The Fighting Art of Pencak Silat and its Music

Book excerpt: Fighting arts have their own beauty, internal philosophy, and are connected to cultural worlds in meaningful and important ways. Combining approaches from ethnomusicology, ethnochoreology, performance theory and anthropology, the distinguishing feature of this book is that it highlights the centrality of the pluripotent art form of pencak silat among Southeast Asian arts and its importance to a network of traditional and modern performing arts in Southeast Asia and beyond. By doing so, important layers of local concepts on performing arts, ethics, society, spirituality, and personal life conduct are de-mystified. With a distinct change in the way we view Southeast Asia, this book provides a wealth of information about a complex of performing arts related to the so-called 'world of silat'. An ancillary media companion website (www.bits4culture.org/pencaksilatandmusic/) is part of this work. Login authorisation information is included in the book. Contributors include: Bussakorn Binson, Jean-Marc de Grave, Gisa Jähnichen, Margaret Kartomi, Zahara Kamal, Indija Mahjoeddin, Ako Mashino, Paul H. Mason, Uwe U. Paetzold, Kirstin Pauka, Henry Spiller and Sean Williams.