0:00:04 > 0:00:07Specially chosen programmes from the BBC archive.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09For this Collection, Sir David Attenborough
0:00:09 > 0:00:13has chosen documentaries from the start of his career.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15More programmes on this theme and other BBC Four Collections
0:00:15 > 0:00:18are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33Bali is a small island, 100 miles long and 70 miles wide.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36On the map, it looks no more than a tiny bead
0:00:36 > 0:00:38on the necklace of islands
0:00:38 > 0:00:41that stretches from west of Malaysia to New Guinea and Australia.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51It is certainly one of the most beautiful islands in the world.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53Like every other part of Southeast Asia,
0:00:53 > 0:00:56it has rice fields, palm trees and tropical flowers,
0:00:56 > 0:01:00but somehow in Bali, these things fit together so perfectly
0:01:00 > 0:01:02that you feel, when you come here,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05that you have arrived in an enchanted garden.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21But there is one particular characteristic of Bali
0:01:21 > 0:01:24which makes it one of the most remarkable places on Earth.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51Bali is unique because of its people.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54They are, above all, a peasant people
0:01:54 > 0:01:56and, in this warm, welcoming climate
0:01:56 > 0:01:59they live as close to nature as man can anywhere.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04But they are also a people intoxicated by the arts.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06Part of the reason for their passionate involvement
0:02:06 > 0:02:08lies in their history.
0:02:08 > 0:02:13500 years ago, most of what is now Indonesia was Hindu,
0:02:13 > 0:02:14ruled by princes
0:02:14 > 0:02:17whose courts were among the most cultured in the whole of the Orient,
0:02:17 > 0:02:21famous for the dazzling skill of their musicians and artists.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23In the 16th century, however,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26the faith of Islam arrived in Java.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31Most of the Hindu princes fled before it, travelling eastwards down Java
0:02:31 > 0:02:35and, eventually, across a narrow arm of sea and into Bali.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38With them travelled their entire courts,
0:02:38 > 0:02:44and so Bali became a sanctuary for the flower of Hindu Javanese culture,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47and here, it has flourished ever since.
0:02:47 > 0:02:48Indeed, these people,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52who spend their days in backbreaking work in the rice fields,
0:02:52 > 0:02:56regard the arts almost as necessary to a proper and decent life
0:02:56 > 0:02:58as the very grain they cultivate.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01They know that the really worthwhile thing to be
0:03:01 > 0:03:05is either a painter, a sculptor, a dancer
0:03:05 > 0:03:08or, perhaps, above all, a musician.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14Bali's music has only rarely been heard in the West,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16but when it has, it has created a sensation.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21Debussy heard something of it at the 1889 Paris Exhibition
0:03:21 > 0:03:22and was overwhelmed.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26Bartok, de Falla and, most recently, Benjamin Britten,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29have all been captivated by its richness of tone
0:03:29 > 0:03:31and intricacy of melody.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34To hear the best music you must go into the villages,
0:03:34 > 0:03:36and one of the greatest orchestras in Bali
0:03:36 > 0:03:41is centred on this household in the small village of Peliatan.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Its guiding spirit has been, for nearly 50 years,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47the old nobleman who is the patriarch of the household,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50Anak Agung Gde Mandera.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56He no longer plays, but has handed over to his son, Agung Bawa,
0:03:56 > 0:03:58and another young man, Gandera,
0:03:58 > 0:04:01who is now the orchestra's main composer.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04The Anak Agung, as a young man in 1929,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08went with his orchestra and dancers to Paris.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10The visit was a triumph,
0:04:10 > 0:04:14and then, in 1952, his orchestra was taken on a world tour.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16This was an even greater success
0:04:16 > 0:04:18and mementos of it hang round his room.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21In America, their impresario was so delighted
0:04:21 > 0:04:24that he presented them with a commemorative plaque.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28In Brussels, they were given a full diplomatic reception.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32In Paris, the little girl dancers
0:04:32 > 0:04:35were rapturously received by the ballet-loving public
0:04:35 > 0:04:39and ecstatically praised by Serge Lifar.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41In New York, the Anak Agung discussed drumming
0:04:41 > 0:04:44with the timpanist of the New York Philharmonic
0:04:44 > 0:04:47and found his technique mystifyingly simple,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49but was too polite to say so.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52In spite of the fact that he's been entertained in palaces
0:04:52 > 0:04:55and luxury hotels in all the great cities of the West,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58the Anak Agung still runs his household
0:04:58 > 0:05:01in the purest traditions of the Balinese nobility.
