Betawi Fair: Jakarta, Indonesia

By Wombat | August 28th, 2006 | 2 Comments »

Brothers Malik and Yayat whipped the ropes wrapped around their spinning tops back and forth, throwing the toys and pulling them so that they whirled along the ground. Crowds of visitors gathered in front of the men’s stand, graced with a sign reading Pengrajin Gasin or “Spinning Top Handicrafts”.

Although far from the stage that was at the center of the Betawi Art Performance Festival 2006, held at the Betawi Kampong Situ Babakan in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, the tops were popular with visitors.

Yayat, 28, said few people his age knew how to use the toy as it was quite rare and took a few days to master.

“It took me two days to practice this, but younger kids could learn it in less time,” he said, pointing to eight-year-old Rama, a child from the kampong, who was enthusiastically playing with a top he had learnt to use that day.

The brothers, however, are yet to learn how to make tops. The work is done by their father Idi Kushadi, who was demonstrating his craft at the back of the stall.

Idi carved cylinders of wood into various shapes and sizes, selling the tops for between Rp 10,000 (US$1.10) and Rp 75,000.

They can resemble the wide domes of mosques, or a bulbs topped with an ondel-ondel or a miniature of the National Monument. Each has a slim metal axis.

“We sell these toys in our village in Pondok Gede in East Jakarta. We don’t know anyone else making them,” he said.

Idid learned to make spinning tops in 1959 but he carved them for fun, not to earn money. He went into business last year after attending a spinning top festival in Bandung.

Some of Jakarta’s other small industries were also on display at the festival.

Ade and Ahmad of Sanggar Argawana decorate used shuttlecocks with pieces of cloth and beads to make ondel-ondel keychains. They also make what they call “eggshell paintings” — literally, pieces of plywood covered with eggshells.

“These aren’t known as traditional Betawi souvenirs,” said Ahmad, who is a Betawi. “But we just wanted to make useful things from waste material, hopefully that would become known as Betawi creations.”

Other stalls showcased more traditional elements of Betawi culture. One featured hantaran — items given to a bride’s family by the groom’s to welcome the new member, including sirih nanas, a pineapple decorated with betal leaves, along with fruits and traditional foodstuffs such as wajik and roti buaya, a crocodile-shaped loaf of bread.

Visitors also swarmed to the stage, where traditional lenong theater was being performed and a gambang kromong music ensemble played.

Yuni, a student from Kalideres, West Jakarta, said she had enjoyed the fresh air but thought the bazaar did not contain enough variety.

“It’s the first time I’ve been here. My teacher asked me and 40 other students to come this morning. But I don’t think it’s the best time to come here because not enough is happening now,” she said during her visit on the second day of the festival.

She said she had liked listening to Diding, a security guard at the village, tell stories about teaching traditional dance and music to youth in the area.

“Traditional music is interesting, but I never found someone to teach me,” she said.

Diding said he was happy to teach traditional arts to the next generation.

“We have to keep the culture live, as you know there are not so many places left for traditional things these days.”

Alia Azmi