Antiphonal Histories: Resonant Pasts in the Toba Batak Musical Present

Glossary

283 Glossary + adat. (i, a) a set of rules that governs social and cultural life and legal decisions within local communities in indonesia. alu-alu. (t) From the toba word “to announce,” a short gondang piece to gain the attention of its divine or human addressee. amang. (t) the formal toba word for “father,” used more frequently for older male acquaintances and male in-laws than for one’s own father. after the birth of a child, a man will formally be know as “ama(ng) ni si [child’s name].” andung. (t) a vocal lamentation tradition. anggi-anggi. (t) literally meaning “younger sibling,” it refers to the placenta, which is considered to share in a child’s life force and is usually buried with great respect. arbab. (t) the toba variant on the arabic rebab, a two-stringed spike fiddle. the toba version has a “foot” instead of a spike. the instrument is rarely played today. babiat sitelpang. (t) the three-legged tiger who helped Boru Pareme after her exile, associated with the marga descended from her. bagot. (t) Palm wine tree, and euphemistically, female breast. the connection is in the production of healthful, life- (or liveliness-) sustaining liquid. begadang. (i) the indonesian nighttime social practice of hanging out, talking, or playing music without clear intent. begu. (t) Ghost, or malevolent spirit, still feared in toba villages. in the past, the begu was the unquiet spirit of dead persons not attended to in ritual. in the present, the word is used by toba christians to denigrate the precolonial belief system, called derisively sipelebegu (ghost worshippers). bindu. (t, s) a point of power that marks divisions in toba manuscripts. in sanskrit, this could be a diacritical mark; in indic religious texts, Glossary / 284 a symbol of the unity of the world in miniature; in the toba magical world, a visual depiction of the entire toba cosmology. bindu matogu. (t) a design drawn into toba bark books of a square set within a square, used to mark the directions and endow magical writing with power. bisuk. (t) the quality of wisdom, mixed with shrewdness. bius. (t) a religious and political confederation of villages and clans. boru. (t) Daughter; the daughter of a clan (when used before a clan name). Boru Pareme. (t) the progenitor of the lontung family branch, according to toba genealogical stories. chakravartin. (s) the indic conception of monarchy, in which the king is seen as the fulcrum of the universe, both in a religious and political sense. cengeng. (i) sappy or cloying; an adjective used to describe sentimental popular music. daerah. (i) area or region. the word’s meaning has a few different shades: it could refer to any of the political and geographical divisions of indonesia’s provinces; it can mean the opposite of “urban” and, by implication, modernity; and it can refer to a local ethnic (rather than a national urban) culture, language, identity, or music. dalihan na tolu. (t) “the three hearthstones,” a kinship metaphor referring to a family and its wife givers and wife takers. dangdut. (i) a popular indonesian musical genre with an islamic connotation and a north sumatran genesis. datu. (t) a toba magical practitioner, skilled at identifying auspicious days, writing the toba language, conducting rituals, and healing. dewaraja. (s, i) the concept of the “god-king,” shared throughout india, and both island and mainland southeast asia. eda. sister-in-law (for women only). gadis. young girl, or maid. garantung. (t) a wooden xylophone suspended over a wooden frame, formerly with five tones but now featuring eight bars tuned to a diatonic scale. ginjang ni roha. (t) “high-heartedness,” or excessive, unpleasant pride and arrogance. gondang. (t) the name for a ritual ensemble, the drums within the ensemble, the repertoire it plays, and the rituals it accompanies. gondang hasapi. (t) an ensemble of a garantung, two hasapi, a small sarune, and a suling (the addition of the suling is a twentieth-century convention). Glossary / 285 gondang sabangunan. (t) an ensemble made up of the taganing, gordang, and odap drums, a sarune bolon, four gongs, and a metal striker. gordang. (t) the large bass drum that hangs next to the taganing. habisuhon. (t) the quality of being wise and shrewd. hagabeon. (t) the possession of a large number of descendants, male and female; one of the markers of success for toba adults. haji. (a, i) a Muslim who has made the...