GK has just turned nine he dances the Baris the Warriors dance his movements are amazingly precise dance a choreography from another age at his age why in Bali Customs are still transmitted down the generations because the balones believe so strongly in them tradition is vital to them despite their constantly changing environment despite a host of pressures weighing them down Bali still resists Bali sits on an enormous volcanic chain that stretches from Sumatra to New Guinea about the size of Corsica Bali would be just one more Island among 7,000 and others but it is a peaceful exception in the heart of Indonesia Indonesia a country too young and a history too filled with ethnic conflict political crisis and economic Misfortune in the midst of this turmoil Bali tries to keep its balance Balan between the volcanoes and the sea volcano and danger are synonymous but also fertility and wealth so the balones have made volcanoes the place where their divinities live they have shaped the mountain sides in order to grow rice and to create their way of life a life centered on the community the sea the Bales fear it it gets upset so easily with the slightest puff of wind so they've made it the place where their demons dwell and the spirits of their dead preserving a balance between water and fire between demons and divinities between their age-old culture and modern times so the balones live by offerings thanking some gods for what they have received and appeasing others the ones they must never neglect Pak laner is the music master of his village he lives in this small house and keeps the orchestra's instruments his position is respected his Village's worth is measured by the orchestra's talent [Music] the laner family is already making the offerings required to ward off small daily worries a few yards away the Sumptuous residents of IBU anom iuam visits areas of her house to honor each important place a Banana Leaf a few grains of rice a flower with a gracious movement consecrate these offerings that will be replaced at sundown Bahasa Indonesia is spoken at the Village School it was drawn from Malaysian and was forced on dozens of millions of Indonesians so that they could talk to each other this well- behaved little kid is called gek gek speaks only balines at home his whole life he'll have to juggle between his parents tongue and the language of his country a challenge for his [Music] education 2 K away Ubud is the Tourist Village in the heart of the island there is a constant contact with visitors who spend a lot of money here the entire local economy depends on this bounty terrifying local product sometimes pile up in shops waiting for a wouldbe buyer a few offerings might as well ward off evil as well as possible very near the Village Center in a luxuriant garden very young pupils learn music it's a rough job for the teachers not to mention for the students pakan likes to spend time here to help the kids practice the complex art of the gamalon and master their instrument but most of all to learn how to play [Music] together the technique seems hard but from the cradle these future musicians are swaddled in balan's rhythms a few more months of work and the next generation will be ready [Music] if GC is learning to dance if the other kids are learning to play the gamalon it's because their parents encourage them to and because Bali must show off its wonders bali's sights each more beautiful than the last rice patties temples mausoleums hills and mountains they all seem chosen for their Harmony and they are innumerable they illustrate the diversity in which Bali has lived its entire history a cliff becomes a mausoleum of Buddhist Kings this Royal Palace becomes a funny Ode to the old Demons of [Music] Mythology this hermit's cave has turned into a bat protecting Temple [Music] this Temple is devoted to a Divinity of Hindu Origins but the giant Fus recalls the first of Buddhist sermons [Music] this hill Harbors a temple facing the volcano but that the Watchmen are there to repel evil [Music] spirits 2 million tourists are drawn by this overabundance of sites every year more than there are balones living on the island it is not enough to come pray in the temples a whole daily routine occurs there in all simplicity the faithful have come to consecrate offerings but tourists have turned up their curiosity and ignorance sometimes grade on protocol or become too invasive what difference does it make openness and tolerance are daily fair for the Banes and sometimes in a most restful Place some of them don't hesitate to make the place even more magical in the hopes of taking in a coin or two more Balan religion is turned towards the heights towards the volcano the more roots on a cenot the more important was the deceased in the pecking order hierarchy is still strictly observed in Bali a place of casts and clans hard to contravene each person has a specific place which is vital for overall Harmony The Village temples themselves are represented in the highest temple on the side of the volcano the Mother Temple is in Baki the largest and the most venerated the one that symbolizes all the temples on the island and the union of the balones in their beliefs and their convictions [Music] each Temple must be honored at least once a year when its birthday is celebrated not a day goes by without a Village's temple being visited and decorated so there are more feast days in Bali than there are days in the year and the faithful are there at every [Music] birthday at about 400 p.m. life in the village just stops everyone has taken the time to produce wondrous sugary Confections and fruit and flowers families file into the heart of the temple carrying their offerings for a ceremony that only lasts a few minutes the offerings don't stay there the divinities don't indulge in the real thing only in their Essence so the villages return home and feast at the birthdays of major temples families wait in line for hours before getting in for the blessing mythical