Blog

All though officially not allowed in Bali, village communities can get a permission for cock fights on special occasions and holidays. You can spot them easily whenever a bunch of excited guys are squared around a tiny bamboo surrounded “arena”. The imagination of a cock fight might sound harmless since chicken pose no thread to us, but in reality they are more brutal than the highest awarded heavy weight boxing fight. The reason is obvious after the first minute: this is a fight for life and death. The death of one cock is not only regular but also highly expected. To increase the odds for death, the fighters are being armed with razor sharp knifes tied to their legs, which they are using as a secondary weapon next to their mouth. As if this is not enough, they are being put together in a tiny cage in case there is no satisfying result in the open arena. Taking pictures is next to impossible. As soon as the fighting starts, there is a pushing and a pulling for the best point of view, and only the cock owners and judges are allow inside the arena. But nobody really needs to be that close. If highly aggressive animals fly around when caught in a fight, they can not only cause severe injuries to them selfs, but everything which comes into their way.

My favorite moments were those, when two cocks simply refused to fight. It doesn’t happen that much, but occasionally you can witness that the brave gladiators turn into chicken and desperately try to ignore each other by picking grass and looking the other way. If they still don’t want to fight after several attempts of bringing them together, the fight is being called off. The disappointment of the crowd doesn’t last long. The next pair in line is already prepared, and shortly after, they face each other in close distance and spread the feathers surrounded around their necks. And after observing the expression on their faces, you can be sure that these ones are literally dying for a decision.

“Nyepi” is a day of silence, meditation and self-reflection in the Hindu believe system. It is celebrated as a national holiday in Indonesia and in Bali it is practiced to the extend that all public activities are strictly forbidden for exactly 24 hours. The streets are empty, the lights are low and the noises reduced to sounds created by anything other than humans. It doesn’t matter if you are a Hindu or not, a local or a tourist, you can not leave your house or hotel but only in case of an emergency. In the night time it is so dark, that the night sky, revealed in the midnight hours, is probably one of the most amazing natural appearances you can observe.

The eve of  ”Nyepi” is celebrated with the “Ngrupuk” parade, also called “Ogoh-Ogoh”, the name for demons of the Balinese mythology. The village communities build huge statues weeks before this day, showing the Balinese art of sculpting at it’s best. Colorful monsters, up to 4 meters high, standing on a grid of bamboo and carried around by members of the village it is contributed by. The parade is usually followed by orchestral music and the group carrying the “Ogoh-Ogoh” are not simply walking around, but lifting and turning the statue in fast movements to make it appear more alive. Shouting and singing is also part of this powerful performance.

The purpose of the “Ogoh-ogohs” is the purification of nature, which is thought to be polluted by the activities of humans. The parade usually ends by burning the statues in a cemetery, but in some cases they are kept in the village for everybody to see or in some cases even offered for sale.

I haven’t expected a punk scene in Bali, all though you can find a great variety of musical influences, spread all over the islands vivid night life. But there is a scene and it doesn’t really surprise me. I learned this after receiving an email from a movie making friend of mine, who asked me if i could join him to a concert with a couple of bands playing, including “Speichelbrois”, a band from Germany. He wrote me that he was accompanying them to film their Asian tour and that it would be great to have some additional photos of the event. The concert was held in the TWICE PIZZA CLUB, on Jl. Poppies Lane II 46, Kuta.

I haven’t known the club before and i like it right away. Probably because of the black and white checkerboard floor, which immediately pops into my attention. Clearly not the only reason to enjoy this club. The light is dimmed down to degree where you still recognize the refusal for perfectionism and in combination with it’s small size this place feels as comfortable as my best friends first apartment.

The music is fast an loud and the audiences response is not less energetic. Shortly after the first guitar riffs explode out the speakers, the young, mostly balinese teenagers start ecstatically pushing each other around or banging their heads to the melodies they are playing on their air guitars. There is not really something like a stage, it is more like the band is playing on the dance floor. But surprisingly no one of the pushed around guys bumps into the playing band. They only shout the lyrics into one of the microphones whenever they’ve been pushed closed to it.

Our german friends are astonished how the local band keeps the spirit alive, as for themselves, you can clearly see how the heat is not in their favor. But they forget about it the moment their instruments are packed out and they start the show. “Speichelbrois” is playing together for 18 years now and for them, punk is the only life style imaginable. It doesn’t matter if the crowd is big or small, foreign or known to them, tonight punk is the language which builds the bridge between cultures and ages, as music always does.