Rabu, 11 Februari 2015

The Distinctive Okokan and Tektekan Arts of Tabanan

The Distinctive Okokan and Tektekan Arts of TabananTektekan and Okokan are two agrarian rooted, traditional styles of music, unique to Tabanan AKA the rice granary of Bali. Simple wood and bamboo instruments are used to create this music, which is still preserved as a living tradition and often performed for local and foreign travelers.
Okokan refers to a big cowbell made of perforated wood resembling a split drum that is struck with a palit or beater. Okotan performances include a musical instrument made of a used hoe that can generate a “teng-teng” sound when struck, as well as a kulkul or bamboo split drum used to repel birds. Played together these instruments create distinctive rhythms, known as Okatan.
The musicians who play Okonan traditional music are all farmers. Okokan born out of an agrarian tradition and preserved for generations is part of traditional peasant life -a way to kill time while waiting for the harvest season. In the past, elders made quite large Okokan instruments that were played to ward off plagues and pestilence. According to local beliefs, attacks of plague are caused by spirits that need to be driven away with a ngerebeg ritual in which this music is played.
Nevertheless, this music is also often featured in the parades of the Bali Arts Festival (BAF) and various festivals in tourist areas such as Nusa Dua, Sanur, Bedugul and others in Bali. Villages that are famous for their Okokan art include Baturiti in Kerambitan subdistrict and Mayungan, Bedugul in Baturiti subdistrict, Tabanan.
The Distinctive Okokan and Tektekan Arts of Tabanan tektekan
An Okokan orchestra usually consists of 30 pieces, 1 drum and 1 kajar. The number of people playing depends on the number of instruments. The Okotan songs that are played the most often sound a bit like Baleganjur gamelan music. Okokan music is also played with other Balinese gamelan instruments to make it sound more beautiful and to generate unique sounds such as those generated by the gong, drum, tawa-tawa and others.
Tektekan music was spontaneously created with the specific aim of expelling plagues and is usually played by 30- 40 farmers, who tap bamboo instruments. Etymologically, the word Tektekan is derived from the onomatopoeia of the “tek” sound emitted from striking bamboo. Because the bamboo is struck repeatedly we have the word “tektek”, coupled with the suffix “an” to denote a noun, giving us “tektekan”.
This art appeared when the villagers of Kerambitan experienced a grubug (plague). There was also one resident who was abducted and hidden by spirits (wong samar), so local people performed a nektek or ‘beating anything that could generate sound’. This nektek was meant to drive out such outbreaks in the community as well as to evoke a sense of embarrassment.
Later, people used a bamboo instrument made for this purpose, called a kulkul, which makes a “tek tek tek” sound. The nektek was carried out at nightfall and meant as an expression of gratitude to God Almighty because the plague had passed. Starting in 1965, the kulkul was incorporated into a kind of performance, which combines the tektekan played to the storyline of Calonarang, maintaining its purpose of expelling evil spirits.http://bali-travelnews.com