At this time, the performing arts in the villages were all associated with the cycle of rice cultivation.
When dry land rice farming gave way to the cultivation of rice in sawah (irrigated fields), beluk singing came to have another function. When darkness fell, beluk singing was a way of helping farmers to link up with others who were also making their way home for the night. According to oral tradition, the high-pitched tones of beluk derived from the need to be heard over long distances, as farmers advised one another of their presence in distant fields. Originally, beluk functioned as a form of communication between farmers working in isolated patches of dry rice fields in the mountains and valleys of the Sundanese homelands. Performed as part of the Tasikmalaya festival for a young audience seated on chairs in a public meeting hall, it was a symbolic enactment of Sundanese identity, an expression of the new political meaning being attached to traditional cultural forms in contemporary West Java. In the distant past, this type of beluk was sung in the fields as an accompaniment to the rhythms of rice cultivation.
The performers came from the village of Cikeusal outside Tasikmalaya, and they were demonstrating an ancient form of beluk, a traditional vocal art that once used to be heard all over the Sundanese hinterlands of West Java. There were no lyrics as such, just an exchange of high-pitched voices. But after the night time Isya prayers were said, a group of older performers, dressed simply in black shirts and headbands, took to the stage and began singing to the accompaniment of three percussion instruments.
Most of the performers were young, and their performances were contemporary in style. They were forced inside, abandoning the outdoor stage, but their performances went on, a culmination of the seminars, exhibitions and street parade that had enlivened the two-day festival in the West Javanese city of Tasikmalaya. The rain failed to dampen the spirits of the local artists taking part in the New Year celebration. Neneng Lahpan Performing beluk as part of 2013 New Year celebrations in Tasikmalaya Iip Yahya
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