Recorded in Batuan, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia, November 2020.
"Rejang" is a well known "welcoming" sacred dance in Bali, for welcoming the Gods. Particularly in the Village of Batuan (Sukawati), their culture developed a form of this dance named "Rejang Sutri", which is very calm and slow.
There is a tradition in the Batuan Village, starting from November until Nyepi (the day of silence in Bali, in March), where the woman from the community will dance Rejang Sutri every night, for almost 5 months.
This season of the year is called "Sasih Kesanga", which is a dangerous time for them, because according to the history of the Village, around the year 1658, a battle in between powerful forces/magicians, resulted in the expulsion of "I Gede Mecalin" from the Village.
"I Gede Mecalin" is a magician with supernatural powers, and he was known for disturbing the peace of the society. That's why he got engaged in a battle with "Dewa Babi", who resulted victorious, and therefore forced "I Gede Mecalin" to leave Bali and settle down in Nusa Penida, an island nearby.
After he got expulsed, "I Gede Mecalin" always comes back during "Sasih Kesanga" and tries to harm the community with Black Magic. In response, the people from Batuan play Gamelan and the woman dance "Rejang Sutri" every night at Batuan Temple, to calm him down, and make him fall asleep until the next day.
The dance includes participation of woman from all ages, from little children who follow the steps of their mothers, to also grandmothers. While dancing, woman are aligned in rows of 6 participants , and once their choreography is completed, usually they're given gifts such as books or sweet snacks, as part of the motivation for attending the ceremony every day.
To preserve the tradition even more delightful, every full moon (Purnama, as named in Balinese Language) the women dresses in traditional dancer clothes, which makes the scenario complete colorful and joyful.
This music performance was recorded in one of those days, through 5 rows of dancers of "Rejang Sutri", played by a Balinese Gamelan Ensemble of the "Gong Kebyar" style (scale of 5 notes).
Please support buying this album.
credits
released December 26, 2020
This is a documentary process of recording Balinese Traditional Gamelan music, started in the year 2020.
Traditions have changed over time, but ancient musical compositions are adapted to nowadays life.
Agustín Oscar Rissotti, an Argentinian student of the University ISI Denpasar (Bali), developed an idea to join as many rehearsals, ensembles and religious ceremonies as possible with small microphones and recording equipment, to document the authentique "Bali Gamelan Sound".
In Bali, live performances are meant to be performed for the Gods. There is no egoistic purpose in this performances, but to admire the beauty of this world through the eyes of Hindu Balinese religion.
As for his ears, this is "The authentique Bali Sound", full of conversations around, people passing by, laughs, music of different performances played together (as it is meant to be in several Balinese Hindu ceremonies where -more than 1- ensembles are playing music very close to each other -at the same time-), background noises, sounds of coffee cups and arak shoots, breath of ciggaretes, animals hollowing around, hundreds of motorbikes passing by, and even mother nature earthquakes.
With all my respect, this is the vision of a South Latin American guy who ended up studying Balinese Culture and living in the Island during the pandemic.
I hope this can translate you to the world I am living in.
Thankyou, I hope you will enjoy this music. Astungkara, matur suksema.
All the economic contributions made to this project will be spent in developing the Balinese Culture and Artists.