characters like the barong The Village protector are carried in great pomp to give the celebration even greater circumstance [Music] for a few years now the celebrations have become more and more lavish the faithful more numerous and the offerings more beautiful because the Bolognese due to outside pressures want to stress their difference and confirm their specificity dozens of assistants lend the priests a helping hand for ritual aspersion and to handle the growing devotional [Music] fervor in the evening when the endless procession files out of the temple the magnitude of the fervor is evident Bali draws new strength from it perhaps to hide its [Music] frailties Hinduism and Buddhism have lived together for a long time now then Along Came Islam the balones accepted it but in the world's largest Islamic State ethnic minorities disturb things different beliefs disturb things successful tourism in Bali disturbs things so the msen chant blares out a little louder each day from the tops of the growing number of minets a page in bali's history is being turned four generations have come together in IU an Nom's house to prepare for the school fed the Min stars are being dressed and made up before the [Music] rehearsal p laner is there to weave a musical background [Music] grandmother Anam a celebrated dancer in the 50s and her daughter choc rati a dancer herself chip in to give the little kids an idea of what they have to do and let them try out their moves a few miles away GK has come to the dance Master's house for his weekly [Music] lesson Pak tutur imparts his final instructions before starting the course [Music] speeech back to tour takes hold of the boy to guide his every movement there is little room for improvisation in the dance each position each movement is [Music] [Applause] [Music] codified the dancer's skill is judged by the Precision of his execution at only 9 years old getek is quite simply amazing [Music] [Music] the tegas gamalon is famous throughout the region paner teaches us the basics of Balan music first of all there's the trong which is composed of gongs and is played by three musicians then the other theong they play with B note melody in alternating pairs then is the Gat come in and are played in synchronized or alternating tws the drums are played together with support from the Bas [Music] gong then there is the Rhythm instrument very fast the symbols that play and finally the fluts very sweet that play [Music] this music is incredible in its dexterity and synchronization JC was dazzled by its Purity the tegas gong is known for the quality of its instruments and the fluidity of its play 32 notes a bar are dashed out by farmer musicians who laugh among themselves without seeming to pay much attention to the [Music] score gck is about to make his entrance in the theater Temple of his village in front of his kin who won't miss a beat of his [Music] performance the bars dance the dance of the warrior calls for confidence and rare self-control at 9: and with no obvious stage fright the kit is brilliant [Music] [Music] GK also loves to dance because there are more and more shows in [Music] Bali The Villages most visited by tourists put on shows which means the presence of a big troop this is great for the village amateur who hone their talent and earn a little money so tourism takes part in preserving [Music] tradition certain shows are embellished Balan style even if the plot of the show is dramatic tragic humor and a comical twist are part of the local character but for all that the shows lose nothing of their religious Beginnings when they finish with the fight between borong and his enemy rang da a priest must be present to calm everything down [Music] tourism has Unleashed a much more Twisted effect the Boom in local crafts the cataloges of Exotic Furniture all come from these beehives and yet the workers have a hard time making ends meat over the past 20 years this activity has taken on hallucinating proportions hundreds of workshops have been opened thousands of workers have been hired hundreds of tons of raw materials are swallowed up every month Latin bamboo Fabric and lava stone wind up on the shelves of shops around the world but more often than not the workshop owners are not even banese on the other hand their employees mostly are so who benefits from the inflow of currency the workshops produce thousands of items a day things vaguely bines but also copies of African Australian or european artifacts they make anything anything demanded by the market place in order that's all the shops are overflowing with stuff to the point where tourists no longer know where to or if they should buy certain artists execute oversized sculptures for good hardwood the matter is a closed book in Bali there simply isn't anymore so it has to be imported from sui or New Guinea and the stocks are getting seriously depleted but the Banes themselves want nothing of all this craftsmanship they are only interested in those objects that serve in their temples even the traditional art of the miniature the extraordinary game of patients with diluted ink played in batan doesn't attract The Bolognese only the world's museums and collectors seek out and preserve this age-old traditional technique yet it constitutes a major part of Bales artistic knoow ironically Indonesian does not even have a word or artist they simply talk about workers these two former Woodworkers have teamed up and become sculptors of masks for the topang theater as one of them was also a dancer they have become topang dancers a sacred art that is part of every ceremony each mask is a minor masterpiece their proportions the choice of varnish or their ability to change expression depending on the dancer's posture these art objects only take on their real personality when they are [Music] danced a ceremony is underway weang has added a costume to the mask and he is now the minister [Music] it's a tooth filing ceremony as custom dictates all the village families have been