The History Of Pupetry Lao
ປະຫວັດຄວາມເປັນມາຂອງ ລະຄອນ ຕຸກກະຕາ ລາວ
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The history of puppet troupe
A Puppet is a model or figure, which is acted and conducted by conductors. The puppet can be showed in various venues for instance, opera houses, halls or theaters to entertain audiences and educate people at the same time. The puppetry is represented by the character of the actors in the show. There is no evidence either who initiated the puppet performance or when it began in Laos. However, it has been acknowledged that E-pok opera performance was performed in Luang Prabang province in the North of Laos particularly, when Laos was known as Lao Lanexang or the land of million elephants. In addition, the puppet performance was only performed in the king’s royal residence for many decades and centuries ago. Moreover, puppet shows in past years were performed only during the special events such as king’s celebrated ceremonies, local traditional festivals like New Years, boat racing festival and celebration of ancient towers, etc… which took place to entertain for the high ranking people. However, the puppet performances are performed and known by the public since Luang Prabang became known as world heritage site. In the meantime, the puppetry in new era it aims to promote tourism in the cities and traditional cultural practices as well. In July, 1997 the writer had a chance to interview a former puppeteer namely teacher Eaun who used to join the performance in front of the king, queen and their cousins in the royal Laung Prabang residence. He told the writer that he is the last person who is still alive, while his other colleagues have died, they ever together served several times of puppetry to their king and his family, he said |
Teacher Eaun the former Royal conductor in Luang Prabang Palace
King residence in Luang Prabang province
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There are many definitions of the word Epok that Lao people have in their own language. Firstly, Epok means just words that are pronounced to show something for fun not seriously like the words “Pok-Pok” or “Pek-Pek”. Secondly, some people believe that the word “Pok” has come from Thai language, as a result, the villagers were confused about word pronunciation. Therefore, the word has automatically changed to “Ka-pok” or “E-Ka-Pok”. Thus, the POK or E-Pok refers to the name of Lao puppetry. While other local people say that Lao puppetry originated from The royal Thai residence from 1889 to1899 to Lao king’s palace which was the governed by the son of king Ounkham namely king Khamsouk. (He was well known by the name the king Sackkhalinh Lanxang homkao Luang Prabang and was the last king before the French colonized Lao Lanexang.) Finally, “Pok” or E-Pok comes from the sound of bumping bamboo. One story said that this was when puppetry took place for the first time.
It was only seen in the royal residence and only the kings and queen’s families and high ranking people could see the show. By the way, as the times changed, newer inventions and directions of puppetry were required by high ranking people to make other different stories and scenes. Therefore, the villagers of Xienthong village took this great responsibility to introduce the new stories to serve their kings. As a result, the new era of Lao puppetry began, adapted by the villagers and presented to the public. This soon became popular nationwide. Moreover, Xienthong village, district and province of Luang Prabang is the centre of original Lao puppetry which was inherited directly from Lanexang royal residence as mentioned above, according to teacher Eaun. |
Respected ceremony asking for puppet performance permission
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These days, there are very few royal conductors or puppeteers who have survived. According to teacher Euan, who used to be the royal puppeteer as well as the tutor for puppetry as I mentioned earlier, he has been trying hard to protect this original form of puppetry and pass it to the next generation. He also said that because the puppet show is high level performance for high ranking people, before starting the performance, the first thing the puppeteers must do is ask for permission to perform. Puppeteers need to serve a bottle of alcohol, a pig’s head, fruit and flowers. This shows respect and gratitude to the professors, senior conductors who have passed away and puppet teachers who have a lived. Thus, Lao puppetry is not only a cultural performance but it also expresses the spirit of performing art which took place many years ago.
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Nowadays, there are limited numbers of puppet models. They are preserved in cabinets at Xienthong temple, Laungprabang province. Thus, E-pok puppetry is the most valuable part of Lao artistic national heritage for Lao people to inherit and conserve for the next generations.
Lao puppet types:
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According to the National Puppet Troupe, an organization which is concerned with puppet management, there are four different kinds of Lao puppet, depending on the puppet’s ability to be controlled and specific features.
