This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

Song in the Sumatran Highlands

Genre: Indang

Indang is a Minangkabau vocal genre with percussion accompaniment. The genre has Islamic associations, relevant to the textual themes. The vocals are accompanied by frame drums and elaborate, choreographed movement of the seated performers. There are distinct versions in Pariaman and Solok, though the former is more well-known and is the variant referenced when not otherwise qualified.

This page has paths:

Contents of this path:

Contents of this tag:

This page is referenced by:

Introduction to Songs Songs--called "dendang" in Minangkabau and "lagu" in Indonesian--are at the heart of saluang. But just what is a song in the context of saluang and how do people talk about them, how do they know and approach them as things in the world? This page provides a basic introduction to help orient you, the user, to the local ways of knowing and thinking about these songs.
What is a song?
What constitutes a song--that is what makes up the DNA of any given song--might be different than your definition. Very few of these songs have identified composers. These songs are identified by title and tune, not by their lyrics. That is because the textual content is not fixed. That content may--and usually does--change from one performance to the next, with padendang drawing on their stock of memorized verses or creating them anew in response to the performance context and interactions with the audience members. Make sure to read song texts for more information. People identify songs largely by their structure, including melodic and rhythmic content. But they also categorize individual songs and group them together based on similarities in a variety of different ways.
Classification of songs
Practitioners and devotees of saluang alike provide a number of categories for classifying songs. These categories provide local ways of knowing the repertoire, ways of interpreting, understanding, learning, appreciating, requesting and otherwise interacting with the songs. The most important ways of knowing and classifying the songs are through type of song and their place affiliations. In presenting individual songs in this site, we engage and use these local systems of knowledge to organize them. It is also important to note that different people might have divergent knowledge about a song's associations, based on their positionality and individualized experiences. The associations presented in this site reflect an identification provided by an individual to me. That doesn't make it necessarily it the "right" interpretation. I think the moments of multiple identifications are more fascinating than the clear cut cases, revealing the way knowledge is differently structured and experienced by individuals.
Classification by type of song
Most practitioners and devotees classify the songs according to one of three song types: ratok (sad songs, literally from the word "lament"), gembira (happy songs) and those in between, satangah tiang (literally "half mast"), which are sometimes described as "half happy" and sometimes as "half sad," depending on who is talking. There are also a large collection of songs from the region called Singgalang. Some people refer to these songs--a very distinctive collection--as a fourth category and others refer to them as a subcategory of ratok.
Classification by function
There are a few songs that are classified according to their function: talingkin (songs sung without saluang in the middle of a performance) and jalu-jalu (the songs used to close a performance).
Classification by place affiliation
Most songs are affiliated with places, identified by performers and devotees as affiliated with either the darek or the rantau, a specific luak or kabupaten, a region (an area that doesn't map neatly onto any one administrative unit), a nagari, or a specific landmark.
Classification by pokok
Tukang saluang (flute players) also classify the songs according to pokok (a system that references how many finger holes are open or closed). This is a more specialized level of knowledge, so we've opted to exclude it for now.
Origin of songs
Most of the songs in the repertoire are considered "klasik," meaning they have been part and parcel of the genre for a very long time. The genre, however, incorporates new material from other genres, both regional Minangkabau practices, such as indang or sijobang, and popular genres, such as regional and national dangdut tunes. It is not clear how long this incorporation of "outside" material has been occurring, but it has been occurring at least since I started tracking songs in 2003-2004. See Songs Imported from Other Genres.
Attribution of Songs
Most of the songs in the repertoire are not attributed to any specific composer. Most of these songs could be considered part of the "klasik" repertoire, composed before the practice of making connections between content and individual ownership. There are some songs, however, that we present here that do have attributed composers, most of whom are well-known padendang (see composers). Practitioners and connoisseurs alike sometimes offer attribution in discussing the songs, but there is not always agreement in that attribution. I expect that is for a number of reasons: not documented in writing, people offering covers and variations, people familiar with the first person to have popular or commercial success with a tune, even if they didn't initially compose the tune. It is sometimes difficult to parse these stories to get to the truth, whatever that may be; instead it is best to consider each claim telling a different kind of truth.
Structure of Songs
Most songs are strophic in form, meaning the melody stays consistent for each verse. There are a handful of songs, for example, "Pariaman Panjang" and "Kambang Aia Aji," that have multiple parts, with each part having a distinct melody. These parts are know as induak (mother) and anak (child). While there is an ideal progression of order through these multi-part songs (say induak, anak, anak), my recordings suggest that order is not always followed. See Songs with Interesting Features.
Song: "Kabau Punco" 13 This song is affiliated with the place, the city of Payokumbuah. plain 2021-06-25T00:52:52+00:00
Translation of Title: "The extremity of the water buffalo."
Composer: Unknown.
Type of song: Gembira.
Genre of origin: Indang.

