Kecak
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Kecak (pronounced "kechak"), alternate spellings: kechak and ketjak), known in Indonesian as tari kecak, is a form of Balinese Hindu dance and music drama that was developed in the 1930s. Since its creation, it has been performed primarily by men, with the first women's kecak group having started in 2006.[1] The dance is based on the story of the Ramayana and is traditionally performed in temples and villages across Bali, Indonesia.[2]
Also known as the Ramayana monkey chant, the dance is performed by a circle of as many as 150 performers wearing checked cloths around their waists, percussively chanting "chak", and moving their hands and arms. The performance depicts a battle of the Ramayana, in which the
History
Kecak was originally a trance ritual accompanied by a male chorus.
In the 1930s,
Walter Spies worked with Indonesian dancer Wayan Limbak, who popularized the dance by arranging internationally touring performances by Balinese groups. These tours helped make the kecak internationally known.
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Performance
The kecak dance (Demons).
The duration of the performance is around an hour. The story of the Ramayana is depicted, beginning with
Kecak dance performances in
Dancers
The dancers consist of two types: the kecak male-chanters and the main Ramayana dancers who play the roles of Sita, Rama, Lakshmana, Ravana, Hanuman, Jatayu, etc. Some of the kecak male-chanters who chant chak-chak-chak have their own tasks during the performance. One individual is responsible for maintaining the beat of the chant by chanting "po-po-po-po". Another man serves as the leader of the chorus, instructing them to stop or start the chanting by yelling command vocals such as "Diih!", "Chiaaat!", etc. There is also a man whose job is to sing during the chanting; he sings in a melodious or rhythmic tone according to the situation of the dance with vocalizations such as "Shiiir-yang-ngger-yang-nggur-yang-nggeer". Another man, known as the dalang, narrates the story during the dance, usually in Balinese and Sanskrit. The men chosen for these tasks are usually the senior male dancers. The remaining chanters chant "chak-chak-chak" continuously and simultaneously with harmony.
The dancers who represent the core Ramayana characters are considered an essential part of the dance. Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, and the Golden Deer, whose movements are gentle and smooth, are sometimes played by female dancers who are trained in such styles of movement. Men play muscular characters such as
Trance
Trance rituals often accompany certain sections of the kecak dance, such as during the portrayal of the burning of Hanuman. Here, the dancer playing Hanuman is blessed by a priest and enters a trance state for the fire kicking dance which follows. The dancer does not feel any pain from the fire because he is in a state of trance.
In popular culture
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Excerpts of kecak can be heard on the soundtracks of the following movies:
- Edipo Re by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1967)
- Fellini Satyricon (1969)
- Incontro d'amore(1970)
- The 1971 version of Kenneth Anger's Rabbit's Moon
- I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)
- The 1982 Japanese Metal Hero Series Space Sheriff Gavan episode 6: "The Geniuses of the Makuu School"
- The soundtrack to the Coen Brothers' 1984 debut film Blood Simpleincludes a track entitled "Monkey Chant" which is based on kecak.
- Dagger of Kamui(Kamui no Ken) (1985)
- Akira (1988), which also features the Indonesian gamelan.
- The end credits and fight scenes of animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)
- In the 2010 documentary SAS: The Search for Warriors Part 1, a recording of the kecak was used to wake up the recruits.
- In an part from Mitsuri's theme in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
Scenes including kecak dance may be glimpsed in:
- David Attenborough's 1969 BBC documentary The Miracle of Bali, (episodes 1 and 3)
- The Italian movie Incontro d'amore(1970)
- The Indonesian movie Mama (1972)
- An extended kecak chant scene is featured at the end of Emmanuelle 2 (1975).
- The Indonesian movie Noesa Penida (1988)
- Baraka(1992)
- Tarsem Singh's film The Fall (2006)
- The Indonesian television station Topeng Tuamask dances in their program's opening theme sequence since 2011.
Kecak is featured in several video games:
- Sounds of gamelan and kecak chants were incorporated into the soundtrack of the 1993 video game Secret of Mana / Seiken Densetsu II, in a track titled "The Oracle".
- A sample of kecak chanting mixed with Balinese gamelan can be heard in the SNK Neo Geo arcade video game The King of Fighters '97, when the gameplay shows a Bali arena scene. The arena also includes background animation of kecak chanters on the right side, Barong dance in the center, and gamelan performers with a crowded audience on the left side.
- A visual representation of the dance can be seen in the Ritual Passion level of Tetris Effect, beating in time to the player's actions.
- In Dota 2, kecak sounds make up sound effect for ultimate ability of Monkey King.
...and in popular music:
- 1974: A sample of kecak chanting is featured in the song "Money Chant" by Jade Warrior on their album Floating World.
- 1978: A sample of kecak chanting can be heard in the song "Jocko Homo" by Devo from the album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
- 1981: The Tokyo electronic trio Yellow Magic Orchestra incorporated samples of kecak chanting on the song "Neue Tanz" from their album Technodelic. This was achieved through the use of the custom-made Toshiba LMD-649, one of the first digital samplers.
