Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

142 REFIGURATION OF IDENTITIES AND FUTURES IN TIMES OF TRANSFORMATIONinstruments used in recent creations were not acceptable.The players and supporting members were required towear clothes used for courtesy or ritual. They also couldnot use tools that did not have an element of tradition.The “traditional” spear, the ornaments of a traditionalmotif based on a wayang puppet (shadow puppet), abarong (sacred animal) and a rangda (widow) wererecommended. The competition piece was made inaccordance with the criteria and was checked severaltimes for adherence to the criteria. A few days beforethe competition, the village officials invited the judgesand supervisors to a rehearsal to receive their guidance.At the competition, this guidance was reflected in thepiece.The group that I studied held a rehearsal five days beforethe competition. The rehearsal was done in the puraand the members came in simple traditional clothes.The judge and supervisors also came on stage wearingtraditional clothes and received a polite receptionfrom the village officials. On the competition day, allmembers gathered at the temple wearing “Balinese”costumes and prayed to the gods for success. After theperformance, they went back to the temple and ate ameal with pork 4 together. Components of Ajeg Bali inthis activity include pura, traditional clothes, prayer atpura and eating pork.Prosperity and popularity of non-traditionalperforming artsAs traditional Balinese gamelans prosper, non-Balineseperforming arts are also gaining popularity in Balinesesociety. An example is PSR (Pekan Seni Remaja,Youth Arts Week) which is sponsored by DenpasarCity. PSR, once comprised of various competitions,including athletics, between junior high and highschool students, has now mainly become a synthesiscompetition of cultural activities. Furthermore, an artfestival for kindergarten and primary schoolchildrencame to be held at the same time. These competitionsare generally divided into two branches: traditional andnon-traditional. Various gamelans, “classical” dancing,chanting of Balinese poetry, Balinese literature andBalinese painting are classified in the traditional section.The non-traditional section includes modern drama,paduan suara (chorus), Pop Bali, and so on. A newcreation in the traditional style is thought as traditionalbecause the “invention of tradition” is an ordinaryfeature in this society. In 2007, all competitions weredone under the theme of Ajeg Bali. The non-traditionalsection uses the Indonesian language and not onlyBalinese, and many people of other ethnic originsparticipate in these competitions.Paduan SuaraPaduan suara is a mixed chorus. According to Putu Setia(1986), students’ choirs were popular in Balinese societyin the 1980s, and their popularity continues to this day,especially among high school students. It seems that thedifference between the situation in the 1980s and now isthat in the 1980s, choir performances were broadcast bythe Balinese mass media while nowadays, they are not.The songs that are used in competition are Lagu CintaTanah Air (patriotic) Indonesian songs and songs thatwere popular in Bali in the 1960s. Other songs are choirpieces arranged by composers who learned Westernmusic such as Ismail Marzuki and Iskandar, and popmusic arrangements by Ngrah Arjana or A. A. MadeCakra which form a set piece. Students are obliged tosing one of these and to choose two other pieces from aset selected by the committee. The conductor was chosenfrom among the students of the school, but the piano(an electric keyboard) accompaniment was arranged bythe committee. The singers wear their school uniformsand sing with gestures. The choral competitions arevery exciting. Sometimes battles among supporters takeplace in the halls.These competitions are a suggestive phenomenon. Onthe one hand, the Ajeg Bali movement is radical, but onthe other hand, other cultural performances are acceptedby the local society, as well. In my view, this situationshows the centripetal forces for modernization. Nontraditionalperforming arts reflect the image of modernitysuch as western style music, Indonesian language andschool uniforms. For this reason, competitions in nontraditionalperforming arts continue to be more popularthan traditional ones.Pop Bali: Ajeg Bali-ized non-traditional performing artsPop Bali, a form of popular music sung in Balineselanguage and fused with musical elements such as theBalinese gamelan, recently became widely popular. 5Before the last decade, Pop Bali was thought to be oldfashionedmusic. Many young people did not want tolisten to and sing Pop Bali because of its old-fashionedstyle. However, this changed in 2000 when Pop Baliwas identified as one of the components of Ajeg Bali.The musical style was enriched. There arose styles ofMandarin, Banyuwangian, alternative, rap, rock andothers. Many singers became popular and many youngpeople became supporters of the singers or the band.For a few years after 2000, the pop competition in thePSR was done by performing Indonesian pop songs andinternational pop songs in English. However, nowadays,the pop competition is done by performing “Balinese”Asian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows