Caaakk....Caakk....Caakk...Cheers Let's The Loud Began
Kecak alternate spellings ( Ketjak and Ketjack
) is a form of Balinese dance and music drama originated in the 1930s Bali
and is performed primarily by men, although a few women's kecak groups exist as
of 2006.
Also known as the Ramayana Monkey Chant,
the piece, performed by a circle of 150 or more performers wearing checked
cloth around their waists, percussively chanting "cak" and throwing
up their arms, depicts a battle from the Ramayana Epic where the monkey-like
Vanara helped Prince Rama fight the evil King Ravana. However, Kecak has roots
in sanghyang, a trance-inducing exorcism dance.
History
Kecak was originally a terance 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 Epic 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 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 whole, into a separate
entity.Spies worked with Wayan Limbak and He 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 were already developing the
form when Spies arrived on the island.For example, well-known dancerI Wayan
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.
"KOMANG FERRY"
