KIDUNG INTERAKTIF

This article investigates the role of mabebasan radio and television programmes in maintaining the life of traditional Balinese literature in the modern era. Mabebasan is the chanting and interpreting, line by line in highly stylised language, of traditional Balinese poetic genres such as gaguritan, kidung, and kakawin. In the past, mabebasan was usually performed to accompany religious rituals or as a form of entertainment for small numbers of mainly elderly male literary enthusiasts. Since the early 1990s, however, mabebasan has begun to appear as a new form of electronic media programme on radio and television. It is now commonly called ‘interactive kidung’ (kidung interaktif) as it was originally carried out interactively by phone. These programmes are broadcast almost daily by many radio stations throughout Bali and by the two main television stations. They attract participation from a wide audience, including women, who were previously excluded from this activity. This article argues that these relatively new media, through kidung interaktif, have not only arrested the declining art of textual chanting and interpreting but have turned it into one of the most significant factors in the revitalisation of traditional Balinese literature. *This article stems from a paper first presented at the 17th biennial conference of ASAA (Asian Studies Association of Australia) on ‘Is this the Asian Century?’ Melbourne, 1–3 July 2008. Research was funded by an Early Career Researcher Grant 2009 from the University of Queensland. I would like to thank Helen Creese, Adrian Vickers, Barbara Hatley, Pam Allen, and Brett Hough for their invaluable inputs to the earlier draft of the article. I am grateful to my colleagues in Bali including I Nengah Medera, I Nyoman Suarka and Windhu Sancaya for sharing information on the subject of this article. I would also like to thank IMW's two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions as well as Christopher Dames for editing my English. I take responsibility for any shortcomings.