The Stunning Kecak Dance Of The Beautiful Bali Article Source

One of the most famous Balinese Dances is The Kecak dance. The stunning voice of the dancers in musical rhythm is used as a background for them to dance in trance. Over 100 bare-chested dancers are swaying their body and hands. The sound of cak-cak-cak imitating the sound of monkey sounds gives the exotic and dynamic ambience. Because of that chanting noise of "Cak-cak-cak", then the dance is named Kecak.

What makes the Kecak such a fascinating dance to watch are the fifty or so men in the checkered pants. They are both the choir and the props, providing the music for the story in a series of constant vocal chants that change with the mood of the actors. They don't sit still, either, they wave their arms to simulate fire, and reposition themselves around the stage to represent wind and fire, prison cells, and unseen hand of protection from the gods.

The dance is played in five acts and lasts roughly 45 minutes. It taken from the Hindu epic Ramayana, which tells the story of Prince Rama and his rescue of Princess Sita, who has been kidnapped by the evil King of Lanka, Rahwana and somehow with the help of the white monkey army, Rama rescues his wife and defeats the evil King Rahwana.

As Bali is famous for its breathtaking nature, the culture is even better; completely astounding. It is very exotic and unique. The culture is a blending of spiritual, dynamic and elegance. Attending a Kecak recital is a must for any visitor to Bali. It is a wondrous experience, and a window into the musical and artistic culture that make the Balinese a special people.

Bali - Land of Ritual and Ceremony

Bali is the the land of a thousand temples and a thousand festivals, where religious adherence to a large number of rituals are an integral part of everyday life. A combination of traditional Hinduism and local indigenous beliefs, Balinese Hinduism has a rich tradition of both small and large ceremonies that commemorate everything from the loss of a tooth to the warding off of evil spirits. There are five distinct Hindu Balinese rituals such as the Dewa Yadnya, temple festivals that deal with the worship and reverence of the gods; and Buta Yadnya, which involves ritual sacrifice to allay demonic spirits. Others include Rsi Yadnya, rites honouring preists; Pitra Yadnya, rites relating to death; and Manusa Yadnya, rites to cleanse the inner soul of sin.

Among the major festivals in Bali are the Galungan, a major feast celebrating the annual descent of all the Gods to the earthly realm, followed ten days later by the Kuningan ceremony. Other big festivals are the Nyepi, an annual day of silence on the Hindu-Balinese New Year; Saraswati, a day devoted to Dewi Saraswati, Goddess of knowledge and literature; and the temple festival of Odalan, an annual ceremony of the construction of a temple based on the 210 day Balinese calendar - due the the huge number of temples in Bali there are several Odalan festivals taking place throughout the the island on any given day.
Another important ritual in Balinese culture is the cremation of the departed. An integral part of Balinese life, cremation is a cheerful and communal affair where an entire village comes together in an elaborate ritual whose ultimate goal is placing the ashes of the departed in the sea. This act signals the final separation of soul (roh) from earthly body.
Many visitors to Bali have fallen in love with various ceremonies that celebrate creation both on a grand cosmic scale and on a more intimate personal scale. Some visitors have even opted to remain in Bali, a faraway island paradise where people take the time to celebrate the gods in heaven and the cycle of everyday life on earth - something lacking in today's fast paced, spiritually bereft world.

Nasty Bali - Balinese & Indonesian Mafia

Bali is not the tropical island paradise people say it is, especially not for the Balinese who suffer human rights abuse from Jakarta and are insulted and abused by the majority of Javanese and foreign expatriates on their island. The conduit for this abuse from every angle is the Balinese (Indonesian) police, whose officers pay to get their jobs and positions despite the low wages because they know how much money they will be able to extort from others; this is Nasty Bali.

Other web sites show just how nasty it gets;
Nasty Bali
Bali BS
Fugly Bali
Bali SOS
Bomb Bali
Save A Life
Human Rights Watch Indonesia
Wikipedia on human rights in Indonesia
Tapol - The Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
US Congress Report on Indonesia (search for "human rights")
Transparency International December 2006 Corruption Report (look for "police")
Transparency International Corruption Index (look for "Indonesia" at the bottom)
Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer 2006 (Indonesian parliament, police and judiciary score some of the very worst marks for the whole world)

Nasty Bali expatriates do all they can to trash these sites but the truth is there for you to see; there are 2 cases of cited human rights abuse by the Balinese police against 2 different people on 2 different occasions (although involving the same police officers, including Made Pastika) who were involved in charitable work in Bali. These people were tortured by Bali's mafia police at the bequest of others for a few dollars and their services to the island and the Balinese people meant nothing! Why? Because the nasty expatriate and Javanese community in Bali care nothing about the Balinese, they only care about their wallets, which makes them excellent bed fellows for the corrupt Indonesian police.

This Nasty Bali blog looks to set the record straight and to highlight / expose just some of the nasty expats and Indonesians living / working in Bali. People like police chief and potential governor I Made Mangku Pastika, former PATA chairman Jack Daniels in Sanur who tried to murder a business rival, gay Bali real estate broker and alleged pedophile Bert Vierstra in Lovina, and Roy "Majapahit" Thompson the Ubud based drug dealer who is friends with both Bert and Made's sons.