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Song in the Sumatran Highlands

Term: Kaba

Kaba are Minangkabau epics or stories. As Minang historian Taufik Abdullah writes kaba rely

on an imaginatively constructed narrative to present the social and personal consequences of either ignoring or observing ethical teachings and the norms embodied in the adat system of action. (1999: 336)

They can also incorporate stories about social change and recent events (Abdullah; Yampolsky). Junus (1994) makes the argument that historically kaba were set in the remote past, but their publication in print in the 1920s, along with their proliferation on cassette recordings in the 1980s, has meant that kaba are presented in novel ways today. Newly-composed kaba, such as one that documents the large 2009 earthquake in West Sumatra, introduce an immediate past, rather than deal with the remote past (Fraser 2013).

The manner of presentation can range from live storytelling to theatrical production, print publication, or sound recording. As narratives, kaba become texts for a number of performance genres, including sijobang, rabab Pasisia, rabab Pariaman, dendang Pauah, and randai. As Yampolsky and Hanefi write in the linter notes to an album involving recordings of two forms--rabab Pariaman and dendang Pauah.

In randai the kaba is partly sung and partly enacted; in the others it is sung, to the accompaniment of a single instrument...When kaba are sung, the medium is usually rhythmic lines, without rhyme schemes or stanza forms (1994).

The poetic form means that most of the genres drawing on kaba have quite a different feel than those (see Abdullah 1999: 337 for an excerpt from Johns (1958)), like saluang, that draw on the pantun form.

Related Resources

Abdullah, Taufik. 1999. "Tambo, Kaba, and History: Tradition and the Historical Consciousness of the Minangkabau." In Walk in Splendor: Ceremonial Dress and the Minangkabau, ed. A. Summerfield, J. Summerfield. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. 334-339.
Johns, Anthony, editor and translator. 1958. Rantjak diLabueh: A Minangkabau Kaba. Southeast Asia Program. Department of Far Eastern Studies. Cornell University., Ithaca., New York.
Junus, Umar. 1994. ‘Kaba: An Untold (His-)Story’. South East Asian Studies 32(3): 399-415.
Phillips, Nigel. [1981] 2009. Sijobang: Sung Narrative Poetry of West Sumatra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Minangkabau Musical Genres
'The Minangkabau have one of the richest traditions of performing arts to be found in Indonesia." (Yampolsky & Hanefi, 1994: 4)
There is a rich array of musical genres and styles found throughout the Minangkabau homeland, both in the darek and the rantau. There are those genres that are indigenous and those that have been imported from elsewhere and made local. Many of the indigenous genres are deeply place-based, that is they are tied to specific places from the most localized (found in only one nagari) to those found in broader regions, such as the darek. There are only a few indigenous genres that are found throughout the homeland, such as talempong, but the expression of them is deeply localized. For talempong, this means different instruments, tuning, instrumental roles and names, repertoire, and even gender affiliations from place to place (see chapter 2 in Fraser 2015). There is no single vocal tradition found throughout the homeland, but rather a range of regional variants that use some kind of flute or fiddle for accompaniment.

Saluang, as discussed in this site, is one of those genres that has strong place-based affiliations--to the darek in general but also to specific places through repertoire choices. It has spread far beyond the borders, eclipsing and replacing some of the more localized flute traditions while absorbing and integrating some of the localized repertoire into the saluang mainstream. Because so many localized Minangkabau genres are absorbed into the saluang repertoire, they are laid out here.
Indigenous Minangkabau Genres
In the Minangkabau vocabulary there is no singular word for “music.” Rather, sounds are divided into two broad categories: dendang (literally “song”) and buni-bunian (literally “sounds” but refers here to instrumental music). Most of the genres classified as dendang involve instrumental accompaniment, usually just a solo flute or fiddle of some kind. The genres are often named for that instrument. Below we lay out some of those genres.
Dendang
There are a rich array of indigenous Minangkabau vocal genres involving oral literary traditions. There are two primary forms of text employed in these genres: those that are based on pantun (a verse from found throughout the Malay region) and those that use kaba (a kind of epic story telling tradition). Most of these genres use some form of instrumental accompaniment, often some kind of flute or fiddle.
Genres from the Darek
Some of these genres are widespread and found throughout the whole of the darek, like saluang and rebab darek (the pins provided on the google map were chosen for central locality). Others are more localized, like saluang sirompak and sijobang, found in the areas surrounding the pin provided on the map.
Genres from the Rantau

Buni-Bunian

Other Local Genres
Modernist, Cosmopolitan Genres
Genre: Rabab Pariaman 16 Rabab Pariaman is a vocal genre that uses kaba texts image_header 2021-04-27T12:35:37+00:00 -0.62601, 100.12028
Rabab Pariaman is both the name of a genre and the instrument affiliated with that genre. They are associated with the kabupaten Padang Pariaman.
The rabab is three-stringed and uses a coconut shell as the body and resonator. Like its regional cousins, the rabab Pariaman is used to accompany vocals and is performed late at night. Unlike rabab Pasisia, however, it is a relatively rare genre and not represented prominently in the Minangkabau recording industry. It is one of the three genres included on the Smithsonian Folkways, Music of Indonesia series, Vol. 6. Night Music of West Sumatra. As Philip Yampolsky and Hanefi write in the accompany liner notes, rabab Pariaman "begin[s] with free-standing, non-narrative songs but shift to sung narrative [i.e. kaba] later in the evening" (1994).

