The village of Cileunyi, located in the mountainous areas surrounding Bandung, West Java, is home to Reak, a spiritual trance ritual that has existed in the region for hundreds of years. Seni Reak Juarta Putra, an original community of the Reak ceremony, offers this year’s Le Guess Who? audience a rare glimpse into the ritual.
The traditional music style Reak is an art form that existed in Java for centuries and it is performed on skin drums (Dogdog) and special reed flutes (Tarompet) that are exchanged between musicians, while they simultaneously perform dances and move among the audience. As the musicians go into a trance of their own, visitors are invited to take part in the ritual to the fullest.
Besides its performative nature, the experience can’t really be defined as a ‘performance’, but rather as an ecstatic ritual or trance ceremony. In Java, Reak is performed for communal needs: villagers gather in hundreds to connect with the spirits and become possessed by music and dance, to ecstatic effect. A central role is reserved for the spirits of the ancestors and the spirit of the horse, a historical figure in the Javanese tradition.
Seni Reak Juarta Putra perform at Le Guess Who? 2024 on Thursday 7 November. Also performing at the festival are a.o. Asmâa Hamzaoui & Bnat Timbouktou, Cinna Peyghamy, Jaffar Hussain Randhawa, and many more.
