Behind The Mask

We checked out of our hotel and moved to our new hotel in Ubud, The Maya Ubud hotel. It is located on a very large property in Ubud. The grounds are magnificent.

We then left the hotel and went to a master mask maker: Ida Bagus Anom. He is the third generation of mask makers in his family. Masks are very important in Balinese culture and are worn by dancers for both religious and secular dances. He carves them from wood and has apprentices learning from him. They are then painted with many layers of paint. He is also a dancer and believes that you must understand dance, music and the story to be able to carve a mask and let it come to life. He is a very warm and funny person as he explains how the masks are made.

He then brought in men to perform some Kecak singing. This is the Monkey music we have heard before. But this time he explained how the harmony works. Basically one person or group is singing a single note repeatedly. Another group is singing 2 notes, a 3 group 5 notes and another group 6 notes. They are all making different sounds at different intervals but when sung properly the harmony is amazing. His demonstration really put the music in perspective.

We purchased two masks one of Durga (Kali) the other of Indra who has thousands of eyes. It looked great on Cathy but will really wind up on our wall.
From there we went to see the work of a wood carver. No one bought anything, but the compound the extended family lived in was beautiful. The Balinese live in extended families in compounds. There are many individual small buildings in the compound, but there is always a temple that can be small or elaborate, a public space and a kitchen.

We returned to the hotel, I had a massage and then we headed out to a very fancy restaurant for a delicious French inspired dinner of all things. The setting outdoors was beautiful in the lush garden. It is also hot and humid late at night.