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Song in the Sumatran Highlands

Term: Mamak

"Mamak" is a Minangkabau term that refers specifically to one's maternal uncle (i.e. one's mother's brother). A mamak historically had more sway in one's life than one's biological father. The relationship is still very important, especially in ritual contexts, like weddings, but the father has taken on a more central role, at least in my experience of living with a Minangkabau family, in everyday guidance.

The term is also used, shorted to "Mak" as a term of respect for older men, for example, Mak Sawir.

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Structure of Pantun 16 Formal features of pantun plain 2021-08-03T20:09:19+00:00
Pantun is a poetic form found throughout the Malay world, which includes the Minangkabau region, some other parts of Sumatra, parts of Java and Kalimantan, and parts of Malaysia.

There are a number of formal features to the poetic structure. The list below represents them according to Minangkabau understandings and applications of the form.
1. The lines are eight or nine syllables long.
2. They are structured in two equal halves. In saluang, these are referred to as the batang (literally "branch") and isi (literally "content"). In Minang contexts, batang draws on references to the natural environment, specific places, and/or the context of performance. The isi contains the content, which is usually a moralistic or philosophical message. Sometimes, when people quote a pantun, the only include the isi.
3. The two halves must having matching rhyme schemes
4. The length may range. In saluang, there are examples from four to twenty-four lines total. The most "standard" is probably the 4-line version.
Let me illustrate with the first pantun I ever learned, which is four lines in total. I present it separate from the song itself, as it could technically be adopted to any tune that can accommodate a four-line pantun.
1. Janiah aia talago biru
2. Nampak dari Koto Malintang
3. Piliah mamak nan katuju
4. Bungo sakabun nan kakambang.
Syllable Length
1. Jan/iah ai/a ta/la/go bir/u
2. Nam/pak dar/i Ko/to Mal/in/tang
3. Pil/iah ma/mak nan ka/tu/ju
4. Bung/o sa/ka/bun nan ka/kam/bang
The lines are: 9, 9, 8, and 9 respectively, depending on how you deal with elision of "iah."
Formal Structure
1st half: Batang
Janiah aia talago biru
Nampak dari Koto Malintang
2nd half: Isi
Piliah mamak nan katuju
Bungo sakabun nan kakambang
Rhyme Sceme
Batang
1. Janiah aia talago biru
2. Nampak dari Koto Malintang
Isi
1. Piliah mamak nan katuju
2. Bungo sakabun nan kakambang.
Scheme
The rhyme scheme is indicated above with the bold text, which is as follows.
a: "u"
b: "ang"
a: "u"
b: "ang"
Translation and interpretation
1st half: Batang
Janiah aia talago biru
Nampak dari Koto Malintang
2nd half: Isi
Piliah mamak nan katuju
Bungo sakabun nan kakambang
Batang
Clear water in the blue pond
Visible from Koto Malintang.

This batang draws on a reference to the natural environment in a specific place. The "talago biru" (blue pond) is a reference to Lake Maninjau, which is visible from the nagari of Koto Malintang.

Isi
Choose wisely uncle from
The flowers in the garden.
This isi, like all isi, is not thematically connected to the first half. The isi delivers advice using a metaphorical reference, telling the mamak--the maternal uncle, who is historically a more important authority figure over his sister’s children than their own father in the Minangkabau matrilineal system—to choose wisely from the flowers in the garden when picking a bride for his nephew. Here the flower is a metaphor for a young woman.
Another Example
To illustrate the principles, here is a second example which was delivered as part of the song "Pariaman Panjang" at a recording session in 2016 (see this rendition). I heard a variant of it delivered in the same song four days later at a performance in Sariak Laweh, suggesting that it is a pantun baku. This one is twelve lines in length, rather than 4. The rhyme scheme is more complex: abcdef/abcdef.
Batang
1. Manih tabunyo rang Piaman
2. Dikilang sadiang mandaki
3. Urek di lingkah layang-layang
4. Daunnyo banyak nan patah
5. Patah dek ribuik pagi hari
6. Sado nan patah lareh juo
Isi
1. Manangih Gunuang Pasaman
2. Tambah hanguih Gunuang Marapi
3. Taisak Gunuang Singgalang
4. Managun aia di lurah
5. Cando baniaik kok dak jadi
6. Ka tau utang awak di namo
Translation and Interpretation
Batang
The sugar cane of the Pariaman people is sweet
It’s squeezed while walking
The roots are sat on by swallows
The leaves have many that are broken
Broken by strong wind in the morning
All that are broken fall off.
Isi
Mt. Pasaman is crying
Mt. Merapi is often smoldering
Mt. Singgalang sobs
The water in streams has stopped flowing
It is like the interest doesn’t come.
We already have a name.

Batang: The batang is relatively descriptive about a place and nature. It talks about the sweetness of sugar cane grown in Pariaman, a way of establishing connection to the place, Pariaman, but also about sugarcane, wind, and birds.
Isi: The mountains here, which are important landmarks in the Minangkabau region, are a metaphor for people: the father is crying, the mother is crying, the whole family and surrounding community is sobbing. But there is a second layer of metaphorical reference. It is a metaphor for an individual who is romantically interested in someone but the interested party does not reciprocate.
Gender of Padendang 8 Explores the gender shift within padendang image_header 2021-08-03T13:54:30+00:00
The sound of her voice, the feelings she expresses, and the haunting melody of the bamboo flute, following her in unison like a devoted lover, float through the night. Sometimes the emotion hangs heavily in the air drawing the heart to the sound. At these times, heads bow...It's about 2 A.M. The female singers, sitting in the Minangkabau way with legs to the side, face the by now mainly male audience on a low, open-air stage. Their heads are bowed so as not to lock eyes with the male gaze as they sing their innermost thoughts.. Field notes, 1997 Sanday 2002: 149
If one were to attend a saluang performance anytime in the last 20 to 30 years, one might assume that padendang have always been people who identify and are identified as women (a note about the use of gendered terms in this project) because men are infrequent participants, if not entirely absent, as vocalists during this time. Writing in 2002, Peggy Sanday, quoted above, writes of a world where it seems that padendang were always women, that the relationship between voice and saluang is a fundamentally gendered one. But it is important to know that the genre has not always been gendered in this way, where tukang saluang identify as men and the padendang identify as women. In the past, in the first half of the twentieth century, all performers identified as men. But even that statement obscures the true history. All the professional singers--those who sang in public, in front of crowds, and received fiscal payment for their services--were men. The singers we know about from the first half of the twentieth century are all men, probably because they were recognized as the professionals.

