Songs from the Thrice-Blooded Land - Ritual music of the Toraja (Sulawesi, Indonesia)

Songs from the Thrice-Blooded Land presentsan immense multidimensional and multimedia study of the ritual music of the Toraja people living in the mountains of South Sulawesi, Central Indonesia. The remarkably rich cultural heritage of the Toraja, now on the brink of vanishing, belongs to the ancient Austronesian cultural stratum established in Indonesia around 3000 BCE. Together with animal sacrifices, Toraja songs lie at the heart of a complet ritual cycle that allows the deceased to pass from the "side of the setting sun" (the realm of death) to the "side of the rising sun" (the realm of life) through a series of ritual actions, speeches, dances, and music.