Charlatans, Vagabonds and Monkeys

Travel anywhere in Jakarta and you’ll see them. Buskers, Musicians, Violinists, Tambourine players, often just a plastic bottle with a few grains of rice inside, but, one thing they all have in common is they are trying to make some money.

Traffic Lights, Metro Mini buses, trains, you name it they’re on them and presumably, since there cannot be that much free-flow talent around, pissing the poor passengers off with their “noise”.

These guys (and girls) are know locally as Pengumen, however, there are another group of “entertainers” who people actually stop, enjoy and actually pay because their show offers that little bit more.

Topeng Monyet involves a group who play a “modified” Balinese style of music (that’s what it sounds like to me anyway) using home-made instruments. Hub Caps, tin cans, bottle tops, make-shift drums are all “crafted” into their ensemble and they play with an energy that is deserving of the lead performer…A Monkey.



The monkey is trained (I believe that the Monkey Wrangler probably gets a fair amount of bites, cuts and bruises during this training) to perform tricks, among them praying to allah, marching in a military manner and shooting a small wooden rifle, dying and as a finale, scooting about on a modified bike at a speed that Lewis Hamilton would find difficult to match.

These guys were outside my house last Saturday morning at 8 AM, I was not able to get my Video to capture the whole thing but my small camera did the job… cost for the performance – about US$ 2….

Click the Link for the shitty video!

Topeng Monyet