Song in the Sumatran Highlands

Role: Tukang Rabab

Tukang rabab are people who play the rabab. The term "tukang" means "someone who has specialization in something," which in this case would be rabab. Here we are talking specifically about the rababa darek (the rabab from the darek region) which is used to accompany the same vocal repertoire as the saluang darek. To my knowledge this role has always been gendered male, like tukang saluang. 

Historically, there are some examples of both a tukang saluang and a tukang rabab playing. Certainly, by the time I was present in West Sumatra in 1998, I never witnessed such a practice. Indeed, in all the years I've been interested in this repertoire I've only encountered one tukang rabab, Fahmi, at a recording session at STSI (now ISI) which was organized, in part, to document a declining practice. Clearly, something shifted in the performance practice that allowed saluang to become the dominant instrument. Was is an aesthetic preference, was it pragmatic as there were few tukang rabab to be found, a combination, or something else entirely? 

The training for a tukang rabab would, I imagine, be similar to a tukang saluang, in that they needed to familiarize themselves with the repertoire, mastering hundreds of songs. They probably be learned in a similar process of observing and listening carefully, before attempting tunes themselves. Some, as Mardjani et. al.'s chart of performers suggest, acknowledged training under a more senior performer. See, for example, Nijon. 

Historical Tukang RababContemporary Tukang Rabab

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