History to Balinese is not just something to be buried in the past, but it is something that has to be remembered and used as a guidance to face the future. An attempt to immortalize the history is by memorializing an important event with Candrasengkala.

Candrasengkala is combination of words representing numerical values that is used to denote the year of an important events, chronogram in short. It is written in Kawi language or High Balinese using traditional Balinese alphabet (aksara Bali). Candrasengkala can be found in ancient buildings, artifacts, work of arts, traditional literature, and in coat of arm of a city or organization. Candrasengkala can also be found in ancient letters. Candrasengkala that is found in ancient building or coat of arm of a city or organization denotes the year of establishment of the building, city, or organization.

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Cakepung is a male social performance, combination of singing and dancing, done strictly for recreation and amusement, and is found today only in Karangasem Regency and on Lombok, its former vassal state. This folk-performance derives its name onomatopoeically from the sound of its accompaniment, a rhythmic vocal sound similar to that produced by the cak chorus. In the accompaniment, two dozen vocalists chant ‘pung-cakapung’ in unison.

A performance of cakapung might take place any evening during leisure time. The dancers gather at about seven o’clock at the bale banjar with simple costume, a sarong, headdress, a shirt sometimes bare-chested. Some participants bring bottles of tuak (Balinese palm wine), brem (sweet wine) or arak (distilled palm wine).

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Drama Gong is still the most popular theatrical performance in Bali. For the last four decades, it enjoys a great popularity all over the island. Since early days of its development, Drama Gong has attracted enormous number of audience because of its simplicity in language and story and of the generous sprinkle of jokes and humors.

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In the 1960s, a famous dancer and actor, Anak Agung Raka Payadnya from the village of Abianbase, Gianyar, initiated a new form of theatrical performance created by blending several pre-existing theatrical performances such as sendratari, modern theater, and arja accompanied by the gong kebyar orchestra with its dynamic and energetic rhythm. This new form of theatrical performance was named Drama Gong by the Director Kokar (Karawitan Konservatorium), I Gusti Bagus Nyoman Panji.

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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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Arja is a kind of Balinese theatrical performance, further development of Gambuh, the oldest theatrical performance in Bali. The word “arja” is derived from the word “reja” means “beauty”. The birth of Arja can be traced back to the year around 1175-1825 in the reign of Dewa Agung Sakti, the king of Klungkung.

Arja dancers on The 28th Annual Bali Arts Festival 2006 Opening Parade

Arja is one of the most technically difficult dance-drama of Bali, since the dancers must sing and dance at the same time. This characteristic is similar to opera performance in western countries. The language that is used in Arja performance is a mixing of Kawi (ancient language of Javanese and Balinese). The royal characters sing and talk in a high partly in kawi, partly in high Balinese, and are paraphrased by their servants or ministers into common Balinese that is much more easily understood by the audience.

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The term Wayang Wong comes from the two words wayang meaning shadow and wong meaning man. Wayang Wong, which translates to shadow men, is a human dramatization of the Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet) show, wherein the dancers imitate the jerky movements of the puppets. Wayang Wong is one of several Balinese performance art forms which meld dance, drama and music. In Bali, there are two kinds of Wayang Wong, Wayang Wong Parwa which adapts stories from the Mahabharata for the stage, and Wayang Wong Ramayana, which takes stories from the Ramayana.

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