World Music, World Literature

The two major Hindu epics (Mahabharata and Ramayana) have an unparalleled influence on world music, and are very much alive in the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia. The dance dramas of Java and Bali draw heavily on the Ramayana, and the all-night shadow plays of Java usually take stories from the Mahabharata.

Silat is the main Indonesian martial art and its movements often closely resemble the classical dances of those islands. Some of the Yorkshire Silat Academy will join us in order to demonstrate some of the moves. The rest will be invited to provide an impromptu musical accompaniment, using their voices. The workshop will focus on chant, especially the Balinese kecak chorus used to accompany dance dramas from the Ramayana. Kecak uses neither words nor pitches so no one need be a trained singer. A good sense of rhythm and a lack of inhibition are what matter most!

A Writers at York event.  Writers at York offers a lively programme of public readings and workshops, and aims to celebrate and explore the work of emerging and established contemporary writers.

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