A Brief History of the Payangan Festival

The Payangan Festival, known in Indonesian as "Pesta Payangan," was launched in 2002, in a modest one-day format, by participants in the Center for World Music's annual workshop in Bali.

The 2003 festival, a joint venture of the Center and the office of the local Camat (a kind of county supervisor) was greatly expanded. The first six days presented evening performances of old traditional music by gamelan groups from six Payangan banjars (important neighborhood divisions), together with six rare kinds of ancient gamelans from villages in East Bali. The last two days of the festival were devoted to the larger world of music, dance and theater, with performances of Javanese shadow play, Sundanese music and dance, and performing arts from Africa, India, the Middle East and medieval Europe, among others.

Two symposia were organized: one on the idea of "interlocking" in Indonesian daily life and gamelan music, the other on the role of tradition in the 21st Century, with a roundtable led by I Nyoman Sadra, former mayor of Tenganan Village, and now director of the Gandhi Ashram in Candi Dasa.

In 2004, the Festival included old traditional forms of dance and theater, in addition to gamelan music. Dance and music by several women's and children's groups from Payangan emphasized some present trends from the almost exclusively adult male groups of the past. The festival opened with a performance of ritual Baris Gede and Rejang temple dances from one of Payangan's northern banjars that had previously never been seen in public. This was followed by a newly composed stage piece in prembon style, which draws on the old theater traditions of gambuh and arja. The subject matter was devoted to an early episode in the history of Payangan village.

Special warung food, textile displays, and exhibits of local handicrafts, along with some final night African folk dancing by the public and performers together once again rounded out the festive atmosphere.

The Center for World Music had provided a second gift of one thousand dollars toward the final upgrade of restroom facilities, as part of a major refurbishment of the village wantilan (a large community hall) that had been going on for six months prior to the festival. Now, within its much enhanced setting, the Payangan Festival began to take on the appearance of an important annual event.

This Year - Payangan Festival 2005

The exact program for the 2005 Payangan Festival is still being worked out, but it is hoped to follow the tradition of opening it on July 24 with the impressive sonorities of the largest of Balinese musical ensembles, the gamelan gong gede, to bring again to the stage rare varieties of music, dance, and theater, to showcase some of the special arts belonging to the village of Payangan, and to open the doors to other cultures during the final World Music Weekend on July 30/31. Watch here for a final program for the Festival, which will be made available once it has been finalized, probably two or three weeks before it begins in the afternoon on Sunday, July 24.

As part of the international orientation of the Payangan Festival, touring gamelan groups from abroad are welcome to take advantage of the festival venue in order to help exemplify the spread of Indonesian performing arts around the world.

The 2005 Festival Schedule

Sunday, July 24

Opening ceremony on Sunday afternoon in the recently refurbished village wantilan, central Payangan. The first traditional performances will begin.

Monday through Friday, July 25 - 29

A week of evening performances featuring groups from Payangan and other Balinese villages for the presentation of old traditional forms of music, dance, and theater.

Saturday and Sunday, July 30 and 31

Afternoon and evening performances on the weekend, featuring world music and dance by Summer Workshop participants representing other islands of Indonesia, Africa, India, the Middle East, and Europe.

Symposia and discussions on the role of traditional arts in the 21st Century will continue this year. An inter-island ikat display and demonstration of geringsing double ikat weaving from Tenganan combine with displays of typical handicrafts from the Payangan area, which are also available for sale. Meli's Warung offers delicious Indonesian meals, snacks and beverages.. We hope to provide a quick dance lesson for everyone, culminating in a general dance party where local residents and visitors can mix to celebrate the end of a successful Pesta Payangan 2005!

Comments on the Payangan Festival by a Previous Participant

Tia Kimberk, a third year repeat workshop attendee who has helped with the organization and publicity for previous festivals, and who has also appeared as a puppeteer and Japanese noh dancer, reports from Boston:

The Payangan Festival, now in its fourth year in 2005, manages to do what few performing arts events of this kind do: produce something unusual and exciting for both the initiated and uninitiated audience members alike. I am talking about the villagers in attendance at the festival, who experience performances from other villages that they have never seen before, and the tourists from around the world, who see a greater breadth of performances than they would ever be likely to see on their own in Bali.

As a result, the distance between the villagers and the tourists feels less, and at times feels nonexistent, because both groups experience the same degree of awe and appreciation for the events occurring before them.

This intermingling of villager and tourist is a steady diet throughout the festival, and is as remarkable as the presentations of music, dance and theater, which are more authentic and more abstract than the usual tourist performance in Bali. These traditional performances occur nightly for a week or so in the non-touristy, but accessible village town hall of Payangan.

To tell you the truth, only Bob Brown, an ethnomusicologist who has spent over forty years befriending and nurturing Balinese and Indonesian performing artists, villagers and activists could create such a festival as this. It is, in a way, the culmination of his life work in Bali and Indonesia.

Although Bali predominates, Java and Sunda performance traditions are well represented. In fact, the festival ends with a sampling of music, dance and theater from several other areas of the world , performed by members of Dr. Brown's workshop, now in its 34th year.

In this way, the festival is expanded in breadth of coverage, and workshop members get to thank their Balinese village hosts with complementary performances.