Related Resources
- Night Music of West Sumatra: Saluang, Rabab Pariaman, Dendang Pauah.
Genre: Dendang Pauah 13 Dendang Pauah is a vocal genre accompanied by the saluang Pauah from the Pauah region near Padang. image_header 2021-04-27T11:52:52+00:00 -0.939496, 100.433804
Dendang Pauah is a vocal tradition from the Pauah region near Padang. It uses the saluang pauah, an end-blown bamboo duct flute, as accompaniment. The instruments often have pyrographic marks (patterns burned into the bamboo).

"... dendang Pauah differs from other kaba forms, in that it is sung entirely in pantun, and as a performance genre it differs from both saluang and rabab Pariaman since it does not regularly include free-standing, non-narrative songs. An evening of dendang Pauah begins around 8:00 or 9:00 PM. and lasts until nearly dawn." (Yampolsky & Hanefi 1994)
Unlike other kaba forms where texts are "usually rhythmic lines, without rhyme schemes or stanza forms" (Yampolsky & Hanefi 1994), the kaba used in dendang Pauah are shaped into pantun. You can hear an excerpt of this genre below.

Related Resources
- Yampolsky. 1994. Night Music of West Sumatra: Saluang, Rabab Pariaman, Dendang Pauah.
Genre: Rabab Pasisia 6 Rabab Pasisia is a regional vocal genre. image_header 2021-04-23T13:45:13+00:00 -1.34854, 100.574
Rabab Pasisia is both the name of a genre and an instrument affiliated with the southwestern coastal region called Pasisia Salatan. As an instrument, it is a four-stringed fiddle modeled on a violin. As a genre, the performer uses the fiddle to accompany vocals that draw on kaba. Like saluang, the performances accompany community and life-cycle events, performed over night. Sometimes other performers may join for the opening session of gembira songs using percussion. Rabab Pasisia is relatively prominent in the recording industry. It is the Pasisia Salatan genre that is equivalent to saluang in musical importance and prevalence.

Related Resources
- Collins, Megan. 2003. “The Minangkabau Rabab Pasisia: Music, Performance and Practice in West Sumatra, Indonesia.” Ph.D. Diss, Victoria University of Wellington.
- Night Music of West Sumatra: Saluang, Rabab Pariaman, Dendang Pauah.
Genre: Sijobang 6 Sijobang is a regional Minangkabau vocal genre from Payokumbuah that draws on kaba for texts. plain 2021-06-29T19:16:14+00:00 -0.22465, 100.6318
Sijobang is a regional Minangkabau vocal genre from Payokumbuah that draws on kaba for texts, rather than pantun. Kaba are epic stories, adopted in a number of genres. Sijobang was performed over night as entertainment in similar contexts to saluang (for weddings, circumcisions and other life cycles), the performer, always gendered male, weaving a long tale. Historically, the solo vocalist accompanied himself using just a box of matches as percussive rhythm. More recently, kacapi (a kind of keyed zither) were used as accompaniment. But by 2020, the genre has all but disappeared, displaced, in part, by the popularity of saluang in the region.

To learn more about sijobang, consult the follow resource:
- Phillips, Nigel. [1981] 2009. Sijobang: Sung Narrative Poetry of West Sumatra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Song: "Dayang Daini" 5 This song is used as part of Talingkin. plain 2021-04-20T18:45:31+00:00
Translation of Title: "Dayang Daini" is a female character in a kaba, a Minangkabau story.
Composer: Unknown.
Explanation: It is one of the tunes used as part of Talingkin, a suite of songs that are presented without saluang right after a break.
Type of song: Ratok.
Genre of origin: Randai.
Place affiliations:
- Luak: Limopuluah Koto.
- Darek or Rantau: Darek.
Source: Mardjani's List of Songs.
Song: "Siti Johari" 5 One of songs that is part of "Jalu-Jalu" and can be used to close a saluang performance. plain 2021-06-29T23:19:04+00:00
Alternative Title: "Siti Jawari"
Translation of Title: The phrase, "Siti Johari," is a term of respect used towards Bundo Kanduang (female leaders) in classic Minangkabau kaba.
Explanation: This is one of the songs used as a Jalu-Jalu, the closing sequence of a saluang performance.
Composer: Unknown.
Type of song:Satangah Tiang.
Genre of origin: Randai.
Place affiliations:
- City: Batusangkar.
- Luak: Tanah Data.
- Darek or Rantau: Darek.
Source: Te E's List of Songs.

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