Bali 1928, vol. V – Barong Landung HD

This silent film depicts a barong landung ‘a pair of giant human effigies’ performance comprising of Jero Gede (male, black faced) and Jero Luh (female, white faced). This silent film was recorded by Miguel Covarrubias circa 1930-1934. We sincerely thank Rocio Sagaon Vinaver, Djahel Vinaver and José G. Benitez Muro for providing this film excerpt and giving permission to Edward Herbst, Arbiter of Cultural Traditions, and STMIK STIKOM Bali to use, publish and disseminate this and other films to a wider audience. This film is the tenth of 11 film excerpts that are contained in the CD/DVD Bali 1928, vol. V: Vocal Music in Dance Dramas: Jangér, Arja, Topéng & Cepung, which is published in Indonesia by STIKOM Bali. The DVD titled “Panorama, Tari, Tabuh dan Nyanyian Bali Tahun 1930an” (Scenes, Dance, Music and Songs of Bali) include film excerpts relating to geguntangan, jangér, and barong landung. It also contains rare footage of Jane Belo in Surabaya, dance presentation by Walter Spies and Katharane Mershon, and Rosa Covarrubias dressing up in the traditional Balinese attire. This Bali 1928 volume is also accompanied by a CD containing 24 tracks featuring three dance drama genres of jangér, arja and topéng that emerged during the early 20th century and continued innovating for decades. The CD feature performances by the ensembles of Kedaton, Abian Timbul, Sésétan, Belaluan, Kaliungu & Lombok that were recorded for the first time in Bali and Lombok in the year 1928. Cepung Lombok’s Sasak (Islamic) version of Balinese cakepung fits into all this creative activity as an inspiration in the development of jangér as well as the source of many musical innovations made by Ida Boda as topéng singer and dramaturg – which continue to this day as the basic elements of topéng. The CD also contains a PDF essay titled “Vocal Music in Dance Dramas: Jangér, Arja, Topéng & Cepung” written by Edward Herbst, based on years of research. Audio restoration from the original 78 rpm records was done by Allan Evans of Arbiter of Cultural Traditions in New York. Bali1928.net is the official channel of the Bali 1928 Project, "Restoration, Dissemination and Repatriation of the Earliest Music Recordings and Films in Bali" that is a collaborative effort involving Edward Herbst as project coordinator, ethnomusicologist and principal investigator, with Arbiter of Cultural Traditions in New York, directed by Allan Evans, and STIKOM Bali, coordinated by Marlowe Makaradhwaja, in Indonesia. Supported by The Research Foundation of CUNY with a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this project will result in five volumes of CDs, DVDs, and cassettes in Indonesia and the U.S.A., as well as providing archival audio-visual-text resources online. The project has also benefited from support by The Ford Foundation, The Asian Cultural Council, U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program, AMINEF-Jakarta, Ray Noren, The Bali Purnati Center for the Arts, and STIKOM Bali. Visit our websites at www