0:05:01 > 0:05:06His daughter-in-law weaves silk cloth for sarongs.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10The instruments of the famous orchestra, shrouded in covers,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12stand in their special rehearsal veranda.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21The wall facing the main gateway into the compound
0:05:21 > 0:05:24is emblazoned with a great carving of the Garuda bird,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27a device recommended by Balinese tradition
0:05:27 > 0:05:30as a way of preventing demons from entering.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32The men of the household,
0:05:32 > 0:05:34like every man in Bali, nobleman or commoner,
0:05:34 > 0:05:36rear fighting cocks,
0:05:36 > 0:05:40and they must be exercised, massaged and cosseted daily.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44From a citrus tree, famous for the marvellous sweetness of its fruit,
0:05:44 > 0:05:45hangs a cockatoo,
0:05:45 > 0:05:50and beyond, the Anak Agung's aged mother pounds betel nut
0:05:50 > 0:05:53and, typically, does so not just anyhow,
0:05:53 > 0:05:57but with a particular rhythm echoing a particular melody in her head.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07And off the main courtyard, in a separate enclosure, the house temple,
0:06:07 > 0:06:08where stand the shrines
0:06:08 > 0:06:12which mark the great events in the life of the household,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14including one erected to give thanks
0:06:14 > 0:06:17for the orchestra's safe return from their world tour.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23Gandera gives rehearsals to each instrumentalist separately.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26He knows, and can play, the part of every instrument
0:06:26 > 0:06:29in even the most complex orchestral piece.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33Indeed, since there is no musical notation and no written scores,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36this is the only way of teaching a composition.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43HE SINGS NOTES
0:06:50 > 0:06:52What is more,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54because he's sitting on the opposite side of the instrument,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57he has to be able to play it, literally, backwards.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14HE SINGS
0:07:14 > 0:07:17THEY SING
0:07:29 > 0:07:31HE SINGS
0:07:48 > 0:07:50And when his pupil really knows the passage,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53then Gandera will play the counterpoint
0:07:53 > 0:07:55on the same instrument, backwards.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01This instrument is the gangsa.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04It plays the same role in the Balinese orchestra as violins do
0:08:04 > 0:08:06in a European orchestra.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Each bronze key has to be damped with the left hand
0:08:09 > 0:08:11after it's been struck.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28A complete orchestra, or gamelan, may contain as many as 30 instruments.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32It is, in fact, the biggest musical ensemble anywhere in the world,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34apart from a full-scale Western symphony orchestra,
0:08:34 > 0:08:37and Gandera leads it from the drum.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40The chief gangsa player, who shares the leadership of the gamelan,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43is Gandera's father, Made Lebah.
0:09:10 > 0:09:11This is the reong,
0:09:11 > 0:09:15the hardest instrument of all to play with evenness and precision,
0:09:15 > 0:09:16for eight hands must play as one.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15In an orchestra of this size, with 30-odd instruments,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18sometimes playing interlocking parts of the same melody,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20there can be no room for improvisation.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22They must all play with the utmost precision,
0:10:22 > 0:10:26and that can only be obtained by dedicated rehearsals,
0:10:26 > 0:10:28four or five evenings a week.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32HE SPEAKS
0:10:32 > 0:10:34MUSIC STARTS UP
0:11:44 > 0:11:49These are the jegogan, the cellos, as it were, in this bronze orchestra.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Like nearly all the instruments, they play in pairs,
0:11:52 > 0:11:54each one slightly differently tuned,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57so that when the pair are struck together,
0:11:57 > 0:11:59they produce a pulsating note.