invited as the families arrive one by one bearing gifts for their hosts offerings and gifts are consecrated at the entrance by an officiating priest small or large each offering has a shape a meaning and a precise role in the ritual IU could not refuse the invitation because of her rank in the village she must honor all ceremonies and offer gifts worthy of her rank a ruinous obligation that almost cost her father the family house over anxious as he was to respect his [Music] obligations pakan here and the Tas gong are [Music] there the idea behind the tooth filing ritual is to even up the six upper teeth of teenagers and thus rid them of the six deadly sins the main question is to know which sin has been dropped from the balines list this ceremony is a little special the father belongs to the wesa cast The Merchant cast and each ceremony has to be organized on par with the family's rank the father had to wait until the age of 52 to gather the funds and invest the price of a small house all for satisfying a tradition first of all the ceremony has a virtual side to it the officiating priests gently Taps the kids in scissor teeth who as it by Miracle are more reassured [Music] but at dawn the next day the father and his brother are the first to appear and there is nothing virtual about this right [Music] [Laughter] this immemorial practice gets the Island's dentists hopping mad but what can they do tradition is the stronger [Music] weang the topang dancer has dawned another mask he is playing the role of a character with religious functions the former woodworker blesses the participants art and religion are indistinguishable [Applause] [Music] IU an does indeed have a lot of obligations present in the morning at the tooth filing here she is now with her friends of the elders Club giving a free show to the Village [Music] [Music] despite their venerable age these Show Pops and grandmas perform dance is more suited for 20 year olds and the audience loves it [Music] [Applause] a few hours a few minutes later in the same Village IBU Anam had just enough time to change and take part in a ceremony at the main Temple she has to be there even if her fatigue is starting to show [Music] our friends the topang dancers are there too the topang is present at every ceremony if only one dance could survive in Bali it would have to be the topang it combines the secular with the sacred it is barely 5:00 a.m. in kusamba the market has already set up the working day is long and tiring so they Moonlight to pick up a bit of extra cash on the side it is mostly women at this early hour trying to improve their daily lot at 5:30 a voice is heard the Weds in calling all Muslims to prayer an intrusion that is repeated four times a day both communities live side by side with nothing in common they just have to live with the same reality which gets a little bit harder each day [Music] this immense volcanic sand beach is in a less touristy part of the island shows and tourism are not on the [Music] agenda three fishing villages maintain a fleet of Dugout canoes prahus they're called pretty frail Vehicles not ideal for confronting a capricious sea the slightest gust of wind and you'd wish you'd stayed on [Music] [Music] land here one doesn't go to Sea one is pushed pushed by the need to exploit the few resources that this part of the island offers [Music] the sea and fishing are not a Balan strong point they're too afraid of the demons that have taken shelter there the heads of elephant fish that decorate the prow are not enough to avoid the evil eye even less for finding a miracle [Music] catch but as there are a lot of fish in local Waters half of the boats of these fishermen come from Java or lombok causing more than a few here to say that foreigners are stealing the livelihoods of the [Music] Banes what can be done here to earn at least a minimum wage at one end of the beach men and women lug tons of seaw water to produce gray salt water is spread on the sand then left to dry a few hours in the sun where it turns gray and is gathered on the surface these surfs of the sea extract a few shovel fulls of this highly prized salt a day half a dollar per pound $1 a kilo such is the price of this consensual slavery [Applause] tenanan is a very old village where their beliefs are different four centuries ago tenanan Villages resisted the arrival of the princes and kings from java they maintained their original beliefs remaining faithful to the divinities of vedism even older than those of [Music] Hinduism here they live very well off of Tourism The Village's very unique shape and weaving techniques explain why it receives so many [Music] visits the weaving is called eat each thread of the weft is dyed before the warp is weaved the threads of the warp must therefore perfectly match the weft in order to compose the final patterns weeks of work are required from The Villages old women to make even just one [Music] scarf tenanan still abides by the Traditions one of them is amazing the sacrifice of a young Buffalo it is a big loss for the village a youth has been designated for the task but he doesn't look very short of himself he hesitates a long time to give the first [Applause] blows mockery flies from all sides and the right is slow to [Applause] evolve the sacrificer lacks experience and maybe conviction too he is being asked to kill a tireless companion of the rice patties offering to the divinities giving in order to honor to appease giving also in the hopes of receiving you have to do it even when it breaks your heart at the [ __ ] fights too they sacrifice what they love best balan's passion for Roosters is clear the birds are trained and massaged every day before being thrown into the ring to fight to the [Applause] death for the last 25 years [ __ ] fighting has been banned in the country but the balines countered that it is part of their religious ritual a sacrifice to the gods fights are again tolerated but only in Bali so the passion for the ritual and for