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Transcription

M0NA5H UNIVERSITY
rc:S ACCEPTED IN SATISFACTION OF THE
n^QUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
C-;c. Ph.D. and Scholarships Committee
l.V;:
the Copyright Act 1968, this thesis must be
t.'. •.•• ;v.!y under the normal conditions of soholp.ly
\:..' (.'.\Tling for the purposes of research, critic!rn->
or review. In particular no results or condun'onrs
should be extracted from it, nor Eho'.'ld it bo ropicd
or clorofy psraphrnced in whole or in part vvit'ôu*
the v/iitten consent of the author. Propc w'-to.n
ackn.owlor'nomcnt should be made for any assistance
obtained from this thesis.
I!
Addendum
The following plurals should replace the
singulars:
Paae/line
13/4,
61/last line,
97/7,
100/15,
103/13,
103/14,
107/6,
136/2,
150/9,
154/9,
157/6,
167/5,
190/15,
201/1,
228/3,
242/17,
247/4,
254/4,
265/1,
268/23,
272/14,
285/18,
288/14,
341/19,
348/6,
356/23,
publications
others reside
in all respects
Gifts of money
thousands
Bones
values
censuses
members
parts
with new ones
arms
instruments
sports
men and women
participants' attention
congregations
scenes
ancestors
both churches
mediators
As the hosts
Participants' requests
donations
families
ceremonies..... they
*********
The following singulars should replace the
plurals:
149/23,
251/17,
313/22,
349/13,
Protestant
ceremony
the Protestant church
the Protestant church
"Taganing instrument" should replace
"taganing" on the following pages: -157/2,
157/8,157/10,160/11,160/16 and 160/17
**********
The following singular forms of verbs
should replace the plural form:
173/5,
184/6,
233/penultimate line,
consists
gives
worships
The following plural forms of verbs should
replace the singular forms:
66/7,
68/10,
351/1,
351/10,
[features] are the same
[investigations] offer
[Requests] persist
[attitudes] have changed
********
Miscellaneous corrections:
Written
Page/line
post-l independent
9/9
the Toba Batak Protestant priest
10/21
13/1/foot- they
note
17/10
42/13
50/1
50/14
58/23
66/2
68/8
82/3
83/4
91/20
100/14
proscribed
The five staffs
the belief in ancestral spirit beliefs
While admiring the missionaries'
method of Christianising the Toba
Batak people—in his view it 'belongs
to the finest result of missionary
activity in modern times'.
leaning
each has its own policy
She concludes hat
the Batak speak the one language
Melayopolynesian
Like in the serving of the meal
symbolical blessings for the hula-hula
Correction
post-Independence
the Toba Batak Protestant minister
he
prescribed
The five lines
the belief in ancestral spirits
Kraemer admired the missionaries'
method of Christianising the Toba
Batak people; in his view, it 'belongs
to the finest result of missionary
activity in modem times'.
learning
each has its own policies
She concludes that
the Batak speak the same language
Malayopolynesian
As in the serving of the meal
symbolical blessings from the hulahula
to give an adat speech
the people held the feast •
Ciwa
Wisnu
possibly
credited
with this instruction
forbade the new community
and resulted
True independence
The transfer of leadership
by six than by eight players
previously used
in Appendix 2
see Appendix 1
gnc 1
Indonesian popular music
to ask under what circumstances
as gondang
101/24
104/8
117/9
117/10
117/3
118/5
120/3
126/4
128/1
132/18
133/1
151/20
160/8
170/11
185/17
186/13
200/8
203/21
234/last
line
248/13
to give adat speech
the people held feast
Siva
Visnu
possible
attributed
with instruction
forbade new community
resulted
True independent
The transformation of leadership
by six than eight players
previously use
in Appendix 1
see Appendix 2
gen 1
Indonesia popular music
to ask what circumstances
in which gondang
was
had
259/ second
line of
translation
why should prohibit
why should it prohibit
260/9
263/13
but that such spirit
may request up to three but no more
that five gondang pieces
they have been excluded
but also commercial concern
any Christian
Huta Raja
All dancers performed a similar
marsomba gesture to the one...
by this requesting
but argued that such spirit
may request up to five gondang
pieces
they would have been excluded
but also a commercial concern
any Christian hymn and/or prayer
Hutaraja
All dancers performed a marsomba
gesture similar to the one...
by this request
269/19
277/16
280/7
295/28
291/23
292/1
302/last
line
304/penul
timate
line
313/18
342/13
349/13
360/26
it is played
they are played
build
built
too louder
as
pre-funera!
ceremony
and
exhumation of bones ceremony.
of the Protestants church
measn
too loud
as the pre-funersl ceremony and the
exhumation of bones ceremony.
of the Protestant church
means
Correction in the Bibliography:
page
366
366
366
367
369
370
370
371
371
Written
Correction
Bymside, Ronald. 1975. 'Literal
Bymside, Ronald. 1975. 'Introduction:
meaning in Transcription' In
Concepts and Terminology" In
Contemporary Mush and Music
Contemporary Music and Music
Culture by Charles Hamm, Bruno
Culture by Charles Hamm, Bruno
Nettl and Ronald Bymside.
Nettl and Ronald Bymside.
Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall: 4-12 Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall: 1-34
Dyen Isodere
Dyen, Isidore
De Casparis, J.G. and J.W. Mabbett.
De Casparis, J.G. and J.W. Mabbett.
1992. 'Religion and Popular Beliefs of 1992. 'Religion and Popular Beliefs of
Southeast Asia before c. 1500' In The Southeast Asia before c. 1500' in The
Cambridge History of Southeast Asia,Cambridge History of Southeast Asia,
ed. Nicholas Tariing. Cambridge
University: (1)276—334
University Press: (1) 276—334
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. The
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. Interpretation
Interpretation of Culture. New York, of Cultures. New York, Basic Books,
Basic Books, Inc.
Inc.
Iwabuchi, Akifumi. 1994. The People
Iwabuchi, Akifumi. 1994. The People
of the Alas Valley: A Study of an
of the Alas Valley: A Study of an
Ethnic Group ofNothern Sumatra.
Ethnic Group of Northern Sumatra.
Oxford, New York University.
Oxford, New York University Press.
lleto, Reynaldo. 1992. "Religion and
lleto, Reynaldo. 1992. "Religion and
Anti-Colonial Movements'. In The
Anti-Colonial Movements'. In The
University: (2) 199—244.
University Press: (2) 199—244.
Kartomi, M.J. 1980. 'Musical Strata in Kartomi, M.J. 1980. 'Musical Strata in
Sumatra, Java and Bali' In Music of
Sumatra, Java and Bali' In Musics of
Many Cultures, ed. E. May. Berkeley, Many Cultures, ed. E. May. Berkeley,
University of California Press: 111University of California Press: 111113
113
. 1992. The Age of Transition:
. 1992. The Age of Transition:
The Mid-eighteenth to the Early
The Mid-eighteenth to the Early
Nineteenth Centuries'. In The
Nineteenth Centuries'. In The
University: (1) 572—621
University Press: (1) 572—621
Koentjaraningrat, R.M. 1975.
Koentjaraningrat, R.M. 1975.
Introduction to People and Cultures ofIntroduction to Peoples and Cultures
Indonesia and Malaysia. California, of Indonesia and Malaysia. California,
Cummings Publishing Company.
Cummings Publishing Company.
378
370
371
373
375
376
376
381
. The Terminology of Batak
Instrumental Music in Nothem
Sumatra'. Yearbook for Tradirt'ional
Music 17:113-145
. 1987b. 'Introduction:
Ethnomusicology". In Culture and
Societies of North Sumatra, ed.
Rainer Carle. Berlin, Dietrich Reimer
333—336
. 1987. "Kara Batak Rice
Rituals Then and Now". In Culture
and Societies of North Sumatra, ed.
: 253—273
. 1987. 'Can Van Wouden's
Model Be Reconciled with Toba
Batak Social Structure?" In Culture
227—293
Reid, Anthony. 1987. The Identity of
"Sumatra" in History*. In Culture and
Rainer Carle. Berlin, Dietrich Reimer:
25—42
. 1987. 'Nommensen and His
Context' In Culture and Societies of
North Sumatra, ed. Rainer Carle.
Berlin, Dietrich Reimer. 179—187
Royce, Anya P. 1982. Ethnic Identity.
Bloomington, Indiana University.
The Smithsonian institute. 1992.
Music ofNias and North Sumatra:
Hoho, Gendang Karo, Gondang
Toba. Music of lndonesia-4.
Smithsonian/Folkways Recording SF
40420
— - . The Terminology of Batak
Instrumental Music in Northern
Sumatra'. Yearbook for Traditional
Music 17:113-145
. 1987b. 'Introduction:
Ethnomusicology". In Cultures and
333—336
. 1987. "Karo Batak Rice
Rituals Then and Now". In Cultures
Rainer Carte. Berlin, Dietrich Reimer
: 253—273
. 1987. 'Can Van Wouden's
Model Be Reconciled with Toba
Batak Social Structure?" In Cultures
Rainer Carte. Berlin, Dietrich Reimer:
227—293
Reid, Anthony. 1987. The Identity of
"Sumatra" in History'. In Cultures and
Rainer Carte. Berlin, Dietrich Reimer:
25—42
. 1987. 'Nommensen and His
Context' In Cultures and Societies of
North Sumatra, ed. Rainer Carte.
Berlin, Dietrich Reimer 179—187
Royce, Anya P. 1982. Ethnic Identity.
Bloomington, Indiana University
Press.
The Smithsonian Institution. 1992.
Music ofNias and North Sumatra:
Hoho, Gendang Karo, Gondang
Toba. Music of lndonesia-4.
Smithsonian/Folkways Recording SF
40420
Two Publications cited in the text but not written in the Bibliography:
Ortas, Cardinal Antonio Maria Javierre. 1994. 'Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacrament - The Roman Liturgy and Inculturation'. In L'osservatore
Romano, 14:1-6.
Kartomi, M.J. 1993. 'Revival of Feudal Music Dance and Ritual in the Former," Spice Islands" of
Temate and Tidore" In Culture and Society in New Order Indonesia, ed. V. Hooker.
Singapore, OUP: 513-521.
MUSICAL AND FUNCTIONAL CHANGE
IN THE GONDANG SABANGUNAN TRADITION
OF THE PROTESTANT TOBA BATAK 1860s-1990s, WITH PARTICULAR
REFERENCE TO THE 1980s-1990s
By
Mauly Purba, MA (Wesleyan)
A thesis submitted in fulfilment of
the requirements of the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Music Department, Monash University
March, 1998
(
re.
A
I dedicate this work to my dearest wife, tetty,
my gorgeous daughters, tasia, georgie and firigga
and in memory of my father
sr. budiman purba
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I
List of Maps
vi
List of Figures
vi
List of Plates
viii
Abstract
ix
Acknowledgments
x
Note on Translation and Presentation ofTobaBatak Terms
xiii
Declaration
xiv
CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION
1
1.1 Conceptual Framework
18
1.2 Methodology
33
1.3 Commercial and Field Tape Data
38
1.4 Location
39
1.5 Transcriptions
42
5ft
CHAPTER 2:
REVIEW OF LITERATURE RELATED TO THE
GONDANG
SABANGUNAN
2.1 Studies ofTobaBatak Society and Culture . . . . .
2.2 Studies of North Sumatran music, with special reference
to the Gondang-Tortor Tradition
2.3 Conclusion
45
. 45
53
73
5".
i
CHAPTER 3:
MUSIC AND ADAT IN THti LIFE OF THE TOBA
BATAK PEOPLE 1950-1994
75
3.1 Geography of the Batak Lands and Medan
76
3.2 Six Batak Sub-Groups and Speculation about their
Origin
80
II
CHAPTER 4:
3.3 TobaBatak Culture and Society
84
3.3.1 Pre-Christian religious belief
84
3.3.2 Clan (marga) and three-cornered kinship relatipnship
(dalihan naiolu)
93
3.3.3 TobaBatak values
102
3.4 Culture Contact experienced by the Batak People, with
Special Reference to the Toba Batak
109
3.4.1 Hindu-buddhist influence
110
3.4.2 Contact with Islam
118
3.4.3 Contact with Christianity especially via the
German Missionaries and the Dutch Colonial
Government
120
3.5 Toba Batak Urban Drift to East Sumatra (Medan)
. .
133
3.6 Adal for the Contemporary Protestant Toba Batak
. .
140
3.7 Conclusion
144
GONDANG SABANGUNAN MUSIC:
ITS INSTRUMENTS, MUSICAL STRUCTURE,
AND TERMINOLOGY
146
4.1 The Meaning of the Term 'gondang'.
146
.
4.2 Instruments of the Gondang Sabangunan
149
4.2.1 Taganing
152
4.2.2 Gordang
160
4.2.3 Odap
161
4.2.4 Sanme
162
4.2.5 Ogung
165
4.2.6 Hesek (Hesek-hesek)
169
4.3 The Instruments' Function in the Process of Music-Making
and the Musical Structure of Gondang
175
ill
CHAPTER 5:
CHAPTER 6:
4.4 Aspects of the Tuning Relationship
190
4.5 Conclusion
201
ADATNIGONDANG: RULES AND STRUCTURE OF
THE GONDANG IN PRE-CHRISTIAN TOBA
BATAKAZMrPRACTICE
203
5.1 Rules Governing the Performance of the Gondang
Sabangunan
205
5.2 Performance Structure of Gondang Music
228
5.3 Conclusion
245
FROM CONFLICT TO RECONCILIATION:
THE CASE OF THE GONDANG SABANGUNAN IN
THE ORDER OF DISCIPLINE OF THE TOBA
BATAK PROTESTANT CHURCH
246
6.1 The Rise of Conflict
247
6.2 The Orders of Discipline of the Protestant Church between
1907 and 1990
257
CHAPTER 7:
6.3 Conclusion: Reconciliation, a Conditional
Understanding
268
THE GONDANG SABANGUNAN AMONGST
THE PROTESTANT TOBA BATAK PEOPLE IN
THE 1980s AND 1990s
271
7.1 Betel-nut Versus Remuneration: The Invitation
Ceremony to Gondang Musicians to Play
272
7.2 The Manjujur Gondang Versus the Christian Practice:
Beginning a Gondang Performance
279
7.3 The Manutup Gondang: Closing Ceremony in a
Gondang Performance
283
7.4 The Mambuat Tua ni Gondang. Calling for Blessings
on Gondang Performances
285
7.5 Ceremonial Symbols
292
7.5.1 Delivery of Adat Speeches
293
IV
CHAPTER 8:
7.5.2 Tortor and Ceremonial Gifts
294
7.5.3 The Gondang-Tortor Sequence
298
7.6 Performance Settings and the Use of
Sound Systems
304
7.7 Conclusion
313
HATANIGONDANG: EXPLORING THE SOCIAL
FUNCTION AND MEANING OF GONDANG-TORTOR
PERFORMANCE AMONGST THE PROTESTANT
TOBABATAK PEOPLE
315
8.1 Transcriptions of Speeches
316
8.1.1 Speeches presented at the Sipaha Lima Ceremony
held by the Parmalim at Hutatinggi, Laguboti,
in 1994
316
8.1.2 Speeches presented at a Pre-funeral Ceremony held by
a Protestant Family in Medan, 1991
317
8.1.3 Speeches presented during the celebration of the 30th
Anniversary of the GKPI Congregations in the
Medan/Aceh District, held at the T.D. Pardede Hall,
Medan, 1994
.322
8.1.4 Speeches presented during the Exhumation of Bones
, Ceremony held by a Protestant Family at Hutaraja,
Sipoholon, 1994
324
8.1.5 Speeches presented during a Fund-Raising Festival
held by the Congregation of the HKBP in Medan,
1987
326
8.1.6 Speeches presented during the Celebration of the 29th
Anniversary of the Jalan Kapten Pattimura GKPI
Congregation, in Medan, 1994
328
8.2 Interpretation of the Function of Gondang-Tortor
Performance at a Parmalim Sipaha Lima Ceremony . . 330
8.3 Interpretation of the Function of Gondang-Tortor
Performance sdAdat and Church Feasts in the Protestant
TobaBatak Society
334
8.3.1 Gondang-tortor Performance as a Means of Expressing
Religious Sentiment
334
8.3.2 Gondang-tortor Performance as a Way of Gaining the
Blessings of Ancestral Spirits
335
8.3.3 Gondang-tortor Performance as a Tool to Strengthen
Social Relationships
337
8.3.4 Gondang-tortorPerformance as Entertainment at Church
Feasts
339
8.4
CHAPTER 9:
Conclusion
342
CONCLUSION
343
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
359
BIBLIOGRAPHY
364
APPENDIX \.GondangParsahadatan tu OtnpuntaPatuanRaja Uti . . . 383
APPENDIX 2. GondangSomba tu Debaia Jahowa
390
r
VI
LIST OF MAPS
Map 1. The Tanah Batak (Batak Lands) showing its six Kabupaten
(Regencies) and two Kota Madya (Municipalities)
and the location of my
fieldwork
41
Map 2. The Location of the Tano Batak or Tanah Batak
(Batak Lands) in Sumatra and the distribution of
the six Batak sub-groups
78
Map 3. Map showing locations of gondang groups used in my gondang tuning
tests 1972-1994
196
LIST OF FIGURES
i
1.
Cycle of adat practice
26
2.
Notations/Transcription for Gondang
43
3.
Twenty-two ritual events of the pestabius at Limbong in 1923
4.
The growing number of Christian converts in the Toba Batak Protestant
Church in the period between 1861-1954
123
Taganing and its divisions ( I )
158
5.
. . . .
6. Taganing and its divisions ( I I )
7.
85
158
Example of basic pitches and tuning scales applied to different set of
taganing played by different players from different regions
159
8. An example of a sartme scale
165
9. Pitch comparison of the four ogung played by six different groups . . . . 167
10. Gondang Alu-alu tu Amanta Debata .
172
11. Gondang Hasahatan Sitio-tio
174
12. The interlocking pattern of gongs
-182
13. An example of the manganaki played on the taganing
14. Gondang Parsahadatan hi Ompunta Patuan Raja Uti (section A)
15. Gondang
Parsahadatan
tu Ompunta
Patuan
Raja
Uti ( s e c t i o n B )
184
. . . 187
. . .
188
VII
16. Gondang Parsahadatan tu Ompunta Patuan Raja Uti (section C)
. . .
189
17. Example of pitch relationships between instruments of gondang
sabangunan ensembles
192
18. Comparison of the pitch of instruments in different
gondang sabangunan ensembles
194
19. The three-part structure of gondang performance at an adat ceremony . . 229
m
20. Structure of gondang performances in an adat ceremony,
diiiinguished by the name of events, the participatory groups,
the activities, the aims of the rituals and me music
231
21. Sipitu gondang
236
22. Structure of a gondang-tortor sequence
238
23. An example of a leaflet advertising a gondang group
274
24. Example of business cards
275
25. The gondang-tortor sequence presented at a wedding ceremony hosted
by two Protestant families in Medan, December 1994
299
26. Three presentations of gondang-tortor sequences at a youth festival
hosted by the students of the University of North Sumatra in Medan,
December 1994
299
27 The gondang-tortor sequence presented at the thirtieth anniversary of
the GKPI in the Medan/Aceh district, held in the T.D. Pardede Hall,
Medan, in September 1994
300
28. Four presentations of gondang-tortor sequences at an exhumation
of bones ceremony hosted by a Protestant family in Hutaraja, Sipoholon,
December 1994
300
29. The presentations of gondang-tortor sequences at a church fund-raising
festival hosted by the congregation of the HKBP Perumnas Mandala,
Medan, in June 1987
301
30. Four presentations of gondang-tortor sequences at a pre-funeral
ceremony hosted by a Protestant family in Medan, March 1991 . . . . 301
31. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at the 30th anniversary
celebration of the GKPI congregations in the Medan/Aceh district, held
at the T.D. Pardede Hall, JalanBatam, Medan, 1994
305
32. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at a pre-funeral ceremony
at Jalan Mongonsidi, Medan
306
VIII
33. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance in a pavilion at a youth festival
held the University of North Sumatra, Jalan Universitas, Medan 1994 . . 307
34. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at a wedding ceremony at
the Sopo Godang HKBP Hall, Jalan Sudirman, Medan
308
35. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at the 29th anniversary
celebration of the Jalan Kapten Pattimura GKPI congregation,
in Medan, 1994
309
36. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at the HKBP fund-raising
festival at the HKBP Jalan Elang, Perumnas Mandala, Medan, 1987 . . . 310
m
37. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at the exhumation of
bones ceremony, Hutaraja, Sipoholon, Tapanuli Utara, 1994
326
38. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at the exhumation of bones
ceremony at Taman Sari Hall, Medan
327
m
m
LIST OF PLATES
I
(All plates were drawn by the author)
1. The taganing and the gordang
2. The gordang, the taganing, and the odap
152
153
3. The external construction of the taganing
155
4. Parts of the taganing
156
5. The Ihur ofthe taganing
156
6. The odap
162
. , . .
7. The sarune
164
8. The ogimg
166
9. The method of playing the oloan and the ihutan
168
10. The method of playing the panggora
168
11. The method of playing the doal
169
12. The hesek
169
IX
ABSTRACT
This thesis is a study of change in the uses, functions, meanings, musical style and
performance dynamics of gondang sabangunan, the ceremonial music of the Toba
Batak people of North Sumatra, and its associated tortor dancing. It includes music
performed in the Toba Batak animist religious context and" the Protestant church
community context. It spans the period from the 1860s to the 1990s. In pre-Christian
times (before the 1860s), the gondang-tortor tradition served as a form of religious
observance based on specific rules, and was an integral part of the social and religious
code known as adat. Change in the religious and political orientation of Toba Batak
society in the period between the 1860s and the early 1950s resulted in a weakening of
the hegemony of adat, which in turn resulted in changes of style and meaning in the
performing arts. Since the 1980s the Catholic Toba Batak church has incorporated
gondang into its liturgy. The Protestant church refuses to do so, but allows its
congregation to use it in adat ceremonies. In the 1990s, Toba Batak individuals and
social groups have adhered to a variety of religious beliefs. Attitudes towards the
gondang-tortor tradition take at least four forms: (i) the thoroughly adorf-oriented, (ii)
the thoroughly Christian practice-oriented, (iii) the simultaneously adat and Christian
practice-oriented, and (iv) the primarily entertainment-oriented. Each group of adherents
encourages a specific performance practice, style and interpretation of musical meaning,
with each performance style based on a different interpretation of the dialectical
relationship between adat and Christianity. Gondang-tortor performances at adat feasts
symbolise religious and cultural sentiments and social relationships; while performance
at church feasts and concert situations serve as entertainment.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am greatly indebted to countless individuals in North Sumatra and Australia whose
generous assistance made this thesis possible. I wish to thank my friends the gondang
musicians in Medan, Laguboti, Porsea, Pematang Siantar, and Palipi who shared their
knowledge with me. I would like especially to mention Amani Bunga Sinaga, Amani
Rospita Sinaga, Faber Napitupulu, Marningar Sitorus, J. Nainggolan, Sipangkar, Osner
Gultom, Sarikawan Sitohang, Kalabius Simbolon, Roy Sagala and B. Sirait who
contributed to my knowledge of gondang music and from whom I learned so much. To
these people I express my deepest thanks. I am greatly indebted to my taganing teacher
Marsius Sitohang for sharing with me his knowledge about the gondang sabangunan
and the gondang hasapi. To him I express my deepest gratitude.
I am extremely grateful to the church ministers of both the Protestant and
Catholic churches. I would especially like to thank Pendeta S.P. Hutagalung, Pendeta
O.Siahaan, Pendeta Simamora, Pendeta S.Siregar and the late Pendeta Andar
Lumbantobing who shared with me their knowledge of adat and Christianity in Toba
Batak society. Thanks also goes to Benjamin Purba of Karang Sari, Pematang Siantar,
director of the Liturgical Commission who shared some materials on gondang music
performed in the Catholic liturgy as well as proceedings of gondang workshops among
the Catholics. Thanks are also owed to M. Nainggolan for sharing with me his
knowledge of adat practices in Toba Batak society.
I am most indebted to my supervisor Professor Margaret Kartomi for her
suggestions and continued encouragement throughout the process of writing this thesis. I
am indebted to her for the loan of one of her Batak gondang field recording of 1972 and
her willingness to make this thesis readable in English. Her invaluable comments and
editing of successive drafts were an integral part of bringing this thesis into shape. I also
XI
wish to thank all the staff of the Music Department at Monash University, especially
Aline Scott-Maxwell and Joel Crotty, for their friendship and moral support.
My study at Monash University was made possible by an AusAID scholarship.
W,
Thanks go to Sheila Subroto and July of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta for helping
arrange my departure to Australia Thanks are owed to my teachers and friends at the
Indonesia Australia Language Foundation (IALF) at Wisma Budi, Jakarta. I would also
like to thank Gilbert Hennekuin, Mary Bartholomeuz and Jim Zubic of Monash
International who have provided much help over the years.
Thanks are owed to Jody Diamond for her friendship, stimulating conversation
and the time she spent reading some of my work. Sitor Situmorang answered all
questions I asked via letters and I would like to express my gratitude to him. Thanks
goes to Artur Simon for sending me a recording of gondang music. I would also like to
thank Yoshiko Okazaki for sharing some of her research materials with me. Ashley
Turner gave me some copies of translations of early material on gondang tradition; to
him I owe thanks. Linda Hibbs read and corrected some of my work; to her I would like
to express my gratitude. I would also like to thank Robert Hodges for making some
early documents on the Order of Discipline of the church available, for they became
objects of study in this thesis.
Thanks go to the congregation of the Monash Uniting Church at Clayton; I
would
especially like to mention Richard Farrel, David Gates, Jean and David
Townrog, who have been great friends of and a great help to my family over the years.
Thanks also go to the Reverend Jim Murray of the Monasn Uniting Church who found
time to look at the first draft of my conclusion chapter. I am extremely grateful to
Margaret Farrel for her friendships and encouragement throughout the years and for
always patiently helping me to organise my ideas and amending my English.
Xll
I wish to thank members of the Parmalim community at Hutatinggi, Laguboti for
their hospitality during my visit there. In particular, I am grateful to R.M. Naipospos, the
leader of the Parmalim community, for allowing me to attend the Parmalim religious
ceremony, the Sipaha Lima, from which I learned so much about the pre-Christian Toba
Batak religious belief system and the performance of gondang and tortor in the context
of religious ceremonies.
US
Thanks are owed to the Jurusan Etnomusikology, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas
Sumatra Utara, in Medan, for making gondang music recordings available to me. I am
indebted to my good friends Gerfasius Aritonang, Pendi Simanjuntak, and Jabatin
Bangun in Medan and Lintong Aritonang in Tapian Nauli, Muara, who assisted me
during my fieldwork in Pematang Siantar, Muara, Palipi and Sipoholon. Although not
mentioned by name, numerous other friends have provided indispensable assistance. I
am grateful to all of them.
I remain greatly indebted to my mother, M.T. Hutabarat, and my mother-in-law,
D. Rajagukguk, for their love and constant moral support throughout the years. My wife,
I
. .5
Tetty Aritonang, and my daughters, Anastasia, Georgie and Frigga have given me an
incalculable amount of love, support and encouragement. Without their presence and
their assistance in so many ways, this thesis could not have been wrjtten. To them I will
always remain grateful.
. * »
4
XIII
NOTE ON TRANSLATION AND PRESENTATION OF
TOBA BATAK TERMS
All translations—from Indonesian and Toba Batak to English—are mine, except when
due reference is made. All Toba Batak terms, including the names of ceremonies,
kinship relationships, musical ensembles, gondang and dance pieces are italicised, with
the exception of places and personal names. Except for Latin terms, italicised terms
which do not belong to the Toba Batak language will be indicated with abbreviations
such as BI (Bahasa Indonesia), BJ (Bahasa Jawa), BK (Bahasa Karo), BS (Bahasa
Simalungun), BM (Bahasa Mandailing) and BAS (Bahasa Angkola Sipirok). In
accordance with Toba Batak convention, plurals are not indicated.
i
i
:
f.
\ :
XIV
DECLARATION
This dissertation contains no material which has been submitted for any other degree of
diploma at any university, and to the best of my knowledge contains no material
previously published or written by another person, except wheA due reference is made.
Mauly Pufba
3rd March 1998
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
This thesis aims to study change in the uses, functions, meanings, musical style and
dynamics of performance of the ceremonial musk-—-gondang sabangunan (gondang
set)—of the Toba Batak people of North Sumatra and Us associated tortor dancing. It is
based on two years of fieldwork between 1987 and 1995 among Protestant Toba Batak
communities in urban areas of Medan and 11M?- .'Wai village of Hutaraja (Kecamatasi
Sipaholon) and its vicinity, including churches, frames bells, and media stations. I shall
N;
trace the history of the gondang-torior tradition, examine its social functions and
T
meanings, and explore the dynamics of its performance contexts. The people I studied
r
•?
include both TobaBatak animist1 believers and ft^m^S
Toba Batak church believers.
Although my study is based on recent decades, I shall also refer to events and
developments from the 1860s to the 1990s. As discussed below, previous studies of the
gondang in its traditional context have been made by a German scholar, several Batak
scholars and a Japanese scholar, the latter investigating use of the gondang in the
Catholic Toba Batak church communities This thesis is the first study of the gondangtortor tradition in the Protestant church communities. It is also the first comprehensive
study of the pre-Christian gondang-iortor tradition by a Batak-born scholar.
During tiie vsarly centuries AD before thsr contact with the Hindu culture, the
Toba Batak people apparently rsade very little contact with the external world. In their
isolation they developed their own distinctive culture including the kinship system,
religion, healing practices, arts and crafts, knowledge of astronomy, wet rice agriculture
and irrigation, local marketing practices and various forms of ritual ceremonies,
1
By Toba Batak animism is meant the Toba Batak religious system of honouring the ancestral
spirits and the spirits of nature.
i
including ceremonial music and dance. All of these aspects of culture had a vital role to
play in the expression and transmission of their religious and cultural identity. Their
ceremonies honour their set of social and religious codes, known in Batak language as
adat. Originally, adat (traditional custom) embraced the whole Toba Batak way of life;
";l
in particular it enfolded all dimensions of community life, including the social and
k'i
religious aspects. Adat's main musical s'vmbol was the gondang sabangtman. It is still
widely played today.
The gondang sabangunan consists of a set of taganing ijomprising five tuned
drums: the tingling, the paidua ni tingting, the painonga, the paJdua odap, the odapodap (single-headed drums), two bass drums comprising a gordang (single-headed
drum) and an odap (double-headed-drum), a set of four gongs comprising the oloan, the
ihutan, the panggora and the doal (suspended gongs), a sarune (double-reed
aerophone) and a hesek (a percussive piece of metal or an empty beer bottle and a
A
spoon). Two other gondang ensembles in the Toba Batak society, namely, the gondang
hasapi and the gondang bulu should be distinguishedfiror^the gondang sabangunan.
The gondang hasapi is an ensemble consisting of a two-stringed boat-lute (hasapi), a
wooden xylophone (garantung), an idioglot aerophone (sarune etek), an optional
transverse bamboo flute (sulim), and an empty beer bottle struck with a metal spoon
(hesek). Li this enserrrv'e miwcians perform virtually the same repertoire as that of the
gondang sabangunan; and iv is used for both religious and entertainment purposes.2 The
instruments of the gondang bulv. ensemble resemble those of the gondang sabangunan.
All its drums and gongs are made of bamboo (bulu) and its melodic instrument is the
2
Members of the Panudira, a Toba Batak spiritual organisation centred at Hutatinggi, Laguboti,
perform the gondang hasapi at the religious ceremony known as Sipaha Sada (the first month). In
contrast, the Toba Batak traditional theatre known as opera Batak, which evolved in the early 1930s as an
entertainment medium, employs gondang hasapi, to accompany its songs. A gondang hasapi used by
traditional theatre groups usually includes a bamboo flute (sulim), whilst members of the Parmalim
exclude the bamboo flute (see also Hutasuhut 1990:20).
!
'
wooden sanme etek The gondang buht, unlike the gondang sabangiman and the
gondang hasapi, is normally performed by children (see Maharani 1993: 27-57). Thethree musical ensembles normally accompany ceremonial dancing (tortor).
The gondang sabangunan was, and still is, an integral part of the adat. The
performance of this musical ensemble was central to Toba Batak religious and cultural
practices. The music accompanied the worship of the gods and ancestral spirits at life
cycle ceremonies, calendrical rice-growing events, and harvest celebrations as well as
healing ceremonies, all of which are referred to collectively in this study as 'adat feasts'.
The music not only functioned to accompany the ceremonial dance but most importantly
to serve as a communicative medium in order to strengthen relationships between
[
individuals, groups of people, the gods (e.g. Mula Jadi Na Bolon, Batara Guru,
r
H
Soripada, Mangala Bulan, Saniang Naga Laut, Boraspati ni Tano) and the ancestral
spirits {sahala ni ompu sijolo-jolo tubu). For centuries the people practised
the
a-
gondang and the tortor as part of their religious observances, applying specific social
and religious rules known as adat ni gondang (rules for performing gondang and
tortor). These rules guided the ceremonial participants, who comprised ensemble
players (pargonsi), ceremonial dancers (panortor) and ceremonial hosts (hasuhuton or
suhui).
Early contact before and during the seventh century between the local people
and foreign traders of Indian, China and Persian origin had little impact on the local
culture (see Tobing 1963: 26; see also Sinaga 1981: 30-31).3 However, increasing
control of the Batak people by the Dutch colonial government from the late 1850s as
well as the Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft (RMG) from Wuppe»1al (Germany) from
3
References to Hindu influences on Toba Batak culture can be found in Nilakanta Sastri (1932),
Gonda (1955), Schnitger (1937, 1964), Tobing (1963), Brakel (1979), Parkin (1975), Coedes (1975),
Voorhoeve (1975), McKinnon (1977), Viner and Kaplan (1981), Suleiman (1981), Kartomi (1980, 1986,
1992) and Drakard (1988).
1864 finally ended the period of isolation. Contact with the colonial power resulted not
only in educational, technological and economic development among most of the people
but also—and equally importantly—their conversion to Christianity. Contact, however,
interfered with the very essence of Toba Batak culture. The colonial government saw
local religious-political units (brus) as obstructions to their expansionary aims; thus, they
tried to destroy them. Likewise, the missionaries regarded adat feasts, including
gondang and tortor performances, as stumbling blocks in their missionary work.
Collaborating with the colonial government in 1897, they banned the gondang and the
tortor and prohibited the people from performing their large-scale communal sacrificial
ceremonies (pesta bius). They also prohibited their smaller ceremonies, such as prefuneral ceremonies. As Tobing says, 'It [the ban] was the death-sentence of the Toba
Batak religion' (Tobing 1963: 27). Thus the two agents of change ajmed systematically
to destroy the pre-Christian Toba Batak belief system, including the ritual ceremonies
and their music and dance.
It is not well-known that many Toba Batak people actually resisted colonialism
and the church by forming traditional religio-political organisations known as the
Parmalim (ibid. 27). Despite the oppression of the missionaries and the colonial power,
they were able to protect and perpetuate their ancestral practices and belief systems.
Members of the Parmalim at Hutatinggi, Laguboti, one of the organisations that survives
in the modern world, still persist in upholding their ancestral belief system and its
practices.
One of the outcomes of the Protestant German missionaries' work (RMG) in the
Batak Lands was the establishment of the local Batak church, known as HKBP (Huria
Kristen Batak Protestants—Batak Protestant Christian Church) in 1930. Three years
after the HKBP had been established, the colonial government began to allow Catholic
missionaries to open their own mission at Balige (Pedersen 1970: 142). Although the
two denominations proselytised the same Gospel, each held to a different doctrine,
which was reflected in their attitude to the local music tradition. The Protestants
resisted the gondang-tortor tradition while the Catholics welcomed it. The term
'tradition' here means anything that is passed down from the past to the present (Shill
1981: 12). As Coplan puts it, tradition 'represents the immanence of the past in the
present...revealing the intervention of expressive culture in popular consciousness'
(Coplanl991:47).
The Catholic missionaries of the Dutch Capuchins began to work in the Batak
Lands only from the 1930s, which was about 70 years after the Protestant missionaries
(see Pedersen 1970: 142; Fah. L. 1974: 24-30). The Catholic missionaries chose never
to ban the gondang-tortor tradition. Evidently, in 1940 and in 1952 some Catholics
missionaries who worked in Samosir employed the gondang-tortor for church feasts
(see Susanto 1989: 53; and Okazaki 1994: 183-184). More recently, the Catholics made
great progress towards incorporating the gondang-tortor tradition into their liturgy.
From the time of the Vatican Council II (1963-1965), the cultural policy of liturgy, i.e.
inkulturasi (inculturation), was instituted. Inculturation means 'the incarnation of the
Gospel in autonomous cultures and at the same time the introduction of these cultures
into the life of the Church.' (Ortas 1994: 2). Cardinal Ortas wrote further as follows:
Inculturation signifies 'an intimate transformation of the authentic
cultural values by their integration into Christianity and the implantation
of Christianity into different human cultures.'(ibid. 2)
ir
Among many documents of the Vatican Council II4, the document entitled 'Constitution
on the Sacred Liturgy' merits mention here. It explains the objective of the Council in
reforming and promoting the sacred liturgy in modern times. Most importantly, it
describes the church's attitude towards indigenous cultures, especially local music and
musical instruments. Articles 1,37,119 and 120 of the document translate as follows:
It is the goal of this most sacred Council to intensify the daily growth of
Catholics in Christian living; to make more responsive to the
requirements of our times those church observances which are open to
adaptation... [article 1.]
Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity
in matters which do not involve the faith or the good of the whole
community. Rather she [the Church] respects and fosters the spiritual
adornments and gifts of the various races and people. Anything in their
way of life that is not indissolubly bound up with superstition and error
she studies with sympathy and, if possible, preserves intact. Sometimes
in fact she admits such things into the liturgy itself, as long as they
harmonize with its true and authentic spirit, [article 37.]
In certain parts of the world, especially mission lands there are peoples
who have their own musical traditions, and these play a great part in
their religious and social life. For this reason due importance is to be
attached to their music, and a suitable place is to be given to it, not only
by way of forming their attitude towards religion, but also when there is
a question of adapting worship to their native genius...
Therefore, when missionaries are being given training in music, every
effort should be made to see that they become competent in promoting
the traditional music of these peoples, both in schools and in sacred
services, as far as may be practicable, [article 119.]
In the Latin Church the pipe organ is to be held in high esteem, for it is
the traditional musical instrument, and one that adds a wonderful
splsndor to the Church's ceremonies and powerfully lifts up man's mind
to God and to heavenly things.
But other instruments also may be admitted for use in divine worship,
with the knowledge and consent of the competent territorial
authority...This may be done, however, only on condition that
instruments are suitable for sacred use, or can be made so, that they
4
The complete official texts of the documents of Vatican II promulgated by the Ecumenical
Council (1963-1965) can be found in Walter M. Abbott, SJ (Ed), TheDocuments of Vatican 11(1966) and
Austin Flannery (ed), Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post-Conciliar Documents (1975).
C
1
eg ; l
?6 Jl
accord with the dignity of the temple, and truly contribute to the
edification of the faithful, [article 120.]
During the 1980s and 1990s, under the guidance of the Vatican Council II and with
some help from experts on music for the liturgy in the Liturgical Music Centre at
Yogyakarta, the Catholic Toba Batak church conducted musical workshops on the
composing of new hymns to be used in the liturgy.5 One of the outcomes of the
workshops was some newly composed hymns that incorporate musical elements of
gondang and local styles of singing known as mangandung. Mangandung literally
means 'crying while singing poetic texts'. The newly composed hymns were then
published and distributed to the church in rural and urban areas as material to be learned
and to be performed in church as part of the inculturation process.6 As well as these
publications, the workshops produced recording cassettes of the new hymns.7 Likewise,
in response to the Vatican Council II, some Catholic Toba Batak churches in the area
"•h'
around Samosir Island and in Medan have also employed gondang and tortor as part of
the liturgy, even though the performances took place only on certain celebratory
occasions such as Christmas or Easter (see Okazaki
1994: J92-r204). In brief,
application of concepts from the Vatican Council II has engendered new interpretations
of the gondang-tortor tradition among the Catholic Toba Batak community.
5
Detailed discussion of the compositional workshop can be found in Okazaki (1994:211-227).
6
The following publications are among the outcomes of the workshop: Buah Lokakarya Komposisi
Musik Liturgi-l (June 1986) (The outcome of the Liturgical Music Workshop-I) , Buah Lokakarya
Komposisi Musik Liturgi- II (July 1986) (The outcome of the Liturgical Music Workshop-H); Gendang
Persahabatan (Music for Friendship) (June 1987); Buah Lokakarya Komposisi Musik Liturgi- IV (April
1989) (The outcome of the Liturgical Music Workshop-IV); Alunan Seruling (1990) (The Soimd of
Flute); Buah Lokakarya Komposisi Musik Liturgi-Vl (July 1990); (The outcome of the Liturgical Music
Workshop-Vl); Buah Lokakarya Komposisi Musik Liturgi-Vll (April 1991) (The outcome of the
Liturgical Music Workshop-Vll). All of these books are published by Komisi Liturgi Keuskupan Agung
Medan, Pemaiang Siantar (the Liturgical Commission of Medan Archdiocese at Pematang Siantar) in
association with Pusat Musik Liturgi Yogyakarta (Centre for Liturgical Music Yogyakarta).
7
Four cassettes produced by the Komlit KAM (Liturgical Commission): Ave Verttm, vols. 1-4.
n
8
The story of the gondang-tortor tradition in Protestant communities is quite
different. Until the early 1950s, the HKBP prohibited the Protestants from performing
ritual ceremonies such as exhumation of bones ceremonies, pre-funeral ceremonies and
healing ceremonies. They therefore effectively prohibited the practice of the gondangtortor tradition. The synod meeting of 1952, however, re-evaluated the church's attitude
to the traditional culture. This resulted in a recognition of the contribution made by the
local culture to society and the church. The synod decided that its parishioners should be
allowed to enjoy gondang and iortor performances outside the church on happy
occasions, when gondang riang-riang (happy gondang music) was played, but only if
they opened and closed with hymn singing and prayers. The synod also decided that any
aspect of the performance that was still associated with spirit belief must be removed
and that any ritual performance accompanied by the gondang and tortor must be made
under the supervision of the church ministers.