- 1982: A sample of kecak chanting can be heard in the Nurse With Wound track "I Cannot Feel You as the Dogs Are Laughing and I Am Blind" from the album Homotopy to Marie.
- 1983: A sample of kecak chanting can be heard in the song "Soldier of Fortune" from Manhattan Transfer's album Bodies and Souls.
- 1985: Todd Rundgren used an E-mu Emulator to sample his voice into a kecak chant on the song "Blue Orpheus" from his album A Cappella.
- 1987: A sample of kecak chanting is in "The Wind Chimes", from Mike Oldfield's album Islands.
- 1987: The Indonesian song "Kembalikan Baliku", written by Guruh Sukarnoputra and performed by Yopie Latul for the World Popular Song Festival 1987 in Tokyo, Japan, incorporates kecak chanting in the interlude performed by backing vocals. The song received the Kawakami Audience Selection Award (ASA).[9][10]
- 1991: The San Francisco art rock band King of the Jewsincorporates kecak-inspired polyrhythmic chanting and clapping.
- 1992: A sample is prominently featured on "Magical Wave" from Kitarō's album Dream.
- 1995: The German electronic band RMB used kecak chanting in their song "Chakka Chakka" on the album This World Is Yours.
- 1999: Mike Patton performs a kecak-like chant in the song "Goodbye Sober Day" on the Mr. Bungle album California.
The sound of kecak has inspired other artists:
- John Adams' opera, A Flowering Tree (2006), features Kumudha and the beggar minstrels in Act II, which are based on the kecak.[11]
- Ketjak is a book-length poem by Ron Silliman published in 1978 and reprinted in The Age of Huts (2007), in which the author gives the title "Ketjak" to a vast ongoing cycle of works which includes Tjanting (1980) and The Alphabet (2008).
- Devaraalan aattam, a song composed by A. R. Rahman for Ponniyin Selvan 1, a 2022 Tamil film directed by Mani Ratnam.
See also
- Pendet
- Legong
- Balinese dance
- Dance of Indonesia
Bibliography
- Kecak from Bali. Produced by David Lewiston, 1990. One compact disc (duration 44:53) with notes and libretto by Fred B. Eiseman and David Lewiston.[12]
- I Wayan Dibia, Kecak: the vocal chant of Bali. Denpasar: Hartanto Art Books, 1996. vi + 83pp. ISBN 979-95045-4-6.
Sources
- ^ "Cultural Liberty Under Spotlight at Women Playwrights" Archived 2012-10-04 at the Wayback Machine, Jakarta Post, 3 December 2006, accessed 13 August 2010
- ^ "Kecak Dance - Indonesia Travel". www.indonesia.travel. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
- ^ a b Michel Picard (April 1990). "'Cultural Tourism' in Bali: Cultural Performances as Tourist Attraction, Indonesia" (Vol. 49 ed.). Southeast Asia Program Publications, Cornell University: 37–74.
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(help) - ^ James Clifford, The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art (Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1988), p. 223. Cited in Yamashita (1999), p.178.
- ^ Shinji Yamashita. "Review: Michel Picard, Bali: Cultural Tourism and Touristic Culture", Indonesia, Vol. 67, (Apr., 1999), pp. 177–182. Southeast Asia Program Publications, Cornell University.
- ^ David W. Hughes, "Review: Kecak: The Vocal Chant of Bali, by I Wayan Dibia", British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 6, (1997), pp. 195–195. British Forum for Ethnomusicology.
- ^ "Cultural Bali - marvel at the epic ritual dance forms of Kecak - Today's Traveller - Travel & Tourism News, Hotel & Holidays". 20 May 2022.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "バリ島ウルワツ寺院ケチャダンス". YouTube.
- ^ "Wpsf1987". Archived from the original on 2009-03-23. Retrieved 2015-11-21.
- ^ "第18回世界歌謡祭 World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo '87 - ヤマハ音楽振興会".
- ^ Cincinnati Opera pre-performance interview with John Adams, 30 June 2011
- ^ Review: [untitled]. Author(s): David Harnish. Reviewed work(s): Kecak from Bali by David Lewiston.Ethnomusicology, Vol. 35, No. 2, (Spring – Summer, 1991), pp. 302–304. Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of Society for Ethnomusicology
External links
- Kecak dance in David Attenborough's 1969 BBC documentary, The Miracle of Bali
- Kecak dance being performed in Uluwatu temple
- Kecak dance
- Treasures of the Asia Collections: The Ketjak Dance, Cornell University
- Bali Honeymoon: A Photo Gallery – Bali's Kecak Dance photo gallery
- WalterSpies.com – Describes Walter Spies' house in Bali and his Pita Maha artists' cooperative
- UbuWeb Ethnopoetics: Ketjak: The Ramayana Monkey Chant