Tari Kecak, by Bali Gamelan Sound

Tari Kecak

by Bali Gamelan Sound

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Full Digital Discography

42

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Gong Blahbatuh, Palegongan, Topeng Bondress, Janger, Drama Gong, Tari Putra, Anthologies, Vol. II, Rehearsals Tabuh Kutus Lelambatan, and 34 more. , and , .

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1.	Prologue 01:57	buy track
2.	Laxamana Menhadah Brahma 02:18	buy track
3.	Protection 02:03	buy track
4.	Kakawin Sedih 01:55	buy track
5.	Garuda 01:23	buy track
6.	Garuda Eats the Dragon 01:31	buy track
7.	Meganada Berperang Rama 01:57	buy track
8.	Surgiwa Datang, Bantu Rama 03:15	buy track
9.	King of Monkeys 01:48	buy track
10.	Jaran 02:33	buy track
11.	Dedari 04:01	buy track
12.	Sangyang 01:00	buy track
13.	Dance on the Fire 00:45	buy track

about

Bali's Kecak Dance dates back to its native peoples, prior to the massive arrival of tourism.
It is a type of vocal music that combines syncopated rhythms similar to the interlocking of Gamelan music.
The sounds used are inspired by nature and animals such as lizards and birds. Small reptiles known as "Geckos" or "Cicakas" are the ones that we understand generated the famous "Cak" sound, since the original artists of the musical style were strongly inspired by their environment surrounded by these small reptiles, who generate that particular sound. heard throughout the island.

The Kecak Dance is said to have originated in the village of Bona, Gianyar, and then traveled throughout the district to meet the artist Walter Spies, mix with drama and dance from the Ramayana and become a tourist spectacle. known today.

The field recital was recorded on a night in Batubulan, Gianyar, during 2022, performed by the Sahadewa group.

The peculiarity of the evolution of the Kecak is that once its base sound originated, it was incorporating songs from each of the towns, giving a unique and traditional touch to the Kecaks that can be found in Gianyar towns such as Singapadu, Batubulan, Ubud. , Bona, etc.
Each one interprets the Kecak with their own rhythms and songs that, although they are similar, have an identity and make each place unique.

For the ones interested in going deep into Kecak, we can recommend the lecture of "Kecak: The Vocal Chant of Bali" by I Wayan Dibia.

According to I Made Sija, a master artist from the village of Bona in Gianyar, the traditional vocal music and chanting known as Kecak was invented in Bona before the Dutch occupation. In the midst of a devastating epidemic that struck Bona and surrounding villages, the villagers conducted a prayer in the local temple to stop the epidemic. During the prayer, a Sanghyang medium went into a trance and conveyed a message from the deities residing in the temple that they wished to have a form of music to dance to. However, the use of bronze music was not allowed, so the villagers created vocal music and chanting spontaneously. Some played melody, while others played rhythmic patterns imitating those of reyong and cengceng of the gamelan music to enrich the melody. This vocal music became known as Cak or Kecak, and in relation to the Sanghyang dance ritual, it served as a form of musical accompaniment.

As for the secular Kecak, there are two different versions of its creation. One version claims that the secular Kecak was initially created in the Bedulu village of Gianyar through the joint efforts of the German-born artist Walter Spies and the people of Bedulu. The other version suggests that secular Kecak was developed in Bona, Gianyar, through the efforts of I Gusti Lanang Oka and I Nengah Mudarya. It was during the 1930s when Walter Spies, a consultant for a German film company producing a movie in Bali called Die Isle der Damonen or The Island of Demons, was inspired by the emotional and dramatic intensity of the ritual Kecak chorus during a local performance of Sanghyang Dedari. Spies designed a new form of Kecak that would be brief and visually exciting for the film by adding scenes from the popular Ramayana epic. This new form of Kecak became the secular version that is known today. The male chorus, dressed only in loincloths, move in unison while chanting "cak cak cak" in traditional rhythm patterns. The secular Kecak is separate from its ritual form, but it is still an essential part of Balinese culture.

credits

released May 19, 2023

Music Performance by Sahadewa Group, Batubulan.

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, most 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 (traditional homemade alcohol beverage), breath of cigarettes, 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 before, during and after the pandemic.

I hope this can translate you to the world I am living in.

Thank you, I hope you will enjoy this music.
Astungkara, Matur suksema.

A special mention and gratitude for I Wayan Sweca, for inviting me to this show and workshops of the University ISI Denpasar around Bali to understand the real artistic vision of Kecak Dance.

All the economic contributions made to this project are spent in developing the Balinese Culture and Artists.

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