> ,1
Hi
These regulations were passed in 1952; and they remain in force as church law
to this day. The church refers to them as Ruhut-rnhut Paminsangan or Hukum Siasat
Gereja (BI) (i.e. the Order of Discipline of the Church); indeed, it still uses them as a
means of decontextualisation of the gondang-tortor tradition while simultaneously
recontextualising it as part of Christian practice. By 'decontextualisation' I mean the
systematic detachment of the tradition from its cultural source. By 'recontextualisation' I
mean the assignation of new meanings and performance contexts to the tradition.
Through the Order of Discipline, the church is essentially endeavouring to shift the
function of the gondang-tortor tradition from an animist-religious to the non-religious,
socially and culturally oriented one, while simultaneously encouraging the people to
adapt the gondang-tortor tradition to accord with Christian teaching.
Why is the gondang-iorior tradition problematic to the Protestant Toba Batak
people? To explain this we need to contemplate the historical background of the
community in both the colonial and post-colonial eras. During the colonial era, there
were many educated Protestant Toba Batak who could read, write and speak the Dutch
language. Most of them had left their rural homelands to reside in Medan, which was the
centre of the Dutch administration and commercial activities. This period began with the
H
establishment of rubber plantations in Deli in 1863 and ended with the coming of the
Japanese in 1942. Some worked as teachers at government schools while others became
low-hierarchy administrators or clerks in government offices. In post-Independent
Indonesia, a huge number of Toba Batak, including teachers, students, farmers, traders
p
and journalists, migrated from rural Batak areas to urban areas in East Sumatra. They
came in search of better education and better jobs. In the independent era, many
educated Toba Batak came to occupy important positions in the government
administration, not only in North Sumatra but also throughout Indonesia, while others
came to run private businesses or taught in schools or universities.
Clearly, then, Toba Batak communities underwent radical social change in the
period between the 1860s and the present. Not only did they survive
colonial
domination and embrace Christianity but they also received a Western education and
became urbanised. However, not all were totally 'modernised.' Rundell defines
'modernity' as:
a process of societal and cultural differentiation and pluralization
propelled by and revolving around a series of developmental logics or
dynamics which may be located within each of differentiating spheres.
These developmental logics or dynamics include the general
capitalization of social life; industrialization; the autonomization of art;
8
In 1948 the province of North Sumatra included three administrative units known as Keresidenan.
The three administrative units are Keresidenan Aceh, Keresidenan Sumatra Timur (East Sumatra) and
Keresidenan Tapanuli. In 1956 Aceh became an autonomous province and the other two remained as
North Sumatra Province (Sumatra Utara Dalam Angka 1995: xii-xv).
V'/J
yJx
I
10
and democratization of the debates and conflicts concerning the
sovereignty of civil society and persons as autonomous beings. (Rundell
1987:2)
Some chose to become educated and improve their economic status but still remained
emotionally attached to their ancestral beliefs and customs and identified with them
musically by hosting or attending and enjoying gondang-tortor performances at adat
feasts.
The attachment was not, however, purely an emotional one; it was also political
and ethnic. In the immediate post-Independence period, Indonesians sought to assert
their own cultural identity as a nation with a philosophy based on the motto of Unity in
Diversity. Thus in 1960, President Soekarno decreed that the nation reject anything
foreign and return
to its diverse ethnic roots and local cultures ('penggalian
kebudayaan [BI] [Sianipar 1973: 9]) to build up a unique combination of Indonesian
cultures (see Muskens 1979: 253; Bruner 1987:. 137). This included the building of
monuments which Soekarno referred to as 'food for the soul' (Bruner 1987: 137-139;
Sianipar 1977: 9-10). As a result of the decree, many Toba Batak people built ancestral
monuments (tugu) and celebrated their erection by family feasts with gondang-tortor
performances, especially between 1960 and 1965, while Soekarno's era was coming to
an end (Bruner 1987: 139).
n
How did the Protestant and Catholic churches respond to this? The Protestant
Toba Batak priest, Sianipar, reported that Toba Batak church leaders in many ways did
not agree to the call to construct monuments, but this could not stop the people from
building them (Sianipar 1977: 9). Whether those church leaders were Protestani or
Catholic is unclear. Regardless of this, hundreds of ancestral monuments are still to be
seen today along the roads between Pematang Siantar and Tarutung and in many
villages on Samosir island. Some of the monuments belong to Catholic Toba Batak
11
families and others to Protestant families. The period of monument-building certainly
increased the people's interest in traditional ceremonies {adat feast), music and dance.
In the Protestant and Catholic communities today four types of adat feasts are
commonly practised, namely: wedding ceremonies (pangoli anak or pamuli born), prefuneral ceremonies (saur matua), exhumation of bones ceremonies (mangongkal holi)
and celebrations of ancestral monuments (pesta tugu).
Over the past century, influences from outside, including Christianity, Western
education, modernisation, and urbanisation have by no means led to the
uniform
practice of adat. Indeed, they have resulted in the creation of much tension and conflict.
Some no longer believe in the power of adat, seeing it as 'senseless' and old-fashioned.
Others contend that most aspects of adat, which developed centuries ago, are no longer
relevant to modem life and Christian teachings; and they conclude that adat should not
be practised at all. Yet others believe that adat is the essence of being Batak and
therefore assert that adat should be practised in order to maintain social cohesion and to
respect ancestral ties through ceremony.
The response of the Protestant and the Catholic churches to these diverse views
and practices has been to develop a policy towards adat, inducing practice of the
gondang-tortor traditioa The Catholic Toba Batak church, under the guidance of the
:'.*
Vatican Council II, unified its response to adat, and that response has been implemented
through the inculturation process. But inculturation, as mentioned above, involves using
local culture as a tool to communicate the Gospel; it does not guide Catholics how to
:•• i
perform their own music and dance in the celebration of their traditional cultures.
Likewise, the Catholic Toba Batak church, to the best of my knowledge, has never
devised regulations as to how the Catholic Toba Batak community should employ the
gondang-tortor tradition in their social life. It is a fact that the Catholic Toba Batak
12
church is fairly open to Toba Batak local cultures (see Pedersen 1970: 144; Okazaki
1994: 183). When the gondang and tortor are performed in adat feasts, for example, the
church does not prohibit musicians and participants from following the pre-Christian
rules and procedures of the gondang performance. This was evident in the exhumation
of bones ceremony which was performed by a Catholic family at Palipi, Samosir, in
1989. A Catholic priest opened the ceremony by conducting a service, including hymn
singing prayers and sermon. After the service, that priest allowed participants to follow
the local rules and procedures of performing the exhumation of bones ceremony and the
gondang-tortor. Thus I saw the host give betel-nut and meals to uiu vians before they
played the gondang {manggalang pargonsi). I also witnessed musficians performing a
series of gondang pieces required for the opening of a performance (panjujuran
gondang). Likewise, I witnessed the host require musicians to play some, gondang items
in honour of the ancestral spirits and to call for spiritual blessings on the performance
(mangalap tua ni gondang). To the accompaniment of the gondang and the tortor
performance, the host sacrificed a buffalo and shared the meat amongst the participants
of the ceremony.
To this day, the issue of the gondang-tortor tradition has not been considered
problematic by the Catholic Toba Batak church, and except for the documents of the
Vatican
Council II, the Catholic Toba Batak church has not instituted any other
regulations. Nevertheless, the Catholic Toba Batak church published booklets containing
guidelines or instructions for lay people who conducted service in the absence of church
ministers in the 1980s. These booklets suggested items of the gondang repertoire that
were appropriate for playing at pre-funeral and exhumations of bones ceremonies (see
Okazaki 1994: 190).9
s
I have not seen die booklet mentioned by Okazaki. Okazaki does not explain in her thesis
exactly what the booklet instructs the Catholic to do about the gondang-tortor tradition in funeral and
13
In contrast, the Protestant church's response to adat remains ambiguous. It is
apparent that the Protestant church disagrees with inculturation (See Pardede 1987:
246-248). Its equivocal response to the diverse views and practices of adat can be best
understood from publication resulting from two seminars held on the topic of adat. They
were sponsored by the HKBP and IRAPAS (Indonesia Regional Asia Program For
Advanced Studies), and held at Pematang Siantar in 1968 and 1977 respectively. The
participants of the 1968 event, who were mainly Protestant Toba Batak church ministers
4
^
«i
and intellectuals, endeavoured to select adat practices that could be practised and those
that could not be practised by Protestants. The seminar succeeded in issuing some
instructions and regulations re adat fo* Protestants; however, it failed to reach a unified
view of adat (see Pardede 1987: 245).
The participants of the seminar on adat in 1977 proposed that the liturgy be
indigenised. They proposed the pempribumian liturgy dan kebaktian (BI)
(indigenisation of the liturgy and service). It is probable that the concept of
pempribunian (indigenisation) is itself the Protestant equivalent term for inculturation.
The second seminar, like the first, failed to achieve a unanimous decision. Those who
were devoted to adat agreed with the proposal while those who found adat to be
problematic in Christian life refused to accept it. Those who disagreed
f.
were
predominant; and accordingly, the idea of indigenisation has never been implemented in
the Protestant Toba Batak church.
Through the two seminars, old, conflicting ideas about the significance of adat
were passed on by the older generation to the new one. Despite this, there is a unity in
exhumation of bones ceremonies and how they should do it. I do have a booklet entitled Ulaon
Pamasumasuon Pardongatisaripeoti (Wedding Ceremony) (1988) published by the Catholic church at
Pematang Siantar. It contains procedures of conducting four different types of wedding ceremony that
incorporate some aspects of local adat, such as the use of the traditional shawl (ulos). rice grain and betel
nut. However, it does not touch on anything about gondang or lortor.
14
the practice among the present generation. There is an implicit agreement mat prior to
any adat event, including gondang and tortor performances, it is necessary to
'Christianise' {dikrisienkan, dikuduskan, diinjilkari) (BI) the event by holding a sermon
and prayers. However, it is not always made clear which specific aspects of adat, music
and dance must be 'Christianised.' Moreover, there is no common agreement about
I
who is responsible for the Christianising. The intention to Christianise adat began
amongst the early Protestant missionaries in the late 1800s. However, such activity
stopped in the early 1920s, because it was found that adat could not be Christianised
(see Schreiner 1994: 60-62; 79).
Until the present time, both the biggest Protestant church institutions—HKBP
and GKPI-—remain uncertain about their attitude to the gondang-tortor tradition. The
latter stands for Gereja Kristen Protestant Indonesia—Protestant Christian Indonesian
Church; it was established by Toba Batak ministers in Pematang Siantar, in August 23,
t.'
1964 (see Pedersen 1970: 177). The Protestant Toba Batak church continues to regulate
the performance practice of its music and dance in the community. For example, it
prohibits the gondang-tortor tradition from being used in the liturgy. It permits
musicians {pargonsi) and dancers (panortor) to perform at church feasts only if they
and other participants follow church law. It allows a congregation to enjoy gondangtortor performances at adat feasts providing they are under the supervision of the
church ministers. Any aspect of a performance that suggests paganism is forbidden.
Those who violate these laws are disciplined; the level of disciplining varies according to
the level of the violation. Tliose who violate church law may be given a warning or even
a
M
be excluded from Holy Communion. Alternatively their church membership may be
terminated. Some members of the church question, however, whether such extreme
measures are a lawfrj ^neans of 'Christianising' adat feasts.
15
Another problem is that the Protestant Toba Batak communities adhere to a
range of views regarding the meaning of the term 'Christianised.' Some Protestants
define it as a consistent method of transplanting Christian values into adat practice. By
practice of 'Christian values' is meant first and foremost that parishioners show moral
responsibility to their church. However, this view is interpreted differently on different
occasions. Sometimes, it is said that adat performances are allowed as long as they open
and close with Christian prayers or hymns, while others say that all aspects of adat that
suggest animism are forbidden. And there are other views in between these extremes.
As those divergent views are put into practice, the line between the practice of adat and
Christian teachings becomes impossible to draw. Many aspects of adat practised by
church-goers at present still represent the tenets of spirit belief. For example, touches of
'paganism' may bo found in speeches, performance structures, dance movements, the
stated purpose of a ceremony, ceremonial gifts, and the titles of gondang pieces.
These divergent interpretations of 'Christianisation' .and the varying degress of
importance attached to adat lead to diverse understandings of what the gondang-iortor
tradition means. To some it is simply synonymous with 'heathen.' To others it means
nothing more than an enjoyable tradition of dance and music. Still others perceive it as
an aspect of identity, a heritage which must be acted upon. Hosts who employ gondang
musicians to play in adat feasts also hold to a wide range of views about specific
details, such as how long a gondang-tortor performance should last, how it should begin
and end, what rules of performance should be followed, and how gondang musicians
should be treated and compensated for their work. Their views also vary about what
should be conveyed in adat speeches (hata ni gondang), who should be addressed in
adat speeches, which titles should be giiven to gondang pieces, and how the guests at a
ceremony should behave when dancing the iortor.
16
Likewise, different views about the gondang-torior tradition have impacted on
its performance contexts and its rules and procedure of performance. In pre-Christian
times (before the 1860s) as we have noted, the people practised the gondang-tortor
tradition as a religious observance. At the time, any gondang-tortor performance had to
be associated with adat practice (see Schreiner 1969: 296) and be motivated by a
religious purpose (see Pedersen 1970: 23-42). The relationship between gondang
musicians and the host of a ceremony had to be purely an adat concern. Musicians had
to be respected and treated as important people, be formally invited, and be served with
msals. At ceremonies, musicians had to be placed on the balcony of a traditional house
(ruma). AH of these practices were norms of adat, that social and religious code that
unified the people and maintained their relationship with the gods and the ancestral
spirits, guided their ceremonies, and directed the gondang-tortor tradition in
ceremonies, It is because of their devotion to that same adat fyat the people then
regarded the gondang-tortor tradition so highly. For example, it was forbidden for a
gondang-tortor performance to occur outside of a ritual celebration.
However, after Christianity and a Western system of education were introduced
in the early 1860s, adat was no longer able to unite the people. No longer did they
adhere strongly to the same view of adat or to the gondang-tortor tradition (see
Aritonang 1988: 153; 442). Evidence of the decrease oiadaCs hegemony on social and
religious life during the first six decades of Christianisation is as follows. First, in 1865
the Protestant
if Nonaries built a new village in Silindung valley; it was called Huta
Dame (Pe*. e village) and it was intended to house those who had accepted Christianity.
By taking converts to that new village, the missionaries actually showed that some
people had changed their perception of adat, i.e. they no longer participated in
communal sacrificial ceremonies, rather they attended Sunday service. Secondly, in
17
1897 the church banned communal sacrificial ceremonies (pesta bius) and gondang and
tortor performances. Despite the opposition of the Parmalim, many Protestants obeyed
the ban. Then in the early 1920s, the missionaries formally promulgated the Order of
Discipline of the church, thus banning any gondang and tortor performance in the
Protestant church community, except for occasions that had been approved by the
missionaries. It was not until the early 1950s that the church re-evaluated this law as
mentioned above.
The changing perceptions about the meaning and function of gondang since the
1920s have resulted in a diversifying of the aims and contexts of gondang performance
and its procedures, including the proscribed order of presentation of gondang pieces and
dance. From the 1950s onwards, the performance context of the gondang-tortor
tradition was no longer restricted to adat feasts. In 1952 the Protestant church formally
allowed the gondang-tortor to be performed in adat feasts; and at the same time the
church allowed its congregations to enjoy gondang and tortor performances at church
feasts. In the late 1960s—i.e. after the first seminar on adat had taken place at Pematang
Siantar in 1968—the gondang-tortor tradition become an important constituent of
Protestant church functions. In contrast, the Catholic Toba Batak church had been using
the gondang-tortor tradition in church functions since the 1940s (Okazaki 1994: 183).
A gondang-tortor performance at church feasts is normally held to entertain, and to
raise money for the church.
On the basis of these accounts, the history of the gondang-tortor tradition in
Toba Batak society can be approximately divided into three periods: (i) the era of
!:
••«
\A
conflict (1860-1940), (ii) the era of reconciliation (1950-1970) and (iii) the survival of
the pre-Christian adat and musical performing arts in the modern world (1980 to the
present).
18
The current function and meaning of gondang in the Protestant community is
the outcome of a complex interplay of past and present religious and socio-cultural
forces. It is mis interplay that I aim to investigate in this thesis. I shall try to interpret
and explain the religious and
socio-cultural forces—past and present—which have
contributed to the current function and meaning of gondang and tortor performances. I
shall investigate gondang's social function today, based on its recorded history, which
began in the 1860s. In so doing I shall examine the tenets of its performance contexts
which have determined its changing meanings and functions. My analyses reveal that
Toba Batak individuals and social groups adhere to a variety of religious beliefs and
therefore perceptions of adat. Their attitudes towards gondang-iortor tradition break
into at least four groups: the totally adat-oriented, the thoroughly Christian practiceoriented, the coexisting of adat and Christian practice-oriented, and the primarily
entertainment-oriented Each group encourages and represents a specific performance
practice, style and interpretation of musical meaning. Although adat and Christian
teaching seem to some to be in diametrical opposition, both continue to influence the
community today in equal measure. The four resultant styles of gondang-tortor
performance are based on four different perceptions and interpretations of the dialectical
relationship between adat and Christianity.
1.1 Conceptual Framework
To explain the function and meaning of gondang and tortor, it is necessary to describe
the full context of its use in the code of social conduct and belief known as adat and the
impact upon them of the HKBP's Order of Discipline between the establishment of the
first Protestant community and the present time. The Order of Discipline brought in a
new set of laws of social conduct which regulated the musical performance practice of
19
the Protestants. We need to consider how the power of this large, successful institution
influenced socio-political and educational change at both the local and national levels in
both the colonial period and the period of Independent Indonesia.
Whenever the religious or political orientation of a society cbumges, its members
reinterpret the structure, content and contexts of their performing arts. Toba Batak
society, for example, experienced change in its religious and political orientation in the
period between the 1860s and the 1960s. During this hundred years or so the gondangtortor tradition underwent a continuous process of appropriation. Based on a reading of
Formile (1989), Kartomi defines 'appropriation' as:
a strategy adopted to gain control of a system of knowledge or beliefs
after detaching it from its cultural source, then decontextualising it and
finally recontextualising it again for a new set of purposes or situation.
(Kartomi 1993: 513)
The appropriation of the gondang-tortor tradition occurred as a result of the action of
Protestant church officials: i.e. the German missionaries in the era of colonial conflict
(the 1860s to the 1940s) and the Toba Batak ministers in the era of reconciliation (the
1950s to the 1970s) and in the era of survival (the 1980s to the present). Li the era of
conflict, the Order of Discipline of the church systematically tried to destroy the
gondang-tortor tradition. From the 1950s to the time of writing this work, the Order of
Discipline of the church has been trying to detach the gondang-tortor tradition from its
original context (paganism) and to recontextualise it according to Christian practices.
It is instructive to compare the Toba Batak musical situation with that of Ternate
in North Maluku and Central Sulawesi as discussed by Kartomi and Aragon
respectively. Kartomi reports that the local government of Ternate shifted the uses and
functions of some local music and dances and detached them from their collective
village setting and reconstructed them to convey new political messages. Musical
20
'modernisation' or Westernisation of ronggeng music accompanied the change, and the
style incorporated Western musical harmony and its musical instruments, including
electric guitars and Western drum-kit (Kartomi 1993: 513-521).
The study of raego' songs of the people of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, by
Aragon is another example that illustrates the case. The performance of the raego' song
and dance genre was associated with pre-colonial religious rites, social hierarchy and
community fertility. The dramatic religious transformations of the local people in the
early twentieth century—from 'indigenous' to Christian or Muslim—were accompanied
by musical change, not only of form and performance context but also of performance
style. The original context and content of the raego' have become taboo because of new
contemporary religious principles and the national political orientation. Under the control
of the church and the government leaders, raego' texts, which used to be associated
with life cycle rituals, agriculture, warfare and curing, have recently been rewritten to
portray Christian and political messages. In traditional raego' men stood beside the
women in a round dance, but this style is no longer practised; today, dancers stand in
'sex-segregated rows,' like people singing a chorus in church (Aragon 1996: 413-414;
432).
Neither of these cases is identical to the gondang-tortor tradition, however. In
the case of Ternate and Central Sulawesi, it seems that the authority of the government
or church leaders regarding music and dance is greater than that of the majority of the
population. Such authority occurred in tod gondang-tortor tradition only in the distant
past. Toba Batak Protestants, Catholics and Parmalim are now economically powerful
enough not to need financial support from the government or the church any more. Adat
feasts with gondang-tortor performances are mostly privately sponsored and do not
depend on the government or the church. The people do not need advice from the
21
government or the church in order to maintain their musical tradition because their adat
has obligated them to maintain it. The adat not only survives in the modern world but it
also still motivates some people to adhere to the original context and content of the
gondang-tortor performances.
It is necessary now to outline the meaning of adat in pre-Christian Toba Batak
society and how the gondang-tortor tradition was associated with it, and then to
investigate the attitude of the German missionaries and the current Protestant church
about adat.
Until about three decades or so after the publication of Vergouwen's book The
Social Organisation and Customary Law of the Toba Batak of North Sumatra (1933),
little attention had been given by scholars to adat. From the late 1950s adat began to
attract scholars' attention in books, articles and monographs as well as formal
seminars.10 Some introduced adat as a topic for seminars in church.11 Today, adat
remains a social issue that attracts discussions by many local and foreign scholars, adat
practitioners, and ministers. Often these discussions in local newspapers and magazines
become polemical. Yet, adat remains an elusive concept.
Scholars from different disciplines have proposed various definitions of adat.
Each of the definitions given below includes reference to different details, yet all of them
indicate that the concept of adat includes the implementation of the pre-Christian Toba
Batak belief system. Tampubolon, an expert on adat practices, maintains that adat is a
10
See for example, Tobing's The Structure of the Toba Batak Belief in the High God (1956),
Braner's 'The Toba Batak Village' (1959), Tampubolon's Pustaha Tumbaga Holing (1964), Siahaan's
Sejarah Kebudayaan Batak (1964) and Adat Dalihan Na Tolu (1982), and Schreiner's Adat und
Evangelium: zur Bedeutung der altvolkischen Lebensordnungengftir Kirche und Mission unter der Batak
in Nordsumatra (1973)
11
12
For example, 'Seminar Adat di HKBP' occurred in 1968,1976 and 1977.
Polemical articles that discuss the practice of contemporary adat can be found, for example, in
the magazine entitled Bonapasogit (Oct. 1989. No.2; April 1990, No. 8; May 1990, No. 9; June 1990, No.
10; July 1990, No. 11; July 1993, No. 39; September 1994, No. 53; January 1995, No. 57), published
monthly by the Toba Batak community in Jakarta.
22
religious norm and law that looks after the relationship between the gods and human
beings as well as between the ancestors and their descendants. Adat cannot be changed;
it must be obeyed (Tampubolon 1964: cited in Schreiner 1994: 115). The theologian,
Pedersen, asserts that adat is a system established by the ancestors for their protection
against each other as well as for preserving the equilibrium of the supernatural powers
around them. The aim of practicing adat is to avoid disaster, restore harmony, maintain
fertility, and ensure the welfare of villages and towns and their inhabitants. To disobey
adat is believed to result in infertility, disease, disaster and crop failure (Pedersen 1970:
36). The anthropologist, Bruner, observe: that adat not only includes marriage law,
inheritance and property but also the procedures of life crisis ceremonies. It determines
tfoe mutual rights and obligations between the living and the deceased (Bruner 1959:
55). Sianipar, a Toba Batak priest, says that adat directs people's attitudes and actions
in human relationships based upon values rooted in ancestral tradition (Sianipar 1972:
28-29). Schreiner, a German theologian, argues that adat is a traditional social law—
'suprapartes'—sanctioned by the ancestor who in the tribal religion determined the
destiny of the community (Schreiner 1972; 285 quoted in Okazaki 1994: 53). Aritonang,
another Toba Batak priest, states that adat is not only a social norm but also a reality that
enfolds all dimensions of a community's life, including people's bodies and spiritual
lives in the present and the future, the relationship between human beings and the
Creator, and each person's ego and surroundings.
The most useful definition of adat is that it is a continually changing system of
social, ethical and religious principles and practices that govern the social and religious
life of a community. Thus, adat includes civil laws, social ethics, markers of stylistic
identity and lifestyle, and norms of religious and ritual performance practice (see also
Schreiner 1994: 217). Legally, it controls people's uses and occupation of unused lands,
23
management of their farms and irrigation systems, the system of inheritance, and the
tradition of marriage (Bruner 1959: 55; Situmorang 1993: 42-45). In terms of social
etiiics, it directs people as regards proper behaviour towards their kinfolk and their
environment. It also includes the kinship system. As a marker of stylistic identity in the
arts and lifestyle, it governs ritual, music, dance and lifestyles, e.g. as practised at
weddings, pre-funeral ceremonies and exhumation of bones ceremonies. Among its
specific requirements is the rule that people perform the gondang and the torior at their
ceremonial feasts according to specific rules and that they pay respect to the gondang
musicians and indigenous religious leaders, Adat maintains relationships between living
human beings, the ancestral spirits and other gods; and it guides ritual communications
between them. Rituals and religious ceremonies formalise these relationships when the
tortor is performed, accompanied by the gondang sabangunan. Adat is realised in the
indigenous religion, which Christian missionaries and Christianised Toba Batak refer to
as hasipekbeguan (paganism). One Christian Toba Batak, Sianipar, is of the view that
adat and paganism are inseparable aspects of the same phenomenon, based on the
ancient religion (Sianipar 1972: 28-29).
When adat is practised at celebrations, it is called ulaon adat or pesta adat
(adat feasts). However, the term 'adat feast' should not be confused with adat laws that
control everyday social life. Adat feasts are formal, distinctive social events governed by
traditional laws. Exclusive, highly organised and structured, they are part of social life,
but they do not happen every day. Adat feasts have specific functions, such as to
celebrate a wedding day, to welcome a newborn baby, to celebrate a funeral, to start
erecting a new village or house, to celebrate moving into a new house, to celebrate a
rice-growing season, to celebrate a harvest, or simply to worship ancestral spirits, gods,
and other supernatural powers. Unlike in routine daily life, participants at feasts
24
communicate or interact with each other through formal adat speeches, exchange
ceremonial gifts such as the traditional shawl (ulos) and consume consecrated meals and
drink (sipanganon namarhadohoari) to the accompaniment of the gondang and the
tortor. At adat feasts, participants also communicate with supernatural powers by
uttering ritual prayers (longgo-tonggo) and presenting offerings of foods, slaughtered
livestock and incense. Gondang and tortor also serve as a medium of communication.
Adat feasts are divided into two categories: horja and pesta bius. In general, a
horja is a ceremonial feast performed at the clan {marga) level. The central purpose of
the horja is the strengthening of social relationships and the worship of ancestral
spirits.13 At a horja, participants consists of the male descendants of a clan {dongan
sabutuha) as well as those who 'give' their daughters or sisters in marriage (hula-hula)
and those who 'receive' wives in marriage (boru). In Toba Batak language the
relationship between these three parties is known as the dalihan na tolu (three hearth
stones). In the pesta bius, on the other hand, the role of the three parties (dalihan na
tolu) is ignored. The people usually refer to the pesta bius as a communal sacrificial
ceremony (mamele or pamelean) in which the participants worship the gods. A pesta
bius is organised by an indigenous religious council (parbaringin) and led by UtiQpande
bolon, the leader of the parbaringin14 A pesta bius is attended by members of several
different villages, the federation of which is known in Toba Batak as bius.15 At a pesta
bius, various communal religious ceremonies such as mangase taon (an annual
sacrificial ceremony celebrating the year of rice-growing season) and mamele sombaon
13
Situmorang (1993: 114) further observes that the horja was usually led by clan elders,
sometimes including the data bolon, a professional medicine-man who is qualified in magic practices as
well as in spirit-invocation.
14
References to the parbaringin organisation can be found in Vergouwen (1964: 71-79), Hirosue
(1988:179-192) and Situmorang (1993b: 73-80,110-119,169-174).
15
References to the term bius as a territory and as a communal sacrificial ceremony can be found in
Vergouwen (1964: 88-91); Castles (1972); Sangti (1977: 15); Sherman (1990: 80-90) and Situmorang
(1993b: 56-80);
25
(a ceremony invoking ancestral spirits that are believed to become gods) are performed.
At present the Toba Batak people still perform horja but no longer practise pesta bius.
This is despite the fact mat many remain devoted to the pre-Christian adat and belief
system. But horja and pesta bius, despite the differences between them, are actually
outcomes of the same system. Bom are referred to in mis study as adat feasts.
During the time of the German missionaries, who apparently had little
understanding of adat, the Protestant church portrayed the adat as a divisible system.
Its proselytising strategy was to divide adat into three categories: (i) the anti-Christian,
(ii) the neutral and (iii) the pro-Christian (see Schreiner 1994: 5, 52-60; Aritonang
1988: 439). The missionaries prohibited adat practices that they had classified as antiChristian and allowed those that were classified as neutral or pro-Christian. As
Schreiner reported, mis categorisation was intended to assist the process of the
Christianisation of adat, which began in the 1870s. In the process the missionaries
devised sets of church laws that regulated the practices of adat among their converts as
well as those who still rejected Christianity. In the 1920s the church suspended that
process, after which it supervised the congregation's practice of adat by excluding all
aspects that were not anti-Christian (Schreiner 1994: 60).
By the 1940s, after 80 years of contact, the missionaries had gradually changed
their perception of adat. Although they still made judgments of adat practices on the
basis of the three categories, they began to allow people to perform some adat practices
which had formerly been prohibited. Although the missionaries left the Batak Lands in
the mid-1940s, the church ministers were still influenced by the way the missionaries
had perceived adat. Thus, the three categories, i.e. the pro-Christian, the anti-Christian,
and the neutral, are clearly distinguished in the 1952, 1968 and 1987 Orders of
Discipline prepared by Toba Batak ministers.
26
It is necessary now to discuss why the people practised adat before they
embraced Christianity. Originally, people's individual social lives were pervaded with
religious meaning, directed by religious motives, and surrounded by supernatural
concepts about the gods (Pedersen 1970: 23), Traditionally, the people believed that
these supernatural powers had passed adat on to mem and could bestow blessings on
them (see Figure 1. The cycle of adat practice.) The three foremost blessings were
hasangapon (community respect, authority and prestige), hagabeon (having many
children), and hamoraon (prosperity). To obtain blessings one had to maintain a good
relationship with the gods, the ancestral spirits and relatives in one's wife-giver group
{hula-hula). Thus to attract blessings and avoid adat sanctions were the main purposes
of practising adar* (see Tobing 1956: 132-133). As Pedersen has asserted, adat was
practised to restore harmony in relationships, avert disaster, preserve health and affirm
the prosperity of a group or village. Catastrophe, disease, infertility and crop failure were
Blessings ***
to strengthen relationships
between people and with
gods and ancestral spirits
in order to obtain...
Members of the
the Community
» to practise
Adat
Figure 1. Cycle of adat practice. (*** Blessings include the ability to have children,
prosperity and community respect)
27
associated with the violation of adat. Such violations could expose an individual and
his/her whole community to unknown perils (Pedersen 1970: 36; Schreiner 1994: 2829).
Many men and women living in rural or urban areas, educated or not, whether
rich or poor, still believe in the supernatural power of adat. The fact that many
Protestants still perform pre-funeral ceremonies, tugu feasts, and exhumation of bones
ceremonies, in which family feasts and the hymn singing, prayers and gondang-tortor
performances are given, demonstrate the power of adat to this day. The degree to which
one believes in adat varies considerably among individuals, depending on how they
interpret adat. However, as mentioned above, adat belief and the gondang-tortor
tradition have not been decontextualised from their original source and recontextualised
according to Christian practice with the positive purpose of including it in the liturgy at
Sunday services. The church has feared the power of gondang-tortor to induce spirit
possession and the possible return of its flock to paganism. The church's negative
attitude fails to take the positive social function of adat and the gondang-tortor tradition
into account.
This matter is still the fundamental reason why the conflict between the church
and its congregation remains today. No formal solution to mis situation has yet been
found. Some believe that the solution lies in the increasing mutual understanding
between the church and its flock. As Schreiner explained, the church could only
supervise while its parishioners decided to do what they thought appropriate (Schreiner
1994: 60). Besides, there is no question that adat, after the Christians arrived, has
continually changed (ibid. 5). There are two dimensions of change: change in the
meaning and change in the practice of adat. To some parishioners, adafs meaning and
28
practice have changed, while to others it has changed only in practice, keeping its
meaning intact.
As we have noted, the Toba Batak people have experienced radical social and
religious change from 1860 to the present. In the musical domain the impact of this
change has been felt in the people's attitude to the gondang-iortor tradition. It should be
noted, however, that religious institutions play a major role in shaping their members'
attitudes. Indeed, the Protestant church, the Catholic church and the Parmalim
organisation (which maintains the old ancestral belief system) all have their own policy
towards tradition. Different attitudes towards the gondang-tortor tradition appeared
only after the seed of the social and religious change was planned by the German
missionaries and the Dutch colonial government in the mid-nineteenth century.
For almost thirteen decades now the Protestant Toba Batak's musical
performance practices have been controlled by the church. When in 195?, the Protestant
church promulgated a new approach to performing gondang and tortor in adat and
church feasts, its intention, as recorded in the 1952 Order of Discipline, was to unify the
Protestants' way of using the gondang-tortor tradition. Despite this attempt, unification
of practice has never been achieved; the way the gondang-tortor tradition is performed
differs in each Protestant community. This is because each performance of gondang and
tortor depends on how its participants interpret the adat and the Order of Discipline,
those two diametrical opposing norms of gondang-tortor performances.
How has religious and political transformation affected the music? It is not
necessarily followed by musical change (Blacking 1977: 3). However, it may give rise
to new ideas about music and new attitudes to music, as has been discussed above. The
radical social and religious change undergone by the Toba Batak people has not
impacted on the musical domain of the gondang, neither in its musical style, the musical
29
instruments of the ensemble, the playing techniques of each instrument, nor the basic
movements of the tortor.16
What gondang-tortor performances give to participants and how they are
received are fundamental questions in this study. To unfold them is to observe them in
their full context. Field data collected to date indicate that gondang and tortor are most
commonly performed at adat and church feasts. Not all adat and church feasts have a
gondang-tortor performance, but a gondang-tortor performance can only be
appropriately performed at a ceremonial feast.
As I shall show below, the social
function and meaning of gondang-tortor performances specifically are not represented
in organised gondang sound or in the playing techniques of the gondang instruments,
nor indeed in the tortor movements. They are represented in that performance's contents
and context. In order to unfold them, investigations into the three aspects—content,
context, and extra-musical aspects—and most importantly a detailed examination of
interaction between them must be made. By 'content' I mean the music and dance
repertoire, music and dance styles, rules and performance procedures, and the stated
purposes of a performance as conveyed in speeches and/or ritual prayers. By 'context' I
mean the socio-political situation (see Seeger 1980: 11; and Shield 1980: 107), which is
largely determined by government policy and the Order of Discipline of the church. It is
also governed by the time and place of a ceremony^ its particular adat and religious
associations, economic factors and the level of education of the host and guests. As the
music sociologist, Supicic writes:
Since music and musical activities are a part of society and social life, it
is possible for mem to be conditioned by society and its life. If music
were not incorporated into society, social conditionings would have no
relevance~they would not even exist...To study the social conditionings
16
See Chapter Four for a discussion of the basic movements of the tortor.
30
of music, therefore, is to study music within social reality, not outside of
it. (Supicic 1987: 49)
A musical performance practice is always contextual. 'Context' is internal to a
gondang-tortor performance as it assumes the function and the meaning of mat
performance (Hamish 1992: 30). 'Extra-musical aspects' include symbolic objects, and
symbolic gestures or actions mat appear in response to musical {gondang) events.
Before discussing how this approach has influenced my research method, it is
necessary first to discuss some of the concepts that I use in the discussion. By 'function'
I mean the aims and reasons for performing gondang-tortor (Merriam 1964: 210). My
discussion of the music is based on my subjective interpretation of the interplay between
the context and content of gondang-tortor performance, extra-musical behaviour of
participants, and the relevant socio-political conditions (see also Behague 1984: 7-8).
By a 'gondang-tortor performance' I mean a presentation of music and dance
by gondang musicians and members of a clan or a church or a village or an urban clan
association, or a youth organisation, or a combination of these, in which adat principles
and/or Christian teaching are observed, speeches are delivered and the exchange of
ceremonial gifts takes place. Participants
perform three roles—as music-makers
(pargonsi), dancers (panortor) and audience (painondur). Both members of the
audience and the musicians become dancers when it is their turn to perform the tortor;
likewise when members of the audience wish to play gondang instruments, they may all
join the musicians. Not many can play difficult instruments such as the sarune and the
taganing; accordingly, those who wish to join the gondang musicians usually choose to
play ogung or hesek, which are easier to play. Thus no clear line can be drawn between
musicians, dancers and audience.
31
Members of a clan usually hold gondang and torior performances inside a
home, intitlefront yard of a home, or in a hall. If the home or yard is too small to hold a
large number of relatives, the host may request the use of his next door neighbour's
home or yard for additional space. The additional space may be used for women to cook
or for guests and relatives to sit and eat. The participants usually sit on mats, rarely
using chairs and tables. Between bouts of dancing some people may sit on mats and talk
to each other while drinking coffee, tea or beer, while others may stand and watch
people dancing the torior. Normally, gondang and torior are not performed before a
quiet audience; usually mere is a good deal of noise and chatter as people come and go,
babies cry, children run around, and women cook in a kitchen or outdoors. Hosts do not
limit their guests to those who receive an invitation; they usually welcome anyone who
wants to participate. In the rural areas of Hutaraja, Sipoholon and Palipi on the island of
Samosir, hosts even allow their neighbours to sell cigarettes, coffee and other drinks in
small kiosks built around the music and dance performance area.
There is no master of ceremony in a gondang-tortor performance; nor is there a
written program describing the items or the promised order of the gondang and tortor
presentations to be followed by the participants. While a group of people are dancing
the tortor, others groups usually wait their turn, standing around the arena. When a
group of dancers is about to finish a tortor, the representative of the next group of
dancers calls his group to stand together ready for an announcement in a loud voice or
over a loudspeaker to start. The person who formally requests gondang musicians to
play a certain piece is called the raja paminta (chief of requests). Every group of
dancers usually has its own raja paminta who takes his turn until his group finishes
dancing.
32
All the above activities may happen concurrently. Together they contribute to a
ribur (enlivened atmosphere), which is regarded as desirable at feasts and gondangtortor performances.
Apart from being the venue for gondang and tortor performances and practising
adat principles, adat feasts serve a vital social role, allowing participants who may meet
only rarely to interact with one another, share their experiences and exchange ceremonial
gifts. All these interactions are made via spoken language. The most formal interactions
occur when someone delivers an adat speech (mandok hold), in which he/she states the
purpose of a ceremonial gift. A speech delivered at an adat feast may express requests
or blessings or advice, depending on who delivers it, who is being addressed, and what
is being celebrated. A person delivering a speech may create his speech by using the
Toba Batak maxims known as umpasa. A speech delivered by a raja paminta in the
context of the mangido gondang at a gondang performance is known as the hata ni
gondang (texts of gondang). Speeches and ceremonial gifts are not, however, sufficient
to express their feelings on such occasion. They share their feelings of joy, gratitude and
love at a happy ceremony and grief at a funeral through the physical response of dance
to music. Language is not felt to have the capacity fully to present the 'life of feeling'
(Langer 1969: 243) in the way that music and dance do (see Blacking 1977: 4). My
understanding of this is that if gondang-tortor performances represent these feelings, it
means that they perform their functions as a symbolic representation which contains
meanings (Merriam 1964: 223). Malinowski writes:
symbolism...means that something stands for something else; or that the
sign or symbol contains in it an idea, an emotion, or some other portion
of the introspectively known substance of 'consciousness.' ...all such
definitions are metaphysically tainted ...in reality, symbolism is founded
not in a mysterious relation between the sign and the contents of the
human mind, but between an object, a gesture, and an action and its
influence upon the receptive organism. (Malinowsli 1944: 138-139)
33
It is in this sense that gondang-tortor performances can hold a symbolic function in
Toba Batak society. The symbolic function of gondang and iortor performances are the
keys to their social meanings (see Supicic 1987: 274). As Shepherd writes:
The meaning of music is somehow located in its function as a social
symbol... For most people a symbol has meaning because it refers to
something outside itself. (Shepherd 1977: 7)
Despite Shepherd's view, it should be noted that the meaning of gondang-tortor
performances is not inherent in the content of the musical domain of those
performances; on the contrary 'they are generated in the process of communicative
interaction between people' who respond to that performance content (Martin 1995: 34).
As many gondang musicians and ceremonial participants have informed me,
gondang and tortor performances are meaningful only when they are performed in their
ceremonial adat or church contexts. Thus the content of a performance and the
interaction between musical and extra-musical symbolic aspects can only be understood
within its context. As Ulin reminds us, the essence of symbols and their meaning also
mirrors 'the character of power relations in a historically specific social formation and
cultural tradition' (Ulin 1984: 123). We can only understand the relationship of
'expressive forms [or symbolic representation] within the periods and structures of the
society that gave rise to them' (White 1982:18).
1.2 Methodology
The history of the gondang-tortor tradition in pre-Christian times in the eras of conflict
and reconciliation is not well documented. Not until the early 1970s has detailed
ethnomusicological investigation into the gondang-tortor tradition begun to attract the
attention of local and foreign scholars. Only a few early publications on the Toba Batak
34
people and their culture by the German missionaries and the Dutch colonial officers (as
discussed in Chapter two of mis work) mention the gondang-tortor tradition; but none
of mem has focused on it.
