bali arts festival

In July 2006, Lila Cita, accompanied by Ni Madé Pujawati & Melanie Knowles of Lila Bhawa, went to Bali to perform at the prestigious Pesta Kesenian Bali (Bali Arts Festival) in Denpasar and went on to give performances at GEOKS (Centre for Creative Arts) in Singapadu and Sanggar Cendana in Batubulan. Being the first British group to participate in the PKB, the Balinese press gave us a lot of coverage during our tour. For readers of Bahasa Indonesia, here are two articles from the BALI POST. (Both in Bahasa Indonesia.)
Lila Cita on Bali Post
Paula Friar on Bali Post Online

Here are some exclusive extracts from "Lila Cita at the Bali Arts Festival" written by our member Margaret Coldiron for Seleh Notes. The magazine has since been merged into the website, UK Gamelan Network, but the back issues are still available through Seleh Notes website.

"Lila Cita at the Bali Arts Festival"

'Sound Check'
We arrived at the Wantilan stage at 3:00 p.m. to do a sound-check and brief rehearsal feeling nervous and excited. What we had not realised was that we would have an audience. As we filed in to the building a small group of curious festival-goers had already gathered at the entrance to the hall, but this soon grew to about 50-60 people. Some sat down in the auditorium, some milled about the entrance, all of them were looking at us. We were on trial! Even our sound-check was going to have to be perfect! This was, very possibly, the most frightening 'performance' of any that we gave in Bali. If we were no good, the word would get around immediately and maybe nobody but a few western friends would turn up for the performance. We only 'topped and tailed' our pieces, but our little audience got bigger and bigger and at the end, to our delight, they applauded. We'd passed the test!



'The Performance'
The venue was packed with people. There was a sprinkling of about 10 to 15 westerners but, apart from those, the small concrete auditorium was completely filled with what seemed like a million Balinese of all ages. It was utterly thrilling. There was a palpable sense of anticipation in the air.

Balinese audiences are not like the English; they do not sit quietly, and they don't reserve judgement. When struck up the first notes of Nye Parry's 'Lila Cita' there was a burst of applause, and we knew that the audience was with us. They listened intently to determine the crispness of the kotekan and talked among themselves during the 'boring bits' (any moments that the music was slow and quiet). The audience chattered away throughout the performances, yet they were always attentive, receptive and very, very, responsive.


The photo is courtesy of baliwww.com - Bali Indonesia Blog Travel Guide