In the highlands of West Sumatra, the Indonesian province populated by people who identify as Minangkabau, the most prominent vocal genre is named "saluang jo dendang." This literally means "flute with song." Today, people often refer to it simply as "saluang," though technically there are many kinds of saluang found throughout the province. The particular flute used in this genre is called the "saluang darek" (the flute of the heartland). This is the flute they often mean unless it is other qualified. It is so popular it was celebrated in a statue at the provincial museum in Padang, Adityawarman Museum. 

Although the genre is called "saluang jo dendang," it should really be called "dendang jo saluang" because the dendang (songs) are at the heart of the genre. The same songs can theoretically be accompanied by another instrument,  the rabab darek (fiddle from the heartland), though it is exceedingly rare to encounter a rabab. I have never seen one in performance, only at a specially organized recording session. 

In keeping with local practice, we use the term "saluang" to refer to the genre, unless we mean a different kind of flute or the rabab. There are, however, a number of different saluang styles, determined in part by instrumentation and context. This site focuses largely on what has come to be called "saluang klasik," a term applied when contemporary pop derivatives arrived on the scene. 

Songs are identified by their title and the tune, not by their texts, which change from one performance to the next. Vocalists drawing on stock verses or creating them anew in response to the performance context and interactions with the audience members. There are hundreds of named songs in the repertoire and this site attempts to document them, along with different iterations of the same songs. 

The songs are activated in performances which are typically staged late at night. Back in 2004, performances lasted from 9 p.m. to almost 5 a.m.. By 2016, they typically started around 10 p.m. and lasted until 3 or 4 a.m. The line up at a performance typically involves one tukang saluang (flute player) and two to three padendang (vocalists). Depending on the context, there may be a janang (an emcee). The program for a particular performance is not predetermined in advance, but unfolds over the course of an evening, shaped by the locale and the requests of the audience. Attendees, for example, might ask for a particular song because it is from their home village (cf. Barendregt 2002; Yampolsky & Hanefi 1994). Performers are expected to be able to perform any song requested by audience members. The songs are categorized into different types of songs, including those called ratok (sad), Singgalang (a subcategory from region around Mt. Singgalang), gembira (happy), dan satangah tiang (half happy). The lyrics fit the theme or type of song, and depending on the lyrics chosen, a particular tune might fit one category or another. 

We suggest you begin by exploring the styles of saluang, other regional Minangkabau genres, and then start exploring the site at any of the entry points: songs, places, people, or performances.