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Song in the Sumatran Highlands

Performance: Balai Cacang, July 16, 2016

Date: July 16, 2016
Place: Balai Cacang, Payokumbuah
Style: Saluang Klasik
Occasion: Neighborhood entertainment
Set up: Stage, tables and chairs, loose chairs, and low tables for games. A warung (café) is set up in the back, serving tea and coffee.
Performers:

Padendang: Si Mun, Siti
Tukang Saluang: Not yet identified
Janang: None

Audience: Approximately 50 people, including a handful of women using headscarves.
Ethnographers: Jennifer & Pak Ketua
Attendance: 10.38 p.m.-just before midnight, when we left to go to another performance
Notes: There might have been more women present because we were then early in the evening and it was a neighborhood event. The audience interaction was relatively low, perhaps in response to the quality of the performers.

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People: Si Mun
Stage Name: Si Mun.
Other Names:
Role: Padendang.
Sex: Female.
Time Frame: Contemporary Figure.
Source: personal encounter at a performance in 2016, then when I interviewed her husband, Man Ambo.
Born:
Died:
Place of Origin:
Place of Residence: Kubang Rasau, Nagari Balai Panjang.
Year started performing:
Training:
Relationships to other performers: Man Ambo, tukang saluang, is her husband.
Performances: Performance: Balai Cacang, July 16, 2016
People: Siti
Stage Name: Siti.
Other Names:
Role: Padendang.
Sex: Female.
Time Frame: Contemporary Figure
Source: personal encounter at a performance in 2016.
Born:
Died:
Place of Origin:
Place of Residence:
Year started performing:
Training:
Relationships to other performers:
Performances: Performance: Balai Cacang, July 16, 2016.
Songs composed:
Recordings:
Other notes:
Context: Community Celebrations 5 Various community celebrations are cause for saluang performance image_header 2021-03-24T12:21:07+00:00
There are a wide range of occasions celebrated by a community that could incorporate saluang. Some that I have encountered include:
- halal-bihalal (which means asking for forgiveness). These are community gatherings, often held to celebrate Lebaran, the week or so of celebration following Ramadan, the month of fasting in the Islamic calendar. Examples include
  - Performance: Kampung Jambak, December 2, 2003
- community entertainment
  - Performance: Balai Cacang, July 16, 2016
- fundraisers
  - Performance: Pariangan, February 10, 2004
- institutional events, such as reunions, conferences, meetings
  - Performance: Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia, December 23, 2003
Some of these events are held explicitly as fundraisers for a community project (Pariangan, February 10, 2004) and others might include collecting fiscal contributions to offset costs of putting on the event (Kampung Jambak, December 2, 2003). If attendees are paying for requests, then a janang is always involved. At these events, refreshments may be available nearby, but pagurau need to purchase for themselves.

Economics: Even if one of these events are designated as a fundraiser, the performers for all these occasions are contracted and paid a fixed fee. Unlike bagurau lapiak, they are not working for tips: funds raised go the designated cause.

Space: These performances do not take place in the yards of private homes, rather they happen in spaces accessible to the targeted community, including by the side of the street, in an open area, in institutional buildings,

Musical Style: The context does not circumscribe the musical style, but all those I witnessed involved saluang klasik

Behavior: Most of these performances followed mainstream Minangkabau standards of decorum. They are more jovial and interactive, however, if there is a janang present. At some events, men might play games in the background, present for the sociality of the evening as much as for the music.

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