Place affiliations:
- City: Payokumbuah.
- Luak: Limopuluah Koto.
- Darek or Rantau: Darek.
Source: Pak Ketua.
Notes: According to Pak Ketua, this song is very close to the song "Indang Parik Rantang." During the performance at Sungai Baringin July 15, 2016 he explained it that they are in the same "kurung" (compartment). Indeed, at first during that performance he identified "Kabau Punco" as "Indang Parik Rantang." When "Indang Parik Rantang" was performed a few songs later that same evening, he said ah "this is the one that is asli (original)."

Below the two songs are presented. The beginning of "Indang Parik Rantang" involves a false start. I believe it is possible the padendang confused the two songs.

When we were working together on song identification and texts later that summer, Pak Ketua explained what he meant by the songs being in the same "kurung:" "Ada beda sedikit saja, dari sebuah lagu" (there is very little difference between these songs). The differences can take place at the beginning, the middle, or at different points (informal conversation, July 28, 2016). The similarities between these songs relate to melodic and rhythmic content, including ornamentation, along with overall structure. The differences might be slight, but enough to constitute a new song with a different title. It is one of the reasons that pagurau and even singers might confuse one song for another, which is what I believe happened with the start of "Indang Parik Rantang" above.
Song: "Indang Pariaman Laweh" 8 This song is named after the place, the city Pariaman and kabupaten Padang Pariaman. plain 2021-06-30T22:13:08+00:00
Alternative Title: "Pariaman Laweh;" "Piaman Laweh" is the abbreviated title.
Translation of Title: "Laweh" means "wide," "Pariaman" in this title is used to reference the place, the city of Pariaman, along with the style of song. The title translates as "Pariaman is Wide."
Composer: Unknown.
Explanation: One of the songs part of the Ampek Sajalan suite.
Type of song: Gembira.
Genre of origin: Indang.
Place affiliations:
- City: Pariaman.
- Kabupaten: Padang Pariaman.
- Darek or Rantau: Rantau.
Source: Te E's List of Songs.
Song: "Rambun Malam" 5 One of the suite of 4 songs known as "Ampek Sajalan." plain 2021-05-26T15:29:23+00:00
Translation of Title: "The blossoming of the night"
Explanation: One of the songs part of the Ampek Sajalan suite.
Composer: According to Martis, the suite was the creation of an artist from Payokumbuah.
Type of song: Satangah Tiang.
Genre of origin: Indang Pariaman.
Place affiliations:
- City: Pariaman.
- Kabupaten: Padang Pariaman.
- Darek or Rantau: Rantau.
Song: "Unggeh Jo Buruang" 5 This song is lagu gembira. plain 2021-06-29T23:50:16+00:00
Translation of Title: "Fowl with Birds"
Composer: Unknown.
Type of song:Gembira.
Genre of origin: Indang Pariaman.
Place affiliations:
- Kabupaten: Padang Pariaman.
- Darek or Rantau: Rantau.
Source: Pak Ketua.

This page has paths:

Contents of this tag:

This page is referenced by:

This page references: