Indonesians in Focus: Muhammad Zaidi

By Barrie | December 26th, 2006 | No Comments

Palembang is a beautiful city in Sumatra and one that is well worth exploring and spending a few weeks there. Not only is it famous for its batik and other textiles, but it is an historical city and one that had great significance in the struggle against the Dutch.

Culturally it is an interesting city also with some great artists and musicians coming from there. One such person is Muhammad Zaidi as Khairul Saleh explains.

Muhammad Zaidi: Surviving amid modernization
Khairul Saleh, Palembang

Modernization has marginalized traditional art and made it difficult to survive.

Dul Muluk, a traditional Palembang art form, is also in this very unfortunate situation. A Dul Muluk theatrical group still surviving today is the Bintang Bintang Selatan (Southern Stars) Group, located in Gandus, in Palembang, and led by 70-year-old Muhammad Zaidi.

Today, Zaidi said, requests for performances are generally rare. Occasionally, they will be asked to perform on special occasions such as wedding parties, circumcision rites, the celebration of Palembang’s anniversary or the celebration of Indonesia’s independence.

On Independence Day in particular, Zaidi and his group may receive up to 20 requests for performances.

“On ordinary days, we rarely receive a request to play because the public prefers solo organ performances,” Zaidi, who has four wives and 14 children.

Zaidi’s group has 20 members and is paid Rp 750,000 per performance. The money is distributed to all the members in accordance with their respective roles after part is set aside to cover expenses related to equipment and costumes.

It seems a pity that the government has yet to pay proper attention to helping this group survive. The local administration, for example, has not yet documented Dul Muluk performances, let alone provided groups financial assistance.

Ironically, however, when a government agency invites his group to perform, they must convey government messages, Zaidi said.

“We have to comply with this request. To ensure that they will invite us again, we must cleverly insert their messages into our performances,” Zaidi said, adding that he and his group preferred to perform for the general public because they would appreciate it.

For Zaidi, Dul Muluk is a calling as he has inherited this art from one of his parents, a true Dul Muluk artist.

On stage, Zaidi, who looks quite dashing in a play titled Syair Zubaidah playing the Hindi King, has been irreplaceable since 1952.

“Dul Muluk must be preserved. It is a pity the public is little interested in this art form today. I’m afraid before long it will disappear for good,” Zaidi said, expressing great concern about the survival of the traditional art.

In the 1960s Dul Muluk was performed for seven days and nights with pauses in between. Today, a Dul Muluk performance last only two to three hours. Uniquely, although Dul Muluk is usually performed in Palembang, most Dul Muluk troupes come from Pemulutan village in a suburban area of Palembang municipality.

The players usually have odd jobs for a living.

Zaidi sometimes works on construction sites but at other times he earns money as a middleman.

A Dul Muluk performance is about palace life. The story is told through a number of characters such as the king, a royal army commander, royal guards and royal maids.

Uniquely, there are no actresses in a Dul Muluk performance. A female character in the story will be played by a male actor made up and dressed like a woman.

Some people in Palembang are still fond of watching Dul Muluk performances. Muhammad Nazib of Kolimeter Lima, Palembang, is one such. He said that Dul Muluk was a local cultural asset that had to be preserved.

“What’s interesting about Dul Muluk is that the story, which is about ordinary people, is quite humorous. It shows us how various problems in the palace can be sorted out,” Nazib, 44, said.

According to Nazib, a teacher, it is now time to pay attention to Dul Muluk and do something about its survival. To be able to appeal to a modern audience, he said, Dul Muluk must be adapted to present-day conditions.

Dul Muluk, he added, must be creatively revitalized in the same way that East Java’s ketoprak has been revitalized and developed.

“It is now time to adjust Dul Muluk to present-day conditions. The story, for example, must be related to actual events in our society. It should no longer dwell on palaces any more. The costumes and the stage must also be modernized,” he said.

In this respect, he said, Dul Muluk artists, the government and artists’ organizations in Palembang must work hand-in-hand to find the right way to preserve and develop it.

“The government and the artists must think of a breakthrough to make Dul Muluk appeal to a modern audience. Look at East Java’s traditional art form of ketoprak. See, it is regaining great popularity today,” he said.

Zaidi said he was open to suggestions about adapting Dul Muluk performances to today’s conditions.

“We are open to creative adaptation of Dul Muluk performances, but who will take the initiative?” he wondered.

Khairul Saleh