The monkey chorus, or Ketjak chorus is a very famous part of Bali's traditional music. It is based on part of the Ramayana, which is an epic Hindu story. Our version doesn't sound like much, but it's actually quite difficult to do. Grade 4's chanting represents the sound of an army of monkeys who come to help Prince Rama in his battle against the evil King Ravana.

As part of our Belief Systems Unit of Inquiry, we have been looking at chanting and the role of the human voice in religious music from around the world: Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Muslim.
The Ketjak chorus is not particularly ancient in origin, nor is it of great religious significance, but it is a spectacular example of vocal chanting. It's difficult to do because the performers are all chanting the same word, tchak, but in different rhythms. In Bali, a real performance takes an enormous amount of practice, so it's no surprise that our version is somewhat simplified and not quite so fast.
See a real ketjak here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi8KRyY3x4Q 

[ Download/View ketjak1-jan08.mp3 ]