0:12:56 > 0:12:57All the instruments of the gamelan,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00which between them span seven octaves,
0:13:00 > 0:13:02are tuned to a five-note scale.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05But the precise pitch of those five notes
0:13:05 > 0:13:08is the subject of great and careful debate among the musicians
0:13:08 > 0:13:11when the gamelan is first formed and tuned.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15In practice, no two gamelan are tuned exactly the same.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18Each creates its own individual tonal world,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21and every village echoes to splendid harmonies
0:13:21 > 0:13:24that can be heard nowhere else.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Music is only one of Bali's arts.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Just as most people seem to have the ability
0:13:49 > 0:13:51to play an instrument of some sort,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55so everybody also seems to have the talent and the urge to carve.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58The main outlet for their work is the temples.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00The stone blocks are only roughly shaped
0:14:00 > 0:14:02when they're first put in place.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06Men from the village will later carve them as an act of piety.
0:14:07 > 0:14:08The images they create
0:14:08 > 0:14:12are taken from the grotesque pantheon of Hindu mythology.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16But everywhere, the Balinese give full rein to their delight
0:14:16 > 0:14:17in exuberant detail.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20As the only stone in the island
0:14:20 > 0:14:23is a very soft volcanic ash which weathers very quickly,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26the carvings must be renewed every generation,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29so there is ample and permanent work for sculptors.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45TAPPING
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Although temple carving is the main outlet for sculptors,
0:14:49 > 0:14:51it's by no means the only one
0:14:51 > 0:14:55for men of outstanding talent and imagination.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59Ida Bagus Ketut is one of the great mask makers of Bali.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03As it happens, he's also one of the great mask dancers, as well,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05and the masks he carves are used
0:15:05 > 0:15:09in the night-long plays that are one of the island's main entertainments.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12This is a demon, in the form of a wild pig.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15MEN CHAT QUIETLY
0:15:26 > 0:15:30A prince, whose movements must be refined and elegant.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33In the plays, he will speak only in Kawi,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36an archaic form of Javanese, which is almost pure Sanskrit
0:15:36 > 0:15:40and only understood by a very small proportion of Balinese.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48A low, comic character, a monkey.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56HE LAUGHS AT LENGTH
0:16:04 > 0:16:07The job of these kinds of characters is not merely to bring laughs,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10but to translate the Kawi spoken by the refined people
0:16:10 > 0:16:14into low Balinese, which will be understood by all.
0:16:14 > 0:16:15Here's another of them,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18an old man down on his luck, begging for money,
0:16:18 > 0:16:21but irrepressibly cheerful, in spite of everything.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23HE LAUGHS AND CHATS
0:16:29 > 0:16:32MEN CHAT
0:16:38 > 0:16:40LAUGHTER
0:16:41 > 0:16:44A comic and stupid attendant from a rajah's retinue,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47who rather fancies himself.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49With this character, Ketut can convulse the crowds
0:16:49 > 0:16:52who come to watch him whenever he performs.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59A deaf man.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14DOG BARKS
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Of all the arts of Bali,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22painting perhaps was the most static and least inventive.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25It was tied very strictly to traditional Hindu themes
0:17:25 > 0:17:26for its subject matter,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29and the colours it employed were limited to five -
0:17:29 > 0:17:32red, blue, yellow, black and white.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Even the manner in which the features of these gods and demons are drawn
0:17:35 > 0:17:37was strictly prescribed.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42This was the only kind of painting made in Bali until some 40 years ago.
0:17:42 > 0:17:43In 1923, however,
0:17:43 > 0:17:47something occurred that was to bring about a profound change.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50This man arrived in the island.
0:17:50 > 0:17:51His name was Walter Spies,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54and he was to live for 20 years in Bali
0:17:54 > 0:17:58and to know the Balinese more fully than any European before him.
