Odalan of Tanjung Bungka. Music and Trance in a Balinese village

This essay comments and reflects on the publication of a re-mastered version of a documentary video made in 1997 by Giuseppe Confessa, Vito Di Bernardi and Giovanni Giuriati on a religious festival that takes place in a Balinese village. In his part of the text Vito Di Bernardi presents his research, that articulates on three levels (mythic-religious, psychologic-theatrical, sociological). Based on his longstanding inquiry on rite and theatre in Java and Bali, he analyzes the collective and individual processes of building a sacred sphere for the ceremony, and the circularity between dance/theatre and possession. In his part, Giovanni Giuriati presents the different sonic aspects of the rite and highlights how music can play a molteplicity of functions in relation to rite and possession.