Thus, to obtain information regarding a gondang-tortor performance in preChristian times, the era of conflict and the era of reconciliation, I have had to rely partly
on those limited early publications and on information mat I obtained from interviewing
adat experts, gondang musicians, and church ministers. Another source is the
Parmalim's religious ceremonies. As mentioned above, members of the Parmalim
continue to uphold their ancestral belief system, performing the gondang-tortor tradition
as an integral part of their religious practices. Therefore, many pre-Christian aspects of
gondang-tortor performance are preserved in the Parmalim's religious ceremonies. I
have examined some audio-video cassette recordings of the holy sacrificial ceremony in
thefifthmonth (Ulaon Pamelean Na Badia di Bulan Sipaha Lima). They were recorded
by the staff of the Ethnomusicology Department at the University of North Sumatra,
Medan, in 1987 and 1993. Also, after obtaining permission from the leader of the
Parmalim, Naipospos, I attended a ceremony in 1994. Interviews with Naipospos and
some members of the Parmalim provided me with insights into the pre-Christian adat
and belief system, and most importantly, the social and religious function of gondangtortor performances among the Parmalim community. Thus I have used all the available
information regarding the rules for performing gondang and tortor as well as the
procedures for gondang-tortor performance in order to reconstruct the pre-Christian
aspects of gondang-tortor performance.
In studying the social function and meaning of gondang-tortor performance, I
have applied a contextual approach to the historically varying gondang-tortor tradition. I
have chosen this approach because I believe that only by our comprehending all the
35
performance contexts can we understand the function and the meaning of the gondangtortor tradition. A study of the 'context' and the 'musical structures, processes, and
events' provides us with the means to understand how performances relate to their
particular 'location, intention, and form' (Coplan 1991: 47). Therefore, I do not aim to
compare the details of musical style nor to describe and compare playing techniques of
gondang musicians. The musical transcriptions I have included aim only to assist and
exemplify my analyses of the structure of gondang pieces.
In gathering data in the field, I aimed to observe and participate in as many
gondang-tortor performances as possible in order to study the music and its context.
Such an approach, called participant observation, is indeed appropriate for studying
processes, relationships among people and events, the organisation of people and events,
continuities and change over time, and patterns, as well as the immediate sociocultural
contexts in which human existence unfolds (Jorgensen 1989: 12). Through participant
observation, it is possible to describe, from the perspective of the participants, why
things happen as they do in particular situations (ibid. 12). As a method, participant
observation requires afieldworkerto observe directly and participate in the daily life of a
society being studied over a length of time, and equally importantly, that a fieldworker
understand and speak the native language.
As a participant observer of gondang-tortor performance in divergent social
contexts, including wedding ceremonies, pre-funeral ceremonies, exhumation of bones
ceremonies, tugu feasts, church feasts, and concerts performed by various groups with
different religious beliefs and backgrounds, I was able to compare and contrast various
gondang-tortor performances and investigate the choice and set-up of a performance
arena, the environment of a performance, the equipment used, the repertoire, the titles of
gondang and tortor pieces, trie participants' costumes and the performance procedures.
36
A participant observer comes to a social situation with two purposes: first, to engage in
activities appropriate to the situation, and secondly, to observe the activities, people, and
physical aspects of the situation. Conversely, those who come solely to engage in the
appropriate activities are called ordinary participants (Spradley 1989: 54).
I chose the role of participant observer because it allowed me to experience the
culture both as an 'insider' and an 'outsider' and also because I believe it minimised any
bias. Likewise, through this approach I was able to observe participants, including
myself, and become involved in each part of every gondang-tortor performance I
attended. I was able to experience the different roles of dancer, musician and audience in
a way which cannot be experienced if I had been just an observer. Likewise, since I am
a native speaker of the Toba Batak language, I was able to interact comfortably with
participants in the performances. Among the benefits that I enjoyed as a native speaker
were the fact that I was able to follow what the participants conveyed in their adat
speeches and to gain an understanding of how participants fulfilled their obligation in
gondang-tortor performances. Similarly, as a native-speaking musician, dancer,
audience member and academic observer in different performance contexts, I was able
to observe how differently the musicians, dancers and audience members responded
aesthetically, religiously and socially to the gondang and tortor pieces, adat speeches
and ceremonial gifts. My observations on these matters facilitated my exploration of the
extra-musical aspects, including symbolic expressions and representations mat
participants employed to express their feelings or intentions during gondang-tortor
performances. Understanding these extra-musical aspects served as a bridge to an
understanding of the performances. To support my observations, I conducted interviews
with some gondang musicians, dancers, church ministers and experts on adat practice,
either at ceremonies or in their residences.
37
I made a special study of the recordings of adat speeches (hata ni gondang),
seeing them as
an important clue to understanding the function and meaning of
gondang performances. Adat speeches, which may be delivered by the people who
represent a group of dancers {raja paminta) who request gondang pieces and who
present ceremonial gifts in gondang-tortor performances, usually contain messages
about the purpose of a gondang-tortor presentation or a ceremonial gift; moreover, they
usually mention the title of at least one gondang piece. Normally, the person who
represents a group of dancers (the guests) delivers an adat speech to another group of
dancers (the hosts), and the same person then delivers another adat speech to the
gondang musicians, in which he may state the purpose of his group's presence, dance
presentation, and ceremonial gifts. At the end of an adat speech, the speaker usually
mentions the title of a gondang piece to be played by musicians. Sometimes, however,
the speaker asks the musicians to choose a piece that is suitable for the situation he has
just described in his adat speech. In other words, gondang musicians must be able to
interpret what has been described in that adat speech and convert it into a musical
presentation. When musicians play the music, the dancers respond to it by performing
the correct physical movements (manortorhon gondang).
Simon includes some transcriptions of adat speeches in the booklet
accompanying his disk of gondang music (1984), but he did not analyse the speeches
that he transcribed. Okazaki does not discuss any adat speeches presented in the
gondang-tortor performance that she attended. Neither of mem were participant
observers. To bring the social function of gondang-tortor performances to light, it is
necessary to examine the interplay between the messages given in the adat speech and
the interaction between the participants in response to those adat speeches as well as to
the gondang pieces which are presented by musicians as interpretations of those adat
38
speeches. As I have been told by many gondang musicians, the tagqning or sarune
player is responsible for deciding what gondang piece is suitable to depict a delivered
message. In other words, a message concerned with having descendants in days to come
should not be interpreted as a victory but as a request; thus, it is more suitable to play a
gondang piece with a slow tempo (metronome mm = 60-80) man a fast tempo (mm =
120-205).17 It is also necessary to investigate how ceremonial participants respond to
the two current sets of social and religious codes and the current socio-political situation
which, as I believe, they reflect through gondang-toHor performances, adai speeches,
the way people dance the torior, the titles of gondang and tortor pieces, the contexts,
the purpose and structures and the procedure of performances.
1.3 Commercial and Field Tape Data
This study is based on an examination of my field recordings, including the music of (i)
pre-funeral ceremonies of people who have migrated from Samosir island to Medan, (ii)
exhumation of bones ceremonies among Protestant families in Hutaraja and Medan, (iii)
church anniversary feasts and church fund-raising festival among Toba Batak migrant
congregations in Medan, and (iv) wedding ceremonies among Protestant families in
Medan. I have also examined gondang music performed in a concert situation for
purposes of pure entertainment. This includes gondang perfoimance at the 1994 Youth
Festival {Gondang Naposo) at Medan, the 1992 cultural festival at Parapat {Pesta
Danau Toba), the 1989 anniversary of a political party, Golkar, at Medan, and the 1989
Batak gondang symphony orchestra {Pagelaran Orkes Simfoni Gondang Batak) at
Jakarta. I also examined gondang music in some commercial cassettes recordings and
17
Interview with Marsius Sitohang (a sarune player from Medan) and, Kalabius Simbolon (a
sarune player from Pematang Siantara), \r% Medan, 1994.
39
on videos of gondang performances for the monthly television program *Horas' from
Jakarta private television. The program aims to entertain the Toba Batak people
throughout the whole of Indonesia.
Although my study focuses on the Protestant Toba Batak community, it is
necessary to refer to the gondang-tortor tradition among the Catholics and the Parmalim
in my discussions. My aim is briefly to contrast the attitudes of the members of the three
religious institutions to the tradition and its performance. For
the gondang-tortor
practices among the Catholic Toba Batak community I shall refer to Okazaki's thesis
and to my own fieldwork data from an exhumation of bones ceremony which was
performed by a Catholic family at Palipi, Samosir in 1989. My primary sources for
gondang-tortor performances in the Parmalim community are my own field data and
some video-cassette recordings on the gondang-tortor performance among the
Parmalim community by the Emnomusicology Department at the University of North
Sumatra in Medan.
1.4 Fieldwork Location
I carried out my fieldwork in two kinds of locations: urban and rural. I chose the urban
area of Medan because I am familiar with it, having formerly lived there. I have
witnessed and participated in many adat and church feasts in which gondang and tortor
performances were given in Medan. I also know many gondang musicians, church
ministers, and experts on adat practice in that area, and I communicated with mem
extensively during my fieldwork.
In the 1920s, there were only about one thousand Toba Batak living in Medan
(Bruner 1961: 511). By 1995 the population of Toba Batak in Medan was about 14%
of its total population, which was about 1,876,100 people (Sumatra Utara Dalam
40
Angka 1995: 46; see also Pelly 1994: 308). Many Protestant Toba Bataks who live in
the city, and most of the Catholics, maintain their adat practices. Indeed,
communications between me urban Toba Batak and their relatives in nearby villages are
maintained through frequent family visits and adat feasts. Urban and rural Toba Batak
people are part of the one social and ceremonial system (Bruner 1961: 515).
I also carried out fieldwork in Sipaholon, Laguboti, Muara and Pematang
Siantar (See Map 1). In Laguboti, I attended a Parmalim religious ceremony which has
never taken place in a town or a city such as Medan. In Sipaholon and Palipi I attended
exhumation of bones ceremonies which also rarely take place in urban areas. I
conducted interviews with informants at Pematang Siantar, Porsea, and Muara.
Ministers, adat experts, musicians and adat participants were my primary informants.
Most members of the Protestant Toba Batak community belong to the two
biggest Protestant church institutions, the HKBP and the GKPI, in which church
institutions I mostly concentrated my investigation. As claimed in their annual data
books, the HKBP has 2,548 churches with 1,598, 346 members (see Almanac HKBP
1993: 380), while the GKPI owns 895 churches with 239,258 members (see Almanac
GKPI 1994: 521). Church ministers and congregations are members of the punguan
marga (clan organisation) which constitutes an important centre of social life activity in
the city (see also Bruner 1987: 141). It functions to help and provide support for its
members in all of the adat feasts and, more importantly, to strengthen kinship
relationships. In myfieldresearch I concentrated on musical events performed by church
congregations and Protestant families, including
clan organisations. Many of the
musicians formerly lived in rural areas; but from the early 1970s migrated to Medan. In
the 1980s several gondang music associations were established in Medan. From the
1970s to the present, both kinds of organisations enabled adat feasts and church
41
Map 1. The Tanah Batak (Batak Lands) showing its six Kabupaten (regencies), and two
Kota Madya (municipalities) and the locations of my fieldwork
Legend:
Shaded areas
Unshaded areas
xxxxxx
A
: Malay regions
: Tanah Batak (the Batak Lands)
: Pesisir (Mixed Malay-Batak)
: Mountain
•
•
t
: Province boundary
: Regency boundary
:Road
: Municipality
: Town/Village
.Seaport
: The location of my fieldwork
I
42
functions in Medan to include gondang sabangunan performance, since musicians are
always available to be hired by hosts.
1.5 Transcriptions
The notation system I use in transcribing the gondang music is based on the Western
conventional notation system. I chose this system because of its accuracy in displaying
rhythmic textures, musical densities and metres. I found mat the Western notation
system is weak in depicting subtleties of pitch but that it is still able to show pitches
approximately. Since I did not intend to analyse the pitches of gondang pieces, I found
the Western notation system to be adequate.
I use six staffs in my gondang transcriptions (see Figure 2). The six staffs
constitute a system, because the musical lines they depict are all played simultaneously.
I use one of the five lines available for the hesek (Hs) part, because the hesek produces
only one pitch. All lines and spaces on the sarune (Sr) part are used. Only the five lines,
not the spaces between the lines are used in the taganing (Tgd) part. The five staffs
represent the five members of the taganing. In this manner I have shown the order in
which the drums enter. The middle line of the odap/gordang (Od/Grd) staff is used for
the odap part while the line undemeam is used for the gordang part. However, since the
odap and gordang are rarely played simultaneously, 'Od' is written when the odap part
is transcribed and 'Grd'when the gordang part is transcribed. The panggora (Prg) and
doal (Dl) parts are placed on one staff and the ihutan (Hi) and the oloan (Ol) on another
staff. Whenever the spoken voice is transcribed, it is placed under the taganing part.
The broken line with a number above displays regular repetition of one beat in
every four. However, since the first of the four beats in gondang music is not always
stronger than the other three beats, I have used a broken line instead of a straight line to
L \
43
Hs
Sr
tingting
•] paidua tingting
Tdg
painonga
paidua odap
*-.
Od/Gdr
odap-odap
odap
gordang
Pgr/Dl
Hi/01
Figure 2. Notation/Transcription for Gondang
44
depict the regular repetition. In other words, it is not a bar line. In my musical
transcriptions, I have referred to this broken line as a 'gong cycle number' (gen). The
following are additional symbols used in the transcriptions and discussion about the
music.
TB
r
=
TobaBatak
=
remains the same pattem to the end of the piece
=
a stroke on the rim of a drum
=
left hand
Lh
= right hand
Rh
=
absent
npt
= not properly tuned
[ ]
=
a note sometimes appears
=
slightly lower man the written note
(+)
=
slightly higher than me written note
*
=
within one octave below the sarune pitches
**
= within two octaves below the sarune pitches
pi
= pitch imprecise
45
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE Of^TBE GONDANG SABANGUNAN
In this chapter I shall review some secondary sources that have contributed to the study
of Toba Batak society and culture as well as some early and recent research findings
about the gondang-tortor tradition. I aim to show what has been achieved in those
studies and where the main lacunae are.
2.1 Studies of Toba Batak Society and Culture
The study of the society and culture of the Toba Batak people of North Sumatra began
in the mid-nineteenth century. Most of the early publications on the subject were
authored by Dutch scholars and Dutch and German missionaries. For example, Van der
Tuuk's A Grammar of Toba Batak (1864-1867, reprinted in 1971) is a study of the
Toba Batak language, including the script, rules of pronunciation and word structure. In
1909 Warneck published his book Der Religion der Batak (Batak Religion), which
discusses the pre-Christian Toba Batak belief system. Joustra's Batakspiegel of 1926
presents an ethnographic description of the Batak Lands. Vergouwen's The Social
Organization and Customary Law of the Toba-Batak of Northern Sumatra, published
in 1933, is probably the most detailed study of Toba Batak customary law (adat) and its
practices to date. It includes discussion of pre-Christian Toba Batak religious concepts,
the kinship system, clans and genealogy, political units and territory, social clan social
organisation, inheritance, the marriage system, and many kinds of adat feasts.
Apart from early sources dealing with language and religion, some scholarly
inquiries into issues of history, social change, culture and the pre-Christian belief system
appeared between the 1950s and 1990s. Keuning's The Toba Batak, Formerly and Now
(1958) briefly investigates social and religious change among the Toba Batak people in
46
both pre- and post-Independence times. He argues that missionaries of the Rheinische
Missiongesellschaft began their Christian mission (Batakmissiori) in the Batak regions in
the 1860s and that the Dutch government, which began to control the Batak Lands in the
early 1900s, were agents of radical change in society.
Castles's thesis of 1972, 'The Political Life of A Sumatran Residency: Tapanuli
1915-1940', concentrates on the study of the Toba Batak people during the colonial era
(ca. late 1850s-1942). It also provides accounts of aspects of the history of North
Sumatra. Parlindungan (1964), Situmorang (1993a), and Wolfram-Seifert (1987) also
discuss aspects of the history of North Sumatra. The Dutch colonists entered Air Bangis,
a seaport in the northwest of West Sumatra, in 1821. They occupied the Mandating
region in 1835 (Parlindungan 1964: 290). However, they did not enter the Toba Batak
homeland until the late 1850s when the people of Pahae and Silindung valleys, two
regions to the south of Lake Toba, surrendered to forces of the Dutch government
(Situmorang 1993a: 66). Castles noted that the Dutch colonial government actually
began to control Silindung in 1878, which is about fourteen years after the arrival of
German missionaries in the region.1 In 1862, 1865, and 1872 respectively, the Dutch
colonial government came to control the Malay kingdoms of Deli, Serdang and Sunggal
(Situmorang 1993: 66-67). In 1863, aboutfifteenyears before they arrived in Silindung,
the Dutch colonists had established an agricultural plantation (Deli Maatschapij) in Deli
(Wolfram-Seifert 1987: 469). The rapid expansion of Christianity in Silindung and the
coming of the Dutch to the region in 1878 interfered with
the authority of the
Sisingamangaraja, who served not only as a religious and charismatic leader but also as
the priest-king of the pre-Christian Toba Batak religious leaders (Parbaringin). War
then broke out between the Dutch and the supporters of the Sisingamangaraja. In 1883,
1
According to Situmorang, it was in 1879 that the people of the Silindung valley came under the
administrative control of the Dutch government.
47
the Sisingamangaraja attacked the Dutch again, at Tangga Batu, near Balige. However,
the Dutch defeated the Sisingamangaraja, who men moved to an area outside Dutch
territory. After taking control of the Toba Batak region, the Dutch in the 1880s
proceeded to take the Dairi area (northwest of Lake Toba) and in the early 1900s the
Kara Lands. In 1942 the Japanese defeated the Dutch colonial government
and
occupied the Batak region.
Questions about urbanisation, ethnic identity, urban clan organisations, and adat
change and continuity in post-Independence Indonesia are discussed by Bruner in his
articles 'Urbanization and Ethnic Identity in Norm Sumatra' (1961) and 'Medan: the
Role of Kinship in an Indonesian City' (1963). In both articles Bruner observes that
although some Toba Batak reside in Medan, a city inhabited by several cultural groups,
they have maintained their kinship system well and continue to perform adat practices.
He argued mat it was the clan organisations {punguan marga) in the urban areas that
served as the main means of maintaining their cultural identity. Bruner explains that
urban Toba Batak constantly maintain close ties with their relatives in the villages, thus
facilitating the continuity and unity of their patrilineal descent group. He concludes mat
rural and urban Toba Batak people are part of the one ceremonial and social system
(Bruner 1961: 519-520; 1963: 8).
Between 1989 and early 1995 I attended many weddings and pre-funeral
ceremonies in Medan. They were held by groups of people who had migrated from
Samosir island and other rural villages surrounding Lake Toba to Medan. The
participants consisted of a host and his neighbours, kinsmen and kinswomen who live in
Medan and rural areas, and members of his clan association in Medan. As was made
clear in many ways, the status of each participant in those ceremonies was based not on
where he/she camefrombut on how he/she was related to the host. Thus all participants
48
who belonged to a wife-giver group, whether from a rural area or from Medan, were
treated equally by the host. Myfindingsin these respects support those of Bruner.
Cunningham's The Post War Migration of the Toba Batak to East Sumatra
(1958) is another important study of Toba Batak socio-cultural change. As Cunningham
explains, European and American companies occupied 284,000 acres of agricultural
plantations in East Sumatra until 1950. After they had left, labourers from surrounding
regions occupied the land and about 250,000 Toba Batak people migrated to the area.
Cunningham maintains mat during the 1950s the geographical conditions and
historical and cultural environments of the Toba Batak people simultaneously induced
extensive urban migration of the people to the area. He concludes that urban migration
was the Toba Batak's solution to the problem of improving their economic and social
conditions (Cunningham 1958: 147). I contend mat the drift toward urban centres for
better jobs and education from 1950 is also the manifestation of hamajuon (progress), a
well-known slogan in the early 1900s mat meant achieving progress in education,
economy, and social status (see Hutauruk 1993: 71, 88-91; Aritonang 1988: 283-285)
George Sherman's Rice, Rupee and Ritual of 1990 is the most recent study of
society and cultural and economic change. Sherman investigated whether or not the
introduction of money, foreign penetration and the Indonesian administration changed
the set of values that shaped the Toba Batak local economic system. He concludes mat
the socio-economic values of the people have now changed; for example, the people
now use money instead of rice as a medium of exchange. Yet change did not transform
'the social values of rice', because rice remains central in Toba Batak culture. People
still use it as a gift, as sustenance and as a blessing medium in rituals, which suggests
that traditional values have continued to the present time, irrespective of the
transformation of the socio-economic system.
49
Tobing's The Structure of The Toba-Batak Belief in the High God (1963) and
Sinaga's The Toba-Batak High God (1981) are two important, locally-authored
publications mat discuss pre-Christian Toba Batak religious beliefs. Although bom claim
that members of pre-Christian Toba Batak societies believed in the High God (Mula
Jadi Na Bolon), each of them has a different perception of how the pre-Christian Toba
Batak societies perceived the High God. Tobing argues mat Mula Jadi Na Bolon is
immanent, mat he constitutes the total cosmos and order, that he is omnipresent, and mat
his power is evident in that it is he to whom the people 'turn for help in great disasters,
[and] during ordeals'(Tobing 1963: 35). In contrast, Sinaga argues that the Toba Batak
perceive and experience the High God as simultaneously transcendent, immanent and
symbolical (Sinaga 1981: 15-16). By 'transcendent', he means mat Mula Jadi Na
Bolon is distinct from the phenomenal world as well as the universe. By 'immanent' he
means that A/iw/a Jadi Na Bolon is present among his creatures and the created universe
depends on him (ibid. 15-16). Mula Jadi na Bolon is not only revealed in the people's
imagination but is also experienced through symbols, because God is 'symbolizeable'
(ibid. 43). Sinaga claims that the people experienced the existence of Mula Jadi na
Bolon in their life symbolically, i.e. as 'spontaneous theophany' and 'provoked
theophany' (ibid. 43-44).2 Sinaga defines 'spontaneous meophany' as God manifesting
himself spontaneously without the co-operation of human beings, namely through
power, energy, life, and fertility, which are the elements of the world. He defines
'provoked theophany' as an invocation of God, with some help from human beings via
myths, words, statues, places, rites and objects used in rituals (ibid. 43-44).
2
Various myths of creation are found in the book Maktia Wibawa Jabatan Dalam Gereja Batak, by
Lumbantobing (1992); The Structure of the Toba Batak High God, by Philip L. Tobing (1956); and The
Toba-Batak High-God, by AnicetusB. Sinaga (1981).
50
In their theoretical discussion, Tobing and Sinaga omit mention of the belief in
ancestral spirit beliefs, although this belief was pervasive in pre-Christian Toba Batak
societies-and still is among some Christians and the present-day animists. They failed to
mention it because the two authors focused their discussion on belief in the High God.
Ancestral veneration is evident in many adat practices, e.g. in the exhumation of bones
ceremonies and the tugii feasts, during which people worship their ancestral spirits. The
fact that mis is so suggests that A/w/a Jadi Na Bolon is not central to pre-Christian Toba
Batak belief.
The history of Protestant missions and their impact on the people and their
culture have been dealt with by bom local and foreign authors. Kraemer's From
Mission Field to Independent Church (19S8) contains a section on the Chnstianisation
of the Toba Batak people. It is an outsider response to the rapid material and
psychological changes among the Toba Batak, changes that resulted from tension felt
between the missionaries and the people. While admiring the missionaries' method of
Christianising the Toba Batak people-in his view it 'belongs to the finest results of
missionary activity in modern times' (Kraemer 19S8:43). He disagrees with the strategy
the missionaries employed to educate the people. The missionaries educated the people
in order to facilitate their Christian mission but not to empower the people intellectually,
to enable them to raise their social awareness, or to improve their living conditions.
Kraemer maintained that the missionaries desired to produce a strong Christian
community and a strong Church but had a lesser desire to establish strongly Christian
behaviour among the people (Kraemer 1958:68-69). Tension did indeed result from the
desire of the people to achieve hamajuon. Yet the German missionaries deserve much
credit, for they did lay a strong educational foundation among the people.
51
Pedersen's Baiak Blood and Protestant Soul (1970) presents an account of the
development of the ethnic Protestant Church in Toba Batak society (860s-1960s). He
noted that in 1930 the Batak sub-groups (Toba Batak, Simalungun Batak,
Mandailing/Angkola Sipirok Batak and Pakpak Batak) established a Batak church called
Huria Kristen Batak Protestant (HKBP)-Chnstian Protestant Batak Church, and
planned to make it the only Batak church institution in the Batak Lands. Thus for ten
years (1930-1940) the members of HKBP struggled to liberate themselves from the
authority of the German missionaries. Pedersen explains that although members of the
HKBPfinallyobtained their independence from the missionaries in 1940, their wish to
make the HKBP the single Batak church did not come true. This was because of an
internal conflict which occurred in the late 1940s. The Simalungun Batak, the Karo
Batak, die Pakpak Batak and the Mandating Batak congregations disagreed with the
idea that the HKBP should represent all Batak sub-groups. Each ethnic group requested
that it be allowed to establish its own autonomous church organisation. This situation
was complicated by the fact that other church institutions and evangelists from different
denominations (e.g. Catholic, Methodist, Pentecostal and Adventist), began to
proselytise in the area in the early 1920s. Their presence actually minimised the
opportunity for the HKBP to preside over one single Batak church. As Pedersen
concludes, the failure to achieve a single Protestant church was due to each group
requesting
a separate ethnic church and the presence of other proselytising
denominations.
Pedersen notes that in the 1970s forty church institutions were registered by the
Department of Religion at Medan. The HKBP {Huria Kristen Batak Protestant)
(Protestant Christian Toba Batak Church), HKBPA {Huria Kristen Batak Protestant
Angkola) (Protestant Christian Angkola Batak Church), GKPS {Gereja Kristen
52
Protestant Simalunguri) (Protestant Christian Simalungun Church), GBKP {Gereja
Batak Karo Protestant) (Protestant Karo Batak Church), GSP {Gereja Simerkata
Pakpak) (Protestant Pakpak Church) are the names of some of the church institutions,
which were (and are) based on ethnic divisions. The HKI {Huria Kristen Indonesia)
(Christian Indonesian Church), GKPI {Gereja Kristen Protestant Indonesia) (Protestant
Christian Indonesian Church), GMI {Gereja Methodist Indonesia) (Methodist
Indonesian Church) are the other Protestant sects which are on a sense of nationalism. It
is important to note mat these institutions differ from one another not in doctrine but in
vernacular used in church services. While those that emphasised ethnicity use the
relevant ethnic language in their Sunday services, those mat emphasise a sense of
nationalism more often use the Indonesian language. Unlike in the West, where the
divisions between Protestant churches are based on religious interpretation (for example,
Methodist, Pentecost, and Lutheran), the division between Protestant churches among
the Toba Batak people is based only on the language of the services.
Another study related to the topic of Chnstianisation in the Batak Lands is
Schreiner's thesis of 1972—'Adat und Evangelium'—which was translated into
Indonesian by Naipospos in the book entitled Adat dan Injil (Adat and the Gospel)
(1994) and widely read. It discusses the meaning of adat from a Christian perspective.
Schreiner denies that adat can be Christianised {dikristenkari) (BI), because, to him,
adat was fundamentally a matter of worshipping ancestral spirits. Yet he admitted that
adat can still be practised by Christians as long as it is accepted purely as a set of social
norms. Schreiner believed that adat must be liberated from its pre-Christian religious
contexts and that to do this, Christians should confront adat with the Gospel, which does
not know adat.
53
2.2 Studies of North Sumatran Music with Special Reference to the GondangTortor Tradition
In her introduction to a chapter on music in Culture and Societies of North Sumatra
(1987), Kaitomi observes that 'the music of the province of North Sumatra was until
recently almost total musicological terra incognita...Only in the past fifteen years or so
[has] the music of the coastal and inland peoples of North Sumatra begun to be studied
in detail (Kaitomi 1987: 333). Indeed, until the late 1960s, scholarly publications on
Batak and other Norm Sumatran music cultures in Indonesian or Western languages
were very few. Not until the early 1970s has detailed ethnomusicological research into
the music of Sumatra including gondang sabangunan begun to attract the attention of
local and foreign scholars.
Among the very few existing musicological studies of Norm Sumatran ritual
music and dance, the following publications deserve special mention. In her study,
'Batak Dance' (1971), Holt describes various dances, including the Toba Batak tortor,
but only very briefly. In his PhD thesis (1981), Jansen describes the musical instruments
of the Simalungun Bataks' gonrang ensemble, including an analysis of the gonrang's
musical structure, and a description of its historical context and musical function in
Simalungun Batak society. Kaitomi's several articles on North Sumatran musical
traditions include 'Lovely When Heard From Afar' (1981), an article which discusses
the concept of beauty in Mandating Batak musical traditions. Her other 1981 article,
Ceremonial Music of Mandating Raja Tradition', explores the history of Mandailing
drum ensembles: i.e. the gordang sambilan (nine drum ensemble), the gordang lima
(five drum ensemble) and the gondang dua (two drums ensemble); it includes analysis
of the rhythmic structures and social functions of the main ritual repertoire. In addition,
Kartomi published another article (1987) on the musical tradition of the Pasisir Malay
people of the west coast of Sumatra, in which she analysed the influence of Western
54
(Portuguese) music elements-especially melodic and harmonic elements on local songs
for weddings and other rituals.
In his 1979 PhD thesis 'Melayu Music of North Sumatra,' Goldsworthy
presents an account of the stratification of the Malay music of the east coast of North
Sumatra, arguing that the music exists in several religio—historical layers, i.e. preIslamic, Islamic and post-Portuguese, each of which is distinguished by specific
characteristics obtained from distinctive historical periods.
The present author's SI (Bachelor degree) thesis of 1986 was entitled 'Sarune
Bolon Simalungun: Suatu Analisa Penyajian Melodi Oleh Tiga Musisi' (Sarune [doublereed aerophone] of the Simalungun People: An Analysis of a Musical Presentation by
Three Musicians). It explored the playing technique of three highly-regarded sarune
musicians and analysed their styles of musical ornamentation. This author's MA thesis,
'Gordang Sambilan: Social Function and Rhythmic Structure' (1988), explored the
social function of the gordang sambilan ensemble among the Mandating people at
Pakantan and Tamiang, South Tapanuli, analysing the role of the master drummer in its
music-making.
Moore's 1985 PhD thesis, entitled 'Songs of the Pakpak of North Sumatra,'
discusses Pakpak song categories based on social use and functions, subdividing the
song categories into functional classes such as lullabies and songs to lighten the load of
work, e.g. when collecting benzoin. She men analyses the poetic and musical elements
of each song class as well as the style and methods of voice production. Thus, scholarly
investigation into the gondang-tortor tradition indeed began only from the early 1970s.
Early personal accounts of Toba Batak music and dance appeared from the
1380s, the best of which is Gustav Pilgram's article, 'Referat tiber heidnische Musik
und Tanz' (Paper on Heathen Music and Dance) (1885). A comparison of Pilgram's
55
description with that of Siahaan in his book, Gondang dohot Tortor Batak (The Batak
Gondang and Tortor) (1953) provides valuable information about change in the
gondang-tortor tradition between the 1880s and 1950s respectively. Neither of these
publications, however, is grounded on a theoretical perspective.
Pilgram's article describes the use of the gondang and tortor in pre-Christian
Toba Batak society. Although it is only a brief personal report, it reveals how some
German missionaries conceived of the gondang tradition. Lumbantobing, a Toba Batak
theologian, translated mis article into the Toba Batak language and embodied it in his
book Parsorion (Rhvayat Hidup) ni Missionar Gustav Pilgram Dohot Harararat ni
HaKristenon di Toba (The Autobiography of Gustav Pilgram and the Spread of
Christianity in Toba), published in 1981. Pilgram briefly describes the musical
instruments and the performance practice of the gondang sabangunan which, as he
describes, it was used for worshipping ancestral spirits and other supernatural powers
under the direction of the traditional medicine men (datu), who also engaged in magical
practices. Pilgram mentions mat the people also employed the music for social functions,
such as celebrating the birth of a newborn baby, expressing joy on happy occasions,
expressing sorrow at funerals, or honouring and welcoming respected guests. Although
he could not tolerate the gondang-tortor tradition associated with spirit-belief, he
accepted that gondang-tortor performances could serve a useful social function. In this
regard, he disagreed with other missionaries, who believed that the gondang-tortor
tradition should be systematically eliminated from the life of the people. He approved of
the use of the gondang and tortor at social functions as long as they had been
consecrated by missionaries or church elders beforehand. However, he believed that the
Christianised Toba Batak must not borrow, or use, any musical ensemble sets that had
been employed to venerate ancestral spirits; nor, according to him, should Christianised
56
Toba Batak perform gondang music together with non-Christians. Pilgram is an
example of a Christian missionary who tried to find compromises with those who
demanded the destruction of the gondang-torior tradition.
Siahaan's book Gondang dohot Tortor Batak offers basic information about the
gondang and tortor, mentioning terms used for elements of music and dance, and
describing several ceremonial feasts with gondang performances, together with the titles
and meanings of gondang pieces. He lists titles of seventy gondang pieces and gives a
brief account of how people should dance the tortor to the accompaniment of each
gondang piece. He also refers to a series of eight gondang pieces that the pre-Christian
Toba Batak elders used to request at every gondang performance, thus showing how a
specific gondang piece was always used to worship a particular god. Throughout his
publication, Siahaan endeavours to encourage the use of the gondang as a tool with
which to express cultural sentiments. He criticises the 50-year prohibition by German
missionaries and the similar 50-year Dutch government prohibition from performing the
gondang on the ground mat the gondang and tortor were interfering with the spread of
Christianity.
Siahaan believed that two tortor movements, tortorjuangga di langit and tortor
pangodotodot, should not be practised. In the former, the male or female dancer's hands
are stretched up above ear level, as if, he claimed, she/he were declaring that she/he is
great. In the latter, the dancer's palms—which are normally raised to chest level—are
pushed downward repeatedly, as if the dancers were looking down on other people.
These movements, he argues, are socially unacceptable because they imply arrogance.
At no time during my fieldwork in 1991, 1992, and 1994, however, did I witness the
performance of such tortor movements. According to one of my informants, Marsius
57
Sitohang,3 dancers avoid mem not only because they imply arrogance but also because
they are associated with trance and the consequent loss of emotional control, of which
the church does not approve.
Siahaan emphasises mat the gondang-tortor tradition was used in spirit belief
practices and concludes that many of its performance rules could therefore not be
accepted in Christian circles. He recommends mat the performance practice of the music
be revised according to Christian precepts. In so doing, however, he is unable to offer a
solution to the problem of how to make gondang-tortor performances accord with
Christian teaching.
In his 1977 articles, 'Suku Batak dengan "Gondang Batak"-nya' (Batak People
and their Gondang Ensembles), the Toba Batak musicologist Liberty Manik provides a
basic description of the gondang sabangunan. Manik describes the typical rhythmic
structures of the gong patterns; he argues that the 'syncopation' resulting from the
rhythmic dialogue between the gongs distinguishes the gondang sabangunanfromother
music. He also asserts mat in the distant past, the taganing and sarune players were the
two leading musicians in the gondang sabangunan ensemble, for they alone were
believed to be the representatives of the gods. Ceremonial participants normally referred
to the taganing players as Batara Guru Humundul and the sarune player as Batara
Guru Manguntal.4
Some detailed scholarly investigations into the gondang sabangunan have
recently been carried out by students and staff of the Ethnomusicology Discipline in the
Faculty of Arts, University of North Sumatra (Universitas Sumatra Utara). Pasaribu's
thesis of 1986, 'Taganing Batak Toba: Suatu Kajian Dalam Konteks Gondang
I interviewed Marsius Sitohang, a gondang musician from Medan, in July 1994. Several times we
performed the gondang together and discussed many aspects of the gondang tradition.
4
'Batara Guru' is one of the Debata na tolu (three gods).
58
Sabangunan1 (Analysis of the Batak Taganing's Role in the Context of the Gondang
Sabangunan Ensemble), discusses the function of the taganing, a leading instrument
within the gondang sabangunan, as well as die social status of the musicians. Pasaribu
includes a section that explored die social functions of the ensemble among three Toba
Batak religious institutions, i.e. the Parbaringin, the Parmalim and the Siraja Batak,
showing how the religious ideology of die three institutions is rooted in pre-Christian
Toba Batak belief systems. He argues that the three groups honour gondang musicians
as media who can convey requests to die gods via the music diey perform. Pasaribu
delimits his topic by excluding musical and functional changes resulting from the advent
of Christianity and colonialism.
In identifying die melodic structure of gondang music, Pasaribu correctly points
out that the parts played on the taganing and sarune are 'heterophonic-polytonal,' that
gondang music is polytonal and its texture linear and heterophonic. Despite this useful
interpretation, Pasaribu fails to provide information about how local gondang musicians
conceive of the parts played on the two instruments.
Another contribution from USU was made by Hutasuhut. In his diesis entitled
'Analisis Pola Penggarapan Taganing (Pola Sticking) Oleh Tujuh Partaganing' (The
Analysis of Sticking Patterns of Seven Taganing Drum Players) (1990), he aimed to
distinguish playing techniques of die taganing as used by seven taganing players. By
transcribing the pieces played by the seven musicians, Hutasuhut shows how one
musician influenced the playing technique of other musicians. The most important
finding of Hutasuhut was that some verbal expressions are used in die process of
teaching and leaning die music. Using the Western conventional notation system,
Hutasuhut documented in die form of musical notation every expression he discovered.
59
Some of Hutasuhut's assertions need to be questioned, however. In his
discussion of the process of music-making, Hutasuhut maintains mat the taganing
players either follow (mengikuti) or imitate (menirukan) the melody performed by the
sanme players. However, he fails to supply the musical evidence to prove mis notion. In
my opinion, it is not appropriate to use these two words to describe the relationship
between the two instrument players because they suggest that the taganing is a
subordinate instrument to the sarune; that the taganing is a secondary instead of the
primary lead instrument. Nor does Hutasuhut consider the philosophical meaning of the
religious, indeed deifying, status which people assign to bom musicians, namely Batara
Guru Manguntal for the sarune players and Batara Guru Humundui for the taganing
players. As I understand the religious meaning of the terms, they imply equality of status
and responsibility in the ensemble as well as in the process of music-making. Batara
Guru is the name of a deity in Toba Batak belief who, according to the myth of Creation,
passed on the gondang music to the people. This aspect is not explored in Hutasuhut's
thesis. I will argue against Hutasuhut's view that the taganing and the sarune are both
primary leading instruments that perform gondang melodies independently. In other
words, I shall assert mat the taganing players neither follow nor imitate the sarune
players.
Gultom's 1990 thesis, 'Suatu Studi Deskripnf dan Musikologis Upacara
Gondang Saem di Desa Paraduan' (A Descriptive and Musicological Study of the
Gondang Saem Ceremony in the Village of Paraduan), describes a healing ceremony
called gondang saem which was conducted by a datu in the Christian village of
Paraduan. In the ceremony a gondang sabangunan accompanied the dancing and the
presentation of offerings to the ancestral spirits; it also served to induce spirit
possession. Such a healing ceremony, according to Gultom's investigation, is ineffective
60
unless spirit possession occurs in order to cure someone who has been mentally ill for
quite a long time and for whom modem medical treatments have proven difficult to
obtain or useless. She concludes mat the traditional treatment of diseases by appealing to
the ancestral spirits via ceremonial feasts led by a datu are still found to be effective,
even among Christians who stillfirmlyhold to belief in the ancestral spirit world via the
religious and magical functions of gondang sabangunan performances.
This author's article of 1989, entitled 'Mangido Gondang Dalam Penyajian
Gondang Sabangunan Pada Masyarakat Batak Toba' (Requesting Gondang Pieces in the
Performance of Gondang Sabangunan in Toba Batak Society), compares some
ceremonial speeches presented by members of three different religious groups, i.e.
Protestants, Catholics and Parmalim. I argued mat one's religious ideology influences
how one makes a request for specific gondang pieces and how one delivers ceremonial
speeches. Some Protestants address God with the words Amanta Debata (our father,
God), but refuse to employ the term Ompunta Mula Jadi Na Bolon (the great beginning
of Genesis). This term is used by both the Catholics and Parmalim in delivering
speeches as well as in requesting gondang pieces during ceremonial feasts. The reason
for this is that pre-Christian Toba Batak societies used the latter term to address their
gods, hence it is not regarded as being suitable for Christian use. Similarly, some
Protestants do not attach the latter term to the title of the gondang piece they request but
substitute the former term, using the words: Gondang Somba tu Amanta Debata
{Gondang to honour our God). This practice has become a moral responsibility for some
Protestant parishioners.
The German theologian Schreiner, the German ethnomusicologist Simon, and
the Japanese ethnomusicologist Okazaki, have also made significant contributions to the
study of the social and religious functions of the gondang sabangunan. Schreiner's
61
1970 article, entitled 'Gondang-Musik ah
Uberlieferungs-gesfalt alt-vdlhscher
Lebensordnung'5 serves as an excellent introduction to the social! and religious functions
of the gondang sabangunan. Schreiner argues that gondang and ceremony are
inseparable from the social life of the people and from ancestor worship. Schreiner sets
out the history of the Protestant Toba Batak church in relation to gondang, but fails to
accounts for the Protestant church's 1952 ruling mat ritual practices, including
gondang-tortor performances did not have to be abandoned after all. Schreiner merely
states of 1970s gondang performances (in Timmer's translation) as follows:
The problem mat occurs today [1970s] is mat gondang and ancestor
worship are at present reuniting as a reaction to the initial measures that
attempted to separate them. (Schreiner 1970: 400)
Schreiner mentions two equivalent terms: 'gondang riang-riang' and 'gondang
ribur-ribur,' which he translates literally as 'gondang for a celebration', and 'tunes', or
'gondang pieces'. Schreiner mentions mat the terms were first proposed by German
missionaries in the early 1900s. In the synod meeting of 1952, the terms were employed
as substitutes for any activity in a ceremonial feast mat was associated with the spirit
belief system. In my experience, the terms really refer to the quality or the content of a
ceremonial feast. I will explain mis matter further in the discussion of gondang
sabangunan in the Order of Disciplines of the church below.
Simon's 1984 article, 'Functional Changes in Batak Traditional Music and Its
Role in Modem Indonesian Society,' briefly discusses the transformation of social and
religious functions of the gondang sabangunan in the early 1980s. He argues that
although some Toba Batak live in cities away from their homelands and other reside in
5
The article was made available by Ashley Turner, a doctoral student of the Music Department,
Monash University. It was translated into English by Erna Louis Timmer, formerly a lecturer at Nommensen
University in Medan.
