Hiiiya

12/07/2025

Day 3 at the Lima Gunung Festival where I had the rare and beautiful opportunity to play Petruk!, one of 4 wise fools who speak truth to power through comedy and fool play. It was quite a challenge to do 15 minutes of stand up slapstick comedy in Javanese! I also had an audience with a King (actor) in his sparkling finery. Led by the wise father Samar, included here is a statue of Samar who is a wise patron saint of fools and the performing arts… 🎭 simply wonderful…

11/07/2025

This Wayang Orang tradition features a Dalang (narrator) who does many of the voices of the characters on the stage…
The whole performance was a meditation.. culminating (for me) with an energetic transmission from Sandipani Muni to Krisna…

11/07/2025

The Lima Gunung Festival, in its 24th year, is a 5 day gathering of 80 communities in the central Javanese district of Dukun (meaning Shaman)… performances run until 3am and start again at 5am with ritual performance and ceremony at daybreak. Financed in its entirety by the community, attendees are continuously fed whilst long form theatre and music presents ancient archetypal form in the eternal battle between ambition, wisdom and ignorance…
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09/07/2025

Travelled from Bali to Yogyakarta to Magelang via car, plane, bus and motorcycle to arrive in Dukun, a district whose name translates as “shaman”. I am here for the Lima Gunung Festival, a gathering of 80 communities to share music dance and culture from various Kajawen traditions. Kajawen, is a knowing anchored in ancient Lore, surviving through millenia by imbedding into the prevailing religious metaphors of the day.

25/05/2025

12/05/2025

Secret Temple space over 2000m above sea level, 5kms inside the eruption evacuation zone. The whole experience was sublime, transcendental and illuminating..

25/04/2025

Celebrating Galungan in ceremonial style with my Bali family in the Mountains…

14/04/2025

Exploring Java… deeper….

30/03/2025