Told in Heaven to Become Stories on Earth: A Study of Change in Randai Theatre of the Minangkabau in West Sumatra using Visual Documentation from the 1930s (review)

The study of the performing arts in Minangkabau society in West Sumatra-much like that of Sumatran performing arts in general-is still in its infancy. Although a plethora of minor research reports and master's theses by Indonesian researchers are available and several high-quality audio recordings of Minangkabau music have been published in the Smithsonian Folkways Music of Indonesia series, much still remains to be done to provide a more comprehensive picture of the wealth of Minangkabau performance traditions. Wim van Zanten's and Bart Barendregt's video documentary of randai theater must be considered as a major step forward on the road to a more thorough representation of a major component of Minangkabau cultural practice.

Randai is a theater form that is said to have originated in the 1930s in response to the dramatic changes Minangkabau society was undergoing as a result of colonization and modernization. Randai continues to evolve and draws on key elements of both pre-Islamic and Islamic Minangkabau tradition. Though usually considered a category apart from "musical performance" by Indonesian scholars, randai does incorporate a variety of musical elements. Chief among these are galombang, a combination of choral singing and circular dance movements derived from the martial art pencak silat. Less frequently one encounters talempong hand-held gongs or saluang jo dendang, singing with the saluang oblique flute, performed during intervals.

The video consists of six parts. After an introductory part A, the various components of a randai performance are examined in part B. In part C, sections of a performance held in the Payakumbuh area are presented, and in part D, the filmmakers and some of their informants discuss two brief Dutch films on randai-related performances made in the 1930s. This is followed by part E, Social Settings, in which the state's growing stake in randai is explored, and part F, Urban Settings, that looks at a performance in Medan marked by a variety of modern developments such as the inclusion of more extended comic numbers and musical interludes appealing to more diverse urban audiences.

The video tape comes with a 54-page booklet documenting the making and sources of the video. In addition to a bibliography, original Minang texts, and a synopsis, it most usefully includes the full film scenario, complete with voice-overs and subtitles.

Together, the video and the accompanying booklet provide an excellent introduction not only to randai but to a variety of aspects of Minangkabau arts and culture. Yet they also raise a number of issues which, while too complex to be adequately dealt with in an audiovisual medium, Barendregt's and van Zanten's targeted audience of "university students and scholars of anthropology and the performing arts" might focus on as our knowledge of West Sumatran cultural practice increases.

For instance, the filmmakers have chosen to focus on "continuity and change" in randai theater and here especially on the more recent changes, like the participation of female actors, that are the topic of much controversy in Minang. While the origins of randai still remain somewhat obscure, the authors spend considerably less time exploring how these changes might be embedded in and reflecting the broader shifts in Minangkabau society. The possibility that these shifts may have been much more radical than was previously assumed has been suggested in several recent studies, most notably in Joel Kahn's (1993) Constituting the Minangkabau. Thus, it may be worthwhile for future research to look into the connections between randai and, say, the colonial and postcolonial state, as well as how randai may have intersected with various social movements in West Sumatran history. The vintage films of the 1930s, the development...