WOEBOT

The Other.

“All three of Lewiston’s Bali albums contain versions of kecak (pronounced ‘ket-chak’), the percussive chant of massed male voices which is the island’s musical signature in the minds of many listeners. Though kecak accompanies a depiction of a battle scene from the Ramayana epic, it is of comparatively recent vintage. Kecak’s first appearance in the 1930’s was inspired by a German artist named Walter Spies. According to Lewiston, “He noted the tendency of moneyed visitors of the day, such as Charlie Chaplin, to zone out when presented with an all-night recital of shadow puppetry or dance. Spies suggested to his Balinese friends that a condensed piece that was representative of the island’s arts might go over with greater success, He was fascinated with the ‘chak’ chorus of sanghyang dedari, a ritual in which two prepubescent girls entered trance states and became spirit vessels for heavenly maidens.” So it was that a dance of exorcism featuring a crowd of 200 men arrayed in concentric circles, hunched over in imitation of monkeys became simultaneously one of the islands most accessible and thrilling musical experiences.” Richard Henderson excerpt form an article on the Nonesuch Explorer series The Wire May 2003.

Richard Henderson is no slouch. He has a great handle on the genre of field recordings. However in the re-telling of this story (which I’ve heard before) he doesn’t really go for the jugular. The essence of the tale is of the foreigner re-fashioning another culture’s musical heritage with the express intention of giving the tourists what they really want. It’s when set against the backdrop of colonialism and “The Other” that the story gets its pungency. The music of Bali is generally very polite “ultra-culture”. However, the 1930s tourists (and presumably those since) want to see a “primitive” culture. The Balinese obliged and redesign an innocent sounding piece (two prepubescent girls singing in hocket) into a Hollywood-esque “bones-through-the-nose” monkey dance starring 200 men. In consequence the foreigners get their fix of the Heart of Darkness.

I’m actually not so cynical as to view Walter Spies as an exploiter, a vicious 1st World manipulator. I believe the Balinese saw the remake as an effective way of stimulating the tourist trade. Although on the other hand it’s reminiscent of other German interventions like Fritz Lang’s obscure homo-erotic Gaugin-esque South Seas movie “Tabu” (the photos of the Balinese dance in question have a strong art-deco look too!), Leni Riefenstahl’s portraits of the Nubians, and er…..the invasion of Poland.*

Reading the story again made me flash on one of the other great head-turners of field recording lore, which in conjunction with the Balinese story will tell you more than you’ll ever need to know about culture, authenticity and desire. It’s from a recording made by Colin Turnbull who, along with David Lewsiton, was one of the great British ethnomusicologists, entitled Music of the Rain Forest Pygmies of the North-East Congo. I’m going to quote from the sleevenotes:

“The single recording of the Twa pygmoids, south of the Ituri, in the Kivu mountains, is a final example of acculturation at its most unexpected. With the help of a Watussi friend, I located some of the Twa, who long ago had common origins with the Mbuti of the Ituri. Their music however was almost pure Watussi. After pleading for a really old song, one of the great religious songs of the past, an ancient lady finally agreed, but with hesitation, saying it was so old and highly sacred.” To the tune of Oh My Darling Clementine.

*Hey we invaded Iraq!

Posted by Woebot at May 6, 2003 08:24 PM