I La Galigo Comes “Home”: Performs in Makassar

Makassar, Indonesia - Having been performed before raving audiences around the world, the “ I La Galigo” theatre will finally appear in its original home in Makassar, South Sulawesi at the historic Fort Rotterdam on 23 to 24 April 2011.

The drama is derived from I La Galigo, the longest epic poem in the world. Written in poetic verse on lontar leaves in the ancient Bugis language of South Sulawesi between the 13th and 15th century, the original I La Galigo  has 300,000 lines and 6,000 pages. It is believed that this voluminous literary work should be even thicker since many sections have already disappeared. La Galigo is therefore longer than Homer’s classic Iliad and the Odyssey, which consist of 16,000 lines, and the Mahabharata of India, which consists of 150,000 to 200,000 lines.

The epic La Galigo tells about how the gods came down to Luwu in South Sulawesi and created a kingdom here, and then continues further to tell the story of the following generations. While the drama performance takes the episode where prince Sawerigading, falls in love with his beautiful twin sister We Tenriyabeng, who were separated from each other since birth, because it had been predicted that the two would meet and fall in love. Fate somehow brought them together, and indeed they did fall in love. However, to avoid incest, Sawerigading was forced to marry another woman.

I La Galigo is a music-theater work by Robert Wilson that has been shown since 2004 in Asia, Europe, Australia and the United States. It is based on an adaption by Rhoda Grauer of the epic creation myth Sureq Galigo.

Actors on stage move in dramatic gestures and mime, while the story is narrated to the accompaniment of a blend of Bugis-Javanese-Balinese music, composed by Rahayu Supanggah.

The appearance of this great theatre work in Indonesia is on the initiative of  wellknown businessman Tanri Abeng, who himself comes from South Sulawesi, the Yayasan Bali Parnati, the Municipality of Makassar and the Change Performing Arts from Italy. The cast will also include some 100 artists from South Sulawesi, and the show will take two and a half hours.

Source: http://www.indonesia.travel

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