Bali Tourism News

Odalan Bali featuring Gamelan Cudamani

November 16th, 2007

Caravan World Rhythms and Chan Centre for the Performing Arts production. At the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on Monday, November 12. No remaining performances

Artistic performances in Bali sometimes run from dusk to dawn, but visiting troupe Gamelan Cudamani inverted that time line, starting with sunrise and ending at midnight–all while compressing a day in the life of a Balinese temple into a pair of audience-friendly 50-minute sets. The sense of slow unfolding that, I’m told, characterizes a real-life odalan (temple anniversary) ceremony was missing, but otherwise Cudamani’s performance was exceptionally rich in its sense of place.
That this was not going to be an ordinary concert was apparent from the opening scene, when Cudamani’s imaginary village slowly awakens to the sound of frogs and jungle fowl. The women are up first, fetching water, sweeping the temple floor, and disturbing the sleep of an embarrassed and quite likely hung-over musician who’s curled up under a dusty mat. The men soon arrive, carrying knives and lengths of bamboo, which they shape into a number of temple structures–and as they do, they make an extraordinary percussive clatter.

Music is inextricably woven into Balinese daily life, and that point is further driven home by a grand and noisy “drum solo” built from the sound of herbs being chopped and spices being grated. And in a culture so rich in ceremony–each temple celebrates its anniversary every 210 days, and there are more than 20,000 temples on the island–dance and theatre are similarly intertwined with religious observance.

Odalan Bali is not wholly liturgical in nature: the male contingent of the 28-member cast staged a rowdy mock cockfight that was also a tour de force of vocal percussion. But most of the segments mixed music, movement, and spirituality, as in the sublimely graceful “Mecaru: Appeasing the Playful Earth Spirits”. In its simplicity and grace, the mecaru ceremony might be an animist remnant in predominantly Hindu Dharma Bali. Its potency in modern times was reinforced by I Dewa Ketut Alit’s music, which built up from familiar metallophone patterns to a dense wash of swirling, abstract sound.

Again, the point was that Balinese art is alive and growing. At home, Gamelan Cudamani is dedicated to making vital music for a vital community, as opposed to the many ensembles providing rudimentary versions of Balinese art for the tourist trade. On tour, its intent is to spark a deeper interest in Balinese culture. With this performance, its members can consider their mission accomplished.

Source: http://www.straight.com/

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