Kekelok / Beluk - Sundanese Extended Vocal Technique | Ka Satra, Pandeglang, Banten

One of the wildest extended vocal techniques in the world, the Sundanese vocal style of kekelok or beluk is demonstrated by Ka Satra near his home in Banten, the westernmost province on the island of Java. Sometimes described as a yodel, kekelok is much more extreme: male singers push their voices to vertiginous heights, flushing their larynx out with a concoction (gurah) made from the roots of a flowering plant and stabilizing their hollers by clutching their throats. Varying mouth shapes and tongue flutters function to highlight formants and overtones, just like in throat singing. In some parts of Java, these are field hollers, high calls used to sing across the swidden rice fields of the highlands. Here, kekelok/beluk is often brought out as a finale after big drumming competitions, ngadu bedug, that go on across the Banten countryside during the holy month of Ramadan. Ka Satra taught himself to sing when climbing the clove trees around his village and has gone on to win competitions (ngadu beluk) where men compete to outdo themselves with high, wailing cries. Recorded in Pandeglang, Banten, June 2023.