0:17:58 > 0:17:59He had several homes,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02one in the lowlands, only a mile or so from Peliatan,
0:18:02 > 0:18:05and another up in the mountains.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07But wherever he was, he painted.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18From the veranda of his mountain house,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22he looked across to the holy volcano of Bali, the Gunung Agung,
0:18:22 > 0:18:27one of the most breathtaking views in all the island.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29This landscape, with its luxuriant foliage,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33the endless pattern of immaculately maintained rice terraces,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36populated by a handsome, graceful people,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39provided him with subject matter for the rest of his life.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22These pictures, to a European eye,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25capture not merely the stunning beauty of the island,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28but also convey some of the haunted magical atmosphere
0:19:28 > 0:19:31that permeates the whole of Bali.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34Whether or not this dreamlike quality of Spies's pictures
0:19:34 > 0:19:36was apparent to the Balinese
0:19:36 > 0:19:37is difficult to say,
0:19:37 > 0:19:41As far as they were concerned, the overwhelming effect of these pictures
0:19:41 > 0:19:45was to draw their attention, seemingly for the first time,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48to the image of their island as a subject for painting.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52Suddenly, everyone in Bali was painting in a completely new way.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55It was as though a dam had been broken.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Spies himself is now dead, drowned in 1942,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04when a ship taking him to Ceylon was torpedoed.
0:20:04 > 0:20:05But a few of those painters
0:20:05 > 0:20:08who contributed to that original explosion of excitement
0:20:08 > 0:20:10are still working.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Their technique and their new vision
0:20:13 > 0:20:15are the only European things they wish to take from Spies
0:20:15 > 0:20:18and the only thing he wished to give them
0:20:18 > 0:20:20and, so, to find them, you must go
0:20:20 > 0:20:23not to a European-style studio or to a gallery,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26but to small, and often remote, villages
0:20:26 > 0:20:28hidden away among the rice fields.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36Among the most talented of these painters is Ida Bagus Made.
0:20:36 > 0:20:37He paints continuously
0:20:37 > 0:20:41and yet he hates to part with any of his finished canvases.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44Whenever anyone shows any sign of wanting to buy one,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47he puts an impossibly high price upon it.
0:20:47 > 0:20:52As a result, his paintings lie in great piles at the back of his hut,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55tragically vulnerable to rats, termites and fungus.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00The rest of the villagers say that he's mildly eccentric.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03He says that his paintings are his children.
0:21:03 > 0:21:04Why should he get rid of them?
0:21:19 > 0:21:23Since Spies's death, there have been new generations of painters,
0:21:23 > 0:21:26for the new style which he brought has flourished and spread,
0:21:26 > 0:21:30so that it seems now that everybody paints.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Their pictures still owe something to Spies,
0:21:32 > 0:21:37for it was he, after all, who first introduced a full range of colours
0:21:37 > 0:21:40and Western-style brushes and canvas.
0:21:40 > 0:21:41But now all of these painters
0:21:41 > 0:21:45are undeniably and characteristically Balinese,
0:21:45 > 0:21:48painting not imitations of Spies landscapes,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51but fantasies entirely of their own invention.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54They are, for the most part, men
0:21:54 > 0:21:59who, for most of their days, labour in the fields or fish in the sea.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01They paint when they have time,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05because of that passionate artistic curiosity
0:22:05 > 0:22:07that seems to possess all Balinese.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43This is another of Spies's pictures
0:22:43 > 0:22:46and one which was influential, not so much with painters as with sculptors,
0:22:46 > 0:22:51for these grotesque distortions fascinated Balinese carvers
0:22:51 > 0:22:54and soon they, too, were involved in a visual revolution
0:22:54 > 0:22:57quite as profound as that taking place in painting.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02One of the first to carve in this new way was Ida Bagus Nyana,
0:23:02 > 0:23:06who is now generally agreed to be Bali's greatest sculptor.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09His first carvings after meeting Spies
0:23:09 > 0:23:12were very like those spindly, contorted figures
0:23:12 > 0:23:15that appeared in Spies's paintings.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19Soon afterwards, however, he began to explore new styles and new images.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Today, he carves only rarely,
0:23:22 > 0:23:26for he has withdrawn from the world to become a Brahman high priest.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30But his last sculptures remain to bear witness
0:23:30 > 0:23:33not to the precise images created by Spies,
0:23:33 > 0:23:38but to the great freedom of vision which Spies first showed Nyana.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28But if there is one art which is paramount in Bali,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30it is the twin art of music and dancing.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Just as Peliatan has one of the greatest orchestras,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38so also its dancers have an island-wide reputation.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42However, that reputation will rest to a surprising extent
0:24:42 > 0:24:45on the shoulders of this tiny child.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49She's training to dance the greatest of Bali's classical dances,
0:24:49 > 0:24:50the legong.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53It may only be danced by little children,
0:24:53 > 0:24:54and the three Peliatan girls
0:24:54 > 0:24:57who have danced it so perfectly for the past four years
0:24:57 > 0:25:00are now adolescent and too old to continue.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03A new trio must be trained.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Their teacher is Gusti Made Sengok,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10an old lady who, in her time, was a celebrated legong,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13famous throughout the island for the suppleness of her young body
0:25:13 > 0:25:17and the disciplined fire of her performance.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19Now, as she nears the end of her life,
0:25:19 > 0:25:23she is a deeply respected and much sought-after teacher.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25According to the Anak Agung,
0:25:25 > 0:25:27she is the last living receptacle
0:25:27 > 0:25:29of the great classical tradition of the legong.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32But she's old. No-one knows how old.
