For silent Indonesian movie Samsara, modern sounds meet traditional Balinese music
Garin Nugroho, the director of Samsara, reveals how his black-and-white film marries traditional and contemporary Indonesian artists
In early August, acclaimed Indonesian film director Garin Nugroho visited Hong Kong’s M+ museum for a screening of his latest work, Samsara, a black-and-white silent film accompanied by live gamelan music and vocalists.
Although the original film score calls for a large ensemble – 20 gamelan players and multiple vocalists – the Hong Kong performance featured four live musicians: Wayan Sudirana and Kasimyn, who created the music, and vocalists Dinar Rizkianti and Gusti Putu Sudriana.
Following the screening, Garin and the musicians shared their experiences of the challenging multidisciplinary collaboration, which brought together traditional and contemporary Indonesian artists and united their distinct skills in an unprecedented artistic endeavour.
“Samsara” refers to the Hindu-Buddhist concept of cyclical rebirth. The film explores mysticism, desire, sacrifice and karma through the story of a poor man in Bali who makes a pact with the mythical Monkey King to marry a woman from a wealthy family. The decision eventually leads to chaos and death.
This narrative is conveyed through striking visuals of traditional Balinese village life, costumes and dances, the latter of which are characterised by intricate hand and eye movements.