THURS: The Neka Museum was my visual
art experience highlight, hands down! i took some pictures which i
will download later. And I won’t go into all the gory details. (i’m
tired of writing.) Suffice it to say, Inspiring and Educational.
I feel like i’ve been consuming so
much information, my little brain needs to digest. This is why my
hermitage is so helpful.
Anyway, I’ve read a ton, anything I
can find. Like a story by the Ring of Fire brothers (who explored &
documented Indonesia – you should watch the series if you haven’t
yet! available at your local library). Anyway, they told the story of
living with a head-hunter, cannibal tribe in Papua (irian jaya). They
make elaborate totem poles when someone is killed. To release the
dead person’s spirit from the pole, they must do a revenge killing,
pour the blood on the pole, barbecue and eat the person, and then
flaunt their head. Ugh. Well, a couple of years before the brothers
arrived, in the process of acquiring some of these poles for their
museum, a young Rockefeller disappeared along the coast. No one knew
what happened to him... until the brothers showed up. Turns out some
dutch militia had killed some of the clan members in some dispute a
while back. When the white boy washed up on the beach (he had swum
there after his boat ran out of fuel or something), the tribal men,
their father’s having been the ones killed, seized the opportunity
for revenge. Wild, isn’t it!
Back to the Neka...it was a feast :)
My second cultural experience on Thurs
was a spontaneous attendance of one of the traditional dances. I
don’t think I have ever been more delighted by an experience of
this sort, ever! It happened to be Youth Night-all the performers
looked to be 12-15-ish :) (that explained the good ticket price). I
don’t think i have the words, and you don’t have the time, for me
to sufficiently describe how amazing it was! The gamelon group, who
provided the background music – all boys – would rival or soundly
beat any drumline at highschool football game half time for their
enthusiasm and rhythmic prowess! I was in awe. Did i mention it was
awesome? and the dancers! Their costumes were phenomenal, their skill
jaw-dropping. Boys and girls. Traditional Balinese and Javanese
dancing involves every single part of the body – fingers, toes, eye
balls, eyebrows, elbows, knees, bobbly things on the hats, scarves –
everything was perfectly coriographed and infused with every possible
human emotion. just amazing! Over these last days viewing the art,
the dancers had been subject of a great amount of the art. Seeing
them first hand though, none of the artists had done them justice! if
you guys can get your hands on film of this stuff, do it.
well, that’s all for now. i’m sure
everyone’s as tired of reading as i am of writing. thanks for
hanging in there!
