The Deadliest Moves

The midnight air on Sago Hill in Solok regency, West Sumatra, was chilling to the bone. Most people in Talang Babungo village below were asleep. But several local masters of silek-the traditional martial art of the Minangkabau people, who are concentrated in West Sumatra-sat in a circle in the arena, paying no mind to the cold. An old tire burned, its flames illuminating the night.

While most participants of the 2014 Minangkabau Silek Camp were too exhausted to stay up, some lovers of silek tuo (old silek) had remained awake for a rare display of silek kurambik, a style whose name refers to the curved kurambit knife. Only three gurus in Talang Babungo still have a command of it.