BALI exotic Kecak Cult Monkey Dance Ritual

Kecak (pronounced [ˈketʃaʔ], alternate spellings: Ketjak and Ketjack) is a form of Balinese dance and music drama, and is performed primarily by men, although a few women's kecak groups exist

Also known as the Ramayana Monkey Chant, the piece, performed by a circle of 150 or more performers wearing checked cloth around their waists, percussively chanting "cak" and throwing up their arms, depicts a battle from the Ramayana where the monkey-like Vanara helped Prince Rama fight the evil King Ravana. However, Kecak has roots in sanghyang, a trance-inducing exorcism dance

In its pure form, the ketjak dance is a religious ceremony performed—sometimes for several hours on successive nights, for three to four months—to exorcise evil during times of peril and pestilence. The gamelan orchestra that accompanies most Balinese dance performances is generally absent during a ketjak performance, replaced by the sounds of a male chorus similar to the rhythms of the gamelan. While audiences and photography are not welcome during religious performances of ketjak, recently the "tourist ketjak" has emerged—an abbreviated version of the dance, performed for entertainment.