Made Surya...

Today I was fortunate enough to meet Made Surya: Topeng performer, historian, and general awesome guy. This is his website here. His wife, Judy Slattum, has written a wonderful book (with great pictures) “Balinese Mask: Spirits of an Ancient Drama”.



He spent hours talking about the socio/historic background of Bali (religion, culture, ethnicity, domestic practice). He then went into explaining the process of sacred mask, trance, and possession. The later interested me immensely.

Possession is “giving your service to the spirit”. Essentially, if you are prepared or “pure” (not pure - a recent family grievance; expecting a child; your wife expecting a child; menstruating; bleeding [anywhere]), you may be chosen to be inhabited by the spirits. I’m also assuming you would have to be a practicing Balinese Hindu and fall into a particular class in the caste system i.e. I don’t have to worry about becoming possessed, and one cannot merely learn possession. You can’t go to Bali for two weeks and expect to know how to do it. It simply doesn’t work that way. Surya speaks of leaving temple often when it has occurred . When asked why he said, with hesitation, that he didn’t want the “responsibility”. Convincingly, he emphasized “I’m a logical guy”, but went on to tell extraordinary stories of witnessing possession that he couldn’t humanly justify. This made me all shivery/goosebumpy. It happened frequently to his late-father, uncles and aunts (all of whom are priests/priestesses). Once possessed, your spiritual path is chosen, and you have a function you must carry for life.

Surya splits his time between here and California. He represents a progressive, knowledgeable (one might call ‘academic’), and generous Balinese artist. I will be seeing him again on Sunday, to hear and see more.

Kecak Fire and Trance...

Last night I managed to catch the Kecak Fire and Trance Dance performed by the Taman Kaja Community at their temple Pura Dalam Taman Kaja in Ubud.

The first part was the kecak. Out came an ensemble of about 100 men, the gamelan suara, chanting in pentatonic scale and syncopated rhythm, swaying and breathing in unison. The look and sound is mesmerising.


Then came the ‘actors’, or lead performers, essentially re-enacting parts of the Ramayana (Hindu epic). I didn’t do any prior reading so couldn’t follow. Essentially it’s a cat-and-mouse love story with princesses, mistaken identity, and maniacal villainous laughter. My favourite parts were Hanoman (the white monkey, who had a sweet mask with great teeth)...


And one of the storytellers (a part of the gamelan suara) who squealed like a pig every time the baddy came onstage.

The second part was the trance dance (sanghyang djaran) in which a performer, riding a hobby horse, was ‘lulled’ into trance by the sound of the gamelan, and then kicked through a pile of burning coconut husks. This guy was essentially doing it for the tourists. Talking to the others, and later an expert, it was probably unlikely that it was a ‘spirit induced trance’. Not to say it was all smoke and mirrors. I saw the flaming coconuts with my own eyes. However, like any seasoned performer, he had a function/role, he came in, he smashed some coke husk, and he left.


Posing for photos in between, of course.



Tourists. Can't live with 'em. Can't live without 'em.