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Song: "Singgalang Alai [Old]"
12021-01-02T13:03:59+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c323This is the version of the tune that Mak Ajis called "Singgalang Alai"plain2021-06-29T22:58:05+00:00Gabriela Linares93b11788b420aa18884831bc41dd62cbbe2edd8bSee entry for "Singgalang Alai"
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12020-07-16T19:14:21+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3Song: "Singgalang Alai"Jennifer Fraser21This song is part of a sub-category of songs called Singgalang that are named after the place, the nagari and mountain called Singgalang.plain2021-05-14T11:45:17+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3
12021-06-29T17:07:52+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3Repertoire from 2003-2004Jennifer Fraser9A list of all the song titles heard in 2003-2004plain2021-06-30T17:40:08+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3
12021-06-23T12:00:15+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3Songs Named for PlacesJennifer Fraser3Description and list of songs named for placesplain2021-06-23T12:18:03+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3
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12021-01-15T20:20:22+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3Audio: "Singgalang Alai [Old]," 09/27/20044Ajis singing "Singgalang Alai [Old]"media/MD77.8.1 Ajis singing original Singgalang Alai.mp3plain2021-01-15T20:35:03+00:00Jennifer FraserSeptember 27, 2004padendang: Ajis St. Satitukang saluang: Inyiak HarimauPerformed at Bagurau di Udaro, Radio Republik IndonesiaJennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3
12021-06-09T22:19:34+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3Rendition: "Singgalang Induak"/ "Singgalang Alai [Old]" 02/09/20042"Singgalang Induak"/ "Singgalang Alai [Old]" performed at Recording Session at STSIplain2021-06-10T21:18:56+00:00Gabriela Linares93b11788b420aa18884831bc41dd62cbbe2edd8b
12021-06-10T21:15:23+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3Rendition: "Singgalang Alai [Old]" and "Singgalang Alai [New]" 09/27/20042"Singgalang Alai [Old]" and "Singgalang Alai [New]" performed at Bagurau di Udaroplain2021-06-11T23:30:49+00:00Gabriela Linares93b11788b420aa18884831bc41dd62cbbe2edd8b
12021-06-09T23:19:41+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3Audio: "Singgalang Induak"/ "Singgalang Alai [Old]" 02/09/20041Rendition of "Singgalang Induak"/ "Singgalang Alai [Old]" performed at Recording Session at STSImedia/MD24_2_Singgalang_Induak.mp32021-06-09T23:19:41+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3
12021-06-11T13:13:42+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3Audio: "Singgalang Alai [Old]" and "Singgalang Alai [New]" 09/27/20041Rendition of "Singgalang Alai [Old]" and "Singgalang Alai [New]" performed at Bagurau di Udaromedia/Audio_MD77_8_Singgalang_Alai_Full.mp32021-06-11T13:13:42+00:00Jennifer Fraser404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3
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12020-07-16T19:14:21+00:00Song: "Singgalang Alai"21This song is part of a sub-category of songs called Singgalang that are named after the place, the nagari and mountain called Singgalang.plain2021-05-14T11:45:17+00:00The title of this tune is one of the most contested in saluang. There are two very different tunes that people identify as "Singgalang Alai." I learned this the hard way when I was invited to sing a dendang that I knew at Bagurau di Udaro September 27, 2004. I offered one of my standards, "Singgalang Alai," to Mak Il St. Rajo Endah, the announcer and emcee of the program and my contact at RRI. I had sung this tune at performances before without incident but this time was different. When the tukang saluang, Inyiak Harimau, began this song and Mak Ajis St. Sati delivered his first pantun, I was alarmed: this was not the tune I knew as "Singgalang Alai." I whispered that to Mak Il, but he told me not to worry and just sing what I knew. So I did and the tukang saluang switched songs mid-tune, following me. Mak Ajis then sang a verse of the version I knew after me: clearly he knew this tune, too. Confused, I chatted with Inyiak Harimau during a break. He told me that the practice of calling the song I sang "Singgalang Alai" was newer (personal conversation). The older convention was to call this tune "Singgalang Induak," as was indeed the title Sri and Pian used at the recording session in 2016. Finally, when I interviewed Ajis St. Sati a couple of months after the Bagurau di Udaro, he told me that the tune I know as "Singgalang Alai" is "Singgalang Gulai Rendang," offering the third title I heard for the same tune. He hummed the tune that he believed should be called "Singgalang Alai" (interview, Bukittinggi, 11/04/2004).
I am fascinated by this story. Just who was right? It doesn't matter as much to me as the idea that different performers have different practices and knowledge. To me that is the story. What it has complicated, however, is how to refer to the tune on this site. The best ethnographic process is to make sure to honor the titles used by the performers. Therefore, to clarify it's use on this site and to identify the different tunes I will use the terms "Singgalang Alai [Old]" for the version than Mak Ajis knows and "Singgalang Alai [New]" for the tune that many others identified as "Singgalang Alai."
Translation of Title: "Singgalang" in the title refers not just to place affiliation but to the category of songs called Singgalang. "Alai" is a neighborhood in Padang. Explanation: The tune "Singgalang Alai [New]" or what others call "Singgalang Induak" is often the very first song of a saluang performance, following the Imbauan Saluang and Imbauan Singgalang. It is interesting that a song so key to saluang has such confusion surrounding its title. Composer: Unknown. Type of song: Singgalang. Place affiliations: This whole category of song is named after the place, the nagari and mountain called Singgalang.
Nagari: Singgalang.
Kecamatan: X Koto.
Luak: Tanah Data.
Darek or Rantau: Darek.
Source: Mardjani's List of Songs (but it is unclear which tune was designated), Martis (who used the title refer to the tune marked here as "Singgalang Alai [New]").
Song: "Singgalang Alai". I assume when the performers were asked to present "Singgalang Alai," they agreed that the tune that went by this title was what I am calling "Singgalang Alai [New]."
Song: "Singgalang Induak". I recorded the tiniest fraction of a conversation which suggests there was some confusion over titles and tunes, so the performers then presented a tune identified in my notes as "Singgalang Induak," but it should be noted that the variant they produced under this title--or at least what I have labeled as "Singgalang Induak"--is "Singgalang Alai [Old]," the same tune Mak Ajis St. Sati idenitified as "Singgalang Alai" at Bagurau di Udaro in September of that year. From the perspective 17 years later, I wish I had recorded the whole conversation for what insight it might sharing about this naming mystery.
Song: "Singgalang Alai": this rendition includes both the old version of the song, "Singgalang Alai [Old]", as sung by Mak Ajis St. Sati, and the new version, "Singgalang Alai [New]", as known and subsequently sung by Jennifer Fraser followed by Mak Ajis.