MORE THAN JUST ‘NUMPANG NAMPANG’

Abstract

The singing and interpretation of religious and literary texts (makidung) has historically been a male dominated activity in Bali. In the last decade, however, since makidung programmes on radio and television have become popular, the participation of women in makidung activity has been substantial, with the number of female participants surpassing that of men. In this article, which forms part of a broader wide-ranging study of contemporary textual singing practices in Bali, we present some preliminary findings on the participation and motivation of women in textual singing programmes in the broadcast media. Women take part in on-air textual singing for a variety of personal, religious and social reasons. We show that, in spite of some elements of ‘self-promotion’ (numpang nampang) as participants seek to build their reputations as skilful practitioners, the participation and motivation of women in on-air interactive textual singing has been instrumental in fostering strong interest in Bali's textual heritage.