0:25:32 > 0:25:37And she no longer has the strength to teach all who want to learn from her.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40So, now she concentrates only on the three little girls
0:25:40 > 0:25:43who are to become Peliatan's new legong.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46They will certainly be her last pupils.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51LAUGHTER
0:25:52 > 0:25:54Training like this has already been going on
0:25:54 > 0:25:57every day for many weeks.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00Again and again, the children must repeat the movements,
0:26:00 > 0:26:01being nudged, coaxed,
0:26:01 > 0:26:06and sometimes almost wrenched into the correct position by old Sengok
0:26:06 > 0:26:10until, at last, the legong - to use the Balinese phrase -
0:26:10 > 0:26:12has gone into their bodies.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42The extraordinary richness of artistic talent
0:26:42 > 0:26:44in this one household
0:26:44 > 0:26:46is apparent in this group.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48The music is played by Made Lebah,
0:26:48 > 0:26:50the co-leader of the gamelan.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55This child is his granddaughter, Gandera's child,
0:26:55 > 0:26:58and the child being held by Gusti Made Sengok
0:26:58 > 0:27:00is seven-year-old Suvi,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03the Anak Agung's youngest daughter by his third wife.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27SHE GIVES INSTRUCTIONS
0:27:42 > 0:27:45If the children are to dance the legong properly,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48they must know the story it tells.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50It concerns the arrogant King of Lasem,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52who kidnaps the daughter of a rival king
0:27:52 > 0:27:53with whom he is at war.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57If she will not marry him, he says, then he will kill her father.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00But she still refuses,
0:28:00 > 0:28:02so the King of Lasem goes into battle with her father
0:28:02 > 0:28:04and is himself killed.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06The Anak Agung tells the story
0:28:06 > 0:28:09prompted without any compunction by old Sengok.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18The tale comes from an ancient collection of Javanese legends.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21It's the Balinese equivalent of the Arabian Nights.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24TEACHERS TALK
0:28:40 > 0:28:42Gusti Made Sengok may be old,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45but she still has the knack of massaging,
0:28:45 > 0:28:47to make a child's body really supple.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49She still knows the precise movements
0:28:49 > 0:28:52that will painfully stretch a tight muscle
0:28:52 > 0:28:54and so loosen it that the child
0:28:54 > 0:28:56will become almost double-jointed.
0:28:57 > 0:28:58Without this massage,
0:28:58 > 0:29:00it will be impossible for a legong
0:29:00 > 0:29:02to assume the correct postures.
0:29:02 > 0:29:03Indeed, this treatment
0:29:03 > 0:29:06is just as essential to a Balinese dancer
0:29:06 > 0:29:09as is really early training in class and at the barre
0:29:09 > 0:29:11to a young ballet dancer in Europe.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23Day after day, the Anak Agung and Made Lebah play for rehearsals.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25MUSIC PLAYS
0:29:38 > 0:29:42The child who plays the prologue at the beginning of the dance
0:29:42 > 0:29:45changes roles later, to become a bird of ill omen,
0:29:45 > 0:29:48which flies in front of the King of Lasem during the battle
0:29:48 > 0:29:50and, thus, foretells his death.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Her appearance is the dramatic finale to the whole dance,
0:29:53 > 0:29:57which, in its complete version, takes over an hour to perform.
