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Song in the Sumatran Highlands

Introduction to Performances

Context

When organizers of an event choose saluang for their celebration they are choosing one musical genre out of a number of other choices of regional Minangkabau genres. The choice of saluang is guided in part by location, in part by an investment in a more "traditional" style that is strongly connected with core Minangkabau values, and in part by the options appropriate for night time entertainment. In the darek, saluang is probably the most popular regional style for entertainment at night. When people in the rantau, especially those further from the Minang homeland, choose saluang they are making a statement about how they connect with their Minangkabau identity. People who choose saluang klasik rather than more popular styles, like saluang orgen or orgen, or religious styles, like dikia rabano or salawat dulang, are making a statement about their personal values and stylistic preferences, or they are prioritizing the desires and needs of local community, respected guests, and desired audience.

The contexts for saluang performance are myriad, ranging from life-cycle celebrations like weddings to private listening parties, institutional events, or fundraisers. Weddings are a key context. There are a couple of specially commissioned recording sessions included in the list of performances here. They are specialized contexts, where standard conventions of performances, like time frame, stage set up, and so on do not hold true. But I list them because I think it is interesting to see what songs were performed and how long they lasted.

Time Frame

Saluang is a night music.

In 2003-4, performances would start around 9p.m. and last until about 4a.m.
In 2015-16, performances would start around 10p.m. and last until 3a.m.
- there has been an increasing shift to performances start later, finishing earlier, and collectively lasting shorter

Style

Most organizers interested in hosting a saluang performance choose saluang klasik, but they might choose a mix of styles if they want to project a sense of cosmopolitanism and/or display their wealth.

Line Up

Padendang: most often 2, occasionally 3, rarely more
Tukang Saluang: usually just one
Tukang Rabab: historically might be included, but I have never seen one present
Janang: optional, depending on the context. They are never present at weddings and always present at functions requiring the collection of money.

Physical Space

Most typically saluang performances happen outside on make-shift, covered open-air stages, like the one seen above. Sometimes the stage is on the front porch of a house, like the performance at Harau. Seats may or may not be provided for guests, depending on the occasion and the host's budget. More often that not, there are chairs or at least mats on the ground or floor.

Advertising of events

Events are primarily advertised by word of mouth, whether that be within the local community or the community of saluang lovers. Typically, there is no official billing, public announcement in print, or electronic list. Sometimes a local community event, especially those designed as fundraisers, will issue a printed announcement that is distributed locally, and back in 2003-04, people would send in notice of saluang performances to be read aloud at Bagurau di Udaro or by the janang at an event. Otherwise, knowledge of a performance is largely circulated amongst individuals, who pass on news of who is singing where (generally a very generic description, like a nagari, not a specific street address). The most devoted fans have the cell phone numbers of their favorite singers and will text for news of performances, either in advance or during the course of an evening.

Audience

Saluang performances are considered open events, even those held in the yards of private homes. Anyone is welcome to attend and anyone who shows up is welcomed, even if they have absolutely no personal connection with the hosts of an event or the hosting community. The audience very much ranges depending on context, location, and relative appeal of the style and singers. At a malam masak, the evening of cooking before the main celebration, saluang is organized to give samangek (enthusiasm) to those preparing the food, though they are too busy to sit, watch, and listen. Not even the wedding hosts or happy couple are present--rather the event contributes to the festivities of the occasion, to mark the celebration, and is primarily design for the entertainment of guests. These guests will include first and foremost the local community; neighbors, kin, and other people living nearby. Then audiences are constituted by the pacandu, devotees of the genre or particular singers, who are willing to travel for the performance. The best singers will encourage fans to travel on the back of a motorbike for a couple of hours, one way, to reach the destination. Many of the regular pagurau on the circuit have stage names. Some belong to a group that have a name and travel together.

Requests

Whether or not pagurau can make requests and how they are conveyed to the performers depends on the context. At weddings and circumcisions, where a host has contracted the performers for the duration of the evening, pagurau may make their requests discreetly, whispering them to the performers on stage or handing them a small slip of paper. The only request permissible is a particular song. Typically, it is not clear who made the request nor why, but the requester will know that his request has been honored when the singers deliver the song. If a song has already been performed, perhaps before the requester appeared, then the singers might respond verbally and say "already," i.e. it has already been performed. I noticed that people were verbally delivering their requests later at night or over the years, speaking to a shift in values.