62
villages, they constantly communicate with each other through family meetings in
ceremonial feasts that allow kinship relationships and ritual practices to remain intact.
Simon observes that rituals performed among urban Toba Batak today are usually
shortened, and people's knowledge of the rules of ritual practices are fading; meanwhile
the ability of some urban Toba Batak people to dance the tortor has also declined.
Simon maintains that the original cycle of seven gondang pieces (sipitu gondang) has
also been shortened to six, five, or even three pieces and their religious meaning
curtailed. Simon concludes that rules for the performance of ritual practices that were
formally strictly applied are no longer carried out. I agree with these observations.
However, it remains important to consider, as we shall in this thesis, whether Simon's
view of the reason for the decline of the people's knowledge of ritual is true, or whether
the people are actually restricted from performing the pre-Christian adat practices (e.g.
performing the series of seven gondang pieces or the calling for the blessings on a
gondang performance) by external forces, such as the Order of Discipline of the church.
In a second article, 'Social and Religious Functions of Batak Ceremonial Music'
(1987), Simon briefly explores the nature of the social and the religious functions of the
gondang sabangunan. He argues that gondang is performed to accompany dancing of
the tortor, for music and dance strengthen kinship relationships. He further argues mat
in spirit belief practice (tondi cults), bom gondang and tortor function as tools to
express religious feelings and to help dancers achieve spirit possession. Simon admits
that the nature of the belief systems as well as the inner intention of the dancers is
fundamental to the process of spirit possession, but he believes that the structure of
gondang music, especially the rhythmic pattern of the ogung (gong), actually
encourages dancers to achieve possession. Simon maintains that, according to the rules
?•:'.-:•
63
of gondang performance, a series of seven gondang must be performed in honour of
one kinship group, and it must begin with Gondang Mula-mula and end with Gondang
Hasahatan. The other five pieces may change according to the character of the
ceremony or the wish of persons who request for thefivegondang pieces.
I agree with Simon that the series of seven gondang pieces must be performed
when a group of people follows the adat ni gondang (rules of gondang performance).
The problem is that adat ni gondang is not concerned merely with the series of seven
gondang pieces but mat it covers all aspects of gondang performance practice, including
how to invite gondang musicians to play, how to start and end a gondang performance,
how to dance the tortor, how to bestow and receive blessings via the tortor, how to
request a gondang-iortor sequence, and how to address gondang musicians. In
addition, the rules for performing gondang are not unchangeable; they change as people
change. Thus changes and continuities in adat ni gondang are still traceable in
contemporary gondang performances. As the changes and continuities have not yet been
explored in Simon's or others' work, I shall discuss them in the framework of gondang
performance in pre-Christian Toba Batak societies as well as in contemporary Protestant
Toba Batak society.
Simon's 1993 article entitled 'Gondang, Gods, and Ancestors. Religious
Implications of Batak Ceremonial Music' briefly investigates a possible correlation
between gondang sabangunan, the Toba Batak belief systems, and the construction of
the Toba Batak traditional house, the ruma. In describing the use of gondang pieces, he
mentions the role that musicians perform within the context of ritual ceremonies: i.e. mat
gondang pieces are named after the names of gods or ancestors, and that gondang
musicians are regarded as representations of one god or ancestor (Batara Guru). As
Simon explains, the Toba Batak cosmos consists of three worlds: the Upperworld
64
(banua ginjang), the Middleworld (banua tonga) and the Underworld (banua torn),
which are reflected in the three parts of the construction of the Toba Batak traditional
house, namely the ground space, the dwelling space and the gable roof. He pointed out
that during ceremonial feasts gondang musicians perform music under the gable roof,
called bonggar-bonggar, to accompany people dancing on the ground, 'as if musicians
play the music from the Upperworld' (Simon 1993: 82) . On the basis of this
assumption, Simon states that Toba Batak people regard music 'as a god-given mediator
between the Upper and the Middle World, blessed with godly power... The pargonsi is
the god-given mediator between gods and people' (ibid. 82). These clues are, indeed,
important in understanding how the Toba Batak regard gondang music and musicians.
Simon asserts mat if a Christian family organises a ceremonial feast with a
performance of gondang sabangunan and they request the Gondang somba-somba tu
Amanta Debata (gondang for worshipping the God) to be played, they are actually
making their request of the Christian God. As he writes, 'it seems...mat the Toba easily
switchfromthe old Batak gods to the Christian High God, just dropping the full name;
the music is the same' (Simon 1993: 82). This is correct as far as the titles of the
gondang pieces are concerned. But Simon failed to take account of the actual diversity
of Christian Toba Batak responses to the adoption of Christian ideas. In fact, when
Protestants perform the gondang sabangunan, i.e. when they request specific gondang
pieces to be played, they dance the tortor, and they give and receive blessings; they
communicate a whole range of Christian ideas. Some Protestant Toba Batak switch
from the old Batak gods to the Christian God, as Simon observes, however, others make
their requests of the Christian God as well as the ancestral spirits via gondang
performances. Simon does not take account of the coexisting of Christian and adat
practices, which will be explored later in mis thesis.
i
65
In 1984, Simon published a pair of discs of gondang sabangunan music with
jacket notes that included musical transcriptions and analyses, descriptions of the
instruments, and a brief discussion of the social and religious functions of the gondang
sabangunan. These are useful contributions to the study of the musical structures of
gondang composition. In using the term 'Christianised rituals', Simon means ceremonial
feasts that were formerly rooted in pre-Christian belief systems and practices and were
then reinterpreted and performed according to Christian teachings. Hov/ever, he fails to
explain what aspects of ceremonial feasts have been specifically singled out for
Christianisation. In referring to the 'gondang suitable for Christian use' he suggests that
there are gondang pieces mat are not suitable for Christian use, but does not specify
which ones.
The most recent study of the gondang sabangunan is a thesis by Okazaki
entitled 'Music, Identity, and Religious Change among the Toba Batak People of North
Sumatra' (1993). Okazaki focuses on gondang within Toba Batak society, particularly
gondang practices influenced by Christianity. Thus she presents a wealth of data which
she collected at gondang performances within adat feasts and church ritual services and
feasts performed by members of two of the Christian institutions operating in rural and
urban areas, namely the Protestant and the Catholic. Her aim was to investigate how the
gondang and tortor tradition has adapted to the changing Toba Batak society and how
gondang performances have shaped and strengthened Toba Batak identity intinepresent
time. To achieve this she analyses the impact of religious change upon the use of the
gondang in society, namely, gondang in adat ceremonies, church functions, and
entertainment events. She examines how and for what purposes people perform
gondang and tortor in different contexts and at different times and how they convey
their cultural and religious expressions throi oji gondang and tortor.
66
Okazaki acknowledges that the Protestant Toba Batak and the Catholic Toba
Batak church institutions each has its own policy towards the local culture and that it
guides its members in using the gondang and in performing adat practices. However,
despite her acknowledgment, Okazaki does not consider how mat policy influences the
attitude of the Catholics and the Protestants in executing gondang-tortor performances
at adat feasts. Okazaki simply assumes mat the features of gondang performance in
adat feasts, including content, purpose, and performance procedure,
is the same
whether it is hosted by the Protestants or by the Catholics. Okazaki explains mat in the
exhumation of bones ceremonies nowadays, the religious elements, such as calling the
spirits or asking blessings from the ancestral spirits, have been reduced, due to church
prohibitions. She observes that such practices as consulting the datu, performing the
gondang while digging the graves, removing the bones, and bringing the bones in
procession from the graves into the host's house to the accompaniment of the gondang,
remain an integral part of the exhumation of bones ceremony. As regards Catholic
ceremonies, Okazaki is correct. However, the Protestants no longer practise such a
procedure and they do not perform gondang in the process of digging up the bones.
From 1952 to the present the Protestant church has officially banned mem.
The Protestant church does allow its members to exhume their ancestral bones,
but practitioners must obey church law (see the discussion of the Order of Discipline in
Chapter Five). When I attended the exhumation of bones ceremonies held by a
Protestant family at Hutaraja, Sipaholon, in 1994, the process of digging up the bones
was executed without the datu. The host hired a brass band ensemble to accompany the
process of unearthing the bones. Musical items performed were Christian hymns and
Batak popular songs. Unearthed bones were put into boxes and kept in the church. They
were brought from the graves to the church without musical accompaniment. In the
67
church, all the bones were placed on the floor in front of the altar. Before removing the
bones from the church, the church minister led a Christian service, including a sermon
and prayers with hymn singing to the accompaniment of a brass band. When members
of the host's party transferred the bones from the church to the front of the host's house,
die brass band musicians performed Batak popular songs. The boxed bones were
placed on a table. The host and his relatives danced the tortor surrounding the table to
the accompaniment of a brass band playing Christian hymns. The day after the bones
were transferred to their tambak (tomb), the host gave a family feast in which gondang
and tortor were performed. In the same year I also attended an exhumation of bones
ceremony in Medan, held by a Protestant family. There was no gondang music during
the process of digging up the bones but a Christian service was led by a church
minister. The bones were transferred from the grave directly into the church. The host
gave a family adat feast in which gondang and tortor were performed, yet no bones
were placed in the arena where the participants of the feast danced the tortor.
Okazaki was unable to supply evidence of the use of the gondang in adat feasts,
especially the use of the gondang in the exhumation of bones ceremonies held according
to Protestant practice. Her data are concerned mainly with gondang performance in
church services and feasts and in a concert situation. Okazaki's description of the
procedure is incomplete and may therefore to some extent lead to misconceptions on the
reader's part, especially with regard to Protestant Toba Batak practice. In other words,
Okazaki's description of gondang performance procedure at the exhumation of bones
ceremony in question cannot be applied to the Protestants. In the preset study I will
argue that gondang-tortor performances in adat feasts hosted by the Protestants are
distinguishable from those that are hosted by the Catholics, not only in the way they
observe the rules of performing gondang but also iii their attitude' / adat.
0
68
Okazaki's conclusion contributes some invaluable findings: they reveal some
social and religious aspects of gondang-tortor performances among all Christian Toba
Batak people, whether Protestant or Catholic. She asserts that the purpose of the
gondang presentation within the ceremonial framework or the structure of ceremonial
organisation of adat feast, among othertilings,is to worship deities. She correctly claims
mat 'all adat feasts' accompanied by gondang these days retain some elements of the
structure of the ceremonial organisation rooted in the traditional Toba Batak belief
system. She concludes hat the ceremonialframeworkof gondang in adat feasts is 'more
or less standardised' (Okazaki 1994: 258). Likewise, her investigations into the function
of gondang and tortor performances in adat ceremonies offers significant points that
merit mention here. She maintains that gondang serves as a ritual enactment which
provides a link to the past. She asserts that gondang and tortor evince religious and
cultural values. She mentions that through gondang and tortor the people show respect
and honour to deities and prestigious persons, acknowledge proper position and kinship
relationships, and bestow blessings through speeches, dance and ceremonial gift-giving.
Supported by her 'multi-contextual approach' or comparative method of analysis,
Okazaki tries to encapsulate the meaning of contemporary gondang performances as
follows:
My analysis of gondang performance...uncovers the multiplicity of
meanings that gondang conveys. Some meanings overlap and some very
markedly, but when stripped to the essential, they reveal the Toba Batak
dependence on the past and desire for the new. (Okazaki 1993: 258)
Despite this convincing conclusion, the question remains as to whether or not it
applies only to the gondang-tortor performance among Catholics or also among the
Protestant Toba Batak community. Adat feasts among the Protestants have been
influenced by Christian practices, as has gondang-tortor performance. Thus since the
69
musical performance practices of that community are constantly regulated by the Order
of Discipline of the church, I need to question how gondang and tortor performance in
adai feasts held by the Protestant Toba Batak community can serve all of the functional
aspects that Okazaki mentioned. To what degree have Christian teaching and values
influenced, and contributed to, the functional aspects and ceremonial framework?
Okazaki does not analyse these issues thoroughly; indeed she fails to supply the relevant
evidence. Likewise, the diametrical opposition between adat and Christian teachings and
how the Protestant church and its members have had to compromise about mis
relationship are not discussed in Okazaki's thesis.
Okazaki argues that the incorporation of gondang into the Catholic church
liturgy and the performance of gondang in church functions (Catholic and Protestant),
served as evidence of the reconciliation between Christianity and adat. There is no
question that recent change in perceptions of the Catholic church as regards the gondang
tradition is significant; the gondang tradition is, indeed, consciously encouraged by the
leaders of the Catholic church via the injunction of 'mculturation.' This attempt to
incorporate local culture into the Catholic liturgy is in line with the Guidelines of the
Vatican Council II (1962-1965).
It is also indisputable mat the Catholic church has incorporated the gondang
into its activities more than the Protestant church, which uses the gondang to a limited
degree only. In describing this development, however, Okazaki overstates the degree of
reconciliation reached by the church with adherents of the gondang sabangunan
tradition. Thus I cannot fully agree with her statement that 'Today, the church promotes
the practice and has become a protector of the gondang tradition' (Okazaki 1994:177).
My investigations have suggested that the Catholic and Protestant churches have
promoted, and to an extent protected, Western organ music, church hymns and brass
70
bands over traditional local music such as the gondang sabangunan. No Protestant
church has ever acquired a gondang sabangunan ensemble, let alone a group of
gondang musicians. Only one Catholic church—at Karangsari in Pematang Siantar—
has ever owned a gondang ensemble with temporary musicians. Protestant churches do
not use the gondang in church services, only at church functions such as an anniversary
of a church (pesta ulang tahun), a fund-raiser (pesta pembangunan), youth festival
(pesta naposo), the founding of a new church building (pajonjong gareja), or the
celebration of a new church (mangompoi), which occurs once or twice a year. Some
Catholic churches do incorporate the gondang into their music liturgy, but not at every
Sunday service, only in celebration of Thanksgiving, Easter, or Christmas.6 Some
Catholic churches never perform the gondang in their liturgy at all. Nainggolan, a
sarune player and a member of the Catholic church at Jalan Pancing/Durung, Medan,
informed me that since the time the gondang sabangunan began to be played in church,
he has performed only once, which was during the celebration of Easter in 1992. When I
interviewed him in 1994, he said that between 1992 and 1994 there were no gondang
performances in his church. Thus, the Catholics are still experimenting. Therefore, it is
too soon to say that the church institutions, whether Catholic and/or Protestant, are the
protectors of the gondang tradition. We can only state mat musical adherents of the
gondang tradition are now trying to make the Toba Batak Protestant and Catholic
churches look, act and sound like Toba Batak churches.
Okazaki's discussion on traditional form and symbolism merits extensive
comment. In her discussion of gondang and adat, Okazaki mentions that some elements
of the traditional form and symbolism persist in adat feasts. She claims that 'a tripartite
6
This is according to Father Benjamin Purba of Karangsari, Pematang Siantar, whom I interviewed
in December 1994. lie is the Director of the Liturgical Commission of the Catholic Archdiocese of Medan.
71
structure frames the ceremonial procedure' (Okazaki 1994: 129). She observes mat
these elements keep appearing in contemporary adat feasts. The use of gondang and
iortor to demonstrate kinship relationship is a central feature of adat feasts. Gondang
musicians (pargomi) support the ceremonial speeches. The giving of maxims is an
important constituent of adat speeches. The ceremonial shawl (ulos) is a ceremonial gift
exchanged among members of the dalihan na tolu. Gestures of worship as well as
blessings always accompany the performance of sipitu gondang (a series of the seven
gondang pieces). Portions of meat (jambar) are always given to every member of the
dalihan na tolu in the same way. This is correct as far as those traditional forms and
expressions are concerned. Nevertheless, my investigations suggest mat mere are still
many other elements of traditional structures and expressions that are important,
especially in the performance of gondang within adat feasts. These elements include the
giving of meals to the musicians (manggalang pargonsi), the giving of betel nut to the
musicians (demban panjujuran), the requirement that musicians re-offer the betel nut to
the deities (tongo-tonggo), that they perform the given series of seven gondang pieces
(gondang panjujuran), and the rule mat the feast-giving groups call for blessings at the
beginning of the gondang performances (mangalap tua ni gondang). These elements
are not thoroughly explored in Okazaki's thesis.
Some of Okazaki's assertions need to be questioned. Okazaki claims that only a
few Toba Batak know the meaning of the ceremonial behaviour and objects, especially
the meaning behind the performance, and that therefore knowledge about the detail of
theritualis declining. If this were true, we would need to ask several questions. Why do
the people perform adat feasts with gondang involving their relatives if they do not
know the meaning and purpose of the performance? Why do they keep exchanging
ceremonial gifts if they do not know the meaning behind mis? My investigations suggest
72
that it is because die people are aware of their adat obligations and die ensuing
implications that they continue to perform adat ritual with gondang performance, as I
will discuss.
There are a few contradictions in Okazaki's work mat need to be thought
through. Okazaki maintains that the 'gondang sabangunan never varies. No instrument
is added or omitted when it is used in [the] pesta adat [adat feast]/ thereby suggesting
that there is a stable, authentic form of instrumentation. This is not true in all
communities. My investigations show that die gondang sabangunan ensemble in the
Parmalim community employs the double-headed drum {odap) in addition to die set of
six drums (taganing and gordang), unlike gondang sabangunan ensembles employed
in mainstream Christian Toba Batak society. Nevertheless, I do agree with Okazaki that
the size of die gondang ensemble has changed, with Western instruments frequently
being added to it, and that it is being performed in non-adat contexts.
Okazaki presupposes diat the word gondang derives either from die word
gendang the Malayan and Indonesian word for drum, or kendhang, the Javanese term
for drum. Considering die similar articulation of die words, with only one vowel
distinguishing them, her etymological assumption may be correct. However, she needs
to go further than this to explain mat 'gondang' does not simply mean gendang in Toba
Batak language. My fieldwork data suggests that the concept of gondang in the Toba
Batak language is much broader than mat of gendang in Malay and Indonesian, or
kendhang in Javanese. Apparendy, gondang musicians refer to every drum in the
gondang sabangunan ensemble by a specific name, from die smallest to the largest:
ting-ting, paidua ting-ting, painonga, paidua odap, odap-odap, gordang bolon and
odap (Hutasuhut 1990: 46). They are all drums, yet, to die best of my knowledge,
73
musicians do not us« the term gendang to refer to these instruments. Thus, I will argue
that the term gondang does not simply denote a musical instrument.
Okazaki's invaluable study of gondang-tortor tradition has opened the field to
further research, for example, on the many performance aspects and contexts of the
gondang-tortor tradition. Moreover, her findings of the multiplicity of meanings that
gondang conveys is a starting point for further ethnomusicological investigation into the
musical culture of the Toba Batak people.
2.3 Conclusion
The scholarly investigation into the gondang-tortor traditional conducted by local and
foreign scholars in the last fifteen years have been focused on various topics, including
musical structures of gondang, playing techniques and the music learning process,
socio-religious aspects of gondang-tortor performances, descriptions of gondang-tortor
performances performed in healing ceremonies and Parmalim's religious ceremonies,
adat speeches in gondang performances given by member of different religious
institutions, social stratification of gondang musicians, and gondang and tortor
performances seen in relation to religious change. Despite these invaluable contributions
to the study of gondang-tortor tradition, there are still vast areas of the topic that are still
unexplored, including the use of gondang sabangunan and tortor in Parmalim religious
ceremonies. Gondang performance as a means of evoking the spirits has not been
investigated, nor has gondang performance in traditional healing ceremonies been
thoroughly documented. The impact of gondang rhythmic structure on Toba Batak
popular music still needs to be researched, as does gondang in pre-funeral ceremonies,
the organology of gondang instruments and their tuning systems, the orally transmitted
74
theory of gondang music and the process of teaching and learning gondang. Clearly a
full account of the gondang tradition and its repertoire has still not been written.
In this study, I intend to focus on the contemporary performance of gondang
sabangunan and tortor as well as the change in the socio-religious functions of their
performance within the context of adat and church feasts in Christian Toba Batak
society. Since the Catholic practices have already been studied by Okazaki, I shall
concentrate on practices among the Protestant Toba Batak community. Although I shall
discuss gondang performance during pre-Christian times, I shall do so mainly for the
sake of comparison with the 1980s and 1990s. It is to be hoped that my contribution will
attract much further research into the fascinating gondang tradition of the Toba Batak in
contemporary times.
75
CHAPTER THREE
MUSIC AND ADATTS THE LIFE OF THE TOBA BATAK PEOPLE
1950-1994
This chapter aims to explain the socio-cultural and religious impact of eighty years
contact between Toba Batak people and the German missionaries and the Dutch colonial
government (1860s-1940s). In particular it discusses the spread ^^Christianity and
simultaneous development of education, the economy and technology in the postcolonial era (1950s to the present time). A brief historical outline follows. In the 1870s,
German missionaries worked hand in hand with the Dutch colonial government to
introduce to their Western-style educational system as well as their technological and
communicative devices, transportation systems and administrative practices. Together
with the German missionaries, the Toba Batak people established the HKBP in 1930. In
the 1940s, the HKBP organisation disintegrated, which resulted in the formation of
plural ethnic churches. From about 1950 there were large migrations of the people to the
cities. At about die same time a huge Toba Batak community established itself in
Medan. In the 1990s many Toba Bafak moved to reside in other big cities in Indonesia,
including Jakarta and Bandung.
What was the impact of these social transformations on the practice ofadat and
the performance of the gondang sabangunan and tortor, especially in the last two
decades or so? Educated members of Christian Toba Batak society continually had to
reinterpret adai, including the use and performance of the gondang sabangunan and
tortor. While the essence of adat always remained the same, its meaning and the
practice changed with the context of its usage, and contemporary times are no exception.
I shall now briefly describe the geography of the Batak Lands and Medan and
then the six Batak sub-groups and their myths of origin, referring to the Batak creation
76
myth and scholarly speculation about it. In discussing pre-Christian Toba Batak culture
and society, I shall also introduce the concept of hasipekbeguan (spirit worship), the
two key concepts of kinship—the marga (clan) and the dalihan natolu (three cornered
kinship relationship)—, ideas of social values and their relationship to the performance
of the gondang sabangunan and tortor. I shall also briefly discuss the outline of Toba
Batak history, referring to the isolation of the people before the 1860s, their interaction
with the outside world since then, and the impact of foreign ideas and practices on their
culture and religion, including links to gondang sabangunan and tortor. In short, I shall
explain the transformation of the meaning and the practice of adat among members of
Protestant Toba Batak society from the 1960s, especially during the 1980s and 1990s.
3.1 Geography of the Batak Lands and Medan
Sumatra is the westernmost
major island of the Indonesian archipelago, located
between the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca. It extends about 1,100 miles from
the northeast to the southeast. Sumatra consists of eight provinces, one of which is the
province of North Sumatra. Located between the province of Aceh to the north and
West Sumatra to the south, North Sumatra has an area of 71,680 square kilometres and
it lies between 1° and 4° north latitude and 98° and 100° east longitude.
Administratively, the province consists of eleven regencies (Kabupaten) and six
municipalities (Kota Madya)1.
Except for the east and west coastal regions (see Map 2), the Batak people
occupy most of the province of North Sumatra The east and west coasts are inhabited
predominantly by Malays who are called Melayu Pesisir Sumatra Timur (East Coast
1
The eleven Kabupaten are Kabupaten Tapanuli Utara, Kabupaten Tapanuli Selatan, Kabupaten
Tapanuii Tengah, Kabupaten Simalunguii, Kabupaten Karo, Kabupaten Dairi, Kabupaten Langkat,
Kabupaten Labuhan Batu, Kabupaten Nias, Kabupaten Deli Serdang and Kabupaten Asahan. The six Kota
Madya are Kota Madya Medan, Kota Madya Pematang Siantar, Kota Madya Sibolga, Kota Madya Tanjung
Balai, Kota Madya Binjai and Kota Madya Tebing Tinggi.
77
Sumatran Malay) and Melayu Pesisir Sumatra Barat (West Coast Sumatran Malay)
respectively. Most Malays are Muslim, but thousands of Christian Batak also live in the
region (Kartomi 1987: 353, 380). The Batak homelands are sometimes called Tapanuli
or Tano Batak or Tanah Batak (BI) (Batak Lands). During the colonial era they
comprised six districts, namely Dairi, Samosir, Barus, Toba Plateau, Toba and
Silindung (Castles 1972: viii), but these divisions are no longer used. The government
now uses the term Kabupaten (regency) and/or Kota Madya (municipality) to signify
an administrative region. Thus there are six Kabupaten and two Kota Madya in the
Batak Lands, including Kabupaten Tapanuli Utara, Kabupaten Tapanuli Tengah,
Kabupaten Tapanuli Selatan, Kabupaten Dairi, Kabupaten Simalungun, Kabupaten
Karo, Kota Madya Pematang Siantar and Kota Madya Sibolga These Kabupaten and
Kota Madya cover the six previously delineated districts (See Map. 1).
The Batak Lands cover about 41, 413 square kilometres.2 The volcanic Bukit
Barisan (mountain range) extending over the province from north to south, covers most
of the central area of the Batak Lands. Rivers include the Asahan, Batugarigis, Haporas,
Batang Torn, Mbelin, Silau, Kuala, Bila and Wampu and their tributaries flow across
the Batak Lands. Over past centuries these rivers were important for local
communications as well as trade between inland people and foreigners and they
facilitated foreign influences (Pelzer 1978: 17-19; McKinnon 1987: 89-91; Kartoini
1987: 377-374). Surrounding the Bukit Barisan are active volcanic mountains such as
Sibayak, Sinabung, Pusuk Buhit and Martimbang. In the distant past, a tremendous
eruption caused the great Toba cauldron to occur (Bemmelen 1949: 691). The hollow
2
This includes the total area of six regencies and two municipalities, namely Kabupaten Tapanuli
Selatan (18,897 square km.), Kabupaten Tapanuli Tengah (2,188 square km.), Kabupaten Tapanuli Utara
(10,605 square km.), Kabupaten Simalungun (4,369 square km.), Kabupaten Karo (2,127 square km.),
Kabupaten Dairi (3,146 square km.), Kota Madya Sibolga (11 square kin.), and Kota Madya Pematang
Siantar (70 square km) (Sumatra Utara Dalam Angka 1993, 1994:4).
78
30 MILES
Batak Lands
(TANAH BATAK)
Map 2. The location of the Tano Batak or Tanah Batak (Batak Lands) in Sumatra and
the distribution of the six Batak sub-groups
was filled with water and much later become known as Lake Toba. The lake contains a
small island called Samosir. Before 1906 the island was actually a peninsula that
connected Samosir to Sumatra through the Pusuk Buhit mountain, which lies adjacent to
the southwest shore of the lake.3 When in 1906 the Dutch colonial government
established its headquarters in Pangururan, a village at the foot of the Pusuk Buhit
' Bemmelen (1949:688) describes how Samosir was originally attached to Sumatra.
79
mountain, they separated Samosir from Sumatra by making a canal of half kilometre in
length (Situmorang 1993b: 23; 239).
The shores of the lake form part of four Kabupaten, i.e. Tapanuli Utara,
Simalungun, Dairi and Karo. The Samosir island and two thirds of the lake's
circumference—from the village of Simpanggading on the east shore of the lake to the
village of Silalahi in the southwest—are part of the Kabupaten Tapanuli Utara. The
valleys stretching along this shore are fertile and suitable for agriculture. Production of
unhusked rice, peanuts, cassava, onions, and maize is the primary economic activity of
the Toba Batak living around the shore.4
Medan is situated between 2°29'00"-2°47'00" north latitude and 98°35'98° 44' east longitude and is about 14 metres above sea level, covering an area of 265
square kilometres. It is located about 25 kilometres from Belawan, {he main sea-port of
the region. Soils of Medan and its surrounding areas are fertile and especially suitable
for tobacco and crops. During the colonial era Medan was internationally known for the
high quality of the tobacco grown in its surrounds. The Dutch tobacco expert, Niehuis,
started the first tobacco plantation in Medan on the bank of the Deli river in 1863. By
1890, the extent of the tobacco plantations had reached the maximum ever, with a total
of 170 plantations (Wolfram-Seifert 1987: 467; McKinnon 1977: 22). In the late
nineteenth century, crops such as coffee, tea and cacao were introduced, followed by
rubber plantations in 1902, and palm oil plantations in the following century (WolframSeifert 1987: 470).
4
The details of the local agricultural products of the Tapanuli Utara regency in 1993 can be seen in
the annual report by the Statistical Office of North Sumatra and the Regional Development Planning Board
of North Sumatra Province (1993:145-185). See also Situmorang's description of the use of the land along
the shore as for wetland paddy (1993b: 29).
80
3.2 Six Battk Sub-Groups and Speculation about their Origin
The Bataks comprise six sub-groups, namely the Toba Batak, the Simalungun Batak,
the Karo Batak, the Pakpak Batak (sometimes called Pakpak-Dairi), the Mandailing
Batak and the Angkola-Sipirok Batak. Some Batakologists claim that the Alas and the
Gayo ethnic groups in the province of Aceh are of Batak origin (Pedersen 1970: 19 and
Niessen 1985: 5), that the Pardembanan people of Asahan river valley are Bataks
(Tobing 1963: 21), and that some of the orang pesisir of the west coast of Norm
Sumatra are of Batak origin (Pasaribu 1986:16). However, opinions are divided.
Iwabuchi, a Japanese anthropologist who recently studied the history of the Alas people,
maintains mat they are a mixed ethnic group. He claims mat the Alas are descendants of
various migrant groups, including the Karo, Toba, Pakpak, Gayo Singkel, Minangkabau,
Acehnese and Kluet who, during the pre-colonial era (up to ca. 1904) migrated to
Alasland one after the other (Iwabuchi 1994: 8-10). Yusuf asserts that they are
descendants of the Bukit and the Cik people.5 The Bukit, people from the norm coast of
Aceh, are also sometimes called Gayo Lut/Gayo Laut, while the Cik are descendants of
the Batak people who came from Tapanuli (Yusuf 1989: 206). Cunningham maintains
that the Orang Asahan—another name for the Batak of Pardembanan—are originally
Toba Batak emigrants who migrated to Asahan in the early nineteenth century, then
intermarried with the local people, converted to Islam and separated themselves
permanently from their previous homelands (Cunningham 1958: 84; 163). They speak
Malay and practise Malay music and adat Thus, although the Gayo, Alas, Pardembanan
people are historically linked to the Toba Batak people, and are mostly Muslim,
culturally they are not Toba Batak, and they are not therefore relevant to this study.
' See Yusuf s 'Dukun Bayi di Pedesaan Gayo' (1989:205-207).
81
Geographically, the distribution of the six sub-groups in the region is as follows.
The Toba Batak people occupy the Kabupaten Tapanuli Utara, which is centrally
located in the Batak Lands. The Karo Batak live in the highlands to the north of Lake
Toba in Kabupaten Karo. The Simalungun Batak dwell to the east of Lake Toba in
Kabupaten Simalungun. The Pakpak Batak occupy the region to die north-west of Lake
Toba, which is called Kabupaten Dairi. The Mandating and Angkola-Sipirok live
between the area to the south of Lake Toba and the border of West Sumatra, i.e. in
Kabupaten Tapanuli Selatan. (See Map. 2.)
Among the six sub-groups, the Toba Batak are the most populous. In everyday
life, most people associate the term Batak with the Toba Batak. If, for instance, a Karo
Batak or Simalungun Batak tells other people mat he or she is an 'orang Batak' (a Batak
person), mis is almost interpreted as meaning that he or she is a Toba Batak. Thus, those
sub-groups who do not belong to the Toba Batak prefer to be called by the name of their
sub-group, e.g. orangKaro [BI] or kalakKaro (BK], orang Simalungun [BL] or halak
Simalungun (BS], orang Mandailing [BI] or halak Mandailing [BMJ, orang Angkola
[BI] or halak Sipirok [BAS].6
Many studies of the Batak people—early or recent—maintain that the six subgroups share a common forefather (Siahaan 1964: 84; Lumbantobing 1992: 21;
Situmorang 1993b: 207). Hoetagaloeng's Poestaha Taringot toe Tarombo ni Bangso
Batak (Delineation of the Genealogy of the Batak People) (1926) has recorded an oral
legend which asserts mat Siraja Batak, who was the progeny of Siboru Deak Parujar and
6
During the colonial era, for example, the Mandailing people refused to be called 'orang Batak.'
(Pelly 1994: 44) and they still do. Pelly, following Joustra (1926) and Abdullah (1979), maintains that the
reason for this was that the Mandailing Batak conceived of the Toba Batak, who were mostly Christians, as
'uncivilised' people who practiced cannibalism (Pelly 1994: 44). hi addition, the Mandailing Batak found
that the Javanese, the Minangkabau and the Malays conceived of them as a group without distinguishing the
different sub-groups. These two reasons, as Pelly understood Abdullah, induced the Mandailing to deny that
they were Batak. Instead, they prefer to stress their Muslim identity and separateness from other Batak
groups.
82
Siraja Biat Manisia (also sometimes called Situan Ruma Uhir or Raja Odap-oflap) is the
forefather of the Batak people (Koetagaloeng 1926: 23-24). This belief is lent credence
by the fact that all the Batak speak the one language, though it is manifested in different
dialects. Moreover, their forms of social organisation, which are based on patrilineal
exogamous clans, while differing in some details are in essence the same.
According to oral tradition, Siraja Batak descended from the Upperworld
(Banua Ginjang) and rested in a village located on the holy mountain Pusuk Buhit on
the western shore of Lake Toba. Ever since ths arrival of Siraja Batak, mis village has
been called Sianjur Mula-mula meaning 'place of beginning', from which the Batak
people are believed to have spread outward all over the Batak Lands (Hoetagaloeng
1926: 22-27). Some Toba Batak people still believe that the village of Sianjur Mulamula is their place of origin. However, this is oral tradition, not historical fact; it has no
evidence to support it. Moreover, there are several Toba Batak creation myths, not just
7
one.
Despite the fact that the origin of the Toba Batak people and the other Batak
sub-groups has not yet been systematically researched due to the lack of definitive
documentation, scholars have made several speculative lines of inquiry. References to
them can be found, for example, in Heine-Geldern (1945), Kennedy (1942), Cole
(1945), Keesing (1950), Cunningham (1958), Ryan (1966), Parkin (1978) and other
sources. These scholars agree mat the Batak people are not indigenous to Sumatra but
are descendants of people who in the distant past moved there in several successive
migrations via mainland Southern Asia.
7
See for example different creation myths in Sinaga (1981), Tobing (1963), Lumbantobing (1993),
and Situmorang 1993a and 1993b).
83
Dyen, however, has found linguistic evidence that throws some doubt on the
idea of successive migrations from the north. Instead, he believes that the islands of
Melanesia (next to New Guinea) are the original homeland of the people who speak
Melayopolynesian (Dyen 1975; 92, 101). But the historian Bellwood does not agree
with the results of Dyen's comparative phonological research. Bellwood uses data
stemming from archaeology and pre-historic linguistics as well as evidence of the
expansion of agriculture to suggest that the people of island Southeast Asia including
Sumatra, are probably the descendants of Austronesian speaking people of Taiwan who
migrated to the archipelago in the early third millennium BC. He suggests that the
migration route was possibly from Taiwan to the Philippines, the Talaud Islands and Ulu
Leang in Sulawesi, Uai Bobo in eastern Timor, Java and finally Sumatra (Bellwood,
1992: 102-105).
Whatever the truth about the successive migrations, the fact remains mat the
Bataks, especially the Toba Batak, lived in isolation in the mountainous areas of the
region until the late nineteenth century and established their own patterns of social
organisation and belief systems.
La his book, Linguistic Subgrouping and Lexicostatistics (1975), Dyen argues that, 'population
movements can be inferred from the geographical distribution of related languages...The migration of a
language is the migration of some number of its speakers' (Dyen 1975: 51, 54). He further argues that, 'the
homeland of peoples speaking languages belonging to the same family is one that assigns this homeland to
the area in which the genetically most diverse members of the family [i.e. those of the highest order of
diversity - I.D.] are to be found ...There is strong evidence that the area of greatest genetic diversity of
Melayopolynesians lies in its eastern section rather than in the west. This discovery militates against the long
accepted hypothesis that the Melayopolynesians spread from west to east from the area of western Indonesia.
In view of the concentration of diverse languages in the island area called Melanesia and the New Guinea
coast, the spread appears to be from this area (Dyen 1975:92,101).
84
3.3 TobaBatak Culture and Society
3.3.1 Pre-Christian religious belief
The notion of the gods in traditional Toba Batak belief has been discussed by authors
such as Loeb (1935), Tobing (1963), Sinaga (1981), Situmorang (1993a; 1993b) and
Schreiner (1994). They concluded that pre-Christian Toba Batak society worshipped
gods, ancestral spirits and other supernatural powers such as Mula Jadi Na Bolon,
Batara Guru, Soripada, Mangala Bulan, Debata Asi-asi, Debata na Tolu, Siboru Deak
Parujar, Raja Uti, Simarimbulu Bosi, Sisingamangaraja, and Raja Na Siak Bagi
(Vergouwen 1986: 79). Pre-Christian Toba Bataks worshipped these gods and asked for
their blessings with offerings, prayers and rites to the accompaniment of gondang and
tortor performances.
The pesta bius is the pre-Christian communal sacrificial ceremony in which
people worship those gods. The ceremony involves members of a territory (bius),
celebrating the growth of the rice paddy, i.e. the time of planting and harvesting, and the
propitiation of the earth spirits. In 1923, a Toba Batak man called W.M. Hutagalung,
who worked for the colonial government in the 1920s, recorded the performance of a
pesta bius by the people of Limbong, a village in the foothills of the holy mountain
Pusuk Buhit.9 Li 1993 Situmorang studied Hutagalung's monograph and found mat the
pesta bius consisted of a series of twenty-two ritual events (see Figure 3) some of which
were performed collectively and others individually (Situmorang 1993b: 142-148).10
Through
the
twenty-two
ritual events, marked by offerings presented to the
9
The monograph is entitled Nota W.M. Hutagalung Assistant Demang van Dolok Sanggul tentang
Offerfeesten di Limbong (1923).
10
1 have tried ray best to obtain the original work of Hutagalung from several libraries in Indonesia,
Holland and Germany via the International Library Loan at Monash University. Unfortunately, I have not
obtained a copy of the book. Thus, I must use a secondary source.
85
accompaniment of gondang sabangunan and tortor, the
people expressed their
religious feelings and relationship to the gods and the environment.
No
1
2
3
Name of
Events
Bagot
Sipatupatupa
Maningkir
Parbuntion
Martua
Omaoma
4
Mangalundak
5
Mangandal
6
Mangan
horbo bius
Meaning/Aim of Events
Choosing/planning a
propitious day to start
planting rice paddy
Deciding the day to start
planting
Announcing the time to start
planting; after the
announcement people make
offerings—present eggs and
some rice—to Homban ni
Junta (spirits of the rice
fields)
Members of each family
have a meal together
RL and MV have meals
together
-RL announces the day to
start scattering riceseedlings and the day to
perform the sacrificial
ceremony, horbo bius
Performing a seven-day
sacrificial ceremony. A
buffalo is offered to the spirit
dwelling in the holy
mountain, Pusuk Buhit, to
the accompaniment of the
gondang sabangunan and
tortor
Participants
Religious
Leader (RL)
(Parbaringin)
Location of
Performance
Village Yards
(VY)
RL
VY
RLand
Members of the
village (MV)
Ricefields
(RF)
Members of
each family
(MF)
In their
houses
RLandMF
At the house
of a
parsidung,
whom the RL
appointed to
host the
ceremony
RLandMV
VY
Figure 3. The twenty-two ritual events of the pesta bius at Limbong in 1923. This
chart was constructed by the author on the basis of reading Situmorang's Toba na Sae
(1993b: 143-147)
86
7
8
Mangan anggi
ni horbo
Mangalehon
Pargumbahan
9
Mala
Simanabun
10
11
Mardahan
Halangan
Martondi Erne
12
-Mala Gaja
-Mala Debata
13
Mala Silasam
14
Mala Pangulu
Balang
Mangan
dengke di
rungrung
Manghalaki
15
16
17
Mala
Simagadai
18
Mala
Bongbong
19
Mambuat
Dumon
Patungkap
Gondang
20
21
22
Mabuat erne
Pamasuk erne
tu tambarang
Figure 3.
1923.
Performing the second sacrifial
ceremony
Replanting rice-seedlings in to
die field and making offerings of a
rooster and a fish to the holy
mountain
Presenting offerings of a rooster
to the spirit of unused land
{simanabun)
Performing a ceremony to prevent
disaster to die rice field
Making offerings to die spirits of
die rice-paddy
-Making an offering of white and
red roosters to a water spring,
-Making an offering to die gods
to die accompaniment of
gondang sabangunan and tortor
RLandMV
VY
RLandMV
RF
RL
RF
RL
indie
foothills
MF
RF
RL
RF
RL
Making an offering of red and
white roosters
Making offerings to a statue
(pangulubalang)
Making an offering of eight kinds
offish
RL
in a small
building,
called pro
in die village
RL
in die village
RL
in a hill
- Making an image of a
scarecrow
-Making an offering to spirits
dwelling in die holy mountain
ricefields from being attacked by
rats
rice fields from being destroyed
by a strong wind
Cutting seven rice paddy trees
MV
RF
Mount Pusuk
Buhit
MV
RF
RL
RF
RLandMV
Storing gondang instruments:
diey must not be played before die
harvesting is over
Harvesting
Storing die first rice-paddy after
harvest in die rice barn (sopo)
MV
RFand
villages
indie
villages
MV
MV
RF
in die village
rice bam
(continued.) The twenty-two ritual events of die pesta bius at Limbong in
87
Besides practising god-worshipping rites, the people have rites based on tondi
(spirit) cults, in which both the gondang and the tortor have an important role to play.
Tondi is an important concept in pre-Christian belief systems, Tondi literally means
'soul', 'spirit'. To believers, tondi is the root of thei* 'living power,' or power itself
(Sinaga 1981: 103). Tondi is believed to have originated from the god Mula Jadi Na
Bolon (ibid. 49). It is the essence of living things and possesses the power to perform
certain functions (ibid. 103). Animals, plants, houses, fields, places, articles and utensils,
like human beings, also possess a tondi (see Vergouwen 1964: 80).
