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Desa kala patra ofthe arts in contemporary Bali Like everyone else around them, Balinese and other Indonesian artists are observing and discussing the rapid changes taking place in their culture.1 While everyone "values" the arts, and Indonesian performing arts are certainly a popular commodity in the world arena, shifting contexts and subsequent new perspectives are causing some artists to ask, "What is Indonesian theater, dance, and music?" People are still doing dances as the culture changes over to mass media, bureaucratization, commercialization, and "modern-educated" youth. Old cultural processes that have produced amazingly diverse and varied forms are undergoing fundamental changes. And as the culture shifts away from certain life-styles, the sources of creative expression and the factors that make something sacred, or spontaneous , or even alive, become less clear. We see the flowers on a tree and think, "Oh, how beautiful, delicate, and colorful they are, moving in the breeze." While the branches and trunk of the tree are brown, heavy, and immobile, its roots not even visible, we know that the beauty ofthe flower comes from below, and after the flowers fade and drop, the tree still stands and continues to produce new flowers. The flowers of human culture are even more prone to dominate our attention , obfuscating their roots. There are a great many aspects of the arts in Bali that elicit in foreigners interest, enjoyment, and the desire to study and incorporate elements into their own artistic forms. But underlying these myriad aspects we can see a r. This chapter is based on a lecture presented in 1980 at ASTI-Bali, since returned Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia (STSI), the Indonesian College of the Arts. As part of a lecture series on art and culture, I was invited to discuss what it is about Balinese arts that interests Westerners . The paper was originally presented in Indonesian, and later translated into English and revised. Desa kala patra ofthe arts in contemporary Bali I III few deeper, simple truths that give rise to this great variety of artistic forms. Before touching on these aspects, we can begin by looking at some ofthe more obvious qualities ofBalinese performing arts that attract many Europeans and Americans, and at how cultural differences are often perceived in their broadest and most general outlines. In much Euro-American performance training, great emphasis is placed on individual discipline and the personal attainment ofskill. This has led to refined technique that often lacks the particular kind of kinetic ensemble dynamic we see in Balinese performance. The basic training process in Balinese music involves learning by actual ensemble experience; so from the earliest stages, one's sense ofperformance involves sharing and group identity . In Euro-American societies, which have long held ideals cultivating the strong individual, growing numbers of people are trying to feel a part of something larger than themselves. A different kind of sensitivity is required to perform in a Balinese ensemble, an intense precision without becoming machine-like, combined with encouragment of the life and imagination of the individual performer. Euro-American traditions have fostered many forms of group dynamics, but much can be learned from other kinds of group sensibilities and organization, including notions of fluidity within structure. These sensibilities can be seen with just a few examples, ranging from the finer details ofmelodic and rhythmic interplay to the social dynamics of ensemble organization.The technique by which a single melodic line is produced by two interlocking parts played by musicians on separate instruments is called kotekan. Palos'simple, direct' plays the more basic part ofthe melody while sangsih 'differing' fills in to create the two-part figuration. The interdependency inherent in tl1is means ofmelodic expression is intensified in many ways, such as gradual or sudden dynamic shifts between soft and loud, fast and slow, or even more obvious coordinated angsel'cadences' that accompany an improvising dramatic character. Melody takes on a particularly spatial characteristic when being departmentalized in this fashion. Interlocking drum rhythms reflect a similar sensibility, joining lanang 'male', the smaller and higher-pitched in a pair of drums or gongs, with wadon 'female', larger and deeper-pitched. Complex drum phrases consist ofa dynamic intertwining ofrhythms and tones from the two instruments. For some dance genres the interlocking parts are set precisely with the choreography, while others involve a spontaneous and somewhat improvised interplay between the two drummers and the dancer, maintaining a very formalized and precise, though at the same time fluid form. A social form exhibiting a...

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