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MINNEAPOLIS, USA, September 9, 2004: In September, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden was the setting for an unusual cross-cultural collaboration. “Sethu,” or “Bridge,” employs 50 artists from India, Indonesia and Minnesota to re-tell the ancient Hindu story of Ramayana. It also includes the Indonesian art of “monkey chanting.” The Ramayana is an epic story that might be described as the Hindu equivalent of Homer’s Iliad. Ranee Ramaswamy, founder of Ragamala Music and Dance Theater in Minneapolis, says the Ramayana binds the Hindu world together. “The Ramayana is a very sacred text,” she says. “And it teaches the ideal way of life is to follow your duty. If everybody followed their duty, there would be no chaos in the world.” Several years ago, Ramaswamy saw the Ramayana performed for tourists on the island of Bali. She was entranced. “Every village in Bali has their own choruses,” she says. These are community members, who perform every night. And I saw it out by the temple, and it was like being in a dreamland.” She was so transported she enlisted the Walker Art Center to recreate the experience in the Twin Cities. Sethu is a multi-cultural fusion of performance styles, including Javanese and Balinese gamelan (percussion orchestra), and South Indian dance and music. If that isn’t exotic enough, there’s also monkey chanting. Monkeys play a key role in the Ramayana. A monkey army assists the hero Rama in regaining his kingdom. The art of monkey chanting or, “kecak,” (pronounced ‘keh-CHACK’) originated in Indonesia, which is why Ramaswamy recruited a small team of Balinese masters to teach it to Minnesota volunteers. Team leader Dewa Berata says kecak isn’t easy to learn because there are three different interlocking chants happening at the same time. Berata says that the hardest thing is not to say your part but how you listen to the other parts. Jim Hodges is one of several Minnesota volunteers who took up the kecak challenge. He says when people find out he’s learning the art of monkey chanting, they become extremely curious. “People at work say what’s it like doing this stuff? And I pull out this chart and start to do it and I feel like an idiot because it’s so out of context. But here, it just fits together, it just rocks.” The enthusiasm and joy Hodges has felt during rehearsals is what the performers want to make the audience feel. They believe the production is yet another example of how art can bridge cultures.

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