Immolation and Leprechauns

When we got back to Nick's, I took a shower, checked out, and headed back to the Perama tours terminal in Ubud and caught a bus back to Sanur. The bus was only a few minutes late, and mostly empty. Halfway to Sanur we were stopped by a crowd of people in the street. It didn't take long to the tall form of a cremation tower.

The Balinese cremate their dead, and depending on your importance within the society, you get a higher and higher tower, with the upper crust having almost a dozen tiers and towers that climb eight or twelve meters in the air. Such a tower is bound to a network of hundreds of bamboo poles in a checkerboard pattern, and dozens of men climb into the squares created by this pattern and heft the whole tower onto their shoulders, carrying it to its final location where it will be immolated.

I climbed out of the bus, initially I had planned only to watch, feeling it disrespectful to photograph what was--in essence--a coffin, though my fellow bus riders immediately grabbed cameras and moved in for a better shot. Then I got to thinking about it, and realized that I was being ridiculous. They had stopped all traffic on a public road to have this procession. I know of no form or ceremony for death more public than this--a ceremony whereby the body and the tower are paraded through town for all to see. In this culture, with a firm belief in reincarnation, death is publicly celebrated as the end--and beginning--of life. So I took a picture to give you an idea of what the tower looks like, and hopefully give you some sense of the sombre surrrealism of a funeral parade simply taking over a public thoroughfare. I suppose our traditions dictate similar behaviour, as any respectful American will usually pull over for a funeral procession, but the difference is that it's purely optional, unless the funeral has a police escort. Here, however, the entire road is simply a throng of bodies and there is no choice about whether or not your are stopping. Also the tower is a tiny bit more eye catching then a hearse.

When I got back to Sanur, I checked back in at Semawang Beach Hotel. The owner remembered me immediately and gave me a room right near the wifi, which meant I could make Skype calls from my room. I set down my things, read and wrote for all afternoon, and finally went out to dinner around 8.

And that's how I discovered the Leprechauns.

The Leprechauns are an all-Indonesian acoustic band that play Irish folk music. If that sounds hilarious to you, you have the right of it. They're great musicians, and their acoustic work is fantastic. They were also great fun, laughing and joking with customers between songs and constantly asking for requests. They played primarily Irish music but also broke into a little American pop and even played Deliverance's Dueling Banjos, with the lead being played by their Banjo player, and their flute player performing the chase. It took no mean skill, and they pulled it off quite well. I managed to video a couple of their songs, sorry about the low quality of the audio.


Here's an acoustic one. Not bad, right?

Now listen to them play the classic ballad "Molly Malone" often known as "Cockles and Muscles". I've been listening to this song since I was small. My parents played a wide variety of music, and it's an old favourite that usually makes my skin crawl. The heavy Indonesian accent and slow rhythm really just mangled this one to hell though. The crowd sang along, and we all loved it, but for me at least the enjoyment was the same pleasure I derive from terrible B grade movies--the enjoyment of something so bad it's good.



I wish I could have gotten you a recording of their complete destruction of "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" but they were halfway through it when I sat down.

I had a Guinness and the world's best Ham Sandwich on a toasted baguette for dinner, but the perception of quality may have been due to the incredible amount of energy I'd burned in the morning climb. Still, it was a fun night overall.