Adherents conceive of the body and the tondi of human beings as being two
different things. The body is real but static; it consists of substances, but it cannot
function properly without being pervaded by a tondi (Tobing 1963: 107). A tondi is an
invisible substance (Vergouwen 1964: 79); it is 'formless as air' (Pedersen 1970: 25).
Nevertheless, it is functionally conceived of as being dynamic, a 'mobile power in the
body' (Tobing 1963: 107). Adherents believe that the static condition of the body
prevents it from being able to achieve the function of staying alive unless it is pervaded
by the tondi, the power of the body.
Adherents also believe mat the function of the tondi is to determine the fate of
tondi bearers (Pedersen 1970: 26). It determines the prosperity, poverty, happiness,
sorrow, health and illness of human beings; 'the tondi was man himself: he was the
bearer of man's life, his being, his character, his vitality' (Tobing 1963: 107). Thus, 'All
that happens to man has been effected by the tondi and can only be realised and
experienced by means of the body (ibid. 107). The tondi and the body were conceived
of as a unity, not two separate entities, i.e. tondi is a living power existing 'inside' a
person's body and as such it provides spirit, breath and life to its bearers (ibid. 107;
Sinaga 1981: 102-103). If the body is out of tune with the tondi, or vice versa, the body
88
will suffer from illness. If the tondi were to leave the body it would die (Tobing 1963:
99; Vergouwen 1964: 79).
Adherents also believe in the life of one's tondi after death; that when a person
dies his tondi leaves the body to lodge in the realm of the dead. Thus the tondi becomes
a begu (spirit). Adherents of pre-Christian beliefs conceived of begu as being active
spirits mat have power to interfere in the lives of people. Even these days, some
Christianised Toba Batak still adhere to such beliefs.
This is evident in some
contemporary performances of adat feasts among the Protestant Toba Batak, such as the
exhumation of bones and pre-funeral ceremonies, in which they communicate with
spirits of the dead through offerings and adat speeches to the accompaniment of
gondang and tortor.
According to pre-Christian belief, begu dwell in big trees and stones and are
found on the tops of mountains, in deep valleys, in water springs and in forests. Places
inhabited by begu are considered to be sacred. The begu can be evoked through
ceremonies such as mamele sumangot or mamele sumbaon (worship ancestral spirits).
Communications between the living and the dead during the ceremony happen through
the medium of a datu (shaman).
Adherents believe that some begu are evil spirits while others are good spirits.
Three categories of begu are familiar to them: namely, begu na jahat, sumangot and
sumbaon. The begu na jahat are the most feared of all, for they are believed to cause
disaster to individuals or communities. The sumangoi are the begu of the ancestors of a
particular clan who worship them by making offerings. The sumbaon are the highestranking begu. If the descendants of a sumangot include many clans, that sumangot
turns into a sumbaon whose rank is the same as that of the deities. As with worship of
89
the sumangot, worship of the sumbaon is carried out by honouring it and providing it
regularly with offerings, including gondang and tortor performances.
The gondang-tortor performances have a very important role to play in tondi
cults. The ceremony called mangalap tondi or mangkirap tondi (bringing or calling
back a lost soul) is a good example. It is a healing ceremony performed for someone
whose tondi has left his or her body, for example, if someone is believed to have walked
in a sacred place. To avoid further consequences, that person must be cured through the
ceremony to replace the lost tondi for the bearer. In the distant past as well as at the
present time, a datu conducts the ceremony. It often includes a feast, gondang and
tortor performances, making offerings to deities, and invoking the lost tondi. To the
accompaniment of a gondang performance, offerings are carried in a procession from
the home of the patient to the place where the person was assumed tp have lost his tondi
{Ruhut Parsaoran Di Habatahon 1984: 29).
Padiruma tondi (binding the soul to its bearer) was another common tondi cult
in pre-Christian Toba Batak society. The ceremony was usually performed for a person
who had lived in a place far away from his home and family. His home-coming was
conceived of as the victory of his tondi against disaster. Thus, padiruma tondi was not
only aimed at welcoming that person but most importantly at strengthening and making
his soul feel 'at home' throughout the ceremony. Sitor Situmorang, in his book Sitor
Situmorang Sastrawan 45 Penyair Danau Toba (1981) describes his experience of the
ceremony of the padiruma tondi. He confesses that the ceremony succeeded in
strengthening his tondi for he had been living abroad, separated from his family and
village, for many years. In the padiruma tondi ceremony, strengthening the tondi was
usually achieved symbolically by putting rice grains on top of the person's head
(Situmorang 1981: 219). The ceremony included a performance of gondang
90
sabangunan and tortor, during which the homecomer was asked to dance the tortor
together with members of his family. Like the mangalap tondi ceremony, ihepadiruma
ni tondi ritual was also conducted by a shaman (Situmorang 1981: 219).
Adherents believe that the tondi is a power that can affect the life of other
people. They refer to this influential power as sahala which, like the tondi, is also
believed to have originated from Mula Jadi Na Bolon (Tobing 1963:102). Batakologists
are divided about the concepts of the tondi and sahala, especially regarding the fine line
that distinguishes mem from each other. Vergouwen maintains mat the sahala is the
special power of the tondi which will only be revealed when the owners of the sahala
perform special tasks. In other words, the sahala is the power of the tondi which is
perceptible (Vergouwen 1963: 83). Tobing argues that 'sahala is the quality, natural
disposition as well as the destiny of man..it is an aspect of the tondi..Sahala is an
equivalent of the Polynesian mana...an extraordinary power of natural character'
(Tobing 1963: 101-103 and footnote 61). Sinaga, on the other hand, suggests mat one
must distinguish between the tondi as the 'living power' of human bodies and the 'other
power' of the tondi, i.e. sahala, whose manifestation of power is practised in social
domain (Sinaga 1981: 104). Those who exercise the sahala earn honour and
respect
from those on whom the sahala is exercised (Sinaga 1981: 104). As I understand this
theoretical discussion, both the sahala and the tondi are aspects of human beings that
mutually support each other. The bottom line is that mere can be no sahala without a
tondi and vice versa. Every human being possesses a tondi, thus every human being has
a sahala, too.
In everyday life, both pre-Christian and contemporary Protestant Toba Batak
society conceive of the sahala as constituting the specific talent and personality of a
person, irrespective of whether it is naturally or culturally obtained. Sahala includes the
%c
<$
91
ability, for example, to build a new village, to lead a group of people, to cure illness, to
have many children, to play gondang, and to have courage to speak in front of a crowd;
it also includes the possession of charisma, wealth, knowledge and wisdom. The more a
person possesses these qualities, the higher is the quality of his sahala, and the greater
his authority in society. Village chieftains, medicine men, rich men, scholars,
government officials, religious leaders and people who have many descendants are
usually considered to be namarsahala (people who possess a high quality of sahala).
Their advice, blessings, and encouragement are requested by people who admire them.
But they do not necessarily possess an equivalent amount of sahala.
Sahala is transferable. People rich in sahala can bestow their benedictions on
people whose tondi is weak, so that their tondi can become strong. Mangupa-upa, or
mangupa tondi (rewarding, or granting encouragement to a tondi) is an example of the
process of transferring one's sahala to other people. Transferring sahala is often
practised via symbolic performance. For example, a person may offer a meal which has
been consecrated called indahan na marlapatan or sipanganon na marlapatan (a meal
that has a meaning) or sipanganon namarhadohoan (a meal that has a purpose) to
someone who has just recovered from an illness. The meal-giver may express his
benediction in speeches when serving the meal before the person to whom the sahala is
being granted. A wife-giver group may present a ceremonial shawl mat has been
hallowed (ulos namarhadohoan) to a husband and wife. Like the serving of the meal,
the host presents an ulos after delivering a speech. When transferring sahala, the role of
the gondang sabangunan and the tortor are central. This is evident in weddings and the
exhumation of bone ceremonies, where gondang sabangunan and tortor are used to
accompany people bestowing and receiving a sahala or blessing symbolised by the
exchange of ceremonial gifts.
92
Like the tondi of the living, the tondi of the dead is believed to possess sahala.
People may ask for a blessing from the sahala of the living or from that of the deceased.
Hie relevant ritual ceremonies include the pre-funeral ceremony, ulaon saur matua (old
age); mangondasi na mate (dancing to, and asking for blessing from a deceased
person); mangongkal holi (exhuming bones); pesta tugu (celebrating a monument); and
mamele sumangot or sumbaon (worship of ancestral spirits).
Belief in the power of the tondi and the practice of tondi cults has by no means
been extinguished among all Christians. Indeed, the tondi cults are the most powerful
rituals that affect the social and religious life of some Protestants and Catholics. During
myfieldwork,I witnessed many instances whereby some Protestants and Catholics in
either rural or urban areas, openly practised the tondi cults. This included the ritual
exhumation of bones, the tugu feasts and the pre-funeral ceremonies, during which
people worshipped the tondi of the deceased. They considered the dead bodies and
bones not only to be objects that have sahala but also as objects that can transfer sahala.
Some people even talked to these dead objects, while others cried for them. They
danced in front of the dead bodies or exhumed bones to the accompaniment of the
gondang sabangunan.
In brief, pre-Christian belief systems still exist and continue to affect some
members of the contemporary Protestant Toba Batak society. Why? Because the adat, a
reservoir of social and religious norms that has its roots in ancestral tradition, is believed
to protect the tondi cults from destruction and encircles the social and religious life of
the people. I will expand this discussion of Toba Batak values after first discussing the
two kinship units: marga (clan) and dalihan na tolu (three hearth stones).
93
3.3.2 Clan (marzdS and three-cornered kinship relationship (dalihan na tolu)
The following discussion centres around marga and dalihan na tolu, the two ancestral
kinship units in the pre-Christian Toba Batak social organisation which are nevertheless
a part of the social life of contemporary Protestant Toba Batak society. A marga is a sib,
with a family tree; it ties the Toba Batak people to the same patrilineal lineage. The
dalihan na tolu is a social institution that ties members of different marga into a broad
affinal system resulting from marriage among the members of clans. Marga and dalihan
na tolu have an important role to play, both in daily social intercourse and in adat
ceremonies, including the gondang sabangunan and tortor performances. There is no
indication that the concept and the philosophical meaning of marga and dalihan na tolu
in pre-Christian Toba Batak society are different from that of contemporary society.
There is an extensive range of marga and sub-marga. W.M. Hoetagaloeng has
laboriously documented numerous marga and their history.11 His book Pustaha
Taringot lit Tarombo ni Bangso Batak (1926) (Delineation of the Genealogy of the
Batak People) is a significant contribution to the study of the history of Toba Batak
clans. It lists different marga and sub-marga and also presents an historical account of
them, including their place of origin and local migrations.
As mentioned above, the Siraja Batak is believed to be the primal ancestor of the
Batak people, from whom all marga originated. Descendants of the Siraja Batak spread
out from the village of Sianjur Mula-mula to occupy places surrounding Lake Toba as
well as other places close to the border of the province of West Sumatra and Aceh. As
each group of descendants opened a new village, a new marga was born. This local
migration is said to have occurred in bom the tenth and the thirteenth centuries
11
Other books which discuss Batak marga include Vergouwen's The Social Organisation and
Customary Law of the Toba-Batak of Northern Sumatra (1964), first published in 1930, and Siahaan's
Sejarah Kebudayaan Batak (1964). However, these two books do not discuss the Batak matga in as much
detail as Hoetagaloeng does.
94
(Situmorang 1993b: 41). By contrast, Vergouwen estimates that the marga tradition
emerged and developed about four centuries ago (Vergouwen 1986: 24). Regardless of
when it occurred, it served as the basis of die development of the marga and sub-marga
among the people (Cunningham 1958: 18). Today, there are hundreds of marga and
sub-marga. However, the people no longer produce new marga and sub-marga even
though some rural people do still open up new villages. Hie formation of clan
organisations or Batak ethnic associations among urban people is the equivalent practice
today (Bruner 1972:207-229); I will discuss this in the last part of this chapter.
A marga is effectively a form of identity through which a Toba Batak can trace
back his/her ancestors who form his/her genealogical tree. Martarombo, or martutur is
an example of tracing a family tree. Martarombo (telling the family tree) or martutur
(tracing family links) among the people occurs on many occasions and in many places,
such as in adat and church feasts, in social meetings, in offices, in restaurants, and/or in
schools. Martarombo usually takes place when a Toba Batak meets another Toba Batak
for the first time. As the process of acquaintance begins, they tell each other about their
own marga. It is customary for the Toba Batak people to mention their marga instead of
their names when introducing themselves to other people. In such situations two men
very often find themselves to be brothers, or at least related, because of the following
possibilities. First, their different marga can be the sub-marga of the same marga.
Secondly, they can bom many women from the same marga, or the same sub-marga.
Thirdly, one man's brother can marry the other one's sister. On the strength of these
accounts, the marga as an identity not only links a man with others on the basis of blood
ties within a minimal lineage, but it also links a man to other people from different
marga on the basis of marriage relationship. Besides, for the Toba Batak people,
knowing other people's marga helps mem to know their own status within their marga
95
relationships and how to address each other. From mis point on, they know how to
behave towards each other within their adat practices.
As we have noted, the Toba Batak society is a patrilineal society, members of
which carry their father's marga. Those who are descendants from one father (ama) are
called the nasaama. The relationship of a man to his sisters is called the mariboto; he
addresses his sisters, regardless of their chronological age, by the term ito. The same
term is employed when a woman addresses her brothers. A man and his brothers are
called the namarhahamaranggi; he addresses his younger brothers by the term anggi
and his older brothers by the term haha. A woman and her sisters are called
marpariban. The oldest man or woman descendant is called siangkangan, siahaan, or
sihahaan, the youngest siampudan and the middle one silitonga. This ranking is called
the partording ni partubu (birth order). The people also use these terms in the context
of clans. If, say, the members of a clan organisation consist of three sub-marga (which
are descendants of a marga), irrespective of chronological age, those who belong to the
oldest sub-marga are called the siangkangan, the second oldest the silitonga and the
third oldest the siampudan, but all of them together are called namarhahamaranggi.
According to social edict, male descendants have higher status and authority
within clans, family affairs and adat practices than female descendants because the male
continue the father's lineage whereas females many out of the claq of their birth.
Usually, when the elders discuss the partording ni partubu in the context of adat
practice, including the performance oigondang-tortor sequences, they refer to the order
of birth of the male descendants in order to determine who is going to be the leader of
the tortor. The oldest descendant of a family is always chosen as leader. In gondang
performance, he will be the raja paminta that represent his family/group, delivers adat
speeches, and requests gondang pieces.
96
Another kinship unit mat binds different marga into a broad affinal system
resulting from marriage among the members of marga is called the dalihan na tolu
(three hearth stones). The dalihan na tolu relationship comprises three parties: wifegivers, wife-receivers and birth companions. The ancestors used a fire place—the three
stones and the pot—to symbolise this affinal relationships, with the three stones
symbolising that three parties while the pot symbolises the adat, on which the social
systems are based. The philosophical meaning of the pot is collaboration and unity: the
three parties are bound to function properly in order to maintain kinship relationships.12
The following illustrates how the dalihan na tolu binds families into a broader
affinity. Members of the same patrilineal clan who have the same marga are called the
dongan sabutuha (those who have sprung from the same womb) (Vergouwen 1964:
40). A person from one marga may allow his boru (daughter) to marry a certain man,
the anak (son) of another marga, thus creating a martondong (affinity), which affects
a
not only the two families but also their kinsmen. As a result, the anak and the father of
the anak, including his dongan sabutuha party, become the boru party of the other
marga who has given a wife to the anak. By contrast, the family who gives a wife
becomes the hula-hula party of the anak, his father and his dongan sabutuha party.
In daily social intercourse and adat practice, each of the parties has the moral
responsibility to maintain the stability of kinship relationships. This moral responsibility
is clearly defined in a simple Toba Batak expression: somba marhula-hula, elek
marboru, manat mardongan tubu, which George Sherman has translated as 'Revere
wife-givers, request earnestly from wife-receivers, be wary of birth-companions'
(Sherman 1990: 92). Since every married person is in contact with his/her three
12
See also Sinaga (1969: 45) and IJarahap (1987: 23; 133-145) for further explanation of the
philosophical meaning of dalihan na tolu.
s
3
97
categories of relatives—i.e. wife-givers, wife-receivers and birth-companions—he or
she must also bear responsibility for these three groups, though each will be at different
moments in time and in different circumstances.
The expression 'be wary of birth-companions' indicates mat the dongan
sabutiiha party ought to observe their responsibility as members of a family, i.e. they
must care for their brothers. When a married man executes an adat feast, his brothers
should support him in all respoct, and the same applies as when his brothers perform an
adat feast, i.e. he must help mem. Likewise, when a married man is visited by his hulahula party, he should invite his brothers' families to his home and together they must
welcome that hula-hula party. Thus, collaboration and a sense of unity characterises the
relationships among the dongan sabutuha members. As the following maxim holds:
Hodong do pahu, holi-holi sangkalia
Ho do ahu, hita na marsada ina. (Situmorang 1977: 76)
(The midrib of a leaf is also the fern, pieces of bones
You are me, because we arefromthe same womb).
As mentioned above, a boru party must revere its hula-hula. It is commonly
accepted that a hula-hula party is superior to its boru party and that a boru party is
inferior to its hula-hula party. However, the words 'inferior' and 'superior' are not
meant to be negative in meaning; they merely describe the relative hierarchical status in
adat and other social matters, a relationship constructed on the basis of mutual respect.
In the distant past, the hula-hula party was even conceived as a debata na niida (a god
that can be seen) (Sihombing 1986:76), 'a representation of the High God' (Tobing
1963: 151), and 'wakil ni Debata' (a deputy of the High God) (Vergouwen 1964: 55).
Why was it that the hula-hula party was personified as a god that can be seen or
a deputy of the High God? This personification has to do with the pre-Christian belief
system, in which the hula-hula were conceived of as being a representation of Batara
98
Guru (Tobing 1963: 82; 90). Batara Guru, who is one of the debata na tolu (three
gods), is believed to 'determine those to be born and to die' (Sinaga 1981:72). It is
mentioned in the creation myths that Batara Guru had given his daughter, Siboru Deak
Parujar, to be married to Situan Ruma Uhir, the son of Mangala Bulan, another god
from the Debata na tolu.13 It is said that it was from mis marriage that Siraja Batak was
born (Sinaga 1981: 189). This is why the pre-Christian Toba Batak society conceived of
Siboru Deak Parujar as being the primal ancestress mother of the Batak people
(Hoetagaloeng 1926: 14). Batara Guru was conceived of as being not only the source of
life, but also the source of wives (see also Sianipar 1973: 29).
Members of the hula-hula party are, indeed, the 'source' of the wives who, after
their marriages, give offspring to their husbands. Those offspring are 'new lives'
(Aritonang 1987: 55) who will continue their fathers' lineages, and are a manifestation
of blessings originating from Batara Guru but obtained through the fathers of the wives,
i.e. the hula-hula party. At the present time, this belief is no longer held by the Christian
Toba Batak. Nevertheless, members of the hula-hula parties are still considered to be
people who can bestow a sahala on the boru parties. The hula-hula parties are persons
who bless the boru parties when burdened with problems such as childlessness,
sickness and death. On the basis of this assumption, the hula-hula parties are expected
'to give' rather man 'to accept', thus they are superior to the boru. The boru are
required to respect their hula-hula and thereby obtain their blessings. This relationship is
expressed in the following maxims:
Hula-hula bona ni ari,tinongosni Ompunta Mula Jadi
Sisubuton marulak noli, sisombaon di rim ni tahi, (Harahap 1987: 68-69)
(hula-hula are sent by the god, Mula Jadi,
13
Various Toba Batak myths of creation can be found in Tobing (1963); Sinaga (1981) and
Lumbantobing (1992);
99
They are persons to be continually coaxed,
and honoured sincerely).
Hula-hula mata ni ari binsar, sipanumpak do tondina
Sipanuai is sahalana, di nasa pomparanna. (ibid. 69)
(hula-hula is the shining sun; its soul is beneficient,
its soul is merciful to all its descendants).
Dolokni Lobutua, hatubuan ni Simartolu
Poda ni Hula-hula, ido sipadengan ngolu. (ibid. 274)
(The mountain of Lobutua is the place of birth of Simartolu
The advice of the hula-hula is the thing that makes for a better life).
Members of the bom party must avoid offending their hula-hula party and show
due fear of the tondi of the hula-hula party. Members of the boru party must follow the
advice of the hula-hula party and show them gratitude for everything they have received
from mem, so that the hula-hula blessings will be transferred to mem. As explained in
the following maxims:
Hudali nipangula, sinimpan di para-para
Molo tinurutpoda ni hula-hula, sai daoma nasa mara. (ibid. 279)
(Farmers keep their tools in space under the house
To follow the advice of the hula-hula is to avoid disaster).
Dulang na so dulangan, dulang bajora di bonana
Hula-hula ndangjadi sumpaon, habiaranta sapatana. (ibid. 274)
(The oil of the dulang14 tree cannot be taken because of the bajora15 tree
The hula-hula must not be offended, so that we will not fear their curse).
As a consequence of their inferiority, the boru must serve their hula-hula loyally
and be ready to help mem whenever needed. In an adat feast given by the hula-hula, for
example, the boru must arrive early and help the hula-hula to prepare for that event,
including the setting of the feast location, the ordering of livestock to be slaughtered, the
14
'Dulang' (Rinicus communis) is a tree that produces oil (Sarumpaet 1994:115).
15
'Bajora' means a 'feeling of fear' (Sarumpaet 1994: 74).
100
slaughtering of that livestock, the cooking of the food, the washing of the dishes, and the
serving of the meals. At adat ceremonies, the boru are referred to as the parhobas
(labour).
Despite the superiority of the hula-hula, however, they are not allowed to give
any commands to their boru parties. They must make their requests earnestly,
respectfully and subtly, for the boru are believed to deserve a positive response for
being respectful to their hula-hula. Thus, it is the duty of the hula-hula to protect their
boru whenever they are in distress and/or face disaster. In a situation of distress, for
example, the hula-hula should always be attentive to the boru; they are expected to
bless and advise the boru. In most cases, the hula-hula visit their boru when they are in
distress and present them with an upa-upa (ceremonial reward). This can be an ulos
(ceremonial shawl), a sipanganon (meal—usually fish), or both, complete with adat
speeches. These objects plus the speeches are regarded as being symbolical blessings
for the hula-hula. Usually, after the presentation of the adat speeches and the
ceremonial rewards, the boru reply and present gifts in return. Gift of money are usually
called piso-piso. The upa-upa may also be presented by the hula-hula to their boru on
happy occasions, such as weddings, births, and house-warming ceremonies.
The important point to be gleaned from these two situations is that the upa-upa
given by the hula-hula to their boru is a representation of care. Through the upa-upa,
the hula-hula perform acts of social solidarity. Not only are they served by the boru,
but they also serve the boru. Thus, in the dalihan na tolu, the relationship of both parties
is basically a matter of give-and-take, of serving and being served, linked by an affinal
relationship at a certain time and in a certain place.
What men is the significance of these adat statuses—i.e. dongan sabutuha,
boru, and hula-hula—in the context of gondang and tortor performances? First, a
101
person's status in the dalihan na tolu relationship potentially directs and controls his
manner of interacting with the dongan sabutuha, the boru and the hula-hula parties. At
a gondang-tortor performance at an adat feast, a man's status governs how he should
perform his tortor (body movements). For example, members of a boru group are
forbidden to put their hands on the head of members of their hula-hula; they may only
touch their lower jaw or cheeks. (This practice is called maniuk [to express respect,
sympathy and happiness] [Sarumpaet 1994: 256; Sinaga, 1994: 290-291]). In contrast,
members of the hula-hula may put their hands on the head of members of the boru if
they want to bestow a blessing.
A person's status also guides him when choosing a ceremonial gift, because the
gift which he presents is a symbol of his status. For example, the hula-hula gives an
ulos, or some boras sipir ni tondi (rice for strengthening the soul) to their boru groups.
Both gifts are meant to be received as blessings. Likewise, a person's status governs his
ft;
choice of gondang pieces to be performed. For example, when a hula-hula party is due
to bless its boru party, the representative of that hula-hula party must not request
musicians to play the Gondang Somba-somba {gondang for honouring), but instead
must request the Gondang Olop-olop {gondang to agree). Since the hula-hula party
must be respected by the boru party, the choice of the Gondang somba-somba in the
context of bestowing blessings to mat boru party is not appropriate.
The choosing and requesting of titles for gondang pieces are closely related to
the giving of an adat speech, since the words of that adat speech are the 'content' and
'message' of each gondang piece. The person who requests gondang pieces to be
played is usually the person who delivers the adat speech. This is why when someone
wants to give adat speech in an adat feast, he/she must first observe his/her relationship
to the host of that adat feast: i.e. whether he is a member of the boru, the hula-hula, or
102
the dongan sabutuha party. As a result, the member of a boru party presenting an adat
speech to the hula-hula usually employs words which imply asking instead of giving,
and honouring instead of being honoured. Conversely, when the hula-hula present an
adat speech to their boru, they mostly employ words which imply the giving of advice
and blessings.
3.3.3 TobaBatakvalues
Moral responsibility and shared principles are associated with Toba Batak social living,
customs and religion. Some material objects are regarded as valuable because they are
socially, culturally and religiously meaningful rather man economically valuable. The
values in question are fundamental to people's actions, attitudes towards symbolic
objects, and acceptance or rejection of social behaviour. As values are ideas, they are
cognitive and can be conceptualised (Firm 1981: 221).
Today, there are three most important social values held by the Toba Batak
people, i.e. hamoraon (wealth), hagabeon (one's children), and hasangapon (prestige,
honour and respect) (Vergouwen 1964: 83; Lumbantobing 1973: 20; 1992: 21-22;
Aritonang 1988: 51, 55,290; Pelly 1994: 296). These same values served as the basis of
pre-Christian ideology (see Aritonang 1988: 51-55, 290; Hutauruk 1993: 70-71;
Lumbantobing 1992: 21).16 Despite its age, Aritonang claims that this ideology
fundamentally constitutes 'cita-cita tertinggf (BI) (the ideal quality of life) to this day
(Aritonang 1988: 51). The people believe that the possession of wealth, children, and
'prestige-honour-respect'gives them authority, i.e. sahala (Lumbantobing 1992: 21-22).
The concept of the sahala, which is also the concept of the power of the tondi and the
16
Aritonang and Hutauruk have paraphrased a statement by G. van Asselt (1911) who described
the views of a Toba Batak civilian, Amani Holling, from the village of Pangaloan in the district of Silindung.
In an interview, van Asselt asked Amani Holling what he thought was an ideal life. Amani Holling
answered that an ideal life meant wealth, honour, respect and long life (van Asselt 1911 cited in Aritonang
1988: 51 and Hutauruk 1993: 71).
103
source of authority, was (and still is) equated with the acquisition of prosperity, honour
and respect (see Vergouwen 1964: 83).
Hamoraon means the state of being wealthy, including material prosperity
and/or currency. Hamoraon is an important source of authority and prestige. Hamoraon
generates personal power and places individuals in a position of high status within their
surroundings (ibid. 132). How are social status and prestige to be obtained through
hamoraon?
Of course the only people who are capable of hosting large-scale, expensive
adat feasts are the wealthy. The biggest, most expensive adat feasts are the tugu feasts
and the wedding ceremony. Tugu feasts often last many days, during which the feastgiving group must feed its members' relatives by slaughtering and cooking livestock;
and they also must invite musicians to perform gondang. Ordinary people cannot
normally afford a tugu feast since it involves inviting hundreds or even thousand of
guests. Gultom's book, Penggalian Tulang-belulang Leluhur (Exhumation of Bone
Ceremony) (1991) presented a budgetary analysis of a tugu feast in 1988, estimating
that it cost about Rp. 26,700,000 (A$17,943).17
It is not a requirement to budget for tugu feasts, and many people spend more
money on them than they can afford. The wealthier the feast-giving group, the larger the
feast it presents and the greater the respect earned by its members. A housewife from
Medan, Mrs Rajagukguk, informed me that in April 1996 her family spent about Rp 50,
000,000. (A$26,852)18 on a tugu feast performed in the village of Lontung, Kecamatan
17
The calculation is based on the 1988 exchange rate that A$l = Rp 1,488. This rate is based on
statistical data provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics in the book entitled Indikator Ekonomi (1996:
36).
18,
statistical data provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics in the book entitled Indikator Ekonomi (1996:
36).
105
prosperity, the fact that they are wealthy means mat they are believed to possess sahala
hamoraon, which gives them authority, prestige and social status.
Hasangapon means the state of being honoured or respected, which is the
opposite of the term na lea, meaning 'disrespected'. Hasangapon is a value which the
people do their best to achieve, for being a respected person (nasangap or
namarsangap) means mat someone possesses sahala. A person who possesses
hasangapon is always listened to. His advice is sought and he is influential. Prestige and
status resulting from wealth may give a person hasangapon. However, wealth is not the
only way of acquiring hasangapon. Parents are seen as being superior to their children
because they have descended from their own parents; children must not offend their
parents but must obey their wishes. Children must respect their parents because they
have taken care of them and brought them up. Similarly, hula-hula groups are seen as
being superior to their boru groups because members of the former give the latter their
wives. Members of hula-hula groups are the source of blessings; hence, they must be
revered.
Hagabeon is the state of having many descendants. A husband and wife who do
not have any descendants are called naripur. To be described as naripur usually brings
a couple deep grief. In wedding ceremonies which I attended during myfieldworkI saw
that members of the families of bom bride and groom made a request that the
supernatural power(s) grant sons and daughters to the newlyweds. They also wished that
the couple will live long and eventually obtain grandchildren, too. Indeed, hagabeon not
only denotes wealth in descendants but also a desire to have a long life (saur matua).
Both concepts—hagabeon and saur matua—are in demand as blessings. Thus, it is
regarded as a disaster if a couple cannot have any offspring. Wealth, respect and
prestige without descendants are incomplete.
106
Other values also need to be taken into account. Li his book, Orientasi Nilainilai Budaya Batak (Orientation of the Cultural Values of the Batak People) (1987), the
Batak sociologist Harahap analyses hundreds of Batak maxims. These maxims amount
to more than the art of playing with words; they serve to record the history of the life of
the people (Harahap 1987: 135). Some maxims offer encouragement and advice, others
contain cultural and religious ideas. They provide a basis for Batak identity, belief,
attitudes to the environment, family affairs, and ways of solving problems. Harahap
explains that by analysing the maxims conscientiously one can unveil the hidden
meaning of Batak values and their philosophy of life.
Harahap maintains that besides the three traditional values mentioned above
(hamoraon, hasangapon and hagabeon) there are six values that must also be taken
into account in contemporary society.
They are religion (religi), conflict {konflik),
kinship relationships (kekerabatan), protection (pengayoman), regulations or laws
(patik dohot uhum), and progress (hamajuon). The first three values—religion, conflict
and kinship relationship—are closely associated with this study. Since I have already
explained the kinship system, I will now discuss the other two values.
The laws and regulations mat govern religi include relationships between human
beings and divinity as well as nature and other human beings. These relationships are
maintained through adat and religious practices. Such religious values are adhered to by
some Protestant Toba Batak people. They conceive of adat values as being fundamental
in all those relationships. Thus, they worship their ancestral spirits, for example,
through the exhumation of bones ceremony, because they believe that the spirits can
protect mem and make them prosperous. Thus these values serve to maintain their
relationships with their ancestral spirits, without which they could not obtain harmony of
living. The people perform the ceremonies because they think it is the right thing to do;
107
and because doing so gives them spiritual happiness and satisfaction. Likewise, people
perform the gondang sabangunan and dance the tortor in adat and religious ceremonies
because through the music and dance they can convey their spiritual and cultural
expressions. They also believe that gondang musicians can convey their expectations to
the gods and/or ancestral spirits.
Other Protestant Toba Batak people basically hold to similar pre-Christian value
and practices while also adhering to Christian doctrine and practices. For example,
whenever they perform adat functions on a social occasion or at an adat feast—
excluding Sunday services, Bible studies and other Christian services—they always
begin and end the adat ritual with Christian hymns and prayers, and sometimes with a
short Bible reading and sermon. Speeches on adat occasions always begin by thanking
God with such expressions as Mauliate ma di Amanta Debata (thanks to our father,
God), Mauliate tu Debata Jahowa (thanks to God, Jehovah), or Mauliate ma di
Tuhanta Jesus Kristus (thanks to our God, Jesus Christ). Similarly, when someone
makes a request for a gondang piece to be played in a gondang sabangunan
performance, the preliminary speech usually includes reference to Debata Amanta or
Tuhanta Debata (Almighty God). Christian teaching and practices are indispensable on
all contemporary Protestant Toba Batak community occasions.
However, the conflict and contradiction between belief systems are not hidden
or ignored. Indeed, konflik (conflict) is recognised as an aspect of social intercourse. As
the anthropologist Firth writes:
conflict is observable empirically in behavioural opposition between
persons or groups, whereas contradiction may be an inference referring
either to a logical opposition, or to an ideological opposition between
parties. (Firth 1981: 25)
Indeed, both conflict and contradiction affect Toba Batak social intercourse and family
life. The people usually face conflict openly (Harahap 1987: 172-178). For example, a
108
conflict occurred between the Protestant church official (HKBP) and its members in the
early 1960s that led to a prospective contradiction with regard to adat practices. This
conflict was solved at adat seminars. Two seminars were held between the 1960s and
the 1970s. The first was in 1968 and the second was in 1977. The first was held by the
HKBP and the second by the Indonesian Regional Asia Program For Advanced Studies
(IRAPAS). Reports of the two seminars indicate that there had been tensions and
conflict between the church and the congregations in regard to gondang and tortor as
well as adat practices, including the exhumation of bones and wedding ceremonies. The
result of the seminars was a reconciliation between the church and adat practitioners;
that is, the church allowed the Protestants to perform some pre-Christian adat practices
while restricting others.
Recently, conflicts about leadership have emerged among the HKBP as well as
the GKPI congregations.21 For example, family conflicts regarding parents' wills and
marriages have commonly occurred as well as conflict among relatives attending adat
feasts. The meeting of adat elders prior to an adat performance, i.e. a martonggo raja,
is always an arena of conflict. Li such meetings, adat practitioners often argue about
which part of the adat practices should be played, how and when they should be
performed, and what musical ensemble should be performed. Conflict is seen as a good
thing; it is a challenge to be faced. Nainggolan, an expert on adat practices from
Medan, informed me that adat feasts never take place without arguing and differences
21
See a report in the article 'HKBP, dari Jerusalem ke Pearaja Kenapa Pada Era Belakangan ini
Penuh Konflik'? (HKBP, from Jerusalem to Pearaja: Why Did They Recently Experience Conflict? in
Bonanipinasa (1995: Vol. 5, No.57, pp. a-p). I have a document sent me by an informant from Medan
which comprises three clippings regarding conflict in the GKP.I. The first is entitled 'Pemberitahuan'
(Announcement), the second 'Rapat Pendeta Khusus GKPI Diakhiri dengan Perjamuan Kudus' (The Holy
Communion Concluded the Meeting of the Ministers of the GKPI), and the third 'Semua Pendeta GKPI
Diimbau Agar Tidak Menimbulkan Perpecahan Tapi Kembali kepada Keutuhan GKP.I' (All Ministers of the
GKPI should avoid Disintegration and Should maintain the Integration of the GKPI). All three articles were
published in the local newspaper, Sinar Indonesia Bant (July 1996). The clippings are not dated, nor are
page numbers given.
109
of opinion, but that there is always a compromise to be found that leads to a solution.22
Conflict is 'an expression of contrast in view point' in order to achieve unanimity (Firth
1981:18).
3.4 Culture Contact experienced by the Batak People, with Special Reference to
the Toba Batak
This section briefly discusses the impact of Toba Batak contact with Hindu-Buddhists,
Muslims, German Christian missionaries and the Dutch colonial government. Contact
with Hindu-Buddhist immigrants or local converts from the eleventh to the fourteenth
century substantially influenced Toba Batak artefacts, literature, script, magico-religious
practices, ritual ceremonies, and religious concepts. In contrast, contact with Muslim
converts from the early 1800s to the present had few, if any, effects on Toba Batak
culture; it was only influential among the Mandating Batak people who live in South
Tapanuli. Contact between the Toba Batak and the German missionaries on the one
hand and the Dutch colonial government on the other between the early 1860s and the
early 1940s had substantial results. Not only did it result in conversion of the people to
Christianity and help induce them to succumb to colonial power, but it also introduced
them to Western education, technology, administration, labour, civil law, transportation
and communication devices. It also introduced them to Western music, including church
hymns and musical instruments. Indeed, contact with German missionaries transformed
cultural and social life, resulting in the coexistence of Batak and Christian traditions
which since that time has remained in a state of flux.
22
Interview with M. Naiiiggolan in Medan, August 1994.
110
3.4.1 Hindu-buddhist influence
Hindu elements are still found in many aspects of Toba Batak culture. Ln Batak written
tradition and language, for example, Hindu influences can be noticed in the pustaha (a
Sanskrit word), a collection of bark books written in surat batak script as well as in the
language of magico-religious practices. The surat batak script, of Indian origin
(Voorhoeve 1975: 41), is probably based on a simplified Pallawa script (Viner &
Kaplar,\ 1981: 97). The pustaha comprise texts mat deal with divination, magic,
medicine, and a calendar (porhalaan). The calendar contains names of months and days
which resemble thoss of the amanta, a Hindu lunar calendar commonly used in South
India (Parkin 1975: 42-43; see also Tobing 1963: 124; Voorhoeve 1975: 44).
Knowledge presented in the pustaha is called the hadatuon. The pustaha are mostly
used by the datu (shaman).
There are many links between Batak cultural objects and India. After comparing
various designs found in Batak manuscripts, Schuster proposed mat they probably
originated in India (Schuster 1975: 56). Schnitger claimed that a Toba Batak design
called bindu matoga which represents the earth is derived from the Hindu concept of
mandala (Schnitger 1964: 128 footnote no.I).23 In addition, Schnitger believed that the
tunggal panaluan, the magic staff with which a datu usually dances at magico-religious
ceremonies to the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan, is similar to 'the Bengal
vrsakastha, the bull-shaft, a wand for departed souls, carved with human faces, animals,
flowers, etc' (ibid. 128, footnote no. 1). The Indian linguist Gonda details Indian
influences on the Batak language, listing the Indian origin of 155 Karo Batak and 175
23
According to Kurt Friedrich, a mandala is 'a mystical drawing used in [Hindu] Tantra, a diagram
constructed of squares and circle, symbols of cosmic forces that are employed in the practices of meditation'
(1989:218).
111
Toba Batak terms (Gonda 1955:62). Many of those terms are still used in cult practices,
magic, astronomy and mythology (ibid. 62).
Hindu influences are also found in pre-Christian Toba Batak religious
conceptions, ritual and musical practices. For example, the names of well-known gods
such as Batara Guru, Soripada, Mangala Bulan, and Boraspati in the pre-Christian
Toba Batak belief system are of Sanskrit origin (ibid. 62-63: Tobing 1963: 89-90
footnote no. 54). The word 'debata,' a term usually used to address the Batak gods, is
also derived from Sanskrit (Tobing 1963: 35 footnote no. 14). Similarly, gondang pieces
are named after the gods (e.g. Gondang Batara Guru, Gondang Debata Sori (another
term for 'Soripada'), Gondang Bane Bulan (another term for 'Mangala Bulan'),
Gondang Boraspati ni Tano and Gondang Debata). A sacrificial pole (borotan) planted
in the ground during a sacrificial ceremony (mangalahat horbo) to which a buffalo
(horbo bius) is tied signifies a tree representing the totality of the three worlds, i.e. the
Upperworld (banua ginjang), the Middleworld (banua tonga) and the Underworld
(banua toru). Most people who reside in the villages still practise the ceremonial
planting of a borotan and sacrifice a buffalo, especially on the occasion of large-scale
adat feasts, to the accompaniment of the gondang sabangiman and iortor. Schuster
wrote that the concept of borotan probably originated in India because it is analogous to
similar customs long extinct in India but reflected in the Vedic literature (Schuster 1975:
55).
In July 1994 I attended a Sipaha Lima (fifth month) ceremony, a religious
ceremony held by the local Parmalim organisation in the village of Hutatinggi,
Kecamatan Laguboti. In the ceremony, such gods as Mula Jadi Na Bolon, Debata Na
Tolu, Simarimbulu Bosi, Raja Na Siak Bagi and Siboru Deak Parujar were worshipped.
The people made offerings of foods on plates which they put on an altar, called the
112
Janggatan. It was decorated with coconut tree leaves, a gable covered with white cloth,
and three flags: red, white and black. Surrounding the food plates were flowers that
issued a fragrant scent. During group worship, the raja ihutan (leader of the
congregation) addressed a prayer to each of the gods. Before he prayed, he put some
incense or benzoin into a vessel and burned it. After every prayer, musicians performed
the gondang sabangunan while the raja ihutan and the congregation danced the tortor.
Incense andflowersare used in Hindu-Buddhist religious practice everywhere (see also
Hopkins 1977: 440 footnote no. 2; 557). However, it is open to dispute whether
Parmalim believers today still practice an unbroken line of Hindu-Buddhist religious
beliefs whichflourishedin North Sumatra from as early as the eleventh century.
Indeed, the extent of the influence of Hindu-Buddhism on the Batak people and
their culture has not been thoroughly researched. It is still unknown whether Toba Batak
people who for centuries isolated themselves in the hinterland surrounding Lake Toba
ever thoroughly adopted Hindu beliefs. Although Tobing (1963), Sinaga (1981) and
others have studied the Toba Batak belief systems and some of the pre-Christian Toba
Batak religious practices, they hardly ever refer to Hindu-Buddhist beliefs themselves.
Ruins of Hindu-Buddhist temples have only been found in the southern part of the Batak
Lands, i.e. Portibi, not the original homeland of the Toba Batak people. It is true that
Hindu beliefs influenced pre-Christian Toba Batak belief systems, yet it is highly
unlikely that pure Hinduism was ever the religion of the Toba Batajc ancestors. As
Tobing explains:
it is an undeniable fact the Toba-Batak are conservatives by nature:
foreign elements have only been accepted when they could be brought in
an organical [sic] relation with their original cosmic views. The
occurrence of foreign names in their culture does not alter this fact.
