Solo percussionist and composer Glenn Kotche has achieved international fame with his experimental percussion-based music, collaborating with and composing for renowned contemporary music ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, Band on a Can All-Stars, So Percussion, and Eighth Blackbird. One of his most celebrated compositions in recent years is Monkey Chant, which combines acoustic and electronic elements in a solo multiple percussion setting. Written and premiered in 2006, Kotche was inspired to compose Monkey Chant after listening to original field recordings in Bali from the Nonesuch Explorer Series. Found in these recordings is the popular Balinese music and dance drama known as Kecak. Monkey Chant showcases, through percussion, the intricate vocal patterns and recounting of the Ramayana Epic featured in Balinese Kecak. This monograph serves as an informational performance guide for Monkey Chant that simplifies and resolves performance questions and issues. It provides a contextual setting for the work with a brief biography of Glenn Kotche, including his musical influences and inspiration for the composition. Balinese Kecak is examined as well as the Hindu Ramayana tale as it relates to Kotche’s composition, revealing the function for its compositional form. This document also clarifies and details preparatory procedures for collecting and building the unique instruments required, also detailing schematics for electronic audio equipment and setup. Lastly, there is an analysis of compositional style and form, offering optional solutions to performance obstacles.

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Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

This is a Sri-Lankan-oriented guide for college professors in teaching the Indian epic Ramayana, specifically featuring Sita, her poetic and historic connections to Sri Lanka, and teaching the Ramayana with a concentration on feminist/gender topics.

Le Kutiyattam du Kerala est un théâtre épique qui entremêle drame et récit et dont le jeu d’acteur, central, se caractérise par une constante distanciation. Cette hypothèse d’ordre esthétique – l’« épique » renvoie à Brecht – est démontrée dans une approche pluridisciplinaire, ethnoscénologique. Tout commence par une « première scène » et un enfant jouant un rôle d’Acteur, puis devenant acteur-conteur. Fil conducteur de la thèse, cette cérémonie contient « tout », tous les fondements et les ingrédients de l’esthétique épique, ensuite explicités par l’exemple du Ramayana, l’épopée que le Kutiyattam porte en scène, entre autres œuvres anciennes en sanskrit. Le Livre I traite des « compétences », et tout d’abord du je des concepteurs et maîtres du Kutiyattam, les Cakyar (première partie). Après cette ethnographie, il s’attache aux apprentissages sous-tendant la formation du corps-acteur, véritable enjeu en soi par son extrême codification (deuxième partie). Le Livre II, dédié aux « performances », étudie les textes en jeu (troisième partie) dans les cinq cycles performatifs ramaïques représentés dans les temples : cinq actes dramatiques en sanskrit et les longs récits en malayalam qui s’y enchâssent, consignés dans les manuels scéniques des praticiens. Ces textes forment un répertoire unifié présentant des structures d’emboîtements multiples où se combinent des principes d’arrêt du temps, de changement de perspective et de retour en arrière générateurs de distanciation. Le jeu scénique (quatrième partie) exalte cette dramaturgie : performeur aux multiples fonctions – personnage, conteur, danseur et surtout régisseur –, l’acteur jongle en maître avec ces principes lorsqu’il entre dans la « substitution », jeu de rôles aux saisissants effets de simultanéité. Les annexes (vol. 3) contiennent des analyses complémentaires (annexes I) et les textes (annexes II) et supports audiovisuels (3 DVD-DL avec livrets) nécessaires à l’étude des performances. La forme de la thèse et le montage des films reflètent la dramaturgie étudiée en procédant à des arrêts et à des extensions du temps. Note : Les titres, résumés et mots clés figurant sur version originale de la thèse portent une accentuation qui, pour des raisons techniques, n’a pas pu être reproduite ici. / Kutiyattam of Kerala is an epic theatre that interweaves drama and narrative, characterized by an acting technique wherein the performance of the central actor makes constant recourse to a distancing effect. This hypothesis – esthetic in nature while "epic" refers to Brecht – is demonstrated through a multidisciplinary, ethnoscenogical approach. Everything begins with a so-called "first performance" in which a child plays at being an Actor-character, and then becomes a storyteller. This ceremonial, which serves as a common thread throughout our study, contains "everything", i.e. all of the foundations and ingredients of the epic esthetic, which we go on to explain using the example of the Ramayana – one of the numerous ancient Sanskrit texts that Kutiyattam brings to the stage. Book I first proposes an ethnography of the Cakyar-masters of Kutiyattam (first part), emphasizing their unique skills. It then analyses the training that underpin the codification of the actor’s body, demonstrating the challenge of being an actor in itself, before even assuming a character/persona (second part). Book II is dedicated to the performances. It begins by examining the texts (third part) of the five Ramayana cycles that are performed in the temples: five acts in Sanskrit into which are interwoven narratives in Malayalam, written in performers’ acting manuals. Taken together, these texts form a unified repertoire characterised by iterative embedded structures that interlock the principles of stop-in-time, change in point of view and flash-back. The acting (fourth part) enhances this dramaturgy. The performer who has multiple functions – character, storyteller, dancer, and director – juggles these principles, especially when he enters into the "substitution" process, a role-play that engenders striking effects of simultaneity. The annexes (Book III) contain the additional analyses (annex I) and the texts (annex II) and audiovisual materials (3 DVD-DLs with booklets) related to the performances. The thesis itself, including the montage of the films, is structured in such a way that it reflects the dramaturgy of Kutiyattam, and notably its use of stop-in-time. Note : Titles, summaries and keywords appearing in the dissertation contain accents, which, because of technical reasons, could not be reproduced here.

