10.4225/03/596c5005b6cde
Kartomi, Margaret J.
Margaret J.
Kartomi
Kartomi, Hidris
Hidris
Kartomi
Gordang Lima playing “Sarama” (“crazy”) rhythm
Monash University
2017
Gordang Lima
Momongan
Oboe
Padri
Sibaso
Irama
Monash University. Faculty of Arts. School of Music-Conservatorium
1959.1/284302
North Sumatra -- Medan
monash:62562
Gongs
Sarune
Drums
Trance
Shaman
Batak Mandailing
Rhythmic cycles
Talisasayap
Ceremonies
Islam
Digital Humanities
Performing Arts
Ethnic Studies
2017-07-17 05:49:56
Media
https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/media/Gordang_Lima_playing_Sarama_crazy_rhythm/5063995
Audio 11.2: Audio Example 2 in Chapter 11 of book: Margaret Kartomi, ‘Musical Journeys in Sumatra’, Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012. Pakantan, situated in the south-west corner of North Sumatra, is an isolated valley of Batak Mandailing hamlets. The people were eventually converted to Islam after Muslim Padri forces invaded the area from around 1810. However, vestiges of ancestral customs and beliefs still prevail in ceremonies such as weddings, funerals, house-warmings and healing rituals. Drum ensembles are a feature of the traditional music that accompanies these practices. The Mandailing believe that ancestral and nature spirits are drawn like a magnet to the sound of cyclic drum rhythms that may be played on 3 types of drum sets. One of these is the “gordang lima”, a set of 5 tuned single-headed drums, used by shamans (“sibaso”) for their healing clairvoyant and other ceremonies. In this excerpt, recorded during a field trip to the Pakantan diaspora community living in Medan in December 1971, the “gordang lima” ensemble comprised the 5 “gordang” or drums, 2 gongs, 3 kettle gongs (“momongan”), small cymbals (“talisasayap”) and an oboe (“sarune” in Mandailing, and “sarunai” in the Malay and Indonesian languages). The “Gordang Sarama” (”crazy rhythm”) piece is played when the shamans reach a frenzied state of trance. Duration: 2min.08 sec.
Copyright 1971. Margaret J. Kartomi.