Peranakan Chinese family keeps Kelantan’s ‘wayang kulit’ tradition alive

Kota Bharu, September 28 - An interesting aspect of traditional arts practitioners, according to many, is the difficulty in finding successors to inherit their skills as younger generations often show less interest in continuing the art forms handed down by their parents. However, in the case of the Kelantan wayang kulit practitioner, Kang Boon Ann, a Peranakan Chinese, he faces no such concerns - his entire family is actively involved in staging wayang kulit performances, a traditional form of shadow puppetry.

Known affectionately as Che Ann, he is the founder of the Sri Cindayu Wayang Kulit Association, and is one of the state's more prominent non-Malay wayang kulit practitioners. Today, he and his family are dedicatedly working to preserve an art form that is more closely associated with the Malay community. Apart from staging wayang kulit performances, the family also takes efforts to nurture a new generation of practitioners.

Leveraging modern communication technology, they actively promote the centuries-old art form and strive to keep it alive.

Che Ann, 58, shared his journey in wayang kulit. Growing up in Kok Lanas, before television sets were common in households, he credits wayang kulit as one of the main forms of entertainment in the community. During the harvest season, performances were often held, which the villagers regularly attended. From an early age, Che Ann was captivated by the art, drawing sketches of wayang kulit puppets, filling almost every page of his school exercise books.

His passion for the art was so strong that he pursued it even after his studies, working as a mechanic for ten years before opening his own workshop in Kok Lanas. There, he met Tok Dalang Dollah Baju Merah, a renowned Kelantan puppeteer who taught him the art of making puppets. Dollah Baju Merah passed away in September 2005, leaving behind a legacy that Che Ann carried forward by learning puppet-making from another puppeteer, Dollah Ramboo, for three years.

He further honed his skills under Yusoff Mamat of Kampung Laut, Tumpat, to perfect the art of creating coloured puppets. Initially, Che Ann made puppets for his personal collection, but as his skills gained media attention, he realized the need to revive the art form, given the dwindling number of performers.