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Physicalising the spirit-dimension by song, dance and ‘fakery’ in indigenous mainland Riau, Indonesia

Physicalising the spirit-dimension by song, dance and ‘fakery’ in indigenous mainland Riau, Indonesia
Physicalising the spirit-dimension by song, dance and ‘fakery’ in indigenous mainland Riau, Indonesia
The Orang Sakai of Mainland Riau, on the east coast of Sumatra, have an elaborate performing art genre through which they physicalise the unseen spirit-dimension in a shamanic ritual called dikei. Their shamanic ritual utilises songs, dance as well as comedy. This article elaborates on how songs and dance visualise the unseen beings and provides detailed examples of Sakai performances during which shamans ‘dance with’ or ‘move with’ the spirits. A second theme of the article is the question of the relationship between the meaning of ‘performance’ and fakery, and suggests that there are three types of performed fakery, two of which are accepted as valid and necessary performances which technically contribute to the performance of medicine and the physicalisation of spirit presence.
ritual, shamanism, healing, ritual aesthetics, animism, performance, animal imagery
368-390
Porath, Nathan
3ec6e51c-ceb8-46e2-8fd0-71a416f0f095
Porath, Nathan
3ec6e51c-ceb8-46e2-8fd0-71a416f0f095

Porath, Nathan (2015) Physicalising the spirit-dimension by song, dance and ‘fakery’ in indigenous mainland Riau, Indonesia. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 46 (3), 368-390. (doi:10.1017/S0022463415000302).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The Orang Sakai of Mainland Riau, on the east coast of Sumatra, have an elaborate performing art genre through which they physicalise the unseen spirit-dimension in a shamanic ritual called dikei. Their shamanic ritual utilises songs, dance as well as comedy. This article elaborates on how songs and dance visualise the unseen beings and provides detailed examples of Sakai performances during which shamans ‘dance with’ or ‘move with’ the spirits. A second theme of the article is the question of the relationship between the meaning of ‘performance’ and fakery, and suggests that there are three types of performed fakery, two of which are accepted as valid and necessary performances which technically contribute to the performance of medicine and the physicalisation of spirit presence.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 14 September 2015
Published date: 1 October 2015
Keywords: ritual, shamanism, healing, ritual aesthetics, animism, performance, animal imagery

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 439308
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/439308
PURE UUID: 4e27618b-3656-4711-90d1-9686a8a41ba9

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Date deposited: 08 Apr 2020 16:32
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:26

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