Tamara Fielding was born in 1934 in Cimahi, West Java in the Dutch east Indies to a Dutch father and a mixed Indonesian European and mother. She grew up in a large house where four generations of his family lived under one roof. privileged and happy childhood Tamara came to an abrupt end when the Japanese soldiers marched through the streets of Bandung, March 9, 1942. After three and a half years in Japanese prison camps, she and her mother and sister escaped and fled to Holland, where she continued her schooling. Tamara studied theater in Paris and appeared in American films made in France. After his childhood dream, she immigrated to the United States and made its first wayang kulit show friends in 1985. Since then she has directed shadow puppet theater through the world. In 2011, Tamara wrote Shadow Princess , a book based on his childhood experiences.
What was your first exposure to wayang theater?
I learned the art of Dalang , or puppet wayang kulit at an early age stage. He was on the rubber plantation of my family that I first watched a performance all night wayang kulit. This almost mystical experience of childhood turned out to be a great force in my future artistic development and would eventually take me on the international scene.
Can you tell us about your experiences of war?
With the advent of World War II, my family was torn from our idyllic life and imprisoned in several Japanese concentration camps in Bandung and Batavia. The Japanese were extremely cruel, especially for women should be submissive to men, and we suffered terribly. We were sick and barely alive when the war ended on August 14, 1945. But if we thought that, with the Japanese surrender to the Allies the war was over, we were wrong.
Did you win your freedom after the war?
The August 17, 1945 Sukarno was proclaimed President of the new Republic of Indonesia, which marked the beginning of a bloody revolution for independence from Indonesia from the Dutch. Without protection of the allied forces who had yet to land troops on Java, the life of Dutch citizens as we were in more danger than ever. We managed to escape from the camp of the prison and found refuge on a Freedom troop transport ship from Batavia to Holland. We lost everything.
After adjusting to life in a strange country and assimilation into Western society, I managed to finish school in Holland. Although uprooted and separated from my homeland, I lost my love and passion for the art of puppetry. Magic and wayang stories were locked up inside me. Theater was my first love. As a young adult, my passion for all things theater brought me to Paris where I studied acting and appeared in American films Lust for Life and Trapeze .
When did you start to study the art of the puppeteer?
It was not until several years later, after immigrating to the United States, located in New York, married and had two beautiful children. Continuing my career as an actress, I realized I had a culture of my own that needed to be exposed to Western audiences. I inherited some wayang kulit puppets that had been in the family for quite a short play. Soon, the sounds and visions of wayang plays on the plantation back to me. I remembered so vividly how Dalang made his puppets dance, love, fight and fly over the white cotton screen. Dalang means puppeteer, "Master of Shadows," a profession that has been dominated by men for centuries.
When was your fist performance?
I did my first show of wayang for friends of the Unitarian Church in New York. Since then, I returned to Indonesia several times, studying and collecting more than 400 puppets. In 1999, I was invited by President Habibie B.J. to perform at Pekan Wayang Festival in Jakarta, the Indonesian-born Dalang only woman among 50 men Dalang.
Do you now make regular appearances as a performing Dalang?
I formed my own theater company TAMARA AND THE SHADOW THEATRE OF JAVA and presented my show in schools, universities, museums and on cruise ships. I participated in international festivals in Greece and Brazil. I also make speeches for fundraising events. My hope is that I help people to better understand each other through culture and art.
are the wayang plots adapted to a Western audience
Yes, the stories and plots are the same as in Indonesia ?; they have the same purpose, but I've scripted in English and they are just a little shorter to make them better suited for the Western public. I have a complete set of gamelan instruments to accompany my shows with musicians from the Indonesian consulate in New York.
Could you tell us a little about your book Shadow Princess :? Indonesian history
I always wanted to write a book. My co-author, Cindy Marvell, shaped me into The New York Times . Here's how we met and the idea of writing a fictional novel set was born. The book was published in 2011 and launched at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2012 in Bali. The story, some of them from my own life, is about a teenager who lives life full force of the tsunami in Sumatra. Filled with the Indonesian mythology, forest spirits and puppets, this brave girl is an adventure journey in search of his family. Guided by deer mice " Kancil ," a mischievous yet lovable character of Indonesian folklore, she finds her grandmother and learns a long-held family secret.
What are your future projects
I will continue to pursue the things I like - Art, travel, writing and boating. I am the owner and captain of a Sea Ray cabin cruiser 33 feet called Born-to-be-Wild . I want to sit around my pool and entertain my grandchildren with Indonesian stories my grandmother told me long ago. It would be interesting to turn my book into a screenplay and a film. I also started writing my memoirs of the experiences of my life during World War II in Indonesia and how the war affected the lives of all those who survived in different ways.
How can you be contacted
Email: Javapuppets@aol.com; Site: www.Indonesianshadowplay.com. My book is available in bookstores in Bali Ganesha or www.Amazon.com.