Kecak: Difference between revisions
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Performer, choreographer, and scholar [[I Wayan Dibia]] cites a contrasting theory that the Balinese where already developing the form when Spies arrived on the island.<ref name="Hughes">Review: [untitled], p.195. Author(s): David W. Hughes. Reviewed work(s): ''Kecak: The Vocal Chant of Bali'' by I Wayan Dibia. Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 6, (1997), pp. 195-195. Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology.</ref> For example, well-known dancer [[I Limbak]] had incorporated [[Baris (dance)|Baris]] movements into the cak leader role during the 1920s. "Spies liked this innovation," and it suggested that Limbak, "devise a spectacle based on the ''Ramayana''," accompanied by cak chorus rather than [[gamelan]], as would have been usual.<ref name="Picard"/> |
Performer, choreographer, and scholar [[I Wayan Dibia]] cites a contrasting theory that the Balinese where already developing the form when Spies arrived on the island.<ref name="Hughes">Review: [untitled], p.195. Author(s): David W. Hughes. Reviewed work(s): ''Kecak: The Vocal Chant of Bali'' by I Wayan Dibia. Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 6, (1997), pp. 195-195. Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology.</ref> For example, well-known dancer [[I Limbak]] had incorporated [[Baris (dance)|Baris]] movements into the cak leader role during the 1920s. "Spies liked this innovation," and it suggested that Limbak, "devise a spectacle based on the ''Ramayana''," accompanied by cak chorus rather than [[gamelan]], as would have been usual.<ref name="Picard"/> |
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==In popular culture== |
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{{trivia|date=July 2008|unreferenced list of separate information}} |
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===Film=== |
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* Video of a kecak performance is prominently featured in [[Ron Fricke]]'s 1992 film ''[[Baraka (movie)|Baraka]]''. |
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* A kecak chant can be heard in [[Federico Fellini]]'s classic 1969 film ''[[Satyricon (film)|Satyricon]]''. It was probably sampled from [[David Lewiston]]'s 1969 LP of Balinese music entitled ''Golden Rain'', released on the [[Nonesuch Records#Nonesuch Explorer Series|Nonesuch Explorer Series]]. |
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* Kecak chanting is incorporated into the soundtrack for the Japanese anmiated film ''[[Akira (film)|Akira]]'', which also uses the Indonesian [[gamelan]] prominently. |
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* A Kecak-style dance and chant can be seen in the fantasy portion of [[Tarsem Singh]]'s film ''[[The Fall (2006 film)|The Fall]]'' (2006), in which the Balinese actors incorporated words to describe the map being drawn. |
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* The chant is heard during a scene in the [[Coen Brothers]]' film ''[[Blood Simple]]''. |
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* A Kecak chant is shown for a few minutes close to the end of the erotic French drama ''[[Emmanuelle 2]]'' (1975), when the main characters go to Bali. |
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===Pop music=== |
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* A sample of Kecak chanting kicks off [[The Pop Group]]'s 1980 album ''[[For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?]]'' |
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* [[Mike Patton]] performs a Kecak-like chant that is incorporated in the song "Goodbye Sober Day" on the 1999 [[Mr. Bungle]] album ''[[California (Mr. Bungle album)|California]]''. Patton had previously performed a similar passage of rhythmic chanting in the [[Faith No More]] song "Got That Feeling," from their 1997 ''[[Album of the Year (album)|Album of the Year]]''. |
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* A sort of Kecak chant can be heard in [[Jade Warrior (band)|Jade Warrior]]'s ''[[Floating World]]'' side-B album, called simply "Monkey Chant". It has been mixed including a [[Jimi Hendrix]]-like guitar solo (played by David Duhig). |
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* A song from the debut album by musical group [[Hercules and Love Affair]] has an intro in the style of Kecak chanting. |
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===TV=== |
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* A Kecak chant is played during the [[closing credits]] of the [[Asia]]n-influenced show ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. |