(Tobing 1963: 26).24
113
Indeed, the Toba Batak ancestors had their own religion. Perhaps it consisted of the
habatahon (i.e. adat and its religious practices), as Raja Patik Tampubolon mentioned in
his book Putaha Tumbaga Holing (1964). (Schreiner also referred to it in his book Adat
dan Injil [1994]). Or perhaps it was basically a local, not Hindu religion; that is it
consisted of the hasipelebeguan (worship of the spirits), as Pardede mentioned in an
article entitled 'The Question of Christianity, Islam, and Batak Culture in North
Sumatra' (1987). (Sianipar also mentioned this in his article 'Religion and Adat'
[1972]). In my field work I constantly came across the term habatahon, which the local
adat leaders usually translated as 'belief in the gods, ancestral spirits and supernatural
powers'.
The leader of the Parmalim people (Naipospos) told me in Medan (July
1994) that habatahon is the source of their religion.26 Similarly, many musicians
mentioned the term to me, for example, Amani Bunga Sinaga, a sarune player from
Palipi, Samosir (October 1994), Marsius Sitohang, a sanine player from Medan
(August 1994), Osner Gultom, a sarune player from Porsea, Tapanuli Utara, and
Marningar Sitorus, a taganing player, from Laguboti, Tapanuli Utara (July 1994).
Sinaga shared Tobing's opinion that:
the Toba-Batak have hesitantly accepted some influences into their
religion because of their conservative mentality and the spirit of
independence. The mountainous character of their country together with
their suspicious attitude towards foreigners have caused the Toba-Batak
24
Tobing also commented on the occurrence of Sanskrit (Hindu terms) names in Toba Batak
religion. As he says, 'in most cases the Sanskrit names (words) adopted in the Toba-Batak language do not
imply that the underlying conception is borrowed from Hindoo or from the Hindoo-Javanese. The same
applies to the case before us, because we also have genuine Tobanese names for these deities. Instead of
Batara Guru we often hear the name of Ompu Hasahatan i.e. grandfather, the destination (of prayer and
sacrifices). Instead of Sori the name of Ompu Bonangbonang (i.e. grandfather, the fine thread) is used. That
most probably we have to do with the adoption of names only is also proved by the fact that Batara Guru and
sori are sometimes respectively called Tuan Sori Pahummat and Tuan di Uhummat, corruption of the nania
Muhammad. Therefore the conclusion drawn by Hagen (T.B.G. XXVm, p. 540) that Batara Guru should be
an original Indian deity is to be rejected' (Tobing 1963: 89-90 footnote 54).
25
26
See Schreiner'sAdat dan Injil (1994) for a detailed discussion about habatahon.
Naipospos also wrote this in his book Naskah Pemaparan Budaya Spiritual Organisasi Ugamo
Malim (Parmalim) (1991/1992).
114
to develop exterior elements within the total whole of their religions.
Their religion is, therefore, relatively unconfused. Incorporated in their
adat [custom], it lies in close conjunction with daily life. (Sinaga 1981:
30-31)
If this be the case, when and how, then, did Hindu-Buddhist terms and ideas
spread among the Batak people? Relics of Hindu-Buddhism such as stone inscriptions,
temples and shrines, bronze and granite statue of Buddha, Lokecwara, Qiwa, Brahma,
Wisnu and Ganesha found in Sumatra constitute evidence that a form of mixed HinduBuddhism existed in Sumatra around the early seventh century (Schnitger 1964: 2, 6-8;
Suleiman 1981: 3ff; Coedes 1975: 82). These findings suggest that Hindu-Buddhists
interacted with the people of Sumatra in the long distant past Two statues of the
Buddha dating from the eleventh to twelfth centuries have been found together with the
vestiges of Hindu-Buddhist religious practices in Kota Cina near Belawan (McKinnon
1977: 22). Relics found in Jambi belonged to Srivijaya. Relics found in the west coast
Sumatra district of Sungai Langsat (on the northern bank of the Batang Had river, Tanah
Datar district) were the property of the kingdom of the Minangkabau in the time of King
Adityavarman (1347-1375). Adityavarman himself was an adherent of 'a mystic sect of
demonic Buddhism' with 'Sivaitic elements' called 'Bhairawas' (Schnitger: 30 ff;
Schnitger 1937: 5-15). In 1935 at Muara Takus on the bank of Kampar Kanan river in
Riau, Schnitger excavated Hindu ruins dating from the eleventh and twelfth centuries
(Schnitger 1937: 13).
As far as archaeological reports are concerned, there has been no scholarly
affirmation that Hindu-Budhist relics have ever been found in the Toba Batak heartland
(North Tapanuli). Yet there is no doubt that Hindu-Buddhist practices existed in South
Tapanuli (Schnitger 1937: 14; Suleiman 1981: 48). A Hindu Ganesha and a £iwa ruin
were discovered in Bonan Dolok (a village near Sibolga in Central Tapanuli) and in
115
Simangambat (a village in South Tapanuli) respectively. Hindu-Buddhist relics were
also found in Padang Lawas (South Tapanuli), an area that belonged to the kingdom of
Panei in 1024 (Schnitger 1937: 16). Schnitger asserted that the king of Panei practised
Bhairawa-worship. Following Bosch, he believed that in 1930 such practices flourished
among the people of Padang Lawas (ibid. 1964: 95; Suleiman 1981: 46-47). Thus, it is
probable that Padang Lawas, Simangambat and Bonan Dolok served as gates through
which Hindu-Budhist influence reached the Toba Batak people in the hinterland,
provided that mutual contact among people of the two regencies occurred via local
trading activity.
Hindu influence may have spread via direct interaction which is known to have
occurred between the Batak people and Indian Hindu adherents from at least as early as
the seventh century. Brakel's study of the seventh century literary source, Hamzah
Fansuri, shows that contact between the Batak people and foreign traders of Indian,
China and Persian origin occurred before or during the seventh century. Barus,27 a seaport located on the west coast of the Batak Lands, was one of the places where contact
took place. Barus was known as a trading centre to Greeks, Indians, Jews, Chinese,
Europeans, and Indonesians outside Sumatra (Brakel 1979: 89-90). It was also
internationally known for its excellent-quality camphor and benzoin. In the seventh
century these two materials provided trading bridges between the people of Barus and
foreign traders (see Drakard 1988: 73). It is still unknown, however, whether foreign
traders visited Barus or local people transported the materials by intermediaries to other
sea-ports located in north and east Sumatra (ibid. 73). There is evidence, however, that
27
Some early sources use the word 'Fansur' or 'Pansur' or 'Panchur' to refer to Barus. Others use
the word 'Baros' (Brakel 1979: 89-90).
116
in the early seventeenth century, Indian and Arab tradesmen visited Barus to obtain
camphor and benzoin (ibid. 74).
Drakard also found that some of the rulers in Barus maintained trade
relationships with the Batak Pakpak or Dairi people who grew camphor and with Toba
Batak rulers from Silindung who grew benzoin. Camphor and benzoin grew in the
mountainous areas between the flat western coastal region of Sumatra and the Toba
Batak plateau. The Dairi and Silindung people collected the two products and brought
them to the sea coast via rivers that connected the relevant regencies (Drakard 1988:
76). This business relationship suggests that contact between Barus and the hinterland
was mutually advantageous. Apart from exchanging goods, this contact gave rise to a
population drift from the Toba Batak area to Barus. Intermarriage between the Toba
Batak emigrants and the local people as well as traders from various part of the
archipelago also occurred (Drakard 1988: 76). Intermarriage also probably occurred
between the local people or the Toba Batak emigrants and foreign traders who were
Hindu adherents and resided in Barus. Thus, intermarriage was probably a major gate
way through which Hinduism intermixed with the local culture.
Hindu influence might have spread, too, via a Tamil community which is
known to have settled in Lobu Tua, a village near Barus, during the eleventh century.28
This is suggested by a local Tamil inscription found there dating from the year 1088
AD. Nilakanta Sastri, after reading the inscription, concluded that 'a colony of Tamil
resided more or less permanently in Sumatra and that it included artisans who could
engrave inscriptions on stones' (Nilakanta Sastri 1932: 326). Following this account,
and in addition to the discovery of Hindu-Buddhist ruins in Padang Lawas and its
28
Schnitger refers to the Tamil community as a 'trading corporation' (Schnitger 1937: 15).
117
surrounding villages, Simangambat, Bonan Dolok and Lobu Tua, it is likely that a
permanent Hindu-Buddhist religious organisation once existed in the Batak Lands.
Another site through which Hindu influence possible spread to the Batak area
was Kota Cina, a small town located near Belawan (a seaport in the Deli region on the
east coast of Sumatra). McKinnon maintains that Kota Cina was a twelfth to fourteenth
century trading site. It was 'a predominantly Tamil trading settlement established by a
community of merchants such as the Ainnurruvar who left an inscription at Lobu Tua'
(McKinnon 1987: 87). In Kota Cina, McKinnon rediscovered three religious complexes
including a Siva sanctuary and a Buddhist temple, two seated Buddha statues and a
standing Visnu (ibid. 87). McKinnon's findings suggest that there was a trading
connection between Kota Cina and Barus, mat Barus could only be reached after
passing the Karo plateau by means of 'trans-insular portages' (McKinnon 1987: 89). In
other words, McKinnon suggests that Hindu influences might have spread in the Karo
region through trading activity between Kota Cina and Barus. The marga (clan name) of
the Sembiring people found among the Karo Batak are of definite Indian origin
(McKinnon 1977: 22; 1987: 83-85).
Prolonged contact via trade, migration and intermarriage can lead to a cultural
dialogue that may result in perceivable foreign cultural influences on the culture in
which the dialogue takes place. Longstanding contact between the Batak and Indian
people was probably one channel through which Hindu influence spread among the
hinterland as well as the coastal people. In addition, as Toba Batak adat requires
families to visit their relatives to strengthen kinship relationships, Toba Batak emigrants
who settled in Barus must have been in contact with their relatives on the Toba Batak
plateau, thereby facilitating mutual influences.
118
3.4.2 Contact with Islam
Scholars such as Manison (1951), Nicholson (1966) and Stone (1966) agree that Islam
entered Sumatra in the thirteenth century via the kingdom of Pasai,29 which was the first
Islamic kingdom to be established in Sumatra. It was founded by Malik al Saleh in 1297
(Manison 1951: 32-33). The rulers of Aceh are attributed with having brought Islam to
the east and west coast regions of Sumatra (De Casparis & Mabbett 1992: 518).
When the kingdom of Malacca was converted to Islam in about 1400, it became
an important trading centre in the archipelago for ships from China, Arabia, India and
Persia (ibid. 330, 516). The conversion of Malacca was followed by the rise of other
Muslim kingdoms in the area. By about 1500, the kingdoms of Perak, Pahang, Kedah,
Kelantan and Trengganu on peninsular Malaya as well as on the Siak and Kampar rivers
in Sumatra had embraced Islam (ibid. 330). Before 1511, when the Portuguese took
control of Malacca, and thereby also the trade in and around the Strait (ibid. 330; see
also Kartomi 1987: 370), there was already a powerful Islamic presence in and around
the Strait, as well as elsewhere in coastal Sumatra. Thus, prior to the coming of
Christianity to North Sumatra in the mid-nineteenth century, the Toba Batak homeland
was surrounded by Islamic states.30 Nevertheless, it was not until the 1830s that
Muslims made contact with the Batak people via the fanatical Minangkabau group, the
Wahabbi.
The expansion of Islam in the southern part of the Batak Lands occurred
approximately at the same time as the expansion of the Dutch colonial government
there. In the 1820s the colonial government started to take control of West Sumatra and
precipitated the Padri war there from 1824. Two Minangkabau groups were involved in
29
The kingdom of Pasai was located near the present town of Lok Seumawe in Aceh.
For example, Aceh in the north, Mandailing Batak in the south, Minangkabau in the west and
Malaya in the east.
30
119
the war, namely the penghulu (Muslim religious leaders), who cooperated with the
colonial government, and the Wahabbi group, who were mostly Minangkabau pilgrims
influenced by conservative Muslims from West Asia.31 During the war, the colonial
government supported the penghulu group, forcing the Wahabbi to move northwards to
the southern Batak area where they successfully converted die Mandailing Batak and
most of the Angkola-Sipirok Batak (see Pardede 1987: 235-236). On proceeding further
north, however, they were attacked by the Toba Batak army under the charismatic
leadership of the Sisingamangaraja X, who was killed during the war. The Dutch
defeated the Wahabbi in 1837 and at the same time took administrative control of
Minangkabau (Tarling 1992: 19). Thus, the Toba Batak were never Islamised (see
Tobing 1963: 25 footnote no. 3).
We must conclude that the Toba Batak people did not embrace Islam,
despite most of their neighbours having done s o . Tobing maintains that even
prior to the occupation of the Toba Batak homeland by the Dutch colonial
government,n the people were antagonistic to Muslims (Tobing 1963 : 25 footnote
n o 3 ; Castles 1972 : 280 and footnote no. 35). In the colonial era, the
Mandailing regarded the Toba Batak as 'orang yang belum beradab' (uncivilised
people) and avoided contact (Pelly 1994: 44-46). Most Toba Batak 'were never in
intimate contact with Muslims. After they became Christian their primitive ethnocentric
superiority feelings received a new justification' (Castles 1972: 181). In the colonial era
31
The war was also caused by contradictions between the leaders of the two parties. The Wahabbi
leaders preached about their perceived need for the Minangkabau to return to the true teachings of the Koran
and the traditions of the Prophet. They also wished to eliminate gambling, cockfighting, opium-smoking, and
the consumption of alcohol (Heto 1992: 210, 227; Kathirithamby-Wells 1992: 606) and to reform family
relationships dominated by the matrilineal system (Pelly 1994: 35-37). Their attempts, however, were
rejected by the penghulu group, thereby leading them into a fratricidal war.
32: •
The Dutch colonists reached the shores of Lake Toba in 1878 to fight the Sisingamangaraja, who
was threatening the lives of German Christian missionaries in Silindung. In 1883 the Dutch sent back their
soldiers to Tangga Batu (near Balige) since the Sisingamangaraja had attempted to stop the expansion of the
German missionaries and the Dutch colonial government in the Toba Batak homeland (Castles 1972: 32).
120
the Dutch colonists insisted that the Batak missionary schools, which had used the Toba
Batak language, employ Malay as a communication tool. The missionaries refused to
comply with instruction; they continued to employ local languages because they
regarded the Malay language as too closely associated with Islam and inappropriate for
the gospel (Aritonang 1988: 214-215, 312). It was largely for this reason that Islamic
influences did not spread among the Toba Batak people during the colonial era.
Islamic influences are strong in the music cultures of the many coastal areas of
Sumatra (Kartomi 1985:17) and many musical instniments said styles spread via Islam from
West Asian, Muslim India and Aceh. The sarune, which is found in Toba Batak tradition,
is a case in point Despite this, Islamic musical influence on the Toba Batak tradition was
at most insignificant The only exception to this was among some Tobe Batak who married
Muslims, such as the Pasisir Malay on the west coast of Norm Sumatra and the Toba
Batak who resided in the Pardembanan area in the Asahan River valley.
Contact with Islam through the Padri war did, however, facilitate the social
transformation of the Toba Batak people in that it put to an end their centuries of
isolation. The involvement of the Dutch colonial government in the war allowed them to
colonise both the Minangkabau and the Bataks (Pardede 1987: 236), thereby providing
access to German missionaries who resided in Sipirok during the early 1860s.
3.4.3 Contact with Christianity especially via the German Missionaries and the Dutch
Colonial Government
The German Christian missionaries and Dutch administration left a deep imprint on
Toba Batak culture; indeed they were the primary agents of social change. They
introduced the people to a new religion and culture, including a new educational and
legal system, commercial goods, life style, music and instruments as well as a system of
121
administration. Christianisation and colonisation simultaneously contributed to the major
cultural transformation of Toba Batak society between the 1860s and the 1990s.
There had been several earlier attempts to Christianise the Batak people. The
VOC (Vereenigte Oost-Indische Compagnie) actually established a Christian
congregation in Padang as early as 1679, but there was no evangelisation among the
local people. In the early 1820s Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles authorised Richard
Burton, Nathaniel Ward and Evans of the Baptist Mission Society of England to
evangelise the people of Sumatra. Prior to the establishment of the mission, Burton had
worked in the Batak-Malay town of Sibolga, where he concentrated on translating part
of the Old Testament. Ward had resided in Silindung south of Lake Toba while
investigating the widespread outbreak of cholera in the region. Evans had established a
Christian school in Tapian na Uli (Pedersen 1970: 48-49). In 1824, the three
missionaries gathered in Tapian na Uli. Just as they were about to start evangelising; the
Dutch colonial government forced them to leave the town (ibid. 208; 49).
After these first three missionaries had returned to Holland, the Netherlands
Mission Society (NZG) sent Karl August Gutzlaff to proselytise in Sumatra. Due to the
Padri war he could not proceed inland and so concentrated instead on proselytising
among the Chinese community in Jakarta (ibid. 208; 49). In 1834 the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCMF) from Boston, USA sent Samuel
Munson and Henry Lyman to Sibolga to proselytise among the Batak people. Like
previous missions, it failed. Worse than that, when they reached Lobu Pining (a village
near Silindung) on 28 June 1834, the local chieftain, Raja Pangalamei and his followers
allegedly killed and ate the two missionaries (Van Hasselt 1935: 8; Lumbantobing 1992:
66). Gould, however, claims that this cannot be proven as there were no eyewitnesses
(Gould 1961: 113). The Dutch Bible Study Group of Holland sent Neubronner van der
122
Tuuk to Sibolga to learn the Batak language and dialects in 1849. Tuuk translated the
Old Testament into Toba Batak, wrote some books on Toba Batak grammar and
compiled a Toba Batak-Dutch dictionary. Despite all these attempts, early nineteenth
century Christian missionaries were unable to achieve their goal tc convert large
numbers of people. Four missionaries who worked for the RMG—Klammer, Betz, Van
Asselt and Heine33—began to proselytise among the Batak people of Sipirok, a small
town located in South Tapanuli, whose inhabitants had formerly been converted to
Islam (Kraemer 1958: 4 6 ^ 7 ; Rodgers 1981: 2-3). Their effort, however, resulted in
converting only two people to Christianity (Kruger 1966: 211).
In 1864 another RMG representative, Dr I.L. Nommensen, took over the
leadership of the Mission and moved its headquarters from Sipirok to the Silindung area,
where the people had not been touched by Islam. During the first year of his work,
Nommensen struggled not only to proselytise among the local people but also to find a
place to stay. He converted only four men, four women and five children in 1865
(Pedersen 1970: 61). Johannsen was another German RMG missionary who came to the
Silindung valley in 1866 to help Nommensen (ibid. 61). In two years, Nommensen and
Johannsen had converted fewer than a hundred Toba Batak spirit believers in the
Silindung valley. Two years later, Nommensen's colleagues, Pilgram and Kessel,
proselytised at Balige and Muara, two villages on the southern shore of Lake Toba
(Pedersen 1970: 67). Over the next four decades the RMG reached areas further east,
i.e. Kabupaten Simalungun. By the time Nommensen died on 23 May 1918, the German
RMG missionaries had proselytised as far as Kabupaten Dairi among the Pakpak Batak.
Under the leadership of Nommensen, then, the Christian missionaries had successfully
33
Before coming to the Batak Lands, the German RMG missionaries, Klammer and Belz, worked
in Kalimantan. The others, Van Asselt and Heine were Dutch missionaries from Ermelo, a small town in
Holland (Kruger 1966:210; see also Aritonang 1988: 147).
123
achieved the goal of their mission. From the end of the nineteenth century, a motto
spread which read: 'to be Toba Batak means to be Christian', i.e. their identity included
being Christian (see Pedersen 1970).
In 1992, a former leader of the GKPI, Andar Lumbantobing traced the growth
of the church between 1861 to 1954 according to the statistics provided in the
Jahresbericht der Rheinische Missionsgesellschaf?4 (1861- 1954), as follows:
•:
:;
Year Christian Converts
1861
1867
1870
1871
1877
1881
1892
1898
1911
1923
1940
1954
2
115
849
1,250
2,173
5,988
21,779
40,723
103,538
210,416
429,531
601,156
Figure 4. The growing number of Christian converts in the Toba Batak Protestant
Church in the period between 1861-1954 (Source: Lumbantobing i??2: 74)
According to Cunningham and Schreiner, who studied the growth of converts after
1954, by 1957 the total number of Christian converts had increased to 700,000 and by
1960, to 900,000 (Cunningham 1958: 178; Schreiner 1994: 9). Excluding people who
belong to other Christian denominations such as Catholics, Methodists and
34
Aritonang's Sejan.h Pendidikan Kristen di Tanah Batak (1988) employs the same statistical
source for the growth of Christian converts and schools in the Batak Lands.
&2
3>
S®*3
124
Pentecostalists, almost two million Toba Patak people are registered today as members
of the two biggest Protestant church institutions: HKBP and GKPI.
In tune with the growth of converts, many churches were built throughout the
region. Since Independence, there has been a church within every Toba Batak
community, associated with vibrant community activity. Every Sunday congregations
perform Western church music, including organ music, German hymns, brass band
music and choir music for three or four voices in their services. Western music has
become the primary musical accompaniment for the liturgy employed by each
denomination. The HKBP and GKPI use European hymns, especially German hymns,
the texts of which have been translated into Toba Batak.
Figure 4 above shows that after a small increase of converts in the 1860s there
was a dramatic increase from the 1870s onwards. Why and how did such a huge
number of people convert within such a short period of time? Perhaps, as Kraemer
maintained, among the Batak people:
that which is feared or worshipped is placed beyond any moral criterion.
That which gives superiority, power, advantage or prestige to somebody
or something, be it human being, an animal or an object, that is to be
feared, worshipped or desired...The frequently used word hasangapon,
i.e. highness, prestige, is probably the best word to reveal the mysteries
of the [Toba] Batak soul. It is hasangapon which moves his soul most
deeply and to which he is most attracted. (Kraemer 1958: 53)
The Toba Batak theologian, Aritonang provides an even clearer perspective in his work
of 1988. He asserts that when the German missionaries arrived in 1864, the people were
in a state of social disintegration. Three decades before they arrived, the Batak of South
Tapanuli had been defeated by the Padri armies. In the 1860s, the Padri armies were
about to re-attack as the missionaries were about to start their proselytising in Silindung
Valley (Pedersen 1970: 46; Aritonang 1988: 153). This reminded the people of the
8
125
suffering of their relatives in the southern part of their territory, who had been forced by
the Padri armies to embrace Islam. While their communities were disintegrating as a
result of continual fratricidal war among the clans, their confidence in the ability of
customary law to solve these problems reached a low point. Under these critical
conditions they were prone to accept the Christian missionaries as a way of solving their
social problems (Aritonang 1988: 152-153).
The approach which Nommensen and Johannsen employed in proselytising
among the people of the Silindung valley in the early stage of Christianisation merits a
mention. When they started planting the seeds of Christianity among the people, they
offered them considerable help in solving their social problems. They assisted in
terminating tensions among clans or village chieftains; helping to cure sick people,
especially children; establishing public medical centres; helping the insolvent to pay
back their loans; releasing slaves; and providing education and other facilities, all of
which encouraged the people to embrace Christianity (ibid. 153-154: Pedersen 1970:
61-63). Using such an approach, Nommensen and Johannsen established the first
Christian community in North Sumatra, which was the embryo of the Christian
movement among the Toba Batak as well as the pioneer of the Batak Christian
congregation, presently known as HKBP.
The establishment of the Christian community in Silindung valley, however, led
the people into social conflict. Those who converted were abandoned by other members
of their villages and excluded from the practice of communal sacrificial ceremonies.
Converts also lost their right to own houses and ricefields in their villages. Nommense I
looked after those who were abandoned by their villages and invited them to live
together in Huta Dame (Peace Village), a small village in the Silindung valley that had
become Nommensen's headquarters, which contained a small church, a school building
126
and several houses. Nommensen provided mem with shelter but in so doing separated
themfromrelatives who had rejected Christianity.
In attempting to prevent the converts from turning back to spirit belief,
Nommensen and Johannsen forbade new community from practising adat, due to
Christian precepts. Thus, the church prohibited the people from retaining the sacrificial
community (bius), and from performing ancestral worship, gondang sabangunan and
tortor. Church, school, congregational Sunday services, Bible study and Western music
such as brass bands and German hymns were substituted for them. Nevertheless, the
church allowed the people to practise traditional marriages, to maintain kinship systems
and housing-systems, and to use their language and written scripts (Pedersen 1970: 63;
Aritonang 1988; 405, 439); and the converts did not therefore lose their Toba Batak
identity. Nommensen and Johannsen introduced the prohibitions in 1886 in the form of
the Order of Discipline of the church (Schreiner 1994: 63-64). After revising it in 1867,
it became civil law for Christians; it included regulations for marriage, inheritance, and
punishments for gamblers and thieves (ibid. 63-64). The civil law was revised again in
1879 and in 1892. In 1913 a Dutch lawyer, J.C. Kielstra, listed the laws in the book
entitled Beschrijving van het bijzondere Adatrecht van de inheemsche Christenen in
het Batakland (Registration of Adat-law among Christianised Toba Batak in the Batak
Lands).
In 1868 Nommensen and Johannsen, whose lives had been endangered by those
who rejected Christianity in the Silindung valley, requested protection from the Dutch
colonial government in the South Tapanuli region. War between the colonial government
and the followers of the Sisingamangaraja XII occurred in 1878, 1883 and 1889
(Situmorang 1993b: 20-21), but victory was never on the peopled side. The colonial
127
government retained administration of the Silindung valley from 1879 (Schreiner 1994:
70).
In the 1870s the Toba Batak people who strongly opposed the missionaries and
the colonial government had formed a traditional religio-political organisation called
Parmalim; it was led by Guru Somalaing Pardede, a Toba Batak
from
Balige
(Situmorang 1993a: 63, 85). In the early 1890s this religio-political organisation divided
into different sects, i.e.
Parmalim, Parsitengka, Nasiakbagi, Sisingamangaraja and
Parhudamdam. These organisations aimed not only to worship the Toba Batak prophet
Sisingamangaraja and to expel the 'white-men' (the missionaries and the colonists) from
the Batak Lands (see Situmorang 1993a: 81, 85; Heto 1992: 227; Castles 1973: 76-79),
but also to maintain the ancestral adat as well as the performance of the gondang
sabangunan and tortor. Some sects syncretically absorbed Christian identities such as
Jehovah, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary into their religious vocabulary. Similarly, others,
especially the Parhudamdam, absorbed some Islamic influences. Their religious
practices included often going into a trance while reciting Arabic phrases; and in
everyday life they avoided eating pork35 (Castles 1973: 83-84).
Between 1890 and 1897 these religio-political organisations executed such
traditional sacrificial ceremonies as pesta bius to the accompaniment of the gondang
sabangunan, organised by the collaboration of the members of a parbaringin and a
bius. Through such an activity, these organisations attempted to gain the support of the
local people and to attract new Christian converts to return to their ancestral tradition.
35
Christian and Islamic influences were probably exerted on the sects because Guru Somalaing,
the founder of Parmalim and from which the other sects developed, always communicated with the Christian
missionaries. In 1890 an Italian botanist, Elio Modigliani, made a research trip to the Batak Lands. During
his journey into the area, he was accompanied by Guru Somalaing, a datu who resisted both Christianity and
the influences of the colonists. Modigliani, who was a Catholic, introduced Guru Somalaing not only to
Catholicism but aiso to Muslim leaders of the people living on the Asahan river (Castles 1973: 74; see also
Situmorang 1993a: 3-34).
128
This effort was not successful, however, resulted in social conflict between the people.
Nommensen perceived the organisation of religious leaders, pesta bius, and gondangtortor performance not only as the seed of social conflict but also as an interference to
the Christianisation and persuaded the colonial government to ban them. In 1879 the
colonial government enforced a civil law banning these traditional practices (Situmorang
1993a: 45, 65). To the missionaries such a prohibition meant the destruction of the
traditional belief system and its practice. To the colonial government it meant the
destruction of traditional political organisations (bius and parbaringiri) (Situmorang
1993a: 45) while to the people it meant a death sentence to their religion (Tobing 1963:
27).
Despite these religio-political organisations, the policies of Christianisation and
colonisation remained in force. In the 1870s the missionaries used schools as media for
proselytising Christianity. Whenever they established a church, they worked hand in
hand with the colonial government to build a school as part of that church (Aritonang
1988: 27, 154).36 Establishing schools and churches became the two equally important
targets of the Mission's development plan, based on the belief that social services,
especially education, should accompany the spreading of the Gospel (ibid. 27). By 1870
the RMG had established ten public primary schools which accommodated about 200
students. At the same time the Dutch colonial government built fourteen schools which
were attended by 634 students. By 1936, the RMG controlled 585 schools with 43,184
students and the Dutch colonists 159 schools with 13, 635 students. Prior to the Second
World War, the missionaries managed 646 primary schools and five technology training
colleges which spread in many villages in the Batak Lands (ibid. 30).
36 i
' In 1893 the Dutch colonists started to subsidise schools that were managed by the Batak Mission
(Aritonang 1988: 209-212).
s
129
To the people of Silindung, for example, education was possibly the most
attractive inducement to embrace Christianity; they believed that education would lead
them to progress (hamajuon), esteem and prestige (sahala hasangapori), or what
Kraemer refers to as 'power' (Hutauruk 1993: 27; Castles 1972: 70). In other words,
the earliest Christian generation was motivated primarily by their desire to elevate
themselves out of poverty ( Sinaga 1981: 30; Lumbantobing 1992:73). Following the
report of Burton and Ward on their journey into the Batak Land, Kraemer wrote:
The only things which interested them in their first contact with the
Gospel were increased wealth, prestige and power. If the Gospel could
bring them these things, they were ready to listen, if not they were not.
(Kraemer 1958: 44)
Thus, when literate Batak people secured jobs in the Dutch government administration
or the plantations which the Dutch had established in the 1870s in the Deli area, white
collar positions and education became increasingly highly regarded (Bruner 1961: 511).
To the converts, becoming Christian meant obtaining education and social status. Thus
when the missionaries offered schools to the people, mass conversion occurred. An
increase in Christian converts naturally meant a decrease in traditional religious
practices.
Between the early 1910s and 1940s the need for jobs, better education, a better
economy and social status grew. As Kraemer alleged, first the people sought an
improved economic, educational and material existence as well as social status and only
secondarily did they seek the Christian faith. Such expectations developed as the people
observed the educational and social improvements enjoyed by the Mandating Batak
who, during the period between the late 1800s and early 1900s, attended Dutch
government schools. Indeed, in the early 1900s many educated Mandailing Batak people
130
of South Tapanuli moved to Medan where they obtained work in government plantations
and administrative offices (Pelly 1994: 64-65).
The RMG schools differed in some respects from government schools. The
missionaries offered the people education, but it was basically designed to improve their
intellectual skills, and most importantly, to strengthen their Christian faith. Such
education in the early 1910s became less attractive to the people than that of the
government, which aimed to develop the skills needed to run government plantations or
administrative offices (Kraemer 1958: 67). Accordingly, some students joined the
secular schools provided by the colonial government. Thus the Toba Batak joined the
Mandating Batak in obtaining a Dutch school education to enable mem to obtain
administrative work in the cities (ibid. 67; see also Aritonang 1988: 352-354). Others
moved to Medan, Jakarta and Singapore to look for work (see Castles 1972: 72-73;
Aritonang 1988: 290, 295, 349). On becoming established in the cities, they invited their
families to live there for better work and education opportunities (Bruner 1961: 515).
This process led to a major urban drift by the Toba Batak in the early 1950s.
The schools, however, served not only as a medium through which Christianity
and scientific knowledge could reach the people, but also as a channel through which
Western music culture could be diffused throughout the Silindung valley and its vicinity.
The RMG schools offered a four-year elementary school curriculum which included not
only Bible studies, history, geography and mathematics, but also lessons in singing (e.g.
church hymns and choral music) and playing the violin (see Aritonang 1988: 251, 259260, 247-254). However, students did not learn to play the gondang, as the
missionaries thought of the gondang tradition as a heathen music (ibid. 251, 259-260).
Students were required to carry out some extra-curricular activities such as gardening,
handicraft, choral singing and brass band playing (ibid. 249). Some early musicians and
rv^ca
S
131
song writers of Toba Batak popular music (e.g. Nahum Situmorang, Sidik Sitompul,
and Liberty Manik, who were well-known between the 1940s and 1970s) graduated
from either the RMG school or the Dutch colonial government school. By Toba Batak
popular music I mean secular harmonised songs with Toba Batak lyrics performed to
the accompaniment of guitars in a synthesis of Toba Batak and European styles. Thus,
Western music lessons not only accustomed Toba Batak students to church hymns,
choir, music theory and Western musical instruments, but they also produced Toba
Batak musicians of popular music.
Churches served not only as centres of Christian practice but also as a place for
Western musical practice. Every Sunday service, congregations sang German hymns,
sometimes to the accompaniment of a reed organ (poti marende) (singing box), at others
with a brass band. In addition, article X, no. 6 of the 1907 Order of Discipline of the
church instituted by the RMG required that every guru huria (leader of a congregation)
should be a person mat could play a, poti marende {Order of Discipline 1907: 26). At
the present time, some Protestant churches still use reed organs, while others use
electric keyboards and/or brass bands. German hymns which were compiled into a Buku
Ende (Song Book) and translated into different Batak dialects, have been the main
constituents of the liturgy since the late 1870s. In the last four decades, female and/or
male choir associations have also multiplied in many congregations. Like the hymns,
choir singing in Sunday service became part of the liturgy from the early 1900s (see
Hutauruk 1993: 84). Some choirs performed works of local composers, others
performed works of Western composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and Bach.
From 1864 to 1940, the Protestant Toba Batak church—formerly called Huria
na diionga-tongan ni Halak Batak (Church among the Bataks)37—operated under the
i
132
leadership of German missionanes who managed matters associated with finance,
school and church, including the Order of Discipline, music and the liturgy and the
synod and its meetings. However, the German missionaries could not stop the rise of the
hamajuon (progress) movement in 1917 led by a choral association known as
Zangvereeniging hadomuan (Hadomuan Choir) from Balige, the members of which
were mostly teachers and workers at government institutions (see Hutauruk 1993: 84).
These people demanded that an independent Toba Batak church institution be
established (Hutauruk 1993: 73-87; see also Aritonang 1988: 294ff). This movement
took about thirteen years to reach its goal: leadership was transferred from the German
RMG missionaries to the Toba Batak ministers in 1930. From this time on, the
HKBP—i.e. under its new name, which had been approved at the 1929 Synod
meeting—was supposed to become an independent church, that is, no longer under the
direction of the RMG. However, this did not occur. The Toba Batak ministers still
controlled the structure of the church council; they even took over the financial
administration of the institution and were responsible for the welfare of the congregation.
Despite this, German missionaries still held positions of authority in the church council
(Keuning 1958: 15; see also Pedersen 1970: 81; Aritonang 1988: 301; Schreiner 1994:
14). True independent was only reached in 1940 after the Pendeta (priest) K. Sirait was
elected as the first Toba Batak Ephorus (Pedersen 1970: 96). He together with other
Toba Batak ministers were then responsible for all matters associated with the church
and its congregations. In 1942 Pendeta K. Sirait was replaced by J. Sihombing (19421962), under whose leadership the HKBP (in 1952) was accepted as a member of the
Lutheran World Federation (Cunningham 1958: 178; Pedersen 1970: 186).
37
This name is written in the title of the 1907 and 1924 Orders of Discipline of the church, which
were constituted by the Batak Mission.
133
The transformation of leadership brought a new era to HKBP congregations.
Within ten years the newly elected church council had introduced a new Order of
Discipline of the church, which now accommodated adat
1970:96-100), allowed the Protestants to perform
practices (see Pedersen
adai
ceremonies to the
accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan and tortor. Thus, the establishment of the
1952 Order of Discipline, whose articles were in tune with the present Order of
Discipline of the HKBP and GKPI, marked the early reconciliation of the Protestant
church and the traditional adat.
3.5 Toba Batak Urban Drift to East Sumatra (Medan)
This section discusses the establishment of the Toba Batak community in Medan
(1900s- 1990s) and then moves on to discuss the emergence of gondang sabangunan
associations in Toba Batak society (1960-1990s). Toba Batak urban migration started
around 1900 and accelerated in the 1920s. A period of huge urban migration occurred in
the 1950s. Between the 1960s and 1970s the Batak people acquired ownership of most
of the land in Medan. In the 1980s, they held most of the jobs in schools as well as
government administrative offices. In the 1990s many Toba Batak still held leading roles
in government offices, managed many private commercial enterprises, and worked in
various professions. Thus, the Toba Batak people underwent a process of radical social
change.
In the early 1900s Medan was under the authority of the Kesultanan Melayu
Deli (Deli-Malay Sultanate). Between the establishment of the rubber plantations in Deli
in 1863 and the coming of the Japanese in 1942, Medan also became the centre for the
Dutch administrative offices and commercial activities in North Sumatra. Thus, job
opportunities were more plentiful in Medan than in the villages. Such promising
s
3
134
opportunities attracted the Toba Batak who had obtained an education from the RMG
and the Dutch schools.
By the late 1910s a substantial number of educated Christian Toba Batak were
living in Medan, but they had to live in the outskirts of the city because of the objections
of the Kesultanan (Bruner 1961: 511). The Malays discriminated against them socially
and by religion. As a result of such discrimination, the Toba Batak had a hard time
finding jobs as well as places of residence. Worse, although they could practise their
religion secretly, they had to return to their homelands to take part in adat ceremonies
(ibid. 511).39
A road connecting Medan with such towns and villages as Pematang Siantar,
Parapat, Porsea, Balige, Laguboti, Sipoholon, Tarutung and Sibolga (a town on the west
coast of North Sumatra) was completed in 1915. The road facilitated the drift of the
Toba Batak to the city of Medan, In the late 1920s the Toba Batak population in Medan
had increased to more than a thousand people. By this time, they had their own church
and recreational association; and they performed adat ceremonies (ibid. 511). We still
do not know, however, whether the people in Medan performed gondang music in adat
ceremonies in the 1920s.
A huge number of Toba Batak people migrated to towns in East Sumatra in
post-Independence Indonesia. By this time, more urbanised Toba Batak people had
moved to the cities than had stayed in the Batak Lands (Bruner 1972: 209). About
250,000 Toba Batak left their villages to join the 'land-occupation movement' in East
Sumatra in 1956 (Cunningham 1958: vii). Of that number a total of about 13,000 lived
38
The Malay people in Medan regarded the Toba Batak as kqffirs (unbelievers), najis (unclean
people), pork eaters and cannibals (Bruner 1961: 511; see also Pelly 1994:103).
39
In order to be able to live in Medan they had to claim to be Malay or Muslim Batak, and in such
a situation they had to speak Malay and abandon membership of their marga (Bruner 1961: 511).
135
in Medan (ibid. vii). Such a large number were able to reside in Medan because the
religious and ethnic discrimination formerly enforced by the Kesultanan had come to end
during the social revolution (1942-1945), in which the Indonesians fought the Japanese
for Independence (see Bruner 1961: 512).40 Some of these emigrants were students,
teachers, traders, reporters, clerks and farmers (Castles 1972: 72). They resided in
Kecamatan Labuhan, Kecamatan Medan Timur, Kecamatan Medan Denai, Kecamatan
Sunggal, and Kecamatan Johor (Pelly 1994: 105), all of which are located on the
outskirts of the city. Many bought unused lands from the local Malay people and
converted them into ricefields (ibid. 103).
As the people settled in the new places, they built churches (ibid. 104-105) and
formed 'voluntary groupings' (Bruner 1972: 213), including punguan marga (clan
associations), dongan sahuta (neighbourhood units), punguan partangiangan (church
groups). Such voluntary groupings provided the people with a means to perform adat as
well as Christian practices. This suggests that urban life did not prevent the people from
practising adat. As Bruner asserts, the punguan marga, which did not occur in the
villages, was 'the product of the city' (Bruner 1972: 208; Sihombing 1993: 22). The
punguan marga has now become an integral part of urban Toba Batak social activity.
Almost every clan in the city has its own punguan marga. Its membership is mostly
middle-aged and married and activities centre on social services, e.g. helping members
of the organisation in different situations such as performing funerals, celebrating the
birth of newborn babies, and wedding ceremonies. Some of these ceremonies are
performed to the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan and tortor.
40
According to Bruner, during the social revolution (1942-1945) most members of the Kesultanan
were killed, while those who survived lost their political power (Bruner 1961:511-512).
136
For political reasons, the censuses conducted after 1930 did not include ethnicity
as a category (Pelly 1994: 79). As a result, census conducted during the 1960s and
] 970s failed to show the total number of Toba Batak who migrated to Medan (ibid. 79).
In 1981 the total population of Medan was 1,294,132 of whom 14.11% (about 182,600)
were Toba Batak (ibid 81). Many Toba Batak secured jobs and thereby acquired
increased social prestige. From 1960 to 1981 most of the school teachers in Medan were
Toba Batak (Pelly 1994: 122). Toba Batak also dominated government administration
offices, e.g. the Department of Treasury, the Department of Industry, the Department of
Culture and Education, the Army and City Councils (ibid. 122). Similarly, in 1981 many
Toba Batak practised as journalists and lawyers as well as medical doctors. In 1994, the
total population of Medan was l,876,100.41 It is uncertain how many of this total were
Toba Batak; but we do know that there were 653 Protestant churches and 33 Catholic
churches, so the number must have been substantial.
When Toba Batak people move from their villages to urban areas, they always
bring with them their adat, and perform ceremonies (see also Bruner 1961: 509). Prefuneral and wedding ceremonies are the most common adat ceremonies that take place
among the Toba Batak people in Medan. During my 1994 fieldwork in Medan, on
almost every Friday and Saturday wedding ceremonies were held in various public halls,
sometimes accompanied by gondang sabangunan music, and at other times by brass
band and popular music. 42
n
This total is according to the data provided in the Statistical Office of North Sumatra and the
Regional Development Planning Board of North Sumatra Province's North Sumatra in Figure 1994 (1995).
42
The following lists the public halls in which wedding ceremonies always take place in Medan:
Sopo Godang HKBP (Jalan Sudinnan, Medan), Wisma Umum (Jalan Bakti, Medan), Wisma Uli (Jalan
Perjuangan, Medan), Balperum GKPI (Jalan Sailendra, Medan), Wisma Taman Sari I, Wisma Taman Sari II
(Jalan Setia Budi, Medan), and Wisma Agape (Jalan Pelita, Medan).
