Kecak lessons

We have been learning the Cak, also known as Kecak or Monkey Chant, an interlocking chant usually performed by large groups of men wearing sarongs, and holding torches. It's been heard on a number of CD's as part of dance mixes of late.

Our teachers are a group of men from the village of Mas--each of them holds down a part (there are from 5 - 7 parts depending on the kind of cak.)

We each sit in front of one of the guys and try to learn their part, then to do it all together and see if we can get the parts to interlock. When it locks in, it sounds great, like a group of percussionists jamming away; when we don't lock in, it sounds like noise. Then we each move to the next guy and try to learn his part. They are very patient with us!!

There are body moves as well, plus melodic sections with strange words and gestures. The kecak is strictly a tourist spectacle, often performed with pieces of the Ramayana. It may have begun as a sacred trance chant sung by both men and women in the early 20th century, but the Dutch artist Walter Spies, who was greatly influential in developing Bali's performing arts to a level that would attract tourism, made the early versions of what we see today, helped by a modern dancer.

Kecak is very exciting to hear and to watch, and a lot of fun to do.

We spent our weekend in North Bali, where the coastline has long, unbroken stretches where there are only a few resorts, no high-rise hotels, and fewer tourists. More on that next post...........