A Day in Ubud - Part lll, Final Chapter
......and then we left Cafe Lotus, took to the darkening streets teeming with people and traffic, a sense of excitement in the air, lights starting to come on and quite the din with hawkers waving pamphlets selling tickets to one event or another. We availed ourselves of one such insistent but friendly fellow who flashed us his official venders card hanging from around his neck - he had just the ticket we needed to get into the Legong and Ramayana Ballet at Ubud Palace, 100.000 Rupiah or $7.14. The Palace was just a short walk down the block but the ceremony didn’t start until 7:30 pm, about an hour and half wait, so not wanting to wander around in all the hustle and bustle we opted to enter early and just sit and chat - did I mention that we have the capacity to have endless conversations about whatever comes to mind? Sign of a good and valued friendship and wish for all beings to have at least one person they can share with at that level. I am fortunately blessed with a number of them, all different, all equally special, each unique in their own way - something I highly value in this life. 🙏
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We entered the Palace expecting to be the first. There were a few other early birds already seated - no problem finding the seats that David preferred, having been here to this performance bringing other guests a number of times over the six years he and Katrinka have lived here and says that each time is different so always enjoys it.
As expected, waiting time passed quickly as we talked and watched people as they began to find their way in, soon filling up all the available chairs and any other ledge or mats on open area in front of ground level performance stage. It is dark now in the open air arena except for the spot lights which begin to dim, the audience quiets down and then the colorful stage lighting takes over as the gamelan musicians file in, take their places on the floor by their instruments arrayed along both sides of the stage and two drummers facing forward from the backdrop stage entrance. Without any visible cue the gamelan begins in unison with its distinctive rhythmic tinkling sound and I soon realize that in their midst is one lone, more elderly man who appears to be the equivalent of a western conductor tapping on a bongo keeping a beat. Sitting near the ends, barely visible, are flute like players and one large gong and drum.
TheAudience
The Musicians
The show begins with just the gamelan musicians playing, introducing different instruments as they slowly increase volume with waves of intensity and then subtle nuances. What appears to be all the same sound really has a hypnotic quality after a while and you become more aware of those nuances - quite fascinating really. Apparently non of this is written down but obviously has some form of musical principles that are handed down, learned by just playing with the elders I suppose.
See below:
OH BOTHER! I just lost two hours of work last night that started off here with one or two strokes of my fickle finger on my only computer venue, my iPad Mini. May have to reconsider its eventual replacement with a “grown ups” lap top, involving a new learning curve. I will have to hunt down a teenager to help out but they tend to run when they see a senior approaching, computer in hand and with that LOOK - 🤪!
Since I mostly took a lot of video of the Legong dance I will have to pare the number of them down and show with as many different acts and characters as I can without over doing some of the repetition that is not so noticeable when you are entranced watching live. The music is designed to put you in a trance of sorts so the time flows from scene to scene in a very natural hypnotic way. This three part Ramayana Ballet, originally written in Sanskrit with Legong music, is a classic in Indonesian with slight differences from island to island. It combines music, dance and drama, usually without dialogue but seemed there was a little blended in from a recording at times.
THE END
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