Hmmm.
In Indonesia, I had a chance to see what they call the Ramayana Ballet, a dramatic reenactment of the events of the Ramayana - where Rama the Hunter goes on a quest to win his wife back from the demon that stole her. Along the way, he enlists the help of Hanuman and his army of monkeys... by agreeing to help the Monkey King (Sugriwa, who tells Hanuman what to do) win *his* wife back from the demon that stole *her*.
It's complicated.
Anyway, there's a scene with the monkey army surrounding the baddy and rescuing Rama's wife and her handmaid.
That part of the story is the basis for the "Kecak Dance" of the Indonesian island of Bali. The "dance" involves a huge circle of chanters surrounding a central figure in concentric rows. They say "chak-chak-chak" - a monkey noise - in a complicated polyrhythm, such that if you're doing a three "chak" cycle, the guy on one side of you is doing five and the guy on the other is doing seven. I think there's a one and a nine as well, so that no one around you is doing the same chant as you. It's quite an effective cacophony - you definitely get the sense you wouldn't want to be surrounded by these little guys. They say the kecak is more for tourists than locals, but it comes from the Ramayana all the same.
Here's more information on it. And there are audio samples here (I don't think you need RealAudio or anything to play 'em, but they don't have the "chak" part.)
Anyway, if there are a lot of monkeys surrounding a scary-looking guy, that's probably the demon Rawasa. He's probably eating one of the monkey army.
Although Balinese figures are *all* a little scary, the long hair makes me think it's Rawana.
Does this look familiar?
|