Ratip

Audio 6.4: Audio Example 4 in Chapter 6 of book: Margaret Kartomi, ‘Musical Journeys in Sumatra’, Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012. The “Suku Mamak” forest-dwellers of the Indragiri area, near Rengat in mainland Riau, practice healing ceremonies in which a shaman (“gumantan”) invokes the spirits of the ancestors, Allah and the Prophet Muhammad in songs called “ratip”. The shaman in this November 1984 excerpt, Bp M. Nunus, is accompanied by a man playing a large single-headed, low-waisted cylindrical drum called “ketebung” that is suspended from the ceiling of the shaman’s house. It is only allowed to be played at healing ceremonies. The people combine their indigenous religious beliefs with Islamic beliefs and practices. Duration: 1 min. 36 sec. Copyright 1984. Margaret J. Kartomi.