CEREMONIAL SINGING: KIDUNG AS RELIGIOUS PRAXIS IN CONTEMPORARY BALI

Desak Made, Suarti Laksmi (2022) CEREMONIAL SINGING: KIDUNG AS RELIGIOUS PRAXIS IN CONTEMPORARY BALI. JOURNAL of the Institute of Oriental Studies RAS 2022 3 (21). ISSN 2618-7302

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Abstract

Kidung is Balinese ritual hymn or canticle, typically recited in a homophonic choir by a grop of local singers based on a pre-existing text to accompany religious celebrations. Selected lyric of kidung verse is deliberately recited for a number of ritual reasons. The role of kidung is to complete the ritual and religious celebration as the fifth Gita. The four related ritual gitas or sacred sounds include the sound of symbolic narrative forms (Swara Yantra Abinaya) of wayang puppetry, infused with edification and devine philosophy; the sound of Gamelan music accompanying temple dances (may it be a female Rejang dance, Makerab dance, Sutri, Pendet dance, or male Baris warrior dance, Sandaran dance, etc.); the sound of Kulkul wooden bell, and the sound of Veda / mantra incantation recited by the temple priest, who invariably leads the ritual ceremony. Kidung hymn and gamelan music together create Vadyagita. The dance and the mantra incantation together create Nertya Puja, which creates devine matrix of the on-going ritual ceremony. Almost no Hindu-Balinese religious ceremony (yadnya) is complete without kidung singing with lyrics drawn from Middle Javanese literature. Kidung is used for the panca yadnya (five ceremonies) namely: dewa yadnya (for god), bhuta yadnya (lower spirit), rsi yadnya (for priest), pitra yadnya (for ancestor), and manusa yadnya (for human), with the appropriate kidung text selection. This singing supports the solemnity of spiritual practice of singers and listeners, perfecting the ceremony as an offering of expressive communication. Keywords: kidung, yadnya, Hindu-Balinese religi

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