For years, I had known only one kind of street entertainer in public transportation, that is people who sang to get coins from passengers. Some of them sang only using vocal without any instruments. Some of them sang very professionally. They equipped themselves with musical instruments such as guitar, drum, harmonica, and even portable piano.
Several years ago, when I moved to Jakarta, I realized that there were more than one kind of street entertainer. In Jakarta’s buses or trains, I often met people who read poem to get coins instead of singing. They claimed they wrote the poem by themselves. In my opinion, some of their poems were amazing. Sometimes, I recorded their poem with my recorder (I usually brought my recorder wherever I went to). What made me amazed was the way they chose diction. I didn’t know their education degree but I guessed they graduated only from senior high school. For people at their level, I was sure they wrote the poem seriously. Their poem seemed to be written in hunger and anger.
Several months ago, in a public bus, I met another kind of street entertainer who did illusion show instead of singing or reading poem. In another chance, I also met a street entertainer who delivered a speech like Moslem sermon in a mosque. Very creative. He read Koran verses before he passed around his coin bag.
And just two weeks ago, when I left for PPBUI in the first day class of GE-9, I met one more kind of street entertainer. He read a short story that claimed to be written by himself. Once again, I was amazed. Although this time I didn’t record it, I was still be able to conclude they wrote the short story seriously. It talked about God, fate, human, and life. “Do you still believe in God’s justice?” said the main character in the short story who always got bad destiny whatever he did.
It seemed to talk about their own life.
(Posted by M. Sholekhudin)
