Artery. A podcast on art, authorship and anthropology · Artery. A podcast on art, authorship and anthropology

Mike Williams with Fatema Albastaki

·43 min·2 clips

Pencak relates to movement, while Silat is the use of that movement for self-defense.

1. Artery: Mike Williams with Fatema Al-Bastaki focuses on Pencak Silat, authorship, and anthropology through West Javanese martial arts practice. 2. Fatema Al-Bastaki is an independent researcher and Coriomundus master's graduate, and Mike Williams is a CELAT martial artist, teacher, and performer who founded West Kent CELAT Padipukan. 3. The episode asks how Pencak Silat becomes a movement system, a teaching lineage, and a performed art rather than a fixed technique set. 4. Mike says he moved from judo, karate, boxing, Muay Thai, and Eskrima into CELAT in 1992, and that he has studied it for over 30 years. 5. He describes Pencak as the movement practiced in jurus and ibingan, and Silat as the application of that movement for self-defense. 6. He says training aims at muscle memory and nervous-system response, so the body can use many applications without relying on rote techniques. 7. Mike names West Javanese styles including Cimonde, Chikalong, Sera, and Panglapur, and says Panglapur combines seven or eight styles. 8. He says the art has no black-belt endpoint, and that teachers keep practicing for decades, including one teacher who is 87. 9. Mike says one simple jurus can require about 180 or 190 repetitions across footwork patterns, and more complex jurus can contain 30, 40, 50, 60, or 100 movements. 10. He explains that teachers in West Java correct him, ask him to show movements again, and expect him to keep to the syllabus they gave him. 11. Mike says his teachers, including Gendin Raspuzi, Kang Chi Shep, Arif Rahman, Abra Aziz, and Aziz Eri, only grant teaching authority after long association and repeated demonstration. 12. He says he keeps two thick notebooks of learning notes from the last 20 to 25 years, and that accurate notes protect the art from being simplified for a Western audience. 13. He describes the Sil-Sila as a chain of named teachers back to the source, and says his own paper lineage goes back to the late 1600s. 14. Mike says Indonesians often ask first what style he practices and who his teacher and teacher's teacher are, because lineage is a guarantee of authenticity and accuracy. 15. He explains that Ibingan can be practiced in three beat sections: Pala Radhan or Tepak Dua, then Tepak Tilu, then Padung Dung. 16. He says a full Ibingan can last from about 2.5 minutes to nearly 12 minutes, with some performances using empty hands, Golok, or two Goloks. 17. Mike says some people dismiss Ibingan as dance, but he treats it as a pressured practice in timing, breathing, and technical precision. 18. He describes the collaboration with gamelan bands, master of ceremonies shouts, clapping audiences, and the way performers, musicians, and observers all shape the event together. 19. The conversation is reflective and practical, with Fatema asking methodical questions about teaching, performance, audience, and bodily learning. 20. Listeners interested in martial arts pedagogy, Indonesian performance, and lineage-heavy practice will get the most from it, while people wanting short, fast-paced stories may skip it.

As heard by us

A quiet study of martial knowledge as lineage and practice.

Artery follows a martial artist, teacher, and performer alongside a researcher of dance and movement, moving from practice to lineage and back again.

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You want a measured conversation about CELAT martial arts, teacher lineages, and how embodied skill gets passed on.

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