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* A Kecak dance is performed in a Season 2 episode of [[MTV]]'s ''Wildboyz'', with Chris Pontius and Steve-O eagerly participating in the ritual during their stay in [[Indonesia]]. Here it is referred to as a "Sardono Kecak". |
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===Video game=== |
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* Kecak chanting forms the basis of the song "The Oracle" in the Super NES video game ''[[Secret of Mana]]''. |
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* Kecak chanting is featured in the song "Kecak" in the [[Japan]]ese music video game ''[[beatmania IIDX]] 11 – IIDX RED''. Songwriter John Robinson got inspiration for this song from the kecak dance. |
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* Kecak is a mini-game in Capcom's ''[[Breath of Fire IV]]'' video game for PlayStation. The player mimics the chants by timing button presses corresponding to the screen. |
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==Bibliography== |
==Bibliography== |
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Revision as of 19:51, 5 December 2008
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2008) |
Kecak (pronounced: /'ke.tʃak/, roughly "KEH-chahk", alternate spellings: Ketjak and Ketjack), a form of Balinese music drama, originated in the 1930s and is performed primarily by men. Also known as the Ramayana Monkey Chant, the piece, performed by a circle of 100 or more performers wearing checked cloth around their waists, percussively chanting "cak" and throwing up their arms, depicts a battle from the Ramayana where the monkey-like Vanara helped Prince Rama fight the evil King Ravana. However, Kecak has roots in sanghyang, a trance-inducing exorcism dance.[1]
Kecak was originally a trance ritual accompanied by male chorus. German painter and musician Walter Spies became deeply interested in the ritual while living in Bali in the 1930s and worked to recreate it into a drama, based on the Hindu Ramayana and including dance, intended to be presented to Western tourist audiences. This transformation is an example of what James Clifford describes as part of the "modern art-culture system"[2] in which, "the West or the central power adopts, transforms, and consumes non-Western or peripheral cultural elements, while making 'art' which was once embedded in the culture as a while, into a separate entity."[3] Spies worked with Wayan Limbak and Limbak popularized the dance by traveling throughout the world with Balinese performance groups. These travels have helped to make the Kecak famous throughout the world.
Performer, choreographer, and scholar I Wayan Dibia cites a contrasting theory that the Balinese where already developing the form when Spies arrived on the island.[4] For example, well-known dancer I Limbak had incorporated Baris movements into the cak leader role during the 1920s. "Spies liked this innovation," and it suggested that Limbak, "devise a spectacle based on the Ramayana," accompanied by cak chorus rather than gamelan, as would have been usual.[1]
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. 9019. As of 1991 this was the only commercial release outside Bali which features only and a complete performance of kecak[5].
- I Wayan Dibia, Kecak: the vocal chant of Bali. Denpasar: Hartanto Art Books, 1996. vi + 83pp. Tables, photos, index. ISBN 979 95045 4 6. "This little book covers all the elements of Kecak"[4]
Sources
- ^ a b "'Cultural Tourism' in Bali: Cultural Performances as Tourist Attraction", p.59. Author(s): Michel Picard. Source: Indonesia, Vol. 49, (Apr., 1990), pp. 37-74. Published by: Southeast Asia Program Publications at Cornell University.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Review: [untitled] Author(s): Shinji Yamashita. Reviewed work(s): Bali: Cultural Tourism and Touristic Culture by Michel Picard. Source: Indonesia, Vol. 67, (Apr., 1999), pp. 177-182. Published by: Southeast Asia Program Publications at Cornell University.
- ^ a b Review: [untitled], p.195. Author(s): David W. Hughes. Reviewed work(s): Kecak: The Vocal Chant of Bali by I Wayan Dibia. Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 6, (1997), pp. 195-195. Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology.
- ^ Review: [untitled]. Author(s): David Harnish. Reviewed work(s): Kecak from Bali by David Lewiston. Source: 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
- Treasures of the Asia Collections: The Ketjak Dance, Cornell University
- Bali Honeymoon: A Photo Gallery - Bali's Kecak Dance photo gallery
- WalterSpies.com - This way[clarification needed] Walter Spies could study the Kecak and invented a way to transcribe it to paper.