137
As has been noted, the Toba Batak people have experienced major social change
in the twentieth century. Many of the people moved to Medan to live, bring up children,
work, and study. Today the difference between the lifestyles of those who reside in the
city and those who remained in the villages today is extreme. While many urban Toba
Batak live in big houses with electricity, running water, communication devices and
private cars, many rural people still struggle to work their ricefields for basic sustenance
without any of these facilities. This does not mean, however, that no changes have taken
place in the villages. The completion of the road mentioned above facilitated the flow of
the villagers to the cities, thus changing the structure of the population in the villages. It
also fostered the establishment of the economic activities as well as the introduction of
technology. Interaction between the villagers and urban people, be it through economic
transaction, family visit or tourism, also allowed the diffusion of urban cultures and
commercial goods to the villages, including clothing, cinema, popular music, gambling,
alcoholic drinks, radio, telephone, newspapers, magazines, postal services, cars and
public transport—to the villages (Aritonang 1988: 284-285). All of these are now
familiar to the villagers. Thus, change not only occurred in the cities but also in the
villages.
The question that now arises is: how did urban people establish gondang
associations? As more Toba Batak people settled in Medan during the 1950s, more adat
feasts were held among the people (see Pelly 1994: 104). However, according to an
informant from Medan, Nainggolan, adat feasts that took place in Medan during the
1950s did not include the gondang sabangunan, because there was no gondang
association, and most importantly, because the Protestant church did not allow its
138
members to perform gondang. The urban Toba Batak at that time held adat feasts
secretly in the villages.
43
Although no evidence has yet been found that gondang associations existed in
Medan during the 1960s, we do have evidence that the gondang sabangunan was
performed. According to Nainggolan, when urban people asked that the gondang
sabangunan be performed at adat feasts, they usually hired gondang musicians from
the villages. However, this was very costly to the hosts. Finding local musicians that
could organise gondang music was, then, a good compromise.
By the 1970s, however, two gondang sabangunan groups had been established
in Medan: namely, the Gondang Batak Nauli led by a man named Sinurat of Jalan
Serdang in Medan and the Gondang Batak Satahi led by another man named Sinurat of
Jalan Garuda in Medan.44 They performed at adat feasts and church functions and were
usually paid for it.
The establishment of such gondang associations in Medan led to the
commercialisation of gondang music. When the commercial recording studio, Studio
Robinson was established in Medan around the 1970s, recording companies included
gondang music on their cassettes, using cassette labels such as Mini and OK (see
Yampolsky 1985: xi, 50). This in turn had the effect of accelerating the founding of
more gondang saiangunan associations. Members of some gondang associations
recorded their music in the studio and were paid royalties. Among the groups that
recorded gondang between the late 1970s and early 1980 were Gondang Sahata
Saoloan, Gondang Nahornop, Gondang Saurdot, Gondang Parsaoran, Gondang
Parsaoran Nauli and Gondang Horas.
43
Interview with M. Nainggolan, Medan, August 1994.
Interview with J. Nainggolan, a sarune player from Medan (October, 1994).
139
Local producers distributed commercial gondang recordings not only to people
in the city but also in the villages. Yet, according to the leader of a gondang association
from Medan, J. Nainggolan, those who purchased commercial gondang recording
cassettes used them for home entertainment, not for adat ceremonies where live
gondang performances are preferred.45
This attitude restricted the growth of the
gondang recording cassette industry to the point where in 1992 I found only found one
Medan distributor, 'Toko Riang', in Jalan Sutomo, that sold gondang cassettes.
According to Sembiring, a former operator of the Robinson studio in Medan, the
gondang music cassettes sold in Toko Riang were reproductions of master recordings
made in the 1970s and early 1980s; it is probable that no new recording sessions were
made after this period.46
At the same time, more and more people in rural and urban areas were
performing adat feasts and as a result the number of gondang associations increased in
number. During my 1994 field work I noted that there were nine gondang associations
in Medan and seven outside Medan. Among the associations in Medan were the
Gondang Sitohang Bersaudara, Gondang Maduma, Gondang Pir Tondi Matogu,
Lembaga Kesenian Kampus DCIP Medan, Lembaga Kesenian USU Medan, Gondang
Martabe, Faber Napitupulu Group, Hutagaol Group, and Marpaung Group.47 The others
were Gondang Dame Na Uli (Pematang Siantar), Gondang Nahornop (Parapat),
Gondang Parsaoran Nauli (Pematang Siantar), Gondang Sinta Na Uli (Porsea), Amani
Bunga Sinaga (Palipi), Gondang Marsiolopan (Laguboti) and Parmalim Huta Tinggi
(Laguboti).
45
Interview with J. Nainggolan, the leader of the Gondang Maduma from Medan (October 1994).
46
Interview with Sembiring in Medan, June 1992.
47
The name of the last three gondang associations are actually the name of their leaders that I
obtained from J. Nainggolan, the leader of the Gondang Batak Maduma.
140
As mentioned previously, gondang associations are the product of Toba Batak
culture in post-Independence Indonesia. As Amani Bunga Sinaga from Palipi confirmed,
there were no gondang associations previously; musicians were always members of
villages who made themselves available whenever needed to perform gondang in
ceremonies. It was an obligation for gondang musicians to accompany any ceremonies
that needed gondang accompaniment; indeed it was regarded as an honour to be asked.
They were not paid for their performances but were always given dLJambar (portion of
meat) for their trouble.48
5.6. Adat for Contemporary Protestant Toba Batak
In summary, many Toba Batak people practise adat, even though they have embraced
monotheistic religion, have experienced the colonial period, have become educated and
urbanised, though the ways they practise it differs. Some interpret the practice of preChristian Toba Batak adat according to Christian teachings. This is evident in gondang
performances at church functions hosted by both Protestants and Catholics as well as
performances based on 'inculruration' of the church liturgy in the Catholic church.
Others refuse to believe in the magic quality of adat, while yet others remain unsure of
how adat should be practised. For some, adat is not static but dynamic and changeable;
for others, it should never be changed.
Some people feel that many aspects of adat which developed centuries ago are
no longer compatible with modern life in the cities (see also Sianipar 1973: 11).49 As a
result, they have dismissed some adat practices while practising others, though in
48
49
Interview with Amani Bunga Sinaga at Palipi, Samosir, October 1994.
See also the article 'Adat Perkawinan Batak dan Kepercayaan Pra-Kristen' (Batak Wedding
Tradition and Pre-Christian Belief System) in Bonanipinasa (1990, Vol.2, No. 12, pp. 20-22) and
'Mengembalikan Adat Batak, Pekerjaan yang Sia-sia' (Restoring Adat Practices to Its Original Form is a
Waste of Time) \n Bonanipinasa (1992, Vol. 3, No. 25, pp. 20-21);
141
shortened form. For example, ceremonies which formerly took a few days to perform
are now completed in a single day.50 Likewise, many pre-funeral ceremonies (saur
matud) have brass band music instead of gondang sabangunan performances. Some
even refuse to perform adat feasts including the gondang sabangunan and tortor. The
director of the Tarutung School of the Ministry, ihependeia Hutauruk, unconditionally
rejects the dahhan natolu, the exhumation of bones and pre-fiineral ceremonies and the
use of the gondang, tortor, and ulos for these ceremonies. To him, adat and its practices
are so evil that Christians must avoid them (Hutauruk 1996: 9-3 Off).51
Nevertheless, many still perform adat ceremonies in case, they say, ancestral
spirits do exist and if so to ensure that they are in a position to avoid punishment. This is
evident in many contemporary exhumation of bones and pre-funeral ceremonies. During
myfieldworkin 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1994,1 met many Catholic and Protestant people
living in both rural and urban areas who, no matter whether rich or poor and welleducated or not, preserved and practised the old belief system and its rituals.
Church
minister Gultom pointed out that many Toba Batak these days confess that although they
are Christians they still believe in the spirit world and practise spirit worship; in fact, he
condemned them for asking musicians to play gondang pieces in the name of the
50
The Rector of the Universitas Kristen Indonesia, Mauritus Simalupang, is of the same opinion.
His comment is recorded in an article entitled, 'Adat perkawinan Batak dan Kepercayaan Pra-Kristen'
(Batak Wedding Ceremonies and Pre-Christian Belief Systems), in Bonanipinasa (1990, Vol. 2, No. 12, pp.
20-22).
51
Further comment by Hulauruk on adat can be found in his book entitled Adat Batak (1996). The
book was published in Tarutung, but it is for 'internal' (probably church) use only. It cannot be purchased in
book shops. However, the author can be contacted via Kotak Pos 48, Tarutung 22411 Tapanuli Utara,
Sumatra Utara.
52
About 30 years ago the same situation occurred. According to Bruner, during the 1960s men and
women from many segments of Toba Batak society—including medical doctors, professors, farmers,
linguists, poets, and even Christian ministers—performed exhumation of bone ceremonies and tugu feasts to
the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan and tortor (Bruner 1987: 137; see also Tampubolon 1968:
142
Christian God while using the music to dance the tortor in front of a corpse or exhumed
bones to attract blessings (sahala) from these objects (Gultom 1991: 35-46). 53
In an interview between Tempo journalist and Dr Nababan (the former leader of
the HKBP), Nababan openly opposed incorporating adat and spirit-associated gondang
into religious practices. He asserted that:
Adat yang berbau animisme harus diinjilkan...Misalnya, tempatkan
gondang sebagai alat hiburan yang mengiringi fata manortor atau
menari... Jika itujadi alat memanggil roh, HKBP melarang gondang
masuk gereja. Kami mau menerima adat tetapi isinya sudah dinapasi
kekristenan.
(Adat practices which are associated with animism must be adjusted to
the message of the Gospel; the gondang must be used only to
accompany people when dancing the tortor for entertainment, otherwise
the church cannot allow the gondang to be played at church functions.
We [the ministers of HKBP] will accept adat only if its contents have
been fully Christianised. (Mengkristenkan Yang Sudah Kristen, Tempo,
1987:XVn,No. 36, p. 79)
As the leader of a huge Protestant congregation, Nababan's statement is
representive of the attitude of the HKBP institution as well as all members of the
congregation. Yet, in practice his statement neither prevents Protestants from
performing adat in a non-religious setting nor from performing gondang sabangunan
and tortor in order to worship the spirits of the ancestors. This is evident in the case of
contemporary adat feasts which are taken seriously by some contemporary Protestant
Toba Batak.
Not only Nababan but also other church leaders such as Siahaan, Nainggolan,
Simamora, Hutagalung, and the late Andar Lumbantobing hold to this view.54 These
53
See Gullom's Penggalian Tulang-Belulang Leluhur (Exhuming Ancestral Bones) (1991).
I interviewed these church leaders in Medan and Pemalang Siantar in November and December
1994 and January 1995. Andar Lumbantobing was the former Bishop of the GKPI; he died in 1997. Siahaan
was his Secretary General. Nainggolan is an expert in adat practices. Simamora and Hutagalung are the
GKPI priests.
-1
143
church leaders encouraged church congregations to employ the gondang music in
church liturgy, provided that it was consecrated by a church minister beforehand. To
them, adat practices were merely a means of social communication and the gondang
sabangiman and tortor tools with which to convey Toba Batak cultural expressions.
What , then, does adat mean to the contemporary Protestants? It is, indeed,
difficult to answer this question, since adat to them does not imply fixed rules,
perceptions or laws; to them adat always changes with the needs of its practitioners. To
some, adat is no more than a collection of old-fashioned and irrational habits. With
regard to Christian teachings, they may select certain elements of adat, or add some
elements to it They may also remove or change some elements of adat to make them
compatible with Christianity. Adat practitioners who profess to be Christian feel that
they must concern themselves with Christian values when practising adat. They also
have to face the Order of Discipline which regulates their adat practices, especially as
regards the gondang sabangunan and tortor. Failure to obey the Order of Discipline
might incur disciplinary action. To them, the Order of Discipline has essentially become
the new adat and they must therefore consult it before practising any element of
traditional adat.
To other Protestant Toba Batak, however, adat practices are understood
basically as spiritual demands. They simply practise adat because they believe in its
supernatural power to bring prosperity, good health, and many descendants. They need
to practise adat because it is via these adat practices that they can maintain good
relationships with their relatives and most importantly with the ancestral spirits.55 They
55
See also Ch.P. Silalahi-Hutapea's article, Testa Tahunan di Silahi na Bolak' (The Annual
Ceremony at the Village of Silahi na Bolak) in Bonanipinasa (1994, Vol. 5, No. 53, pp. 17-18); and an
article, 'Perabangunan Tugu, Apa Salahnya?' (What is Wrong with Erecting Monuments?) in (Bonanipinasa
1989, Vol. ], No.2,p.47).
144
believe that adat protects their status within their lineages and social relations.
In
addition, since they do not want to be accused of being nasomaradat (ignorant of adat),
and thus humiliated, they must be mindful of adat practices and values.57 Hence, it is
not surprising that some Protestants Toba Batak these days perform pre-funeral
ceremonies in which they dance the tortor in front of the deceased while asking
blessings from the corpse. Some Protestants also put exhumed ancestral bones on top of
their heads while dancing the tortor to the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan
during an exhumation of bones ceremony. They call these practices adat. Many, too,
practice adat so that they can maintain their social relationships (Sianipar 1973: 1314).58
What does all this mean? It means in one sense that adat has changed, because
the people have changed. Yet, in a sense its meaning, function and practice remain the
same—for those who still care for the survival of pre-Christian Toba Batak adat. Adat
which once seemed to be stable and impervious to change has turned out to be flexible,
for it depends on time, place, religion and its practitioners' knowledge of it In
contemporary Protestant Toba Batak society, people have the option of practising not as
\
an absolute obligation but as a matter of personal choice.
3.7 Conclusion
Contact with Christian missionaries and the Dutch colonial government was the embryo
of major social, cultural and religious change in Toba Batak society. Eventually the
56
See an article 'Jangan Sampai Melunturkan Nilai-Nilai Filosofis' (Avoid Contamination in
Philosophical Values [of Adat]), in Bonanipinasa (1990, Vol. 2, No. 10, p. 13).
57
For a detailed discussion about ignorance oiadat see the article 'Nasomaradat' in Bonanipinasa
(1994, Vol. 5, No. 53, p. 16).
58
The same opinion is also asserted by the HKBP pendeta, B.T.P. Purba. His opinion is recorded
in the article 'Orang Batak Kristen Mengalami Krisis Identitas' (The Christian Toba Batak experienced
Identity Crisis) in Bonanipinasa (1990, Vol. 2, No. 10, pp. 18-19).
145
prolonged tenure of these two agents of change came to an end; but by then Toba Batak
religious life had been transformed, with the majority becoming Christian. People drifted
from the rural areas to the towns and cities, developed the church in both rural and
urban
areas,
and witnessed an educational, economic, and technological
transformation. Adat still survives to mis day. The concept of marga as constituting
one's personal and family identity, the implementation ofdalihan na tolu in adat feasts,
the performance of pre-funeral and exhumation of bones ceremonies as well as tugu
feasts, and performance of the gondang sabangunan and the tortor in these ceremonies
and other adat practices held in urban and rural areas are still important. Urban clan
associations whose activity mostly centres on adat practices and whose members are
mostly educated people, serve as a means of maintaining adat. Despite the fact that adat
always remains adat, its practices have changed considerably since the 1860s; the extent
of adat observance differs not only between pre-Christian Toba Batak society and
contemporary Toba Batak society, but also between Protestants who selectively practise
adat practices and tend to secularise others.
Thus, for most Protestant Toba Batak, embracing Christianity does not mean
denying their ancestral traditions; indeed, Christianity serves to strengthen their Toba
Batak identity. Christian practices do not replace their ancestral traditions; on the
contrary, elements of both coexist. The way this coexistence expresses itself in
contemporary performance of the gondang sabangunan is the main concern of this
study.
146
CHAPTER FOUR
GONDANG SABANGUNAN
ITS INSTRUMENTS, MUSICAL STRUCTURE, AND TERMINOLOGY
This chapter discusses the terminology, instruments, tuning systems, pitch relationships
and musical structures of gondang music as well as the function of instruments in the
process of music-making. In this chapter I aim to show mat the radical social change
experienced by the Toba Batak people in the last one hundred and thirty years has had
only an insignificant impact on the instrumentation of the gondang sabangunan
ensemble, the accepted method of teaching and learning the music, and the musical
structure.
To begin with, it is necessary to discuss the various meaning of the term
gondang in the contexts of musical performance practice, in daily conversation and in
the context of the church and adat feasts.
4.1 The Meaning of the Term Gondang
In Toba Batak language the word gondang denotes a musical ensemble, a ceremony, a
single composition, a repertoire, a type of dance, or a group of people dancing a tortor,
depending on the context in which it is used. Prefixes may be attached. For example, if
the word pargondang is used to denote a person or a group, it clearly means that they
are gondang ensemble musicians, or that the group of people own a gondang ensemble.
The term pargonsi, which is a synonym for pargondang, is another common term used
to address gondang musicians.
Despite the prefixes, the meaning of the word can still sometimes be confusing.
For example, the word margondang can have several meanings. The prefix 'mar' in the
context of margondang means 'to play,' 'to do,' or 'to have'. Thus, the word
1
147
margondang may be interpreted in several ways, including playing a musical ensemble,
performing the gondang sabangunan (or the gondang hasapi, or the gondang bulu), or
performing a ceremony. The word gondang alone may denote a musical ensemble or
genre, the three gondang ensembles, or a ceremony.1 To understand its meaning one
must consider the context in which the word is being used.
Sometimes gondang is combined with another word, as in the following terms:
gondang dalan, sipitu gondang, gondang Saniang Naga Laut, panjujuran gondang or
gondang panjujuran, gondang ondas, gondang saem, and gondang sabangunan. In
these cases, the meaning of the word gondang must be interpreted as part of the
preceding or succeeding word. For example, the word dalan in gondang dalan means 'a
road'. It implies a specific action that takes place on a road, namely walking. This
expression may frequently be heard during funeral ceremonies. It is also used in reburial
ceremonies in which music is played while a corpse is being carried to a graveyard to be
buried, or exhumed bones are transferred to a new tomb. Music on this occasion is
referred to as gondang dalan. Regardless of the title, all gondang pieces performed
within this particular context are termed gondang dalan. Therefore, the word gondang
in gondang dalan means 'a group of compositions' or 'a special repertoire' (used for a
special occasion).
Similarly, the term sipitu gondang literally means 'a series of seven gondang
pieces', usually performed one after the other without stopping. It consists of the
Gondang Mula-mula, the Gondang Mula Jadi, the Gondang Batara Guru, the
Gondang Bala Bulan, the Gondang Debata Son, the Gondang Habonaran, and the
1
Marbun's book, Kamus Batak Toba-Indonesia (1994:16) explains the various prefixes. He gives
an example of the prefix 'mar' in the word lmarsuan\ This word actually consists of two words, i.e. /mar/
and Isnanl. The word 'man' means 'to grow'; but the adding of the prefix 'mar' changes the meaning of the
word to 'to do farming' (Marbun 1994: 16).
148
Gondang Sitio-tio Hasahatan2
The term gondang may also denote a single
composition, for example, the Gondang Saniang Naga Laut. 'Saniang Naga Laut' is
the name of a deity. Thus, the term means a gondang piece dedicated to the deity.
Normally, the piece is performed while the deity is being worshipped.
Unlike the above-mentioned definitions, the term gondang in such expressions
as gondang saem, gondang panjujuran or panjujuran gondang and gondang suhut
denotes a ceremony or an event. The word saem means 'making an offering to avoid
disasters'3 or 'making a ceremony to cure a dying person'. The word panjujuran is
derived from the word jujur, which literally means 'to select' (see Sinaga 1994: 173;
Sarumpaet 1994: 168). The term panjujuran gondang, or gondang panjujuran means
that musicians begin a gondang performance by playing selected gondang pieces. Thus,
gondang panjujuran is part of a ceremony, or an event in a ceremony. The word
gondang in the term gondang suhut refers to 'a turn' for ?.. group of people (i.e. the host
and its members) to dance the tortor. The word gondang is also employed to signify a
type of dance, as in the term gondang ondas where the word ondas refers to the dance
movement performed around a corpse. Following the musical metre, dancers stTetch
their hands in front of their chests and move the palms of their hands towards them to
symbolise the invocation of blessings from that corpse.
The term gondang is also used to describe a sense of belonging. Members of a
lineage, for example, are referred to as sagondang, meaning they are descendants of the
same ancestor. 'Gondang ni marga Simanjuntak' means that a ceremony belongs to the
This series is one among many examples of the so-called sipitu gondang. Siahaan (1953) and
Hutasuhut (1990) present different examples of the sipitu gondang.
3
See Sarumpaet, Kamus Batak Indonesia (1994: 239).
149
clan of Simanjuntak The expression, 'nasapargondangan do hita' signifies that a group
of people is in attendance at the same ceremony.
The word gondang within the term gondang sabangunan refers to a collection
of musical instruments. The word sabangunan means 'a set', qualifying the word
gondang as the signifier of musical instruments. Indeed, gondang sabangunan
commonly refers to an ensemble that consists of fixed musical instruments. Clearly, the
word gondang used in different sentences and contexts conveys different meanings. In
other words, it is a flexible word to be used in a variety of expressions. The meaning and
the use of the word gondang undoubtedly differs from the meaning of the Malay or
Indonesian or Javanese words for drum, i.e. gendang (BI) or kendhang (BJ). The fact
that they have a similar articulation does not, however, give them the same meaning.
4.2 Instruments of the Gondang Sabangunan
A complete gondang sabangunan ensemble consists of nine instruments, namely (1)
taganing or tataganing (single-headed drums), (2) gordang or gordang bolon (a
a
single-headed drum), (3) odap (a double-headed drum), (4) sarune (a double reed
oboe/shawm), (5) hesek or hesek-hesek (a plaque-idiophone), and a set of four metal
suspended ogung (gongs): (6) ogung oloan, (7) ogung ihutan, (8) ogung panggora and
(9) ogung doal
Musicians currently perform two types of gondang sabangunan: the complete
ensemble, as stated above, and the ensemble minus the odap. Music played on the two
types of ensemble are similar. The odap can always be substituted by drums, such as the
gordang, or the taganing. The reason why musicians exclude, or include, the odap in
the gondang sabangunan has not yet been thoroughly investigated. Some Protestants
adat practitioners claimed that they no longer used the odap because it was originally
.
150
used to evoke the spirits of the dead. This implies that it was the odap alone that
associated the gondang sabangunan with spirit belief systems. I found this claim to be
inconclusive because all pre-Christian and many Christian ritual performances which are
accompanied by the ensemble with or without
the odap—are associated with the
practice of spirit belief systems.
In my conversation4 with musicians and members of the Parmalim organisation
of Hutatinggi, Laguboti, I was informed that they always use the complete ensemble for
their religious ceremonies, exactly as their ancestors did years ago.5 Osner Gultom, a
sarune player, and Marningar Sitorus, a taganing player, are Parmalim member who in
1994 acted as leading musicians in Parmalim religious celebrations. To them, the odap
is an integral part of the gondang sabangunan and must be included whenever the
ensemble is performed in religious ceremonies. They assert that they do not intend to
change, or to omit any instrument from the ensemble, but to maintain what their
ancestors have passed on to them. As the current leader of the Parmalim organisation
(R.M. Naipospos) explained, Parmalim musicians must perform the complete gondang
ensemble in Parmalim religious performances because it is the tona (message) of the
Parmalim ancestors.6 Nevertheless, Gultom and Sitorus admit that they often use the
second type of gondang ensemble under two specific conditions: either that it is
performed outside the context of the Parmalim religious ceremonies, i.e. when they are
invited to perform in adat feasts held by the Christians as well as in church functions; or
4
The conversation took place in Hutatinggi, Laguboti, July 1994.
There has not been a detailed investigation into the use of this ensemble among different Toba
Batak spiritual organisations. The one that I mean here is the Parmalim Toba Batak organisation. Its
headquarters are in Hutatinggi, Laguboti, North Tapanuli, which is about 180 kilometres from Medan.
Interview with R.M. Naipospos, the leader of Parmalim organisation, in Medan, August 1994.
151
that the leader of the Parmalim organisation allows them to use such an ensemble on
such an occasion.
Each instrument of the ensemble—except the taganing and the odap, which are
played simultaneously by a taganing player7—is normally played by one musician.
Thus, ideally, a complete ensemble employs eight musicians, referred to as pargonsi or
raja na ualu (eight kings). Religiously they represent the eight points of the compass.
However, in contemporary gondang performance—except gondang performances in
Parmalim religious ceremonies—the total number of musicians varies, often between six
and eight musicians. One may find that some groups use two sarune, which normally
happens when musicians or participants of a gondang performance estimate that the
sound of one sarune is not loud enough. At a gondang performance I attended at
Hutaraja, Sipaholon in 1994, the oloan and panggora were performed by one musician,
and the ihutan and hesek were also played by one player. In the same year I attended a
gondang sabangunan performance in Medan during which the oloan and ihutan were
played by one musician.
Why does the total number of musicians in a gondang ensemble vary?
Musicians explained mat sometimes it is difficult to find eight players, and that six or
seven players for example are enough, providing that all instruments in the ensemble
are played. Other musicians maintain that remuneration received after accomplishing a
job is always better scared by six than eight players.10 Yet, this issue is still open to
dispute.
7
This occurs only in the ensemble that employs the odap.
Even though two sarune are used simultaneously in a gondang ensemble, it does not mean that
their players will perform different melodic lines. Instead, they will cooperate to perform melodies which are
as similar as possible (see also Simon 1984:25).
9
Interview with Kalabius Simbolon, Pematang Siantar5 April 1992.
10
Interview with Sarikawan Sitohang and Marsius Sitohang, Medan, 1994.
a
152
4.2.1 Tazaninz
11
The taganing is a set of five tuned drums hung in a row over a wooden beam and
arranged in order from the smallest on the left of the player to the biggest on the right
(see Plates 1 and 2). It is a melodic instrument which is beaten with two wooden sticks
called palu-palu. Each of the five drums has an individual name (see Figure 5).
However, some musicians refer to the taganing as a group of seven drums which
comprises the five drums of the taganing, plus the gordang and the odap (see Figure 6).
The gordang12 and the odap are actually two separate instruments; they are functionally
different and, unlike the taganing, they are usually untuned. Despite these facts,
both
definitions of the taganing are valid.13
.. f
Plate 1. The taganing and the gordang
(This and other plates drawn by die author.)
11
For reasons of consistency, instead of using two terms—taganing or tataganing— the term
taganing will be employed throughout the discussion.
12
For reasons of consistency, from now on—except in Figure 6—-the term gordang will be used
throughout the discussion.
13
For more details on and discussion of this matter, see Hutasuhut (1990: 43-48).
153
Plate 2. The gordang, the taganing, and the odap
However, in order to avoid misunderstanding, and to make it easier to read their parts in
music transcriptions, as well as for reasons of consistency, I will use the three terms—
taganing, gordang and odap—throughout the discussion, whereby each term designates
s
3
an instrument.
Instruments
||Di vision
taganing
|(1) ting-ting
k2)paidua ting-ting
t})painonga
•4) paidua odap
•5) odap-odap
gordang
odap
I
-
Figure 5. Taganing and its division ( I )
\)ting-ting.(2) paidua ting-ting; (3)painonga; (4)paidua odap; (5)odap-odap;
(6)gordangbolon; (7) odap ||
Figure 6. Taganing and its division ( I I ) 1 4
The taganing, which is made of wood, varies in shape and size as well as
tuning. Different types of wood are used to make it, such as the hau ni pinasa
{Artocarpus integer), the hau ingul (Cedrella toona), the hau joring (Phitecolobium
lobatu), the hau ampiras, the hau antuang, and the hau sitorngom (Siahaan 1953: 45;
see also Pasaribu 1986: 73). It is either conical or slightly barrel-shaped (see Plate 3).
Likewise, different sets of taganing have different sizes, ranging from 40 to 55 cm in
length and 18 to 24 cm in diameter.
Puntasan15 is the skin that covers the head (the widest end) of the taganing.16
(See Plate 4 for different part of taganing construction.) Bohang is part ofthe puntasan
extending over the edge of the drum head. The bohang of the taganing always has six
pairs of holes, to which pinggol-pinggol (wooden pegs) are inserted. Ihur is a wooden
plate that permanently covers the bottom part of the drum. Laman-laman, another
wooden plate, is the base on which the whole body of the drum stands. Its diameter is
longer that that of the ihur. Like the bohang, it has six pairs of holes. The bohang and
14
All of the drum names in these figures are quoted from Hutasuhut's thesis (1990: 46). The
Figure design is mine. Hutasuhut (1990:46) presents various opinions about the taganing division. This
Figure represents one of those opinions.
15
All terms that are associated with the taganing parts in the discussion are obtained from
Hutasuhut (1990: 37-40) and Pasaribu (1986: 75-85).
16
Buffalo skin is the type of skin that is mostly used in a taganing, though other animal skins,
such as goat and cow skins are also used.
155
the laman-laman are connected by rattan cords.17 Through the holes on the lamanlaman the rattan cords are stretched parallel to the body of the drum and are then
inserted between the pinggol-pinggol and the bohang. The puntasan (membrane) is
tensed by pulling the laces tight, i.e. by twisting a cord to the other cord next to it and by
tying up each twisted cord to another cord in the botohon area (i.e. the middle part of the
drum).
Plate 3. External construction of the taganing
a. Barrel shape b. Conical shape
There are also taganing whose bohang and ihur are connected with metal string.
156
1. Puntasan
2. Pinggol-pinggol (tuning pegs)
3. Botohon (body)
4. Piuan (rattan cords)
5. Ihur (bottom or wooden plate)
6. Laman-laman (bottom or
wooden plate)
7. Solartg or solang-solang
(wooden wedges)
8. Bohang (part of the skin extending
over the edge of the drum head).
(Source: Hutasuhut 1990: 37-39)
Plate 4. Parts of the taganing
Plate 5. The Ihur of the taganing
To control the tension of the puntasan, wooden wedges {solang-solang) may
be inserted between the laman-laman and the ihur (see Plate 5). Adjusting the wooden
wedges by means of loosening or tightening their position between die laman-laman and
the ihur of the drum helps tuners to find the intended pitches. This sort of construction
157
requires the taganing to be retuned each time it is played, especially when it has not
been used for a period of time. Several factors may cause a taganing to need re-tuning.
Rattan cords that provide tension for the membranes are always unstable. A frayed
rattan cord, for example, can reduce the tension of the puntasan over a period of time.
This condition eventually affects the sound quality of the taganing. Replacing the old
rattan cords with a new one is the only way to solve this problem. Wooden wedges may
sometimes loosen because they are not permanently attached, hence they often need to
be fastened. Usually, the membrane of a taganing tends to become damp when it is
kept in a room with a reasonably low temperature and fairly high humidity. A damp
membrane produces a sound lower than normal. Similarly, when a taganing is kept, or
played, inside a room with a considerably high temperature and fairly low humidity, its
membrane can be over-dry, which results in too much tension, producing too high a
pitch. When this occurs, musicians put some water onto the top of the puntasan or, if
during a performance, they usually put their own saliva onto the top of the drums. This
is not only to control pitch of the drums but also to prevent membranes from gaining
more tension and to allow the membranes to reduce their tension gradually.
Creating the pitch of the smallest drum, the tingting, is the first step taken by
taganing players in setting up the soara ni taganing {taganing scale). The pitch of that
tingting, referred to here as the basic pitch, is used by taganing players to determine the
pitch of the paidua ni tingting, the painonga, the paidua odap and the odap-odap. The
question that now arises is: how does a taganing player obtain that basic pitch and then
apply it to the rest of the drums in order to form a tuning scale? Okazaki asserts that the
pitches of the taganing are generally tuned to the scale of the sarune and to the pitches
of the gongs, whilst the ting-ting (i.e. the basic pitch) is always first tuned to 'the fifth
scale tone of the sarune' (Okazaki 1994: 79). In other words, Okazaki observed that
158
there is a relationship between the tuning of the taganing and the sarune and between
the taganing and the four ogung. To Okazaki, the sarune is the source of the basic pitch
(ibid. 79).
I have never heard of the method described by Okazaki. It may be one of many
methods that gondang musicians apply during the tuning process. My investigations
suggest, however, they mostly tune the ting-ting to the pitch they desire, then go on to
tune the rest of the drums. Sometimes the ting-ting pitch happens to be the fifth scalenote of the sarune, but that is not necessarily the case
(see example of pitch
relationships among the instruments of gondang sabangunan on Figure 17). The point is
that when musicians tune the ting-ting, they do not discuss its pitch with the sarune
players and they do not even ask the sarune players to perform the fifth note of the
sanme scale against which to set the pitch. Besides, sarune players, too, sometimes
change the reed and the bell of their instruments in between gondang pieces, which
means that the pitches of the sarune
are not stable. What actually happens is that
musicians who play the two instruments adopt their own way of setting up the tuning of
their instruments, maintaining the gondang tradition in this respect. The ability to
conduct the taganing tuning process is conceived of by gondang musicians as being a
personal matter. As has been shown (see Figure 7), different taganing players
employing a different taganing scale is conceived of by gondang musicians as normal.
This situation is not surprising considering the oral nature of Toba Batak music. But
when asked whether or not it is normal for a taganing player or different taganing
players to employ the same basic pitch and tuning scale, musicians seem uncertain,
which suggests that they do not always pay conscious attention to such a habit. Instead,
they assert that conducting the taganing tuning process is a basic skill that every
H
*£
159
Place of
Residence
Musicians
Marsius Sitohang
Medan
Sankawan Sitohang
Kabanjahe
Marningar Sitorus
Porsea
Amani Rospita Sinaga
Palipi
Silalahi
Medan
Gukom
Laguboti
Amani Halason
Tomok
Basic Pitch and Tuning Scale"
r»ii.
Figure 7. Example of basic pitches and tuning scales applied to different
taganing, by different players from different regions.19 [ ] = basic pitch
18
set of
In measuring the pitches I used a Casio CTK-750 keyboard, the pitch /C/ frequency of which
was 523.
Each musician in the Figure represents a gondang ensemble. To obtain information about the
basic pitch and the tuning scale for the Figure I did not ask musicians to demonstrate how they tune their
drums. I obtained it by analysis of gondang melodies on the taganing performed by a musician during a
gondang performance in context. Therefore, the figure shows which tuning scales and basic pitches are
employed by taganing musicians during a gondang performance. It does not show how musicians set up a
tuning scale. I chose the first method because it depicts what musicians really do instead of what they say
they do.
160
taganing player must possess in order to be able to deal with a taganing. This skill is
learned orally and individually rather than collectively.
In three gondang performances I attended in 1993 and 1994, two of which were
at wedding ceremonies and the other a youth festival,20 there were two taganing players
in each gondang group that performed on these occasions. The idea of having two
taganing players is that when one taganing player becomes tired he can be substituted
by another. The problem is that the taganing players who substituted for the tired
taganing players did not want to use the taganing tuning scale previously use, and
always retuned, for different musicians have different concepts of the soara ni taganing
they want to use. How and in what senses taganing players ascertain whether or not a
tuning scale of a taganing is right or wrong remains undetermined; it needs further
research.
4.2.2 Gordang
Within the drum family of the gondang sabangunan ensemble, the gordang
serves as a bass drum and functions mainly as a rhythmic instrument.
Like the
taganing, the gordang is made of wood and is constructed in exactly the same manner.
The physical difference between a gordang and a taganing lies in their size: the
gordang is much larger and longer than every single drum included in a taganing set
The gordang may range from 100 cm to 110 cm in length. Its diameter may also vary
from 23 cm to 27 cm.
20
In 1993 I attended a wedding ceremony hosted by a member of the Simamora family. The
gondang was performed by the Sitohang Bersaudara, a gondang association from Medan. In 1994 I attended
another wedding ceremony hosted by the Sitorus family. The gondang was presented by the Gondang
Maduma, another gondang association from Medan. hi the same year I attended a youth festival where the
Sitohang Bersaudara group performed again.
161
In a number of gondang performances which I attended the gordang was left
untuned. This was because the gordang is not used on these occasions either to perform
drum melodies or to support the Iaganing in performing melodies. Instead, it was used
as a rhythmic instrument, i.e. to build interlocking rhythms.21
4.2.3 Oda
The odap is a double-headed drum of about 30 cm in length and 20 cm diameter.22
Slightly barrel-shaped, its two skin-covered ends are connected by means of eight rattan
cords mat are pulled tight via and toward the eight wooden pegs on each end (see Plate
6). Both ends of an odap may be stick-beaten, but only one end is used during a
performance. An odap, together with the taganing and the gordang is hung over a
wooden beam leaning onto the body of the gordang and the odap-<odap. Like the
gordang, the odap is a rhythmic instrument and is left untuned.23
21
This is also the reason why I have not made a close examination of the pitch of the gordang
within the gondang sabangunan ensembles in this study.
22
This is the size of the odap used by musicians of Parmalim at Hutatinggi, Laguboti. I measured it
in July 1994.
23
This is also the reason why I do not examine the pitch of the odap in relation to the pitch of other
drums in the gondang sabangunan ensembles.
162
Plate 6. The Odap
In a gondang sabangunan ensemble, the musician who plays the taganing also
plays the odap. Despite this, it never happens that a taganing player performs melodies
on the taganing while playing rhythmic patterns on the odap. Usually, when a taganing
player plays the odap, he will not use the taganing, neither do the gordang musicians
play the gordang. If the taganing player plays, he only uses the small taganing, for
example, the ting-ting or thepaidua ting-ting.
4.2.4 Sarune
The sarune, sometimes called the sarune bolon (large sarune), is a wooden double-reed
aerophone or shawm. It is used only in the gondang sabangunan ensemble. Its physical
construction contains five separable parts, i.e. the batang ni sarune (body), the anggaranggar (bell), the tolonan (staple), the ombong-ombong (a pirouette), and the anak ni
sarune (reed) (see Plate 7). The overall length of the sarune varies from 60 cm to 70
cm.
163
The sarune is easily constructed. A piece of wood from the 7/0/- tree {Cassia
siamea) is cut to make its body (see Simon 1984:25). The inner part of the wood is
shaped into a conical bore. Six holes are cut into its surface by drilling a piece of hot iron
into it until it reaches the conical bore. Five finger holes are cut into the front side of the
body. A thumb hole is cut into the opposite side between the first two finger holes near
the end of the body. Here a reed is attached. At this end, a staple made of a small piece
of hollow bone is added. A double-reed made of leaf is placed on the staple. A pirouette
made of a coconut shell is placed between the reed and the staple. Another piece of
wood is carved to form a bell into which the other end of the sanme is inserted.
At gondang sabangunan performances, the sanme players, together with the
Iaganing players, lead the performance of the melodies. One important characteristic of
the sanme playing technique is marsiulak hosa (circular breathing). For this technique,
sanme players must blow the reed of the sanme continuously with a constant amount of
28
air. This technique, as well as the internal construction of the instrument (i.e. its size,
conical bore, bell and reed), are important elements that shape the pitches produced by
the sanme.
To describe the scale of the samne, one can always compare it to the Western
major scale. In my own aural experience, the scale of the sanme sounds like the major
scale, that is, do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti and octave do (see Figure 8). This scale is usually
used when musicians are simply asked to blow their sanme but not to play a gondang
piece. However, since the scale used in gondang music is much closer to the pentatonic
scale, some of the solfa notes mentioned above are rarely used.24 The five notes of the
sanme scale are like the first five notes of the major scale, i.e. do, re, mi, fa, and sol,
24
Evidently, the taganing in a gondang sabangunan ensemble is always tuned to a pentatonic
scale. This supports the assumption that the music of the gondang sabangunan always uses pentatonic
scales.
§
164
with another additional note sol below do, i.e. an octave lower than the fifth note of the
scale. The five notes are used primarily to play the main gondang melodies while the
Key:
1. Anggar-anggar (bell)
2. Badan ni sarune (body)
3. Ipit-ipit/Anak ni sarune (reed)
4. Ombong-ombong (pirouette)
5. Tolonan (staple)
6. Lubang ni sarune (finger holes)
7. Lubang ni sarune (thumb hole)
8. Ipit-ipit (reserve reeds)
Plate 7. The sarune
165
additional lowest note, sol, mostly appears in the pambuka (introduction), the ujung ni
gondang, ihepanutup ni gondang (coda), or at the end of a repetitive melodic phrase. It
does not occur in the middle of a melodic phrase.
Approximately:
c-o
Figure 8. Example of a sarune scale
4.2.5
The set of four ogung consists of the oloan, the ihutan, ihepanggora said the doal. They
are flat, bossed, metal gongs which vary in size as well as pitch (see Plate 8). Some
ogung are made of an alloy of iron and copper or bronze; others are made of any flat
piece of metal, such as a tin container. Most iron/copper or bronze gongs were imported
from outside the country. Liberty Manik, the late Toba Batak musicologist, agreed with
Jaap Kunst that gongs used in gondang sabangunan originally came from Semarang
(Central Java), having been imported via Padang (West Sumatra) to the Toba Batak
Lands (Manik 1977: 70). Simon claims that gongs used in gondang sabangunan were
always imported from Java and Farther India (Simon 1985: 125).
Taking into account that the Toba Batak people had been in contact with foreign
peoples from as early as the fifth century, Manik's and Simon's views may both be
correct. Since at present there is no bronze or iron/copper gong maker in North Sumatra,
someone who wants to acquire new gongs must order them from Java. There was one
flat metal gong maker in Medan, namely Sinurat, who died in the 1970s. J. Nainggolan,
sfes.3
166
the leader of 'Gondang Maduma' of Medan now continues Sinurat's work; using simple
tools, he makes his own flat metal gongs and has sold some of them to various gondang
groups.
Plate 8. The ogung
A set of ogung used by a particular group often differs in size and pitch from
that of other groups. Figure 9 shows a pitch comparison between six gong sets. Overall,
the oloan and the ihutan are always bigger than the other two gongs, ranging from 38
cm to 47 cm in diameter. The pitch of the oloan is always tuned lower than that of the
ihutan. The ogung panggora and the doal range from 30 cm to 36 cm in diameter.
