Saturday Afternoon at Saung Mang Udjo

I used to live for 25 years in Bandung but, to be honest, I did not often visit Saung Mang Udjo. Despite all my claims and interest to art, this is my 2nd visit to Saung Mang Udjo ;(.
That afternoon, I and hubby went to Saung Mang Udjo to get Cici, my cousin, a set of Angklung. This place has an art shop that offers many gifts and souvenirs from West Java such as mask, wayang golek, batik, Sundanese Blangkon, and, of course, Angklung.

Briefly about The Saung, it is now a famous center of Sundanese traditional culture in addition to also being the chief angklung school in West Java. The Saung was established in January 1967 by Mang Udjo and his late wife Uum Sumiati. Situated on Jalan Padasuka 118, this place is quite far away from the downtown but with the nice greenery area and many comfortable saungs, it is also one of the most well known wedding site in Bandung.

Well, this day I proved how much planning is important in our life. I gathered some informations from internet prior to our visit that day so we didn't miss out the performances and took this opportunity not to just buy Angklung but to enjoy a series of art performance (which is quite rare today!).
The performances began with the Sundanese gamelan. Later, the host of musical performances introduced a short wayang golek demonstration which only introduced how wayang dances, speaks, fights, and goes to war.
Following it was helaran, a ritual procession when a boy is going to be circumcised. Apparently, we enjoyed this performance a lot, especially when we found a 5 year-old boy performed pencak silat (Sundanese martial art?)very well. "This boy is the music it self. Look how he blends into the music while he's moving", I said to hubby.
An arumba (another form of angklung band) orchestra and the tari topeng (mask dance) were the next performances.
At the end of the series, we had a chance to experience how to play the angklung together with children in songs. They let each of us held the Angklung, taught how to play it and followed the conductor commands... For my hubby who born and grew in Sumatra, this was such an amazing experience. "It is easy to play and fun. Can I take this Angklung home?", hubby said (with a criminal thought of stealing it *OMG*).

I am happy I can buy Angklung for Cici. More over, am also happy that from a good will to help other, I and hubby could enjoy an extraordinary afternoon.