At events designed as fundraisers or bagurau lapiak where singers are working for tips, the nature of requests is very different. Here, pagurau pay for the privilege of making requests, usually a nominal amount, and a janang is included to mediate the requests. In 2003-04, the nominal fee was 5,000-10,000 rupiah. In 2015-16, 10,000 rupiah (less than $1 USD) was the standard. The most common request was for a specific song or extension of a song, but I have also heard requests for the extension of an ornament, response to a particular pantun, asking for personal information about a singer, asking a singer to move to provide a better view or to take off her jacket.

Interactions

The nature of the interactions between performers and audiences depends on the time frame and the context. Historically, there was virtually none, but that has changed over the years, so that even at weddings, I have seen singers converse with specific members of the audience over the course of the evening and/or address them through song texts.

This page is referenced by:

Repertoire Songs are the central musical unit around which performances are oriented. There might be anywhere from thirty to fifty songs performed in one evening. Many contexts for performance allow for attendees to request specific songs (see Introduction to Performances for more details). Performers, therefore, need to be familiar with the songs in the repertoire (the body of songs attached to the genre), but just how many songs and which songs are included in that repertoire is debatable and fluid. The "core repertoire" (defined here loosely as those songs I tracked at performances) in 2016 was not the same as those I tracked in 2004, nor surely the same as the 1980s, as suggested by the Mardjani et al. research report. The songs that performers know and that attendees request have shifted over the years, though the requests also shift based on place: where performances happen and the places from which attendees at those performances come. The "Repertoire" and "Interpretation" pages for each performance reflect the specific repertoire at each performance. For example, the performance in Suayan: repertoire and interpretation.

Establishing a precise number of songs in the repertoire is next to impossible as the tradition is not static and there is regional variation. The estimates of the number of songs vary greatly. When I spoke with Mak Sawir back in January 2004, he estimated 860 songs (casual conversation, January 26, 2004, coffeeshop in Bukittinggi). When I asked Te E in July 2016, she furnished a list of 227 songs that she made (interview with Te E, Payokumbuah, July 25, 2016). Mak Lenggang, a full time professor at Institut Seni Indonesia and part-time saluang player, told me once there were hundreds of songs, 150 of which were Singgalang (interview/ casual conversation, Padang Panjang, July 27, 2015). My favorite answer to this question--"too many to count"-- was from Mila (interview, Payokumbuah, July 26, 2016). These widely varying numbers, then, reveal differences in the experiences of performers: how many years they have been active, who they studied and performed with, and in what places they lived and mostly performed. I would expect Mak Sawir, then at the height of his career, to know the most, and a more junior singer to know considerably fewer. I would expect a padendang active mostly in Agam to have mastered that regional repertoire more than the repertoire associated with Tanah Data. The very best singers--such as Mak Sawir and Te E--will know the most songs, at least from the saluang klasik repertoire. It is incumbent on professionals to be as familiar with as many songs as possible because audience members can request any number of songs. Usually, one of the several padendang sitting on a stage will know the song. Of course, the tukang saluang also needs to know it as the saluang always begins a song. Only rarely have I see experienced performers fumble, struggling to remember a tune.

The only performer who has so far shared a list of songs with me is Te E. When I interviewed Syamsimar in 2004, she had a list of 247 songs (which excluded new imports), though I was not able to save a copy of this list (interview with Syamsimar, Pariangan, September 24, 2004). What is interesting is who has made lists and why they did so. Here we have tried to track and count those songs encountered, whether in live performance, Te E's list, or the list produced in Mardjani et al.'s research report. For the latter, however, it does not replicate all 385 songs, because the report was on Dendang Minangkabau broadly speaking and not just the repertoire associated with saluang. I decided to extract all those titles that were clearly affiliated with the darek. I excluded those that had no indication of region or those that were affiliated with the rantau, as they are affiliated with other musical traditions and the songs may not have made their way into saluang repertoire. Also excluded from this list are the titles to songs encountered only on commercial recordings in my possession. That would add another 30 or so titles to the list.

In the following pages, we present different ways of organizing the repertoire, along with the repertoire that was represented at performances Jennifer witnessed.