Performance: Radio Republik Indonesia Bukittinggi, January 26, 2004
11
Bagurau di Udaro
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2021-09-03T20:26:34+00:00
-0.31898, 100.38278
01/26/2004
Date: January 26, 2004
Time: 8p.m.--approx. 11p.m
Place: Radio Republik Indonesia Bukittinggi
Style: Saluang Klasik
Occasion: Bagurau di Udaro
Set up: In the recording studio, there were 4 microphones set up: for the janang, the two padendang, and the tukang saluang. The audience sat on the floor in a semi-circle facing them. The show was broadcast.
Performers:- Padendang:
- Tukang Saluang
- Saiful Basapuni
- Herman, played with Saiful on the first set
- Janang/ Radio Show Host:
- Mak Il St. Rajo Endah
- Pak Kakao also contributes to the conversation
Audience: At the peak, about 15-20 men were in attendance. These men included devotees, other performers and janang. One of the attendees was listening with a transistor radio, so that you could simultaneously hear the live performance and its radio broadcast. Like all saluang performance, the live audience wandered in and out for the duration and chatted in the background. Certain men are cheered when they arrive, suggesting they are well-known regulars. The event was as much about male camaraderie as it was about the music. I wrote in my fieldnotes that being there was "like spending an evening in a very smoky bar, but without the buzz of alcohol."
Ethnographers: Jennifer
Attendance: I was present for the duration of the event, hosted by Mak Il.
Notes: By far the larger percentage of the show was reading listener requests, which were dropped off in a number of collection boxes around Bukittinggi. By the end of the show, the announcers had read over 90 slips, trying to get through as many as possible, suggesting these evenings were as much about honoring listener requests as the live music performed. They still had 200 slips unread at the end, suggesting an impossible task. The show didn't involve the performance of 90 songs, but probably did involve more titles than I noted. Many requests acknowledge Mak Sawir, suggesting that he was a regular feature, and included specific pantun penned by the requestor. A number of requests were from women, suggesting their investment in the genre even if they weren't participating in person. Finally, a number of requests were marked as coming from cafes, warung (food stalls), and specific kind of traders.
The radio station personnel started cleaning up as they approached the end of the designated time, 11p.m., not worried about extraneous sounds that might bleed into the broadcast.