0:29:57 > 0:30:02In training for this character, Peliatan is particularly lucky,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05for they have as teacher Gusti Ayu Raka,
0:30:05 > 0:30:08who, during the world tour, danced the part in New York
0:30:08 > 0:30:10with such electrifying effect
0:30:10 > 0:30:13that she became, at the age of 11, the toast of Broadway.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41TEACHER HUMS TUNE
0:30:44 > 0:30:46Raka still dances
0:30:46 > 0:30:47and is famous in Bali
0:30:47 > 0:30:51for the refinement and personality of her style.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54But her performance as a tiny child of the bird of ill omen
0:30:54 > 0:30:56is still vividly remembered
0:30:56 > 0:30:58and used as an ideal against which
0:30:58 > 0:31:02other, newer characterisations are measured.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06Now, she passes on that insight and technique to another generation.
0:31:26 > 0:31:31Dancing, like music, sculpture and painting, is rooted in religion.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33Indeed, in Balinese terms,
0:31:33 > 0:31:38all acts of artistic expression, are, in a sense, religious acts.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42But this, perhaps, is less remarkable here than in most parts of the world
0:31:42 > 0:31:46for, in truth, Hinduism permeates every aspect of life
0:31:46 > 0:31:48and every hour of the day.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50Every morning and every evening,
0:31:50 > 0:31:53small offerings of rice and flowers
0:31:53 > 0:31:55are made to the ever-present gods.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58Some are placed before the shrines in the house temple.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02Others must be put in doorways and on lintels and niches,
0:32:02 > 0:32:04in places where paths cross
0:32:04 > 0:32:08and in corners which have special magical significance.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11These daily offerings are small and modest.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15In fact, they're more in the nature of tactful reminders to the gods
0:32:15 > 0:32:19of the piety of the household than substantial gifts.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21But for important festivals,
0:32:21 > 0:32:24and there seems to be one every few weeks in most villages,
0:32:24 > 0:32:28really imposing and substantial offerings must be made,
0:32:28 > 0:32:32and here, the Balinese love of ornament and decoration
0:32:32 > 0:32:33has full scope.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40This particular offering is being constructed around a central spine
0:32:40 > 0:32:44made from the soft spongy stem of a banana tree.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47Into it are stuck frangipani blossoms,
0:32:47 > 0:32:50each mounted on a long pin of bamboo.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58THEY CHAT
0:33:26 > 0:33:27The streets of the village have been lined
0:33:27 > 0:33:31with betasselled masts, from which hang penor -
0:33:31 > 0:33:33decorations marvellously constructed
0:33:33 > 0:33:36in hundreds of different shapes and designs,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39from bamboo and coconut palm leaves.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48The festival is to take place in the big temple
0:33:48 > 0:33:50at the other end of the village.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54For the Anak Agung's household, this day is particularly important,
0:33:54 > 0:33:58one for which they have all been preparing for months,
0:33:58 > 0:34:02for they decided long ago that this festival should be the occasion
0:34:02 > 0:34:03on which the new legong
0:34:03 > 0:34:07would perform in public for the very first time.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10Other orchestras from Peliatan are also going up to the temple,
0:34:10 > 0:34:12for every festival must be full of rame -
0:34:12 > 0:34:15exuberant noise and festive crowds,
0:34:15 > 0:34:17so that the gods will be entertained.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36All day long, offerings are carried up to the temple.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41Some are of flowers, others of pink rice cakes, fruit or roast chickens.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43All are meticulously arranged,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46to look as elegant and as decorative as possible.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14The offerings are laid in hundreds before the priest,
0:35:14 > 0:35:17who will take them one by one
0:35:17 > 0:35:19and offer them at the shrines.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21The gods will partake of their essence,