Sometimes the diameter of the doal is larger than that of the ogung panggora, or vice
versa. Despite this, the pitch of the ogung panggora is always higher than that of the
25
Okazaki (1994: 80) and Simon (1984:25) provide different sizes for the four ogung.
167
.•26
doal Musicians tune the gongs by attaching puli,
a kind of paste, to the concave part
of the boss of the gongs.
At gondang performances, the four ogimg are usually hung over a wooden
beam or standard. Often, too, only two gongs are hung over a beam, while each of the
other two gongs is held on one of the musician's left arm. The four gongs are beaten
with wooden sticks wrapped in a piece of cloth. When beating the oloan and the ihntan,
the musicians allow them to resonate (see Plate 9). In contrast, musicians mute the
sound of the panggora and doal by leaning with their arms on the surface of the gong
(for the doal), or by holding the rim of the gong with the left hand (in the case of the
oping panggora) (see Plates 10 and 11).
Medan (a)
Medan (b)
Laguboti
b fr bn
4 1 A-
Sipoholon
_ _
b s
vo
Key: [ • ] = oloan; [ • ] = ihutan;
t
|? <)
Pearondang
-b-0
•*€-n
•
•
Palipi
,-i
!••
[ Q ] = panggora; [ O ] = doal.
Figure 9. Pitch comparison of the four ogung used by six different groups27
26
According to Simon (1984: 25), 'Puli is a kind o f pitch or putty, a natural, black,
substance, which is obtained from the nests of birds who apparently collect it'.
27
resin-like
Data used in Figure 9 are gathered from performances at different times and places. In July 1989,
I recorded a gondang performance for an exhumation o f bones ceremony in Palipi, Samosir. The group was
led by Amani Rospita Sinaga. In November 1990, Philip Yampolsky, an American musicologist, and I
recorded two groups of gondang sabangunan
ensembles: one from Hutatinggi, Laguboti and the other from
the village of Pearondang, Tomok, Samosir. Both recording sessions were out of the ceremonial context. In
March 1 9 9 1 , 1 recorded a gondang sabangunan
performance for a pre-funeral ceremony in Medan. The
group was led by J. Nainggolan. hi Figure 9 this group is represented by Medan (b). In November 1 9 9 4 , 1
recorded a gondang sabangunan performance in Medan, led by Marsius Sitohang. The music was performed
for a ceremony called Gondang Naposo (Gondang for Youth). In Figure 9 this group is represented by Medan
(a). In November 1994 I also recorded a gondang sabangunan performance i n the village o f Hutaraja,
Sipoholon, Tapanuli Utara, performed for an exhumation of bones ceremony, led by B. Gultom.
168
Plate 9. Method of playing the oloan and the ihutan
Plate 10. Method of playing the panggora
169
Plate 11. Method of playing the doal
4.2.6
Hesek or Hesek-hesek
The hesek is a plaque idiophone which appears in various forms and sizes. It may be
made of iron or glass. Some musicians make use of an empty beer bottle and hit it with a
wooden or metal stick. Others use a piece of flat metal and strike it with a metal stick.
Others use a discarded hoe and, as in the first case, strike it with a metal stick. The
hesek is played by one musician only.
Plate 12. The hesek (an empty beer bottle)
s
170
4.3 The Instruments9 Function in the Process of Music-Making and the Musical
Structure of Gondang
Based on their role in the process of music-making, the nine instruments of the gondang
sabangunan can be divided into two categories: the melodic and rhythmic instruments.
The latter category can be further divided into two sub-categories: these are the constant
and the variable rhythmic instruments. The sarune and the taganing are melodic
instruments because both instruments are used to perform the melody of gondang
pieces. The taganing, however, can also be categorised as a rhythmic instrument since it
is sometimes used to perform a short, repetitive, motivic rhythmic pattern using one or
two drums, instead of playing melodic lines (called mangodap-odapi) (see the taganing
part of the Gondang Somba tu Debata Jahowa in Appendix 1; Recording 1). The
mangodap-odapi normally occurs when a melody of a given gondang piece is not
required to be played on the taganing. Thus the taganing, unlike the sarune, consists of
two categories: melodic and rhythmic. The four gongs (ihutan, oloan^ panggora and
s
doal), the hesek-hesek, the gordang, and the odap (if included) are rhythmic
.3
instruments. They are all used to play short repetitive rhythmic patterns rather than
melodic lines. In summary, the gordang, the taganing and the odap are variable
rhythmic instruments while the gongs and the hesek are constant rhythmic instruments.
This categorisation is based on the fact that the taganing, the gordang and the odap are
not restricted to playing a constant rhythmic pattern throughout a gondang piece.
Musicians are allowed to create certain variations on a given rhythmic pattern. On the
other hand, the four ogung and the hesek must adhere to the exact rhythmic pattern, with
no variations allowed.
All instruments in the gondang sabangunan ensemble except the odap are used
to play the gondang repertoire. Normally, when taganing players perform melodies on
J
171
the taganing, gordang players perform rhythmic variations. In this situation, the
taganing players do not use the odap. The odap is usually played in particular pieces,
such as the Gondang Parsahadatan tu Ompunta Patuan Raja Uti, the Gondang Malim,
the Gondang Apui-apul Debata, and the Gondang Batara Guru. In Parmalim religious
ceremonies these gondang pieces are performed to worship the gods. According to
Off
Mamingar Sitorus,
the first two gondang pieces should be performed at a very slow
tempo (i.e. mm = 60-70) and the other at a considerably fast tempo (i.e. mm =160205). He concludes that it is much better to employ the odap and provide rhythmic
accompaniment on the instrument than to force the musicians to play a melody on the
taganing.29 Protestants allow gondang musicians to perform the melodies of these
gondang pieces at adat and church feasts, but they do not tolerate those titles because
they are seen as being antagonistic to Christianity.
Even though Christian teachings influence the way the Protestant Toba Batak
people name a gondang piece, it does not influence gondang musicians in the making of
the music. In other words, the ensemble and the musical structure of the gondang
sabangunan remain intact as in pre-Christian times.30 The four elements determine the
musical structure of the gondang sabangunan. The first element is the constant pulse
played on the hesek throughout a gondang piece. The second element is the typical
cyclic rhythmic pattern played on the four ogung. The third element is the short
repetitive rhythmic pattern played with some rhythmic variations either on the gordang,
the taganing or the odap (if included). The fourth element is the melody played
heterophonically on the sarune and the taganing or played only on the sarune. However,
28
Interview with Mamingar Sitorus, July 1994, Hutatinggi, Laguboti.
29
Hutasuhut (1990: 59-63) provides the same reason on the basis of his interview with Sarikawan
Sitohang, a taganing musician from Kabanjahe.
30
Interview with Amani Bunga Sinaga at Palipi, Samosir, October 1994.
172
not all of these elements apply to the so-called 'Gondang alu-alu \ which is a gondang
piece that is performed to symbolise an announcement (alu-alu). This particular piece,
unlike other gondang pieces, consists of only a short rhythmic pattern played solo on
the taganing as shown below in Figure 10. Often at the end of the Gondang alu-alu, an
oping player (usually the oloan player) provides punctuation by beating the oloan once.
There is no dancing at a Gondang Alu-alu presentation.
Free metre
mm J = 160-180
Tgd
IIJIJIII
Tgd
Tgd
01
Figure 10. Gondang Alu-alu tu Amanta Debata (performed by the Gondang Maduma,
Medan 1994; Recording 2).
173
At gondang performances, the presentation of a gondang piece always begins
with a dialogue between the rajapaminta and the taganing player, in which the former
delivers a speech to the latter, who then responds by playing the taganing. After the
dialogue, the taganing player plays a gondang piece on request with an introduction
known as pambuka?1 A pambuka normally consist of a spontaneous melodic phrase
played on the taganing. I use the term 'spontaneous' because no gondang piece is
strictly introduced with a fixed introduction.
A taganing player may use a different introduction for a gondang piece from
time to time. Figure 11
is a short version of the Gondang Hasahatan Sitio-tio
performed by the Gondang Batak Maduma during a wedding ceremony in Medan. As it
shows, after the dialogue the taganing player introduces the requested gondang piece
with a short melodic pattern. The hesek comes in by following the pulse of that piece's
pambuka. From this point onward, the hesek maintains that pulse until the piece is
finished.32 The pulse of a gondang piece varies greatly. In general, gondang pieces in
slow pulse range between mm = 40-68, while those in fast pace can range between mm
=160-205. The oloan, the gordang, and the sarune may enter at the same time as, or
soon after, the entrance of the hesek.23 Usually, either way is acceptable. The first
stroke, including the following stroke on the oloan, must always fall on the beat of the
hesek. The first stroke on the gordang, by contrast, may start on the upbeat or the
downbeat of the hesek. The other three gongs, the ihutan, the panggora and the doal,
31
The word 'pambuka' is probably influenced by the Indonesian word 'pembuka', which literally
means 'the opener'. See also the entry 'buka* in the Advanced Indonesian-English Dictionary, edited by
Peter Salim (1990:101-102)
32
A constant pulse on the hesek may also change in the middle of a gondang piece, but this occurs
only when a signal has been given by taganing players.
33
However, in some gondang performances the three instruments sometimes start before the
entrance of the hesek. This, too, is acceptable as long as the three players can identify the pulse implied by
the taganing in the pambuka.
174
come in immediately after the first stroke of the oloan; and instantly start to weave an
interlocking rhythm with each other. When the sarune players join in the pambuka they
do not instantly play gondang melodies because they, like the taganing players, usually
perform a pambuka too, as shown in Figure 11 (see the sarune part /gen 2/). (See also
the sarune part of the Gondang Parsahadatan tu Ompunta Patuan Raja Uti—/gen 2/ to
/gen 61). Normally, unless both the interlocking pattern of the gong section and the
tempo have been established, the sarune and the taganing players cannot start playing
gondang melody.
(1) (Dialogue)
Tgd
Spoken Voice
(SV) : Mauliate ma pande nami,
ala sude pangidoan nami i
(Thank you honourable musicians, for you have performed
Tgd:
SV
nunga dibahen ho i toho-toho
what
we
request
Mansai las do roha tutu
We are very pleased
Figure 11. Gondang Hasahatan Sitio-tio: a dialogue between the rajapaminta and the
taganing player (1); the example of a pambuka played on the taganing (2) and the
sarune (3) (Recording 3); (Recorded in Medan, 1989; performed by the Gondang Batak
Maduma, the sarune part is transposed about 50 cents higher; duration 1' 20")
175
Tgd:
SV : mangida pinompar ni ina nami naung saurmatua on, di sada ni roha lao patiipahon
to see the unity of all descendants of this deceased mother, they gather to perform
Tgd:
SV
adat na gok
the ceremony
tu
ina nami naung sour matua on
for
this
deceased
mother
n—rfi
vi A
#—1
Tgd:
*
«
•
*
i
w
#
F^n
* *
2
i1i
••M
SV
.(unclear text)
Pos do rohangku pajumpang do songon na nidok ni natua-tua..
We believe that we will get what elder people always say, that is
01 :
Tgd:
»
#>
SV : sai tamba majolma dipinompar ni ina nami na saurmatua on songonna nidok ni
may descendants of this corpse increase in number, as is expressed in this
01
JH.
Figure l l . ( c o n t )
J
176
Sr
SV
umpasa
maxim..
. (text not clear) ba sai tu jolo antong saluhutna pinompar
may in days to come all descendants of this
SV : ni natua-tua on, di si ma dapotan pansarian
corpse
have a better life and resources
01:
Tgd:
SV : Asa i pe pargonsi nami, ala nunga masisabean hami,
Honourable musicians, we have just paid respect to each other,
Tgd:
SV :
disomba boru nami hami, bahenma hasahatan i
we have been honoured by members of the boru party, we request hasahatan
Figure 11. (cont.)
177
Tgd:
SV :
r r Lrr
asa sahat-sahat ni solu ma antong sahat tu Bontean, sahat hitaon mangolu
may the canoe arrive at the harbour of Bontean, may we have a long
01 :
7).
JZ.
SV : sahat ma tu panggabean. Bahen ma hasahatan i, padomu dohot sitio-tio.
life and happiness. Please play the hasahatan and combine it with sitio-tio.)
01
Figure 11. (cont.)
178
(2) Pambuka played on the taganing
Tgd
Hs
J
J J J
(3) pambuka played on the sarune
Sr
s
Tgd
Grd
Pg
Dl
Ih
01
Figure 11. (cont.)
ii
179
Hs
Sr
Hs
Sr
Figure 11. (Cont.)
180
8
10
2'
Hs
Sr
Figure 11. (Cont.)
181
J J
13
I
1
Hs
1
J
J
g
^V
Sr
Tgd
Grd
Pg
Dl
Di
01
-i
"t
I
"
Figure 11. (Cont.)
*
I
J
I
1
I
A
182
The interlocking rhythm played on the gongs—as shown below in Figure 12—
and the continuous repetitive and heterophonic melody on the sanrne and the taganing
are the most distinctive features of the musical structure of the gondang sabangunan.
The gong pattern, which is used in almost all of gondang pieces, may be constructed as
follows. The ihutan, ihepanggora and the doal may join in as soon as the oloan gives
the first stroke. There is no strict method of entry of the three gongs. A stroke on the
ihutan, like the stroke on the oloan, must fall on the hesek down-beat However, bom
strokes are separated by one hesek beat. Put in another way, each stroke on the pair of
gongs is followed by the next stroke on every fourth beat of the hesek throughout a
gondang melody. Contrasting the oloan-ihutan stroke with the constant pulse of the
hesek facilitates the listeners' perception of the quadruple metre, referred to in this study
as gong cycle.34
Hs
i
J
fc
Pg
3
i
•¥•
Do
Ih
01
Figure 12. The interlocking pattern of gongs
34
Simon (1984:25) uses the term 'gong unit' for this quadruple metre.
i
183
A stroke on the panggora must also follow the pulse established by the hesek
Each stroke falls on the same beat as those of the oloan and the ihutan. A stroke on the
panggora does not create specific effects in contrast to the previous pattern of the two
other gongs. Not until the doal joins in the rhythmic pattern established by the three
gongs does a special effect appear in the pattern. The special effect consists of the
constant syncopation resulting from the rhythmic contradiction between the up-beat
stroke on the doal on the one hand and the down-beat stroke on the hesek, the oloan, the
ihutan and the panggora on the other hand. It is mis pattern that occurs in a cycle of
four hesek beats throughout a gondang piece.35 In addition, that gong pattern and the
gondang melodies played on the taganing serve together to create a distinctive
background to the musical structure of the gondang sabangunan, that distinguishes the
gondang sabangunan from other drum and gong ensembles of the other Batak subgroups.
As a result of the different physical nature of the instruments and the distinctive
technique applied by the players, there are several distinctive features of a gondang
melodic structures performed on the two melodic instruments—the sarune and the
taganing. The technique of circular breathing which musicians use in playing the sarune
ensures mat the instrument produces continual melody. In contrast, gondang melodies
performed on the taganing are discontinuous, which results from the fact that the tone of
each drum in the taganing soon disappears after it is beaten. Even when musicians
strike the drums in a rather fast tempo, rests between notes are still recognisable. In
practice, taganing musicians use bom of their hands to perform melodies on the
A few gondang pieces do not use the same gong pattern. Evidently, in my recording data about a
piece entitled Gondang Malim which was performed by a groupfromthe village of Pearoadang, Tomok and
a groupfromLaguboti (Pannalim), musicians did not use the panggora and the doal, instead they used oloan
and the ihutan.
s
184
taganing. But they frequently assign a different task to each hand: their right hands play
the melody and their left hands play the manganah. When playing the manganah,
musicians may imitate either the gong rhythmic pattern or the hesek rhythmic pattern
and play it on the tingting and the paidua ni tingting, as shown in Figure 13 (see also
Hutasuhut 1990: 61-62). The right-and-left-hand combination oi taganing performing
techniques give gondang melodies played on the taganing two rhythmic-structural
dimensions, which are not found in melodies performed on the sarune.
r
Hs
n
Lh
Tgd
Rh
Key:
Lh
Rh
: Left hand
: Right hand
Figure 13. An example the manganah played on the taganing (See also the taganing
part of the Gondang Parsahadatan tu Ompunta Patuan Raja Uti; in Appendix 2; and
Recording 4)
J
185
Basically, a gondang melody consists of motifs, phrases, and sections. A short
motif may be developed with or without bunga (variation and ornamentation).3
Normally a motif is repeated several times to form a melodic phrase. Similarly, a phrase
may be repeated to form a section of a melody. A phrase in a section may be a 'literal,'
or a 'non-literal' repetition of another phrase. A literal repetition is the exact repetition
of the previous phrase, where non-literal repetition is the repetition of the preceding
phrase as its variation (Byrnside 1975: 4). Overall, gondang melodies consist of several
melodic sections which are repeated throughout a piece. Gondang melodic movement
generally combines intervals of a second and third within the range of the five important
tones of the sarune; and the same applies to the taganing. However, some larger
intervals may also be used; with the taganing, for example, musicians may use large
melodic intervals, especially when they divide the role between their right and left hands.
Sarune musicians normally use large intervals when they perform the pambuka and
when they are about to finish a gondang piece, in which case they always employ the
lowest tone of the sarune scale.
•3
To illustrate this, I have analysed the melody of the Gondang Parsahadatan tu
Ompunta Patuan Raja Uti performed on the sarune (see Appendix 2 for a complete
transcription; Recording 4). The piece was recorded out of its ceremonial context at
Hutatinggi, Laguboti, in 1990.1 chose this piece for analysis because I found its sarune
part easy to sing and remember and hence to transcribe. The Parmalim musicians at
Hutatinggi, Laguboti, normally perform this piece at the Sipaha Lima ceremony, in
which ceremonial participants worship a god known as Raja Uti. The sarune is the only
instrument mat plays the melody. The taganing plays the manganaki while the odap
' A detailed discussion about bunga can be found in Hutasuhut (1990: 97-100).
J
186
plays the mangodapi, with both instruments played by one musician. The gongs play a
cyclic interlocking pattern and the hesek plays a constant rhythmic pattern. In this piece,
the gordang is not played at all.
Excluding its pambuka, Gondang Parsahadatan tu Ompunta Patuan Raja Uti
comprises three sections, described as section IAJ, section IBI and section ICI. During
the recording session, musicians were asked to play only two cycles of the piece, but
they played less than two cycles.37 The first cycle of theipiece is [A B A B C B C B].
(Bold forms designate original sections whereas italic forms designate repetitions). The
cycle is repeated incompletely, as follows: [A B A B C B]. Not all of the repeats are
transcribed and analysed. Since I have concentrated on the original sections, I have
transcribed only the three sections: [A, B, and C].
The odap starts the piece (i.e. plays the pambuka) on the first beat of the gong
cycle number 1 (/gnc 1/), followed by the taganing on the third beat and the hesek at the
fourth. The oloan comes in on the first beat of the /gen 21, followed by the ihutan and
the sanme on the third beat. The panggora and the doal come in on the first beat of the
/gen 31. The four gongs establish their interlocking pattern on the /gen 4/, and that
pattern remains throughout the piece. The taganing and the hesek play a very simple
and constant rhythm throughout the piece. The odap, unlike the taganing, performs its
rhythm with few variations. The sanme starts its pambuka on the second beat of the
/gcn2/ and then starts the sections on the first beat of the /gen II.
Section [A] includes the melody between the first beat of the /gen II and the
third beat of the /gen 14/, consisting of the original phrase /A/ and its three non-literal
repetitions: IAll, I All, and /A3/ as shown in Figure 14.
37
At Parmalim religious ceremonies, the piece may be played for a much longer time than two
cycles. The length of a piece depends on the dancers. The longer the dancers perform the tortor, the longer
the musicians perform the music.
3
187
\ n xUm s m m
A3
mm m mf
\rur—hw-m«
1
^mm
^m^m^m^m^mmm
wmtm^m^K^mlmmM
m
mm
1 M——BaJLiI
^m^m^^mmmm
i•
^
1 1 1
I if
Section /A/ features one melodic motif as follows:
s
HOT
•3
Figure 14. Gondang Parsahadatan tu Ompunta Patuan Raja Uti (Section /A/ and its
repetitions /Al, A2, and A3/)
Section [B] includes the melody between the fourdi beat of the /gen 14/ and the
fourth beat of the /gen 22/, consisting of the original phi ase /B/ and its six non-literal
repetitions: /Bl/, /B2/, /B3/, /B4/, /B5, and /B6/ as shown in Figure 15.
188
B3
<3
Two melodic motifs in this section are as follows:
Figure 15. Gondang Parsahadatan tu Ompunia Patuan Raja Uti (Section /B/ and its
repetitions /Bl, B2, B3, B4, B5, and B6/)
189
Section [C] includes the melody between the first beat of the /gen 23/ and the
third beat of the /gen 26/, consisting of the original phrase /C/ and its three non-literal
repetitions: /CM, IC1I and /C3/ as shown in Figure 16.
*s
This section features one melodic motif as follows:
Figure 16. Gondang Parsahadatan tu Ompunta Patuan Raja Uti (Section ICI and its
repetitions /Cl, C2, and C3/)
190
4.4 Aspects of the Tuning Relationship
'Tuning relationship' means the relationship between instruments on the basis of pitch.
Gondang musicians claim that taganing and sarune have a tuning relationship. To them,
pitches produced on the taganing are the same as those produced on the sarune. They
acknowledge that both taganing and sarune players, when performing a gondang piece,
normally play the same melody. The question that now arises is: do taganing and sarune
players really perform the same melody when they perform a gondang piece? Also, do
sanme, taganing and ogung players adjust the tuning of their instruments to one
another?
My investigations suggest that musicians do not adjust the tuning of gondang
instruments. Normally, they use all the instruments in a gondang performance, whether
or not they have the same tuning. In my experience, any tuning/scale distinction between
the sarune and the taganing as well as between these two instruments and the four
ogung never interrupts musicians' music making. Thus, it is clearly not a requirement
for the instrument to be in tune with one another.38
I obtained the data in Figures 17 and 18 from different gondang ensembles in
different regions (see Map 3 below, showing locations of recordings). They clearly
show that not one pair of taganing-sarune has the same tuning scale.
38
Both Okazaki and Simon report that a taganing is generally tuned to pitches of the sarune and
gong. Despite this fact they have not shown exactly how it works. Okazaki (1994: 80) demonstrates that the
two highest pitches of the taganing are always the same as the two highest notes of the sarune. However,
she does not explain how the pitches of the taganing relate to the gong pitches. In addition, Okazaki has not
explained how many gondang samples she used to come up with the general pattern of the pitch relationship
between the taganing and the sarune tuning scales. Simon (1984:25) likewise used his gondang recording
data to point out that the gong pitches used in the gondang ensemble which he recorded are as follows: the
ogung oloan /d/, the ogung ihutan UMI, the ogung doal /f#/ and the ogung panggora /g#/. In addition, he
indicates that the pitches of the sarune are as follows: /f#-b-c#-d#-e-f#-g#/. He claims that the pitch of the
taganing used in the ensemble were tuned to these gong pitches. Unfortunately, he does not demonstrate
what the pitches of the taganing were. He has not also explained how the pitch of the sarune relates to the
pitches of the taganing. I found both Okazaki's and Simon's tuning arguments to be obscure.
J
191
WCIT
• U MATH A
Date L o c a t i o n
Tomok
1972
1981
Porsea
Lubuk
Pakam
1988
1989
Palinifa)
Palini (bi\
1989
1989 Geduns Taman Sari.
1990
1991
1994
1994
1994
Pfearondancr Samosir
Jl Moneonsidi Mnlan
Medan
nn
Hutatifiooi I .aoiitv>ri
Sinaholon
Map 3. Map showing locations of gondang groups used in
my gondang tuning tests 1972-1994
Recorded bv
fCartomi
Simon
Perlman
Pmfaa
Purto
Puifaa
Yammlskv/Purha
Pwta
Purte
Pmfaa
Puifaa
192
Place:
Instruments:
Sarune
Taganing
Odap
Gordang
O.Oloan
O.Ihutan
O.Panggora
O.Doal
Hesek
Medan(a)
E
/G /B/ C#/D/Eb |E']
A/
a
D/Eb/ E
a
npt
F/
F/Gb/
a
npt
Bb/ C/ D/Eb/ F
C/
Eb/F'
C# (-)**
Eb**
Ab**
Bb*
Ab*
G*
E*
Pi
pi
Place:
Instruments:
Sarune
Taganing
Odap
Gordang
O.Oloan
O.Ihutan
O.Panggora
O.Doal
Hesek
Sipaholon
Laguboti
F/ Bb/C/ D/Eb/ F 7 [Gb']G'
F/
A/
C/ Eb/ F'
a
G**
C (+)**
D (+)**
G*
F*
F/
Bb/ C/ D/ Eb/ F'
F/
A/
C/
Eb/F'
a
npt
F **
G#**
G*
F*
Pi
pi
Place:
Instruments:
Sarune
Taganing
Odap
Gordang
O.Oloan
O.Ihutan
O.Panggora
O.Doal
Hesek
Medan(b)
Palipi (a)
F/ [A]/ Bb/ C/
F/
A/
C/
a
npt
Eb(+)/ F'(+)
Eb/ F'
Eb**
Ab**
Bb*
Eb*
Pi
Pearondang
[F]
Bb/C/D/
E / F'
F/ Ab/
C/
Eb/
F
a
npt
Eb(-)**
F**
Bb*
F*
Pi
Figure 17. Example of pitch relationships among the instruments of
gondang sabangiman ensembles
193
(Cont. Figure 17.)
Place:
Instruments:
Sarune
Taganing
Odap
Gordang
O.Oloan
O.Ihutan
O. Panggora
0. Doal
Hesek
Place:
Paiipi (b)
Tomok
F#/
B/ Db/ E(-)/ F#X-y
G/ Bb/
D/
F/G/
a
npt
Db(+)**
F#(+)**
AM*
F#*
pi
F/ A/ Bb/ C/ D/ Eb/ F7
FA/
C/
Eb/ F/
a
npt
Eb**
F«*
Bb*
Gb(-)*
Pi
Medan<c)
Lubuk Pakam
Instruments:
Sarune
Taganing
Odap
Gordang
O.Oloan
O.Ihutan
O.Panggora
O.Doal
Hesek
Gb(-) /Bb(+)/Db/Eb/E /GbX -)/
E/
Ab/ B/
D/
F/
a
npt
B**
Eb**
Ab*
F*
pi
F/ Bb/ C/ D/ Eb/ F'
F/
B/ C/
Eb/ F
a
Bb **(-)
Eb**
F(+)**
G*
F*
pi
•^-d
i>
?s>
Place:
Instruments:
Sarune
Taganing
Odap
Gordang
O.Oloan
O.Ihutan
O.Panggora
O.Doal
Hesek
Porsea
F#/ B/- C#/ D/ E/-F'#/ G'#/
a
npt
D**
F#»*
G#*
F#*
Pi
Instrument:
Sarune
Place of rec.
Medan(a)
Medan(b)
Medan (c)
Lbk. Pakam
Laguboti
Porsea
Sipaholon
Palipi (a)
Tomok
Palipi (b)
Pearondang
E
/G/
B/C#/D/Eb'fE'l
F/
Bb/ C/ D/ Eb/ F'
Gb(-)/Bb(+)/ Db/ Eb/E/ Gb(-)
F/
Bb/ C/ D/ Eb/ F'
F/
Bb/ C/ D/ Eb/ F'/fGb'l/G'
F#/
B/ C#/D/
E/F#7 G#'
F/ Bb/ C/ D/Eb/
F'
F/rAl/Bb/ C/
Eb
F'(+)
F/A/Bb/
C/ D/Eb/
F'
F#/
B/ Db/
E(-)/
F#'(-)
Bb/ C/ D/
E/
F'
7agan/«g
Odap
A/
C/ D/Eb/Fb
F/Gb/
C/ Eb/ F'
E/ Ab/ B/
D/
F'
F/
B/C/ Eb/ F'
F/ A/
C/ Eb/ F'
F/ A/
F/ Al
F IN
G/ Bb/
F/ Ab/
C/ Eb/
Cl Eb/
Q.I Eb/
D/
C/ Eb/
F'
F'
F'
F7G'
F'
a
a
a
a
npt
a
a
a
a
a
a
Gordang
npt
npt
npt
npt
G**
npt
npt
npt
npt
npt
npt
Pang
Oloan
C#(-) **
Eb**
B**
Eb**
C(+)**
D#**
F**
Eb**
Eb**
Db(+)
Eb(-)**
Ihntan
F**
Ab**
Eb**
F(+)
D(+)**
F#**
G#**
Ab**
F**
F#(+)
F**
Doal
gora
G*
Bb*
Ab*
G*
G*
G#*
G*
Bb*
Bb*
A#*
Bb*
Figure 18. Comparison of pitch of instruments in different gondang sabangunan ensembles
/
.
% i'
E*
Ab*
F*
F*
F*
F#*
F*
Eb*
Gb(-)*
F#*
F*
sek
Pi
Pi
Pi
Pi
Pi
Pi
Pi
Pi
Pi
Pi
Pi
195
Figures 17 and 18 show that the two highest notes of some of the taganing sets are the
same as the two highest notes of their sarune pairs, while the others are different. This
suggests that different tuning combinations between the taganing and the sarune are
normal in the gondang sabangiman tradition. Similarly, Figures 17 and 18 show various
combinations of gong pitch intervals in each gondang ensemble. Such a difference is
also normal in the gondang tradition. Both figures suggest that the pitch relationship
between the gong and the taganing is obscure, for there is no indication to confirm such
a relationship.
Figures 17 and 18 indicate mat within the taganing and the ogung traditions,
musicians maintain the established patterns of pitch arrangements, but not of specific
pitch intervals. For example, the pitches of the drums in the taganing are arranged as
follows: the smallest drum, ting-ting is tuned to the highest desired pitch. The lowest
pitch is played on the odap-odap, the biggest drum. The pitch of the paidua ni tingting
must be higher than that of the painonga, i.e. higher mat that of the paidua odap. In
brief, the pitch range between the ting-ting and the odap-odap is within an octave. The
gordang, by contrast, is normally left untuned. However, if it is tuned, its pitch is never
higher than that of the odap-odap. In the gong section, the pitch of the oloan coincides
with lowest tone, but the pitch of the ihutan is lower than that of the doal. Of the gong
instruments, thepanggora has the highest pitch.
A few assumptions underlie the above argument about the nature of tuning
gondang sabangunan ensembles. The musicians teach the music to, or learn the music
from, other people orally. They maintain their oral methods of teaching/learning
gondang even in the context of a formal education."9 Oral teaching and learning
39
In the Ethnomusicology Department, Faculty of Letters, University of North Sumatra, Medan
students are offered courses on different local music traditions, one of which is the gondang sabangunan.
Lecturers who taught this music, as I observed, never asked students to write the music down, but
196
methods result in the learning of diverse practices; musicians leam not only different
methods of applying tuning scales to both melodic instruments, how to choose the basic
pitch for the taganing and how to arrange gong intervals, but also how to perform the
melodies and rhythms.40 The performance practice of the gondang sabangunan varies
from one region to another as well as from one musician to another.
Nor do musicians recognise standard pitches, standard scales, or standard
instruments. In any ensemble one may find different tunings, or tuning scales, in one
instrument compared to another. One may also find that while musicians perform a
gondang piece they may change from one scale to another mid-course, and that this can
happen more than once, indeed many times. Musicians do not evaluate a correct pitch by
using the concept of 'out-of-tuneness' or 'in-tuneness'. They use the term patimbohu to
indicate that a sound of an instrument is too high, and the term patoruhu if it is too low.
The use of these terms indicates that musicians do measure pitches, but that they are
subjective measurements mat may be different from one musician to the other.
The taganing players together with the sarune players lead the performance of
gondang melodies. Musicians claim that to them the players of the two instrument
always perform the same gondang melodies at the same time. My understanding of 'the
same melody', however, is that different instruments perform the melody in unison,
regardless of the timbres of the different instruments. Thus, in listening to a gondang
performance I expect to hear a melody performed in unison on the two melodic
instruments. In reality, what musicians present is the other way around, that is the two
instruments often perform gondang melodies differently. They not only differ because
encouraged them to remember what they had been told about practical theories and to practise the melodies
and rhythms of pieces they learned as often as possible.
40
In this case, the rhythmic pattern of the gong is excluded. This is because almost every gondang
piece employs the same pattern. The only aspect of the pattern that may differ is the tempo. Hence, it is
unlikely that musicians would play different gong rhythms.
£
197
each instrument has its distinctive timbre and tuning scale but also because each player
employs a different paying technique. Pasaribu (1986) uses the term 'polytonaT to
describe this practice, but this suggests that each instrument has a fixed scale whereas in
fact, it does not. As Simon observes, '[tjhe set of drums [taganing] cannot be tuned
exactly anyhow, and the tension of the skin also changes during performance' (Simon
1984: 25). Although
the term 'polytonal' helps us to understand the situation
technically, it fails to mention the fact that the tonal material of gondang instruments
normally changes during a performance. Although a better term is yet to be found, the
term 'polytonal' is certainly inappropriate and will not be used in this thesis.
It is indeed a challenge to find out whii musicians perceive as being the 'same
melody'. To understand what gondang musicians mean by that term, in 1993 I took a
private lesson in taganing playing from Marsius Sitohang, a gondang musician who is
currently resident in Medan. I discussed the matter with him and with other gondang
musicians such as Sarikawan Sitohang (a taganing player from Kabanjahe), Kalabius
Simbolon (a sarune player from Siantar), Osner Gultom (a samne player from Porsea),
B. Sirait (a sarime player from Laguboti), Amani Bunga Sinaga (a sarune player from
Palipi), Faber Napitupulu (a sarune and an instrument maker from Medan),
J.Nainggolan (a sarune player and an instrument maker from Jalan Pancing, Medan),
and Mamingar Sitorus (a taganing player from Laguboti). After taking an informal
taganing lesson, discussing the matter with different taganing and sarune musicians,
and having attended a number of gondang performances, I found out that while
performing a gondang piece, both sarune and taganing players assume in their minds
that they are singing the same melody. I then decided to conduct an experiment. I asked
three musicians who are able to play the taganing as well as the sarune to sing a
particular gondang melody in order to discover whether or not they sing the same
198
melody. The result was negative, that is they sang three similar versions of the base line
of mat melody. From mis simple experiment, I concluded mat it is only in the
imagination of the musicians that the two instruments play the same melody and that the
two melodic instruments do not use the same pitch, scale, and tuning systems; thus the
two versions of the same basic melody are actually never the same.
Likewise, my experiment does not support arguments proposed by Hutasuhut
(1990), who uses the words 'to follow' or 'to imitate' to describe the role of the
taganing. Hutasuhut specifically stated that the role of the taganing in the ensemble is
either 'to follow the melodies performed on the sarune [... mengikuti lagu sarune...] or
'to imitate the melodies performed on the sarune [...menirukan pola permainan
sarune...] (Hutasuhut 1990: 56; 68; 70). Even though Hutasuhut provides some musical
transcriptions of gondang melodies played by the gondang musicians on the taganing
and the sarune, he does not explain how and in what way the taganing players imitate,
or follow, the sarune players.
Hutasuhut's assertion implies that the taganing is the secondary lead instrument
rather than a lead instrument like the sarune. The words he uses imply three
possibilities: either mat (i) the taganing is always a step behind the sarune, (ii) the
taganing repeats a melody that has been performed by the sarune, or (iii) the melody
played on the taganing depends on the melody played on sarune. To my knowledge,
both sarune and taganing players usually recognise the basic melodic line of gondang
pieces that they play. Both sarune and taganing players normally pertbrm gondang
melodies simultaneously and heterophonically, in that the two instrument players
develop their basic melodic line in different variations by using different playing
techniques (see the sarune and the taganing parts in Figure 11 and in the transcription
of Gondang Parsahadatan tu Ompunta Patuan Raja Uti). In other words, the taganing
s
199
players neither follow nor imitate the melody performed by the sarupe players, because
the taganing players or the sarune players normally sing their own version of the basic
melodic line of a gondang piece in their minds. On this basis I therefpre Jiave to disagree
with Hutasuhut's argument.
4.5 Recent Change in Gondang Music
Gondang musicians have never attempted
to combine the gondang sabangunan
ensemble with non-Toba Batak musical styles or instruments, let alone to perform in
public. In the last two decades, however, some experiments with gondang music have
been conducted by non-gondang musicians whose backgrounds include Western
classical and popular as well as Indonesia popular music. Collaborating with gondang
musicians from rural and urban areas, these musicians have performed three different
experiments at non-adat celebrations, to an audience that did not respond with tortor
performance but only sat and listened to the music.
The first experiment took place at the anniversary of the political party, Golkar,
at T.D. Pardede Hall, Medan, in 1989. Members of the party focused the program on
conveying the political message of the party by its leaders. The music presented at the
anniversary included both Western and Indonesian popular music, with a student choir
singing Indonesia popular songs and playing gondang music after the speeches. The
gondang ensemble used during the performance consisted of five sets of taganing, one
gordang, four sartme, one hesek, and a set of gong. All gondang items performed were
melodies taken from the traditional repertoire, but without any dancers. The musicians
presented the music on stage and amplified it with a modern sound system. Although the
ostensible purpose of the performance was to entertain and to show off the musical
200
virtuosity of the five taganing and sarune players, its actual purpose was to attract many
people so that the leaders of the party could share their political message.
The second experiment took place in Jakarta, 1992, at the music performance
known as Pagelaran Orkes Simfoni Gondang Batak (Presentation of Gondang Batak
Symphony Orchestra). This experiment, unlike the first one, was Western-influenced.
For example, it used a choir and soloist who sang in four parts under the direction of a
conductor. The musical items included items from the traditional gondang repertoire as
well as Western and Indonesia popular music. It employed such Western orchestral
musical instruments as oboes, clarinets, trumpets, bassoons, horns, and electric
keyboards. Various two-stringed instruments called hasapi sopran, hasapi alto, hasapi
tenor, constructed according to the shape of the hasapi, were used. Their presence in
this experiment was to imitate the string section in a Western orchestra.41 Likewise,
seven drums were added to the five drums in a taganing set and another eight gongs
were also added to the four gongs. All of these were meant to expand the tonal materials
used (see Okazaki 1994: 223-239). 42 The music director, Nortir Simanungkalit,
explained that he had changed some gondang instruments and their tuning systems in
the experiment because he wanted the instruments to be able to accompany both
Western and Indonesian popular music;43 he also wanted gondang music to be enjoyed
by all Indonesians and to be part of 'national culture' (ibid. 233).
The third experiment took place in Parapat, 1992, at the cultural festival known
as Pesia Danau Toba (Toba Lake Festival). This annual cultural festival sponsored by
41
See also the article 'Dari Ogung Oloan, Diutan, Panggora, sampai Doal Berpadu dengan
instrument Modern' (Oloan, Ihutan, Panggora and Doal Mixed with Modern Instruments) in Bonanipinasa
(1990. Vol. 2 , No. 10, pp. 56-57.
42
43
Ibid.
Simanungkalit expressed this opinion in a speech that he delivered at a meeting with the
students of the Ethnomusicology Department of the University of North Sumatra in 19,89.
3
201
the local government includes music, water sport and a cultural show. It aims to
maintain (melestarikan) the local culture, to attract local and international tourists to
visit Lake Toba at Parapat, and to promote the products of local home industries,
including ulos and handicrafts; commercialisation is clearly the main goal of the festival.
This experiment combined instruments of the gondang sabangunan and the gondang
hasapi with Western musical instruments. There were a set oftaganing, a set of gongs,
fifteen garantung, twenty hasapi, ten sulim, fifteen sarune etek, two synthesiser
keyboards, a set of drums and percussions, and a chorus of 200 university students. Like
the second experiment, they also sang in four parts. Musicians and members of the
chorus performed on stage under the direction of a conductor. The music was amplified
with a modern sound system. The musical items were selected from the traditional
repertoire of the gondang hasapi and other Batak and Malay popular mi^sic.
4.6 Conclusion
Despite the radical social change that the Toba Batak people have undergone in the last
130 years or so, musicians have maintained their ageold, oral methods of teaching and
learning the gondang tradition by listening, watching and imitating. Different teachers
teach and describe the music differently, resulting in various correct versions and
understandings among their former students who use various scales and instrumental
pitches in different gondang ensembles and employ two types of gondang ensembles—
with and without odap.
Traditionally, eight musicians form the ensemble. At present, however, an
indefinite number may play in it. Some groups consist of six musicians, including a
sarune player, a taganing player, a gordang player, two gong players (each playing two
gongs) and a hesek player. Other groups consist of nine musicians, including two sarune
202
players, a taganing player, a gordang player, a hesek player and four gong players. Yet
in each case the musical structure of the gondang music and the function of each
instrument in the ensemble remain intact.
The instruments which play the gondang melodies are the taganing and the
sarune. The other instruments, including the oloan, the ihutan, the panggora, the doal,
the gordang, the hesek, and the odap provide the rhythmic accompaniments. None of
the experiments mentioned above happened more than once. Each happened at a
specific time and for a specific purpose. None of them succeeded in influencing the
musical structure and instrumentation of the gondang sabangunan or the gondang
hasapi. Rural and urban gondang musicians at adat and church feasts still use the
original instrumentation and select the musical items from the traditional gondang
repertoire, because the power of gondang sabangunan lies not in its combination of
non-Toba Batak musical instruments and Western harmony, but in its original
instrumentation, musical structure and ritual context. The gondang
sabangunan
tradition continues to use the same musical structure as in pre-Christian times.
The question that now arises is how contemporary Protestant Toba Batak
communities use gondang music in the context of their adat ceremonies. Do they still
implement the adat ni gondang (pre-Christian rules of performing gondang) when they
perform gondang, or do they apply 'a new adat ni gondang'? These questions will be
explored in the next chapter.
s
UP
203
CHAPTER FIVE
ADATNI GONDANG
RULES AND STRUCTURE OF GONDANG SABANGUNAN PERFORMANCE
IN PRE-CHRISTIAN TOBA
BATAKADATPRACTICE
I shall now investigate the rules governing the performance of the gondang sabangunan
(adat ni gondang), including the torior {adat ni tortor), in the context of pre-Christian
Toba Batak adat practices. By 'pre-Christian adat practice' I mean ceremonial feasts,
including the pre-funeral ceremony {saur matua), the exhumation of bones ceremony,
the communal sacrificial ceremony {pesta bius) and the healing ceremony