Ine Aya'

The two sources of inspiration for Ine Aya’, the new opera from Indonesian composer Nursalim Yadi Anugerah and the Dutch librettist and director Miranda Lakerveld, share many similarities. The Kayan epic Takna’ Lawe’ and Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen both feature a Tree of Life that runs through the entire world and keeps everything together. This tree is where the Earth goddess lives. In Northern European mythology the tree is called Yggdrasil, where the Kayan call it Kayo’ Aya’. The Earth goddess is named Erda in Northern Europe and Ine Aya’ among the Kayan, while the god named Wotan in Wagner is called Hingaan Jaan by the Kayan.

In both works, one day a god comes along to take over the tree’s knowledge and power. But the Earth goddess punishes him and lets the branches and trunk grow and intertwine with him until he is trapped. The tree slowly dies as a result of this battle. Younger generations try to protect the tree from further outside attacks. Globalisation Whichever names and myths you use, in the end all people on earth are connected with each other. Whether they like it or not, people are connected throughout the world as a result of the colonial past, or more recently by globalisation and the consumer behaviour that goes with it. All these layers come together in Ine Aya’. By allowing Wotan and Ine Aya’ to meet, the makers reconstruct the way Eastern and Western cultures have influenced each other through war, trade and migration throughout the centuries. Global cultural exchange took place early on, and it is entirely possible that the myths of the Kayan and its European counterparts influenced each other. Wotan’s arrival on Kalimantan can also be read as relating to the arrival of the first Dutch colonists in 19th century Indonesia. After all, the story about the Tree of Life refers to the deforestation on Kalimantan, where currently fifty percent of the original forest has been cut down. Western consumption patterns are a major factor in this disastrous deforestation. Intercultural For years, Miranda Lakerveld’s World Opera Lab has made intercultural opera pieces in which cultural differences are bridged and social themes are connected with opera masterpieces. Turan Dokht (Holland Festival 2019) was an ‘intercultural rewriting’ of Puccini’s opera Turandot (1924) in collaboration with the Iranian composer Aftab Darvishi. In 2017, Lakerveld made the musical theatre ritual Temple of Time together with the Indonesian-Dutch composer Sinta Wullur for the Holland Festival Proms. The young Indonesian composer Nursalim Yadi Anugerah and his Balaan Tumaan Ensemble have been doing extensive research of the Kayan’s musical traditions and the Takna’ Lawe’ for years. He previously made the opera HNNUNG, based on the Takna’ Lawe’. He wrote the music for the project REWILD, about deforestation in Kalimantan, and he took care of part of the music for The Planet - A Lament by Garin Nugroho, which can be seen at the Holland Festival as well this year. Lakerveld and Anugerah met in Indonesia and decided to join forces. Lakerveld and Yadi Anugerah did their research despite difficult circumstances caused by the Corona pandemic and the accompanying measures. Yadi Anugerha immersed himself in the Ring, while Lakerveld studied the epics of the Kayan. Together, they looked for similarities in the myths and music. On that basis, they developed a script in which each culture would come into its own equally. Traditional instruments Ine Aya’ has roots in the immaterial heritage of Kalimantan. The ensemble plays traditional Kayan instruments like the sape, an instrument somewhat like a lute, and the kaldi, a mouth-organ, as well as Western instruments. Wagner’s leitmotifs will be played on traditional Northern European instruments and mixed with classical European vocals. Ine Aya’ will be performed both in Indonesia and the Netherlands. It is the first time that the words from the Takna’ Lawe’ areheard in Europe.