Song of advice is a genre of traditional song that contains a wise advice in each song. The song of advice usually enact a setting in which the parents give an advice to their children how to behave, what to do, what is important in a life, etc. Parents usually teach their children to sing this kind of song, thus they are not just teach their children a song but also give then an useful advice, with this song the parents prepare their children to face the community and the life. Unfortunately the wise advice song is no longer a popular genre, parents no longer teach their children to sing this song. Nowadays, the old wise advice song is only given in school occasionally in Balinese language lesson. Here is an example of good old advice song:

Saking tuhu manah Guru
Mituturin cening jani
Kaweruhan luir sanjata
Ne dadi perabotan sai
Keanggen ngaruruh merta
Saenun ceninge urip

The free translation of this song goes as follow:

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Excellent, magnificent, incredible, beautiful, these adjectives are overuse when describing a Balinese dance and musical performance, but these adjectives are definitely not good enough to describe the Balinese dance and musical performances on the first day of Mengenang Sang Guru: A Tribute to Anak Agung Gde Mandera and Gusti Made Sengog, Sunday, 8/26/07.

Left: Gabor (Pendet) dance, middle & right: Legong Lasem dance

The performances on the first day of Mengenang Sang Guru: A Tribute to Anak Agung Gde Mandera and Gusti Made Sengog could be called the performances of the veterans in which the older generation of the pupils of Anak Agung Gde Mandera (affectionately called ‘Gungkak’) and Gusti Made Sengog (affectionately called ‘Niang Sengog’) showed their affection to the late teachers with a brilliant dance performances. The oldest dancers that night were in their early seventy and the youngest were in their late forty.

Legong Lasem dance

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A Tribute to Anak Agung Gde Mandera and Gusti Made Sengog
The Greatest Legong Teachers and Musician of Peliatan, Bali

As the title suggest, this event is to commemorate two great Legong teachers from Peliatan that is Anak Agung Mandera and Gusti Made Sengog.

Pupils, who had the great opportunity being trained by Anak Agung Mandera and Gusti Biang Sengog in the past, wish to show their sincere love, gratitude and thanks for the best time and experiences received during the process of learning and performing, by arranging a very special event as a tribute to both great teachers.

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Once upon a time, Bhatara Guru (the head of Gods) who resides in heaven held a great ceremony. It is a tradition that each god should help in the preparation of the ceremony. But the great dragon Ananta Boga looked so sad since he could not help anything because did not have a hand or foot. It made him sad, he cried alone, but a miracle occurred, his tears that touch land turn into three eggs. He took those eggs on his mouth; he planned to give Bhatara Guru the eggs as a consolation for his inability in helping the preparation of ceremony.

On the way, he met another god, the god greeted him, when he answered two of his eggs fell into earth and hatched. One produced a rat and the other a boar. Realizing his mistake, Ananta Boga kept silence on the rest of the way, until he arrived in front of Bhatara Guru. He told Bhatara Guru what happened on him, and presented the remaining egg. Bhatara Guru accepted the egg.

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When you attend a temple festival in Bali, your ears will be filled with sweet and melodious voices of kakawin singers. The scale of ceremony in Bali can be measured by the appearance of kakawin singers group. A big scale ceremony usually use the service more than one kakawin singer group (pesantian). By the way, what is kakawin?

Utsawa Dharma Gita on The Annual Bali Arts Festival 2006

Kakawin is a form of old Javanese poetry with a metre originating from India. They were composed and performed in Java and Bali from the 8^th century until the now (still widely performed in Bali but not in Java).

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