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Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
The kecak dance is a 20th century adaptation of the trance-inducing Hindu ceremonies performed in Bali and a retelling of one of the stories in the Ramayana, the Hindu epic poem. It uses no instruments; instead, about three dozen men chant in syncopated rhythm, the rise and fall of their intertwining voices creating the soundscape for the drama.
At the story's climax, there is a sudden eruption of fire as the chanters light up tufts of dried coconut husks. The orderliness of their rhythms disappears. The chanters scatter and daringly kick and play with the flaming husks while the audience (including me) tries not to panic.
But the chaos soon dissipates, as does most of the fire. The chanters settle back into rows, avoiding the dying embers. The a cappella rhythm picks up again. And the story itself also neatly resolves, with the forces of good triumphing over the forces of evil.
I left this beautiful performance feeling soothed, having been transported, albeit briefly, by the human voice into a fictional world — one in which good always prevails and magic can save the day.
See more Far-Flung Postcards from around the world:
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- Greetings from a sea village in Indonesia, where Indigenous fishing gets help from mangroves
- Greetings from Syria, where a postwar olive harvest offers a long-lost taste of home
- Greetings from an Islamabad park, a peaceful vantage point in an uncertain world
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