Ketjak: The Monkey Chant

I found UbuWeb a few years ago and have continued to return to see what they’ve found and digitized. They house projects ranging from 1960’s performace art videos and sound pieces, to Dadaist films, to texts published by Fluxus, to Ethnopoetics. The latter is is said to emphasize “not only the written word but also how it can be illuminated through oral performance (spoken, sung, or chanted) and what a distant culture’s forms can teach us (and our poetics) linguistically (from A Brief Guide to Ethnopoetics).” Ethnopoetics is an outcropping of modernist thought regarding “primitive” art forms that emerged outside of the influence of the West.

While rooting around Ubu’s archives, there are a few examples that stick out:

Ketjak: The Ramayana Monkey Chant

• Ketjak: The Ramayana Monkey Chant / 20:11
  • Some of you may already be familiar with the Balinese chanting dramas (a.k.a. Ketjak, Ketjack, or Kecak) from watching Ron Fricke’s Baraka. Approximately 200 men in checkered pants sit in concentric circles frantically chanting while waving their arms over their heads. It is one of the more striking scenes in the film. The Ketjak is a retelling of part of a Hindu epic from the Ramayana. It’s your typical tale of love, kidnapping, and red monkey kings. The chanting of the syllable “tjak” is an imitation of the monkey hordes.

Inuit Throat Music

• Katajjaq / :59
  • According to Ubu, “Katadjakâ??, or throat-singing, is a form of vocal-verbal art common to many (but not all) Inuit (Eskimo) cultures. Banned by Christian priests for almost a hundred years despite its apparently secular nature, it is most commonly practiced by women â?? generally by two women facing off against each other in a form of friendly competition.” Not necessarily viewed as singing, it has been interpreted as a game akin to a staring contest where the singers show off their ability until they run our of breath, stumble, or start laughing. Originally the singers would stand so close to one another, they would use each others mouth cavities as resonating chambers. Katadjak’ also makes for a great pick-up line: “Hey, you wanna’ play some Inuit throat/breathing games with me?” (wink, wink).

Tuvan Throat Singing

• Kargiraa duet “Artii-Sayir” / 1:04
  • From Inuit throat singing to Tuvan. In the case of Tuvan throat singing, the singer uses his jaw, larynx, lips, and tongue to produce up to three distinct notes simultaneously. This is the same technique practiced by Tibetan monks (the Beastie Boys have sampled Tibetan throat singing on their albums). Whenever I get bored, I’ll attempt throat singing. I suck, but I recommend at least trying. In the documentary, Ghengis Blues, blues guitarist Paul Pena (who taught himself to throat sing) travels to Tuva to compete in a throat singing competition. He combines his blues guitar with throat singing to create some fantastic hybrid music.