Lingsar

7.1 Balinese gamelan gong kuna featuring maestro Leq Ncol Slaloe on trompong, 2017. Clip also show the gangsa jongkok metallophones; on Lombok, one musician often plays two at once. Gong kuna performance, like this one, opens every day of the festival, and occurs off and on during the three active days (opening, main, closing).

7.2 Balinese organize for the opening Mendak Tirta procession, 2017. The clip briefly shows the cloth-covered glass bottles used later to retrieve water at sacred locations outside the temple. One group processes eastward to Pura Sarasuta and the larger procession heads westward to Pura Manggong. Both groups collect water, which is deposited in the bottles covered with specific cloth colors representing deities factoring in the Balinese myth and unifying Balinese – at Pura Sarasuta, white (Batara Gunung Agung, the great mountain deity in Bali) and red (representing Batara Alit Sakti, the deified ancestor that points the initial Balinese mission to Lombok) – and Lombok – at Pura Manggong, black (for Batara Gunung Rinjani, the great mountain deity on Lombok) and yellow (for Batara Gede Lingsar, the deity at Lingsar that drew Balinese to the area). These waters and deities are symbolically married in a prayer session at the crossroads

7.3 Mendak Tirta (group that went to Pura Manggong) return to the crossroads, 2017. Sasak Batek Baris (Baris Lingsar) dancers lead the group and symbolically protect the mission (constituting about half of the small portion of Sasak participants), as police try to manage traffic. Following Batek Baris are the accompanying gamelan tambur, then the Balinese group from the elder temple, Pura Ulon, led by a pemangku.

7.4 Exterior Circumambulation of the temple complex, led by Sasak Batek Baris (Baris Lingsar & Telek dancers), accompanied by gamelan tambur/baris, 2017. The momot bottle and the two kebon odeq are shown at the end.

7.5 Exterior circumambulation continues, 2017. Clip shows numerous pesaji offerings, then tawaq tawaq and gendang beleq. Kidung is broadcast simultaneously and gong kuna is playing nearby, together creating complex overlapping textures and unifying sonic worlds. Also shown is the entrance to the gadoh, the exclusive Balinese courtyard.

7.6 Exterior circumambulation continues, showing momot bottle, two kebon odeq offerings, numerous pesaji offerings, and tawaq tawaq, 2017.

7.7 Circumambulation around the shrine and sacred water spring-pond within the kemaliq, 2009, featuring tawaq tawaq, Baris and Telek dancers (accompanied by gamelan tambur/baris), and gendang beleq. Three Sasak gamelans play simultaneously. Hanging on the front tree are parts of sacrificed water buffalos; the meat is consumed in ritual feasts. The clip also shows Batek Baris dancers on the far side of the pond.

7.8 Circumambulation around the shrine and pond in the kemaliq, 2017, highlighting momot and especially kebon odeq and beginning with gamelan tambur. Tawaq tawaq is shown at the end of the clip, and so is a Balinese pemangku arranging holy water vessels on the pond wall.

7.9 Circumambulation continues in the kemaliq, 2017, showing tawaq tawaq, gendang beleq, and Balinese congregating in the background. At the end are Baris (and Telek) dancers simply walking.

7.10 Gendang beleq troupe performs a routine while processing around the shrine and pond, 2017. All circumambulations rotate around sacred structures three times; occasionally, as in this clip, enough space opens up for a rehearsed performance to occur.

7.11 Balinese kidung singers with pemangku, kemaliq, 2017. Kidung – praise songs in Middle Javanese language – was introduced in the mid-1990s.

7.12 Balinese rejang renteng dance in the gadoh courtyard, 2017. Rejang reteng is a women’s modern Balinese offering dance. It was introduced to, and then taught among, Lombok Balinese communities around 2014.

7.13 Baris Lingsar (Batek Baris) dancers mount the stage at the formal ceremony and perform their routine for the audience, 2017. At the end the Telek (Batek) dancers, women crossdressed as male figures from the Sasak founding narrative, perform. This constitutes a festivalization of the Sasak ritual arts.

7.14 Gendang beleq performs on the stage at the formal ceremony, 2017. At the end of the clip as the first departs, a second gendang beleq mounts the stage. The emcee talks over the performance.

7.15 Perang Topat, 2017. The vice-governor and other officials throw out many topat to participants below; across the open courtyard, officials on top of the kemaliq wall throw out hundreds more topat. Participants below (mostly Sasak) and above (mostly Balinese) then begin to throw at each other. This Perang Topat seemed more subdued that those I witnessed in previous years.

7.16 Historic Lingsar performances, 1987-88. This clip is a compilation of other clips from those two years. It begins with gamelan gong kuna on a pavilion outside the gadah, then shows the two preret players (Amaq Sari and Amaq Salih – further away) performing during the making of the Kebon Odeq; note the circular breathing and the technique of sustaining long tones before Amaq Salih introduces an ornament to another primary tone, then Amaq Sari follows.

The clip then shows the beginning Mendak Tirta procession (Baris dancers and gamelan tambur playing the “Tak Tak Pong” piece) going to Pura Manggong; the clip includes the Balinese group from Pura Ulon (headed, as always, by a pemangku) and their gamelan gong gilak (called balaganjur today), then the entourage from Pura Lingsar (gadoh) and their gong gilak. The next segment features Batek Baris dancers performing in front of the entrance to the kemaliq (accompanied by gamelan tambur), then the two preret players performing in the kemaliq shrine to accompany the Sasak pemangku’s service (kebon odeq have been placed in the altar). The Sasak pemangku was Mangku Sanusi, who officiated for 30 years during tumultuous years. His mouth moves in the scene but he produces no sound; the name of the deity, he told me, cannot be uttered aloud.