A Guide to AIFIS’s support of Javanese Wayang Kulit with Translation by Kathryn “Kitsie” Emerson, Solo, Central Java
In 2004, I developed the concept of translating Javanese wayang kulit on the spot, spontaneously during a performance, so that foreign audiences who do not understand Javanese would have access to the beauty and complexity of this artform. These translations cannot be perfect, given that they are conducted in the moment. What they provide instead of careful word-smithing is real-time interpretation of the performance, as though the listener has a friend whispering into their ear at the wayang site, offering meaning, context, and insider tips for appreciating the show. At times, the friend might even say “Oh wait, I was wrong—this is not his uncle, it’s his long-lost brother-in-law,” or some such correction in the moment.
As technologies have progressed, and into the era of live streaming, this work has continued and over the past 16 years I have translated wayang on more than 250 times, an average of 15 or so performances per year, or consistently more than once a month for 16 years. These wayang shows have been primarily by the superstar artist Ki Purbo Asmoro—on 115 occasions1—and the other 100 or so by more than 50 other dhalang in the greater Solo, Central Java area. I have translated more than 70 different stories in all, using this simultaneous interpretation.
A few years ago, I conducted a number of workshops at UGM in Yogyakarta in order to train translators in this specific skill of simultaneous interpretation of wayang. I trained a number of students and professors there, resulting in a team that has translated the performances for the annual “Hari Wayang Dunia” at ISI Surakarta since 2015 into English, Indonesian, French, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, and Spanish.
Until now, this work has all been completely at my own expense, including hiring the technicians needed to live stream and project the translation. However, as of November 2020, AIFIS has been providing generous support for these translation efforts. This living document will be updated at the end of each month and will detail the performances supported by AIFIS and how to access them. I would like to express my deepest thanks for this generous support, and my hopes that this partnership, the kernel of which started with my work as an undergraduate in the Music Department at Cornell University in the 1980s and getting to know Professor Marty Hatch, will continue far into the future. (8 January 2021)
To see our past Wayang Virtual Performances in 2020, please click the link below!
AIFIS Support of Wayang in Translation 2020-2021.K Emerson (1)