Le Râmakîen est une des œuvres littéraires les plus importantes du royaume thaïlandais. Reprenant l’épopée indienne de Vâlmîki, le Râmâyana, il revêt une grande importance à la cour royale et sa popularité est considérable dans toute l’Asie du Sud-Est. Au Wat Phra Kèo, ses épisodes ont été intégralement illustrés sur le mur de la galerie. La thèse ne prend en compte que les parties figurant les dix incarnations de Viṣṇu et la naissance des dieux hindous et des personnages de l’épopée. Ces épisodes nous amènent au prélude du Râmakîen et l’étude s’arrête au moment du retour du roi Jânaka à Mithilâ. Il nous a fallu opérer des rapprochements entre ces peintures et le Tamrâ Thewarûp, les albums d’iconographie brahmanique, ainsi que le Tamrâ Thewapâng, recueil de légendes sur la naissance des dieux et les incarnations de Viṣṇu. Ces rapprochements étaient nécessaires car tous les épisodes représentés à Wat Phra Kèo ne sont pas racontés dans le Râmakîen tel que le relate la version du roi Râma I. L’omniprésence des scènes empruntées à l’épopée, en particulier celles des dix incarnations de Viṣṇu et des dieux hindous dans les temples importants de Bangkok fondés par les rois ou par leurs proches au début de la période de Ratanakosin, s’explique par la grande importance accordée par ces souverains à l’incarnation de Viṣṇu en Râma. Le royaume thaïlandais adopta par ailleurs les rites brahmaniques pratiqués à la cour khmère. Une récapitulation des témoignages iconographiques sur l’épopée au Cambodge, au Laos et au Myanmar complète notre étude. / The Râmakîen is one of the most important literary works in Thailand. Derived from the Indian epic of Vâlmîki, it became very important at the royal Thai court, and is one of the most popular texts in South-East Asia. At Wat Phra Kèo its episodes are represented on the four sides of the gallery. This thesis aims to study the parts illustrating the ten incarnations of Viṣṇu, the birth of the Hindu Gods and the main characters of the Indian epic. These episodes lead us through the Râmakîen’s prelude and our study stops at the moment of King Jânaka’s return to Mithilâ, his kingdom. The comparison between the paintings, the Tamrâ Thewarûp, the iconographic albums of Hindu Gods and the Tamrâ Thewapâng (the book of legends containing the god’s creation and the ten incarnations of Viṣṇu) proved necessary to understand some of the painted scenes which do not relate to the Râmakîen, as told in the version composed by King Râma I. The omnipresence of a number of scenes borrowed from the epic (particularly the ten incarnation scenes of Viṣṇu and the Hindu God images) in the temples founded by the kings or their families around Bangkok’s Grand Palace can be explained by the great importance attributed by the sovereigns to the Râma avatâra of Viṣṇu. Besides, the Thai Kingdom borrowed from the Khmer court their Hindu rituals. A review of the Râmâyana images in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar completes our study.

This feminist analysis addresses Lindsey Collen’s intertextual use of myth in The Rape of Sita and how her reformation of the parodied texts becomes a resistance to patriarchy. Collen’s examination of possible counteractions against patriarchy is analysed and it is determined whether or not she posits writing, especially demythologization, as the best resistance to patriarchal discourse. Also, her assertion that transformation and a unity of the sexes are needed to bring about equality is studied. The methodology used is qualitative and inductive. The sources are examined and interpreted through close-reading strategies which reveal the complexities of the text and the way in which Collen subverts myth. Classical and Hindu myths and other texts, such as T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, are re-read and re-examined to investigate to what extent they have challenged or championed patriarchal ideology, through which it is hoped that a greater understanding of the way in which mythology contributes to attitudes to rape is gained. Three other texts dealing with rape are also studied, in order to better place Collen’s novel in context of the genre. Primarily, feminist criticism, particularly with an African feminist viewpoint, is used. However, because a conflation of post-colonial and postmodern approaches is embedded within feminism, these concepts are dealt with also. Theorists drawn upon include Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, Mircea Eliade and Margaret Atwood. / Dissertation (MA (English))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / English / MA / unrestricted