"Like King and Queen, Like Balinese and Sasak": Musical Narratives at the Lingsar Temple Festival in Lombok, Indonesia‪.‬

The preret [wooden oboe] player, Amaq Sari, takes his seat in the pavilion next to the altar where the postmenopausal women are preparing the materials needed for the offerings. Upon a signal from the priest, Sanusi, Sari begins "Turun Daun" ["Gently Descend"], the piece that invites deities to come down to earth. The music is shrill, penetrating, inescapable. The women then gather the materials -- fruits, Chinese coins, flowers, seeds -- and slowly create the kebon odeq, the two offerings which, according to Sanusi, unify dualities "like king and queen, male and female, and Balinese and Sasak." Amaq Sari's preret performance frames this event (see photo 1). He begins playing before any work on the offerings and must continue until the offerings are complete. When the women are finished, the eldest presents the two large kebon odeq to Sanusi. Participants will compete to carry these offerings, which are placed at the front of almost all processions, to receive blessings through physical contact. In between processions, the kebon odeq will be "seated" in the shrine beside the sacred spring-fed pool which is "guarded" by large eels.