1. Hand puppet showThe main way of controlling this kind of puppet is by the conductor’s hands. All puppet movements depend on
puppeteer who is an expert in using their hands, fingers and wrists, a combination of which they use simultaneously to shownatural movements of the puppet. |
2. Lifting control puppets show:
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Normally, the main feature here is that the puppets are made from timber and decorated with silk costumes and the puppeteer is required to use both hands to move the puppet. For instance, while one hand controls the head and mouth, the other hand controls the movements of the puppet’s hands. In addition, there are sometimes three puppeteers to control one puppet at the same time especially when that puppet is quite a big size.
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3. Shadow puppet show:
In the present day, the shadow puppet performances are mostly presented in south part of Laos, particularly in Champasack province. This type of puppet is normally created using hard paper or cardboard. Puppets are designed and shaped in various appearances depending on the imagination of producers and puppeteers. In addition, this type of performance requires players to use lighting behind the stage to shine through the puppet’s body on screen creating a silhouette to the audience. Puppet movements are controlled using wooden handles which sometimes requires help from a teammate.
4. The puppet show equipment (Ka-bong-Lao):
The puppets are assembled using various materials which can be recycled pieces. For example boxes, bamboos, pieces of timber or clothes even dry coconuts and leaves, as part of the puppet production. Furthermore, sound tracks are incorporated during the shows. In this time, the most significant movements of the puppets are controlled by puppeteers who sometimes integrate their legs or arms with the puppets so that human hands become puppet hands, people’s feet become the feet of puppets and so on.
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Recent practices of National Puppet Troupe:
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The National Puppet Troupe (NPT) was established in January, 1979 in Vientiane the capital of Laos. The aim was to entertain and educate people throughout the country. The NPT has updated its role in line with the changing times.
In order to promote the development of the organization, in the early stages the official governors were sent abroad to Bulgaria to gain more knowledge and experience. This was very helpful for the NTP committee and encouraged enthusiasm for puppetry because it is important for the officials who are in charge of the NPT to love puppetry very much, to want to be puppeteers and to see the value of this art form as well. After performances of puppet shows, the public was invited to make requests. As a result, many stories were invented and then presented by NPT to Lao audiences, for example, Ka-La-Keth, young hero Xinsay, little boy and the wind. There were also some stories which were interpreted from foreign language to Lao. However, these performances were mostly used as a political tool during the war years. In 1990, the NTP did some research to gather information about puppets and puppetry. It included stories which were retold by previous conductors or puppeteers from the older generation as well as information which was provided by young generation of puppeteers who had more recently been involved in puppet shows. There were some significant national puppet performances then as well. In 1991, there were several types of puppetry performance that became known as E-Pok. This type became very famous to the wider public in years after. Many local people knew E-pok through the Lao local histories like Ka-La-Keth, Leen thong (golden tongue), etc... Besides that, the NTP organization itself was developing. Within the organization, there were now two main parts, the first was the Administration section while the other was the Puppets section. Subsequently, other important departments like the Puppet Management and Performances were created so more staff were introduced and the organization was promoted further. As time went on, more and more new puppetry stories were introduced and presented to wide audiences. In 2003, the French government handed over the responsibility of looking after wooden puppet collection to the Lao government. Particularly, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism. This governmental organization takes very great responsibility for national traditions and culture in order to promote and preserve the national heritage and cultural arts and performances. The NPT needed to be reorganized and designated the three basis sections: Administration Office, General and Wooden Puppet Department. Nowadays, these have been further re-organised to become four departments: Administration Office, Technical Section, Inventions and Directorate Section and Section for Performing Puppets. The National Puppet Troupe has played an important role to promote this art form, to educate and entertain Lao society and people overseas sometimes through national television, radio and outdoor and indoor performances. Furthermore, the puppet shows have been used for many years to educate people about how the prevention of bird flu and other infectious diseases in Laos. A recent trip included more than 30 villages in six Northern provinces of Laos. The troupe traveled hundreds of kilometers from the country’s capital, Vientiane, as part of a joint campaign led by the Lao Government and UNICEF and other organizations to prevent the spread of avian, human influenza and infectious diseases. Even though the NTP has many trips to rural areas every year, it cannot reach all rural areas at the same time to promote good health and educate the people there. Therefore, the NTP has been supported by government and international organizations to produces DVDs, VCDs and Videos of the puppet shows then the NTP will ship to central rural areas instead the NTP travelling there sometimes. |
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