Sanggar Seni Jaka Baru Benefit Fundraiser

Nusantara Arts and Richard North of Gamelan Sinar Surya in Santa Barbara combined forces to host a benefit performance. This event raised funds to help an important artist collective in West Java survive through multiple overlapping crises.

This traditional arts collective is off the beaten path and is a rural desa community near Indramayu. They are on a shoestring budget in the best of times. With the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a devastating flood that destroyed parts of their compound, they were in dire need of some money to survive and continue their practice of traditional arts. Without this outside support, the collective might have had to sell their unique instruments and puppets.

The benefit performance showcasing the unique Wayang Golek Cepak style of Sanggar Jaka Baru originally streamed live on July 2, 2021. We’ve made the recording available in its entirety for your continued enjoyment.

About Sanggar Seni Jaka Baru

The Jaka Baru arts collective was founded in 1994 in the small village of Gadingan in the northern Indramayu district of the Cirebon cultural region of West Java, Indonesia. Consisting of 35 musicians, puppeteers and craftsman, they are lead by the highly respected Dalang Ki Warsad, one of a dwindling number of puppet masters of the ancient ceremonial Wayang Golek Cepak rod puppet theater once found throughout the Cirebon-Indramayu region.

They are a diverse group of artists, featuring performances of Indramayu style Topeng mask dancing, Berokan village trance dance, mask carving, puppet making, wood carving, and ornate basket weaving. But their main focus has always been performing the now rare Wayang Golek style of puppet theater, performed by Ki Dalang Warsad and his two sons Mas Rasnoto and Mas Onie. 

Thank you to our project funders:

Jaka Baru Benefactor

  • Anonymous

Jaka Baru Super Friends

  • Shota Fukuoka

  • Helen Rees

  • Carla Fabrizio

  • Andy McGraw

Jaka Baru Boosters

  • Elizabeth Clendinning

  • Margot Lederer

  • Judy Naylor

  • Sumarsam

Wayang Golek Aficionados

  • Tom Braden

  • Daniel Owen

  • Ethan Schwartz

  • Ed Luna

  • Jan Di Girolamo

  • Usman Haq

  • Frances Kofod

  • Carla Scheele

  • Rae Ann Stahl

  • Xinwei Thow

Gamelan Preservationists

  • Rucina Ballinger

  • Stuart Frankel

  • Douglas Hudson

  • Henry Spiller