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Puppet Reborn: Indonesian Pulls Strings to Revive Near-dead Art Form

Reuters

   BOGOR, INDONESIA - It's a warm night in Indonesia and the air is filled
   with excitement as villagers watch a puppet show accompanied by
   traditional music.

   To the rhythmic beat of cymbals, drums and a bamboo harmonica, the
   hand-held puppets wearing brightly colored batik headdresses and
   sarongs fight, and one gets flung off the stage.

   This vivid performance is the brainchild of Drajat Iskandar, who has
   been lending a hand to revive the near-extinct art of "wayang bambu,"
   or bamboo puppetry.

   Once enjoyed by generations of Sundanese, Indonesia's second
   most-populous ethnic group who originate from the central island of
   Java, the delicate art has almost disappeared from modern stages.

   Iskandar, 47, has updated his bamboo puppets by making them
   three-dimensional, unlike conventional two-dimensional ones.

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