Watch How This Malaysian Artist Used Wayang Kulit To Recreate Ed Sheeran's Music Video
Wayang kulit gets a modern pop culture spin in this National Day-inspired video project.
By Samantha Khor — 09 Aug 2018, 02:02 PM
Wayang kulit may be a dying art in Malaysian culture, but local artists like Tintoy Chuo are working on reviving the traditional art of puppet-shadow play by merging it with modern pop culture
Chuo is also a founder of Fusion Wayang Kulit, which he co-founded with his friend Take Huat.
For one of their biggest projects, a rendition of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope entirely played out with wayang kulit puppets, the duo also collaborated with Pak Dain, a Tok Dalang (Master Puppeteer) of the Kelantan Traditional Malay Shadow Play.
In modernising the traditional art, Fusion Wayang Kulit has created several intricate puppets based on pop culture icons such as the Justice League, Thanos, and characters from Star Wars in wayang kulit style
For his latest project, Chuo teamed up with Warner Music Malaysia to recreate Ed Sheeran's Happier music video... with a wayang kulit puppet of the singer himself!
For context, the original music video for Happier also featured a puppet caricature of the singer (below).
The wayang kulit version follows the same storyline as the original one, with some familiar scenes from the music video also recreated with the Ed Sheeran wayang kulit puppet:
The Ed Sheeran puppet took Chuo three weeks to make, with extra attention put into making sure he captures the singer's essence while also incorporating elements of the traditional art as well
Notice that the Ed Sheeran puppet is wearing a sarong and even featured tattooed arms similar to the singer's. Chua also revealed that he used actual guitar strings to complete the guitar motif on the puppet.
See more of Fusion Wayang Kulit's works here.
You can watch Chuo's Ed Sheeran wayang kulit puppet in action HERE:
For reference, you can also watch the original video HERE: