Raja Kirik
(Indonesia)

Raja Kirik is a music, performance and research project by Yennu Ariendra and J. Mo'ong Santoso Pribadi. It is a venture through the history and present of folk trance dances such as reog, jaranan, and jathilan, that are practiced to this day in east and central Java, Indonesia. The dances draw on magic, shamanism, and animism as well as captivating music and storytelling to explore a history that is at times dark, chaotic, violent, and unjust. Such traditions have long served the people and their efforts at cultural resistance, and are still relevant in political struggles today.

The result of extensive artistic research into the island’s history, Raja Kirik considers the violence, oppression, and resistance that has shaped Java. At the time of Dutch colonialism, trance dances served the Javanese as an expression of their ardent desire for freedom and their rejection of colonial rule. Ariendra and Pribadi show how music, dance, and ritual still provide narrative means today to assert oneself against foreign rule and violence.