The night was so clear when I and my friends rode an old pick-up through the rough road of Kemiren. We got a starry sky upon that remote village located in the heart of Banyuwangi, East Java. A native Banyuwangese, Andi Supandi, invited us to see a Barong Kemiren show in his neighborhood. The pick-up we rode was not his pick-up. We just waited any cars passing in front of his house and we did hitchhiking.

Soccer Socks
After some minutes of journey, we arrived at the spot. It was a wedding which held a Barong Kemiren show. The place was full of people. Just like us, most of them came here to see the Barong Kemiren show. We awkwardly walked as everyone saw us. No one recognized us but they all knew Andi Supandi. Avoiding more attention, we directly moved to the empty chairs. Luckily, we found chairs in the front row. It seemed that the chairs here were provided for the important persons.
Some snacks were served on the table in front of us. Some of them are rarely found in Malang nowadays. They were jenang, fried bananas, cucur, bikang, putu ayu, etc. Of course they did not forget to serve the legendary Djarum 76. I learn later that this brand is the most famous cigarette brand in Banyuwangi. Almost all people, old and young, we saw at that place enjoyed this vintage cigarette. The drinks were melon syrup. Served in some small glasses, they were not sweet enough.

The Willy Old Classic Snacks and The Legendary Djarum 76
At 9 PM, the show began. Andi Supandi told us that the show would be divided into four jejer or stages. The first jejer was entitled Ja’ripah. It was a story about Ja’ripah, a lady who lost her Barong. Sinar Udara, the name of the Barong in that story, was her pet. Ja’ripah dressed in the costume of Gandrung dance, the most famous dance of Banyuwangi.

Dancing With Barong
After some minutes of opening, then came in three comedians. They were Tambur, Layar, and Kemudi. As part of common people’s culture, their jokes tended to be slapstick, harsh and dirty. Although we did not understand even a word of Using, the mother tongue language spoken by the native of Banyuwangese, we still could laugh hard at those three jokers. Yes, slapstick and dirty jokes never fail.

Slapticks Rule!
Having a laugh for an hour, the story continued to the Ja’ripah’s search of her Sinar Udara. She was helped by Paman Iris. The cast of Paman Iris actually was the same person who played Tambur. I hoped it was just for the sake of the efficiency, not because this tradition was no longer attracting to the youngsters to take part in.
That was Paman Iris who found Sinar Udara. He brought the Barong home, but Sinar Udara did not recognize Ja’ripah any longer. To bring Sinar Udara’s memory back, Ja’ripah sang a beautiful tembang. After listening to the tembang, Sinar Udara’s memory came back and he could recognize Ja’ripah again.

The Hidden Smile
As the prize for bringing Sinar Udara home, Paman Iris wanted to marry Ja’ripah. This request was granted by Ja’ripah only if Paman Iris could kill Sinar Udara. Paman Iris accepted this challenge. He had a fight with Sinar Udara and he could kill the Barong. Seeing her pet dead, Ja’ripah was sad. She asked to Paman Iris to resurrect Sinar Udara from death. This request was also fulfilled by Paman Iris. He then asked about his request to marry Ja’ripah, but she still rejected him. Paman Iris was angry and the clash between him and Sinar Udara happened again. In the second fight, Paman Iris was lost. He was killed by Sinar Udara and the first jejer ended.
Night got older when the second jejer started. The title was Panji Sumirah. It was a story about Panji Sumirah, a knight who wanted to open Triboyo forest for a village. In Using and also in Javanese, Triboyo means three dangers. In his effort to open the forest, Panji Sumirah actually faced three dangers. The first and the second dangers were the attack of the king of the troll forest and his servant.
I believed it was the most attractive part of the show. Armed by iron swords, Panji Sumirah and those two trolls had a fight. That was thrilling one. The actors snatched the sword very fast. The sparks flipped out to the air as the swords collided. If they were not well-trained, someone must be hurt in that dangerous fighting scene. After an hour of battle and the players looked really exhausted, Panji Sumirah won. But soon the third danger came in. It was a group of 44 evil spirits. All of them were beaten. Panji Sumirah ordered one of the defeated evil spirits to marry one of his servant. In the future, their descent would live in that village. That was the end of the second jejer.

Panji Sumirah vs A Troll (Forgive My Poor Camera)
It was almost in the middle of the night when the third jejer played. Entitled Suwarti, the third jejer told us about the story of Suwarti from the day she was born until she got married. For me, that jejer was the most boring one. As my glass of the-not-sweet melon syrup was empty, I could not stand to not fall asleep during Suwarti.
After some minutes of sleeping, when I opened my eyes, some casts appeared wearing the Dutch clothes. But that was not the most attracting one for me at that time. The most important thing was a glass of hot black coffee served in front of me. A sip of that bitter strong coffee could strike a thunder in my head. Fully awake, I thought it was just me who slept in this jejer, but later on I learned that almost all of my friends also fell asleep in this stage. Perhaps that was the reason why the owner of the house served us coffee. Actually, during this scene, some of the native attendants were also disappeared. Perhaps they went out for a coffee or cigarette.
It was dawn when the last scene, Mantri Rundoyo, which was believed as the climax of the show, began. I did not remember the exact but after the slack Suwarti, suddenly the place was crowded again. Andi Supandi told us that people waited for this since for them this was the most attracting jejer.
Mantri Rundoyo was the story about a hermit living in Alas Purwo with his two tigers. He cast a spell upon one of the tiger and he transfigured it into a man. The transfigured tiger was ordered to go to nearby village to look for a woman to whom the hermit would get married with. In the village, the tiger found the beautiful wife of Mantri Rundoyo. You might not believe me but trust me that Mantri Rundoyo’s wife for a second or two was looked like the gorgeous Manohara Odelia Pinot. Like Ja’ripah, the cast of Mantri Rundoyo’s wife also wore Gandrung dance costume.

Old Christopher Robin with his adult Tiggers. Where are you, aged Pooh?
The transfigured tiger kidnapped the wife of Mantri Rudoyo, but he did not bring her to the hermit as he was ordered. He was also attracted by the beauty of her. In her exile, a stranger came and told the wife of Mantri Rundoyo that the man actually was a tiger, not a real man. She did not believe to the stranger as she also fell in love with the tigerman. Suddenly, the spell was expired and the man was transfigured back into a tiger.
At that time, I finally knew why people waited for this jejer. The person who played the tiger was possessed. The situation became little bit chaotic. Some people whistled loudly in order to make the possessed tiger chase them. And it happened. The tiger chased those who whistled the loudest. The people ran away and the tiger still pursued them. It seemed people really enjoyed the adrenaline of being chased by the dangerous possessed person. I could not imagine what would happen if he could catch one of the spectators. In that morning, I was really thankful that I could not whistle loudly.

Mano KW9
We walked home together with the other spectators. In that morning, we agreed to go back on foot. En route to home, we walked on the dike between the rice fields. It was about 6 AM and we saw lot of people worked in the fields. That was very beautiful scenery we portrayed in our mind. While crossing a small shallow river, feeling the cold of the water, suddenly Andi Supandi said, “Barong Kemiren casts were all males. No females involved in the show.” A loud splash heard then. It was me. I fell to the water. I was too shocked. I still could not believe that the beautiful wife of Mantri Rundoyo was actually male. Oh my..