gambling is back in [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] force although most ceremonies are extremely expensive compared to incomes few balones would want to give up their Customs they may live in jeans and t-shirts but young Banes want to marry as their parents did with ceremonial robes makeup and protocol which reassure all generations culture and tradition are becoming the rampart against threats to Balan identity because the balones fear that one day they won't be able to control the consequences of their situation they seek the answers to what most deeply worries them in their past and in their customs some of these fears are assuaged in ritual the fear of the spirits needs no more describing here but when it comes to the soul of a family member fear becomes anguish no ceremony is followed more attentively than cremation a widow of a Brahman has just died and the soul of someone so highly ranked must be sent off quickly [Music] for a nobleman cremation costs a fortune the higher the cast The More The ceremonious Complex the higher the tower the more beautiful The Cremation animal and the more guests have to be invited and there has to be a priest with a powerful SP Spirit to send the soul well into the Beyond so that it never returns to haunt the living at each intersection the tower Twirls around so that the soul can never find its way back to the house the Bears sag under the weight and the heat they've also been drinking they wear headdresses they are afraid afraid the soul may get entangled in their hair [Music] the procession comes to The Cremation venue the bowl that will be used to burn the body is opened to make room for the REM remains [Music] the family has gathered around the coffin to place precious objects inside [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] in just a few minutes a sizable portion of the inheritance Goes Up in Smoke to successfully complete the ritual honor the departure of an elder and to send the soul along as far as possible away from this world not a tear not a sign of sadness in the eyes of the celebrants today is a real Feast Day a Deliverance half an hour later the gas burners have done their job for the ceremony to be successfully completed the close relatives must carefully gather their remains into an n the ashes have to be taken to the Sea the places where so many harmful demons live but the sea is the future of the Dead [Music] the procession winds its way to the beach at Sor one of the tourist's favorite places what difference do it make if the holiday makers are willing to live so close to the demons for this family senur is above all the place where its mour must end a few hundred yards away there's another tourist Beach CA in 1970 CA Beach was a small fishing Community the worst sorts of spirits were gathered there it was said CA and its inhabitants were almost banished from the map today CA is a huge seaside resort where anything goes or almost an excessiveness a nonsense in Balan morality except for those born poor and banished in CA but lucky enough to own a bit of land they have adapted and are now surfing on the wave of the great God dollar drawn by the Boom the Javanese came running and bought up land built shops they now rent it all for a fortune with the stock to the Balan Bak laner has come into town hell for him everything he feels to be dangerous is there noise crowds short tempers destabilize the balines like him and wrench them from their habits but what's to be done before this flood of noisy stumbling modernness all these fascinating Novelties attract the young and others to a lifestyle they don't control very well but it works Fascination is at its height even if the morning Market looks like the one in his village only bigger and even if the women still make offerings laner would never live in town or let his children the Zeal of the stall Keepers their haste to sell their push for gain seems palpable to him these farmer stall keepers have to accept all these modern expenses with the same income as 20 years ago how could they behave differently so laner heads back towards the mountain to peace and quiet towards the reflection of another part of balan's [Music] reality he returns to the rice patties where every day is an effort so that normal life can continue so that the riches of the earth water and the V volcano develop and benefit the community here people's daily lives are linked with those of their neighbors the words Mutual Aid sharing solidarity have not yet lost their meaning because on one's own it is impossible to maintain the miles of low walls that separate the rice patties because it is Unthinkable to use the water that nourishes each plot as each person sees fit without risking flooding or drought because it is impossible on one's own to replant the thousands of rice shoots needed for a good harvest because it is impossible to harvest an entire rice Patty alone balan's lifestyle and social structures have evolved over centuries they have learned to live and work together and to protect their Traditions based on a hierarchy but also through interdependence and sharing today the pressures Weighing on them are turning Society inside out it's divide and conquer but it is impossible to live alone here the balones still try to live together Gathering whenever they can to mark their differences or for Comfort to resist the Injustice they more and more turn to violence violence an unimaginable word in the local vocabulary just 30 years ago in October 2002 violence struck Bali claiming 200 lives and causing indignation since then the Banes no longer know what to do to ward off this curse the tragedy went beyond their capacity for tolerance and moderation they are trying to overcome this new threat with rituals offerings and incantations but will that be enough enough to reins Harmony on the island enough to find within themselves a new subtle balance balance between a Divine volcano and a demon see who knows [Music]
2025-01-17 23:33