But there are stories--and even documentary evidence in the form of commercial 78 r.p.m. records--that illustrate women did sing: just not in public venues in front of audiences that included men. Adriyetti Amir, for examples, writes that it was common practice for women to sing "quatrains [i.e. pantun] while doing other work", explaining:
Usually women working in the paddy fields, whether planting or harvesting paddy [rice] sing sad, sarcastic, or erotic quatrains. They sing without the accompaniment of instruments. They sing to overcome tiredness. They are unpaid. They can exchange quatrains with almost anyone who passes near their working area; but usually they do not sing about people whom they respect, like their religious teacher, pangulu, or their matrilineal family's sumando .... (Amir 1995:31)
Amir continues to explain that men also sang in informal work contexts, but only "while relaxing during lunch and after the noon prayers (zohor). Sometimes they do bring along the saluang, then they will sing either quatrains [pantun] that are created spontaneously or quatrains that are commonly known" (Amir 1995:31). This information suggests that singing pantun was a common Minangkabau past time for both women and men. It is not clear, however, what songs were used, and if those tunes were affiliated with the genre of saluang we know today. I suspect there is cross-over in the repertoire, that the tunes are mutual. To be clear, in discussing the gender of padendang in saluang throughout this site, I am referring to the professionalized saluang scene, unless otherwise specified.
This issue about gender and performing in public has to be understood within the context of Minangkabau values, especially according to the principles of adat (complex set of cultural practices most frequently glossed as “custom” and “tradition”). In the past, it was considered entirely inappropriate for a woman to be out late at night in front of men, especially those who were not related to her. In the Minangkabau matrilineal system, a woman’s mamak, her maternal uncle, not her father, was tasked with policing and managing her morality, making sure no harm was done to the family reputation. Permission to depart from these mores should be granted by the mamak.
The first generation of professional female padendang were trailblazers, breaking the glass ceiling, at great risk to their person and to the reputation of themselves and their family. There are stories of these women being personally threatened with a gun, maintained by authorities, questioned and shunned. I even heard a story once of a woman being killed by a jealous husband. It’s very hard to fathom just how difficult it would have been for the first generation of women, the stigma they would have had to overcome, both amongst audiences at the time and within the broader society. Needless to say, these women would have been extremely talented and knowledgeable to be accepted within professional circuits, not just among audiences but especially among fellow performers. For the first generation of women, their participation was possible though one of two mechanisms: they sang under the disguise of presenting themselves as a man or they were supervised by a close male relative, either their mamak or their husband. For some, like Nurana, the economic gains--the possibility of making a livelihood--was the motivating factor.
This history of saluang is critically important. There is no other genre in West Sumatra to my knowledge in which women not only became equal participants as singers (participation as instrumentalist is entirely different) but actually came to thoroughly displace their male counterparts. Nobody wants to hear male padendang these days, which speaks more to why some pagurau are interested in saluang now compared with the past. Go here to follow that story.
Putting together this history is like being a detective, scouring what resources exist in the historical record, essentially research produced by people affiliated with Institut Seni Indonesia, and putting together pieces of the puzzle. The historical record is spotty, the information as complete as what is found in those records, amplified with ethnographic interviews with singers like Syamsimar, Mak Ajis, and Mak Sawir who were involved back then in 60s and have since passed, or the oldest generation participating today, like Te E who started singing in the 70s.
It’s a history that deserves to be better known. We share what we have come across here but welcome contributions to enhance the record: dates, stories, and especially photos.
Continue on in this path to read about the stories of the first professional female padendang.
Resources:
- Adriyetti Amir 1995
- Erlinda 1999
- Erlinda 2001
- Peggy Sanday 2002
Song: "Randang Kopi" 6 This song is affiliated with the place, Bukik Apik Puhun, which is a neighborhood in the city of Bukittinggi. It is famous for its robusta coffee, hence the song titled "Randang Kopi." plain 2021-06-27T00:06:27+00:00
Alternative Title: "Bukik Apik Randang Kopi"
Translation of Title: TBD.
Composer: Ajis St. Sati.
Type of song: Satangah Tiang.

Place affiliations:
- Neighborhood: Bukik Apik Puhun.
- City: Bukittinggi.
- Kecamatan: Guguk Panjang.
- Luak: Agam.
- Darek or Rantau: Darek.
Source: Te E's List of Songs, Mardjani's List of Songs.
Other comments: One website selling this coffee, mentions this song and the opening lyrics.

".... The song entitled "Randang Kopi" was created by Ajis Sutan Sati and sung by Elly Kasim [a famous Minangkabau pop singer]. Maybe the lyrics of the song were once familiar to the generation born in the 70s, but now they are rarely heard."

Lyrics
Minangkabau
Rang Bukik Apik oi marandang kopi
Tampak nan dari lereang pandakian
Alah mamak oi di pandakian, ondeh kanduang oi

English
The people of Bukik Apik roast coffee
It's visible from the side of the slope
Already mamak on the slope....