Antiphonal Histories: Resonant Pasts in the Toba Batak Musical Present

8 Artists from the Capital

214 chapter 8 Artists from the Capital + in traditional saddle-back toba houses—the kind that is getting rarer in the villages—the pitch of the front and back gables is slightly different: the back gable is steeper and reaches up a little higher than the front (fig. 8.1). Bapak, and other toba fathers and mothers, ascribes a symbolic meaning to this architectural detail. he says that it represents the hopes of the older generation (the front gable) that the newest generation (the back gable) will exceed them in honor, wealth, and happiness. in the past, these goals meant increasing possessions and property holdings and raising children who would make good local connections, thus ensuring the rise of both family and marga. in the present, at least for the children of the sitohang family, realizing this aspiration means a physical departure from harian to Medan, or even farther away. Recently, the family is feeling proud of the youngest sitohang daughter , elfrida, and her full scholarship to the prestigious, Dutch-established institut Pertanian Bogor (i: Bogor institute of agriculture) in West Java. in fact, seven of the eleven sitohang children hold college degrees, three in the field of ethnomusicology. yet elpi’s accomplishment is a crowning one: she competed nationally for her scholarship and won, despite an education launched in the village public school adjacent to the family compound. “Despite,” in the conventional wisdom of many city indonesians ; “because of,” according to the sitohangs, who regard village roots as vital for any type of growth. under the guidance of her teacher father, elpi learned the basic subjects. During recess, she played jump rope with classmates, using homemade rubber-band ropes, all under the watchful eye of her mother, selling penny sweets from the veranda. as a teenager elpi moved to Medan to take advantage of its schools. yet although schoolwork was important, its importance was seen in the context of priorities and expectations established in the toba homeland. no strict demands were imposed upon her: her sister’s choice to be a village housewife or Artists from the Capital / 215 her brother’s decision to work with his hands were equally commendable to their parents. as a result, elpi’s unforced success, grounded in abilities and habits established in the village and validated by national standards , shone all the more brilliantly, bright enough to catch harian in its gleam. toba families who have lived for generations in Medan, miles away from the traditional toba houses and the messages of their sloping roofs, usually locate their success outside of the toba homelands. songs about education and newly minted aphorisms about the pride brought by scholarly children stress the importance of measurable success. in many families , the children are encouraged to go to Jakarta for school or business; in others, they are enrolled in private schools and encouraged to prepare for professional careers in urban areas. Family contacts may be used to pave the way for a career in the military or civil service. although the resources of many families differ depending on their wealth or connections, the aspiration for hamajuon (t: progress) is uniformly spread throughout toba society. as Bapak remarked to me when looking at the corrugated tin roofs of harian, “have you ever seen a toba house where the front is taller than the back? no, you haven’t.” even in Medan, where a haphazard building code is the most likely reason for uneven roofs, the message is heeded. 8.1 a toba Batak adat house with saddle-backed roof. (Photo: Makarios Sitanggang.) antiphonal histories / 216 although native sons and daughters who have made good in larger spheres reflect pride on their families and even their entire marga, this is not license to forget their origins. the web of partuturan relationships that assisted in gaining position in the city must be acknowledged and maintained . children who leave the villages are expected to return with money or goods when able, as compensation for the sacrifices of those who stayed behind. the neglect of family is a serious charge, tantamount to disregarding personal and ethnic heritage at once. the return of the prodigal son or daughter is a common trope in toba song. so is the lament of the longsuffering parents left at home to wait, as expressed in a verse of the popular song “lupa do ho” (t: “you have Forgotten”): Diida ho amang da goarmi amang you...