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Part I. West Sumatra and Riau
- University of Illinois Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
I West Sumatra and Riau The Minangkabau- and the Malay-speaking peoples of the central region of Sumatra live in three provinces—West Sumatra, Riau, and the Riau Islands (Kepulauan Riau), of which only the first two are relevant to part I (i.e., chaps. 2–5 about West Sumatra and chap. 6 about Riau).1 In colonial times all three provinces were part of one province: Central Sumatra. Since the early first millennium c.e., the people of West Sumatra and Riau have spoken varieties of Malay (apart from the western offshore Mentawei islanders, who are not discussed in this book).2 In recent times the volcanic soils of the Minang kabau and Riau highland valleys supported large populations who directed their goods down a network of rivers to maritime ports on the Strait of Malacca and the west-coast. Not surprisingly, therefore, the Malay and Minangkabau performing arts have many stylistic aspects in common. For example, their songs are mostly set to secular pantun or syair quatrains, of which thousands have been collected, and many have been published and translated. The quatrains largely determine the form of the songs, which are essentially strophic but allow a high degree of improvisatory freedom on the performer’s part, including the insertion of melodic phrases (with or without repeated textual phrases) or sections of percussive rhythms, and the insertion of incidental ornamentation, largely at whim. When performed, the verses are not normally attached to specific melodies; indeed, the same texts can be sung with minor adaptations to other Malay melodies in circulation. Many melodies are set to four to seven selected notes of the international major or minor scales, though they often contain intervals such as lowered seconds or sevenths that suggest Arabic modal Kartomi_Text.indd 19 6/15/12 2:28 PM 20 part i. west sumatra and riau influence. The fact that many also contain harmonic implications is attributable to Sumatran-European contact, which began at least five centuries ago. The Minangkabau in West Sumatra Although the Minangkabau language is closely related to the Malay, the Minang kabau people have long insisted on their distinct cultural identity, which served “to maximise economic and political advantage” (L. Andaya 2008, 82). In earlier centuries the most recognizable marker of their identity was the upstream Pagaruyung palace (near Batusangkar) in the darek (highlands) (ibid.). Today the main boundary markers are their matrilineal/matrilocal customs, the merantau out-migration of their young men, their buffalo horn–shaped longhouses, and their performing arts, including the déndang jo saluang (classical song with flute), standing and sitting talempong gong-chime ensembles (figs. I.1 and I.2), the musical kaba storytelling with bowed-string accompaniment, and the dances associated with the agricultural cycle and courting such as the plate and candle dances (figs. I.3 and I.4). The first written record of the name Minangkabau appears in a list of the Malay suzerains of the Javanese Majapahit kingdom dated 1365.3 Thus, the Minangkabau Figure I.1 A talempong pacik (ensemble that includes small handheld kettle-gongs and drums) played in procession in Sisawah, 1985 Kartomi_Text.indd 20 6/15/12 2:28 PM [44.213.80.203] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 23:43 GMT) Figure I.2 A talempong duduak (gong-chimes played in sitting position), traditional dances associated with the agricultural cycle and courting such as the plate and the candle dances and the randai theater, Padang, 1972 Figure I.3 Tari piring (plate dance) in Batasangkar, 1985 Kartomi_Text.indd 21 6/15/12 2:28 PM 22 part i. west sumatra and riau have been recognized as a hill-culture polity for no less than six hundred years, spreading out from their highland heartland (luhak nan tigo) into the rantau (lit. “place of migration,” that is, the areas surrounding the heartland) and sending its forest and mining products down to the east and west coasts for export. For two centuries, from the late 1660s to 1833, Pagaruyung was the locus of Minangkabau identity (L. Andaya 2008, 104), receiving tribute from courts throughout Sumatra and Malaya. Islam came to Minangkabau in the 1500s (Hadler 2008, 19), displacing the indigenous religion and Buddhism only gradually, and never completely. In the early 1800s, the Padri war began as an internecine conflict between Wahhabi reformists and adat traditionalists, after which it became a war against colonial occupation. Using peace talks as a ruse, the Wahhabi slaughtered the royal house of Pagaruyung in 1815 (Hadler...