the grins of foreigners and the laughs of the locals.

Wayang Kulit shadow puppetry has many in-depth lessons and are the ideal portrayal of good conduct rooted in centuries-old Hindu text. The puppeteers themselves would easily be regarded as the island’s version of Mel Blanc, with their versatile and dynamic vocal skills. Some of the clown or battle scenes are easily reminiscent of the grotesque humor of Punch “n Judy, with the dashing and clashing of opponents.

A dalang must have among the most rare skills on earth. He must master many character voices – a voice actor on his own through a whole screenplay. He is a single person who controls the play, thus he must know the various stories and folklore and be able to cue in time with the music.

Shows always start with a simple ritual to ask for divine permission and guidance to achieve the best performance, and blessings are made also for the puppets. And it is the day of Tumpek Wayang, the Balinese 210-day Pawukon calendar system, a day for the blessing of the puppets and show items that accompany the performances.

Gifted dalangs bring the live even apparently ordinary puppet shapes, which in turn represent a distinctive character from popular Hindu epics, such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

The usual Wayang is performed at night. Variations on this style of puppetry have been especially popular in Asia for hundreds, and possibly thousands, of years. There are special occasions when Wayang is performed in the light of day, a performance named Wayang Lemah.

In Bali, Wayang Kulit performeces involve between 3 and 15 personnel, including the puppeteer, an assistant, and the gamelan orchestra. Wayang Lemah is performed sans the kelir screen and blencong oil lamps. The dalang plays his puppets against a white cotton string that acts as a frame of the scenes, and tied at either side to an end of dapdap or Erythrina wood, stuck into a length of a banana tree.

Thank you.

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