0:35:21 > 0:35:23after which, the simpler, smaller ones
0:35:23 > 0:35:28will be left in the temple to be scavenged by the dogs and birds.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30The more substantial and elaborate
0:35:30 > 0:35:32will be taken back to be eaten at home.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40HE SINGS
0:35:49 > 0:35:51There are no images in a Balinese temple.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53The gods are invisible entities
0:35:53 > 0:35:56who reside in wooden box-like shrines
0:35:56 > 0:35:58or on small stone thrones.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02Peliatan's temple is one of several founded by gods
0:36:02 > 0:36:06whose normal home is high up on the sacred mountain of Batur.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08This festival is to celebrate the visit
0:36:08 > 0:36:10of the parent divinities,
0:36:10 > 0:36:14for within their shrines, they have been brought down in procession
0:36:14 > 0:36:16by men from the mountains,
0:36:16 > 0:36:18to tour all their daughter temples.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22Now, the mountain men themselves begin the gods' entertainment,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25with an ancient spear dance, called a baris.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28MUSIC AND CHANTING
0:37:11 > 0:37:13To the people of Peliatan,
0:37:13 > 0:37:18this performance is, to be candid, a little naive, not to say uncouth.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22The sophisticated subtleties of the lowland music and dance
0:37:22 > 0:37:24have never penetrated into the mountains.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27A dance like this, Gandera said,
0:37:27 > 0:37:30was acceptable and appropriate on such a ritual occasion
0:37:30 > 0:37:32because of its antiquity.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35But he said so with the tolerance of piety.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39To his composer's ear, the music alone was obvious and crude.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50The Anak Agung's gamelan is next to play.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54Their first contribution is also ancient ritual music
0:37:54 > 0:37:55and employs a type of instrument
0:37:55 > 0:37:58that is seldom heard these days in other contexts.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00Even so, they manage to play it
0:38:00 > 0:38:03with their characteristic attack and brilliance.
0:38:28 > 0:38:33As night draws on, offerings are still being made before the shrines.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35Outside the temple,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38another group from Peliatan is preparing to perform the kecak -
0:38:38 > 0:38:40the monkey dance.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42The men, in a five-part chorus,
0:38:42 > 0:38:46act as a vocal background to a story from Hindu mythology,
0:38:46 > 0:38:50in which King Rama's bride is kidnapped by a giant
0:38:50 > 0:38:52and then rescued by Hanuman, the king of the monkeys,
0:38:52 > 0:38:54and his monkey horde.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56WHOOSHING AND SINGING
0:39:01 > 0:39:03CHANTING
0:39:06 > 0:39:08MAN SINGS
0:39:19 > 0:39:22MAN SHOUTS OUT
0:39:25 > 0:39:27LOUD CHANTING
0:39:34 > 0:39:36SINGING
0:40:16 > 0:40:18THEY SHOUT OUT
0:40:21 > 0:40:22CHANTING
0:40:29 > 0:40:31VOICES HARMONISE
0:40:33 > 0:40:36RAPID CHANTING
0:40:59 > 0:41:01VOICES HARMONISE
0:41:03 > 0:41:05CHANTING
0:42:34 > 0:42:36HIGH-PITCHED YELL
0:42:36 > 0:42:38CHANTING
0:42:41 > 0:42:42YELL
0:42:42 > 0:42:44CHANTING
0:42:44 > 0:42:45YELL
0:42:48 > 0:42:52The three children are already preparing for their legong.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54SINGING AND CHANTING CONTINUE
0:42:56 > 0:42:58THEY CHAT
0:43:08 > 0:43:10Their headdresses are made from gilded leather
0:43:10 > 0:43:14and decorated with freshly gathered frangipani blossom.
0:43:14 > 0:43:16They're very hard and extremely heavy,
0:43:16 > 0:43:19and the children must wear them for over an hour.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31Their bodies are tightly bound in gold-painted cloth.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34Their faces are whitened and carefully made up.
0:43:34 > 0:43:39It has fallen to them to provide the final episode in the temple festival,
0:43:39 > 0:43:42to present their skills as an offering to the gods,
0:43:42 > 0:43:44for that, indeed, is the ultimate nature
0:43:44 > 0:43:48of all artistic creation in Bali.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50Their moment has arrived.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00MUSIC PLAYS