Rabu, 16 Januari 2008

Ledhek/Tayub

Ledhek/Tayub is a group of Javanese musicians and singer-dancers which was very popular due to their sensual gestures. Apart from the sensual gestures of the dancers, Tayup was/is also famous since they involve/invite the spectators to dance along with them. This kind of participative performance is rare in the Javanese context.


Rabu, 09 Januari 2008

Traditional dance from Riau , Indonesia

Pembubung Dance


Tabal Gempita Dance



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Rentak Besapih Dance - Jambi, Sumatra




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Music of North Sumatra

75 thousand years ago, a volcano erupted deep in the interior of North Sumatra, spreading ash as far as Sri Lanka and leaving behind a crater now known as Lake Toba. One hundred kilometers long, it is the largest volcanic crater lake in the world. The fertile volcanic soils of its shores have supported intensive agriculture for millenia. Its great natural beauty has made it Indonesia's third-largest tourist attraction. This is the original homeland of the Batak, a family of seven Indonesian ethnic groups with a population of perhaps two million.

These seven groups (Toba, Karo, Simalungun, Pak-pak, Dairi, Angkola and Mandailing) have related but distinct languages, customs, and traditional arts. Such is the variety of Batak music and dance that no one program could present even a sampling of it all. Festival of Indonesia has chosen to concentrate on three highly contrasting traditions: those of the Toba, the Karo and the Mandailing.

The Batak groups are divided by religion (the Mandailing are Islamic; the Toba, Christian) and by language (Toba and Karo in particular are mutually unintelligible), but unified by a common passion for genealogy. It is not unusual to meet Batak men who can recite fluently the names of eight generations of their ancestors. These ancestral trees represent a sort of blueprint for Batak society; they explain the origins of and relations between the clans (marga) which dominate Batak social life.

Every Batak belongs to one of these patrilineal clans. They are exogamous: a man may not marry a woman from his own clan, but must search among other clans for a wife. The marriage ties which link clans form an intricate web of kinship which touches every aspect of Batak society. The clans also order Batak culture, ceremony, mythology and the arts.

There are musical compositions specific to one or another clan; clan membership determines the order of events at the life-cyle ceremonies at which music and dance are essential.

Music and dance play a crucial role in Batak society. The word for "ceremony" ("gondang" in Toba; "gendang" in Karo) is actually a musical term and refers both to the Batak orchestra of drums, gongs, and oboes and also to the tunes they play. The musicians are essential to a ceremony because they are the intermediaries between humanity and the Creator. The sounds of the drums and gongs convey human prayers to the spirit world.

Musicians thus command great respect in traditional Batak society and they must follow a certain code of behavior. "The musicians must be honest men," explained one old Toba Batak man, "otherwise they risk angering the spirits."


Gondang Uning-uningan


Batak Toba Dance


Karonese Traditional Dance


Dembas Simenguda Dance Tapanuli




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Selasa, 08 Januari 2008

Indonesian Classical Music from Sunda

Kecapi Suling






The province of Sunda in West Java experienced an amazing resurgence of interest in its own musical traditions in the late 1970s and into the 1980s. Centered on the city of Bandung, this renewed vitality led to the nation-wide (and world-wide) popularity of traditional genres like Kacapi Suling and modern ones like jaipongan.

Kacapi Suling is usually played at interludes between songs in a performance of the classical song-form Tembang Sunda. The term refers to the two plucked string instruments and the flute. There is a higher-pitched kacapi rincik, a lower-pitched kacapi indung and the suling ornamenting the melody. During a dinner-to-dawn house concert of Tembang Sunda, instrumental pieces like these would offer light interludes between the weightiness of the songs. The pieces are in two scales. The first four are in laras pelog, conveying a lighter mood, while the next four are in laras sorog, a more somber mood. This change of key usually occurs around midnight, and lasts until dawn.

Minggu, 06 Januari 2008

Central Borneo Dance

Arts are part of Dayak life. There are many various arts such as dancing, carving, weaving, sculpturing. Their sculptured carvings and statues physically represent their gods, and their carvings are influenced by their culture and beliefs.

Dances are performed during a ritual ceremony to welcome their heroes or their important guests. There are a number of dances from central Kalimantan, such as:

  1. Tari Mandau (Mandau Dance). This dance is performed when welcoming important guests for a ceremony, but it is also performed for friendship or when welcoming heroes after a war victory. This dance is performed by old and young people, men or women.

  1. Tari Mandau Kinyah (Mandau Kinyah Dance). This dance is performed particularly for heroes who are returning from war.
  2. Tari Giring-giring (Gring-giring dance). This dance is danced by men and women as couples. Each dancer holds one or two bamboo sticks. One of the bamboo sticks is filled with small stones, and when it is shaked it produces a sound which is accompanied by traditional music by the Kangkanong (Gamelan) and drum. The Giring-giring dance is performed to celebrate special occasions and to welcome guests.
  3. Tari Manggetem (Harvesting dance). This dance is performed at harvest in order to express thanks to the God/gods for the overwhelming bounty.
  4. Tari Gelang Bawo (Gelang Bawo Dance). Gelang Bawo dance comes from Dayak Maanyan whose name was Tewang Rawayab. Tewang Rawayab lived in the highland of the Dayak Bawo area. The story of this dance is: One day the chief of the Bawo named Dataktoo had a son whose name was Lala. Lala's hobby was hunting. The dance shows Lala's prayerful demonstration of hunting capabilities and skills.
  5. Tari Gelang Dadas (Gelang Dadas Dance). This Dance is usually performed by women. The story of this dance is: Once, there was a girl whose name was Lue Payung Gunting. One day she meditated and met a cobra and jaguar. These two animals gave her instructions for gaining supernatural power. When she was able to dance, her body moved like the snake's body and she could fly like an eagle in the sky.
In addition to the dances that have been mentioned above, there are still a number of beautiful Dayak Dances such as: Bukas, Balau Nganjan, Kanjan Palu, Kerangkang and Dandang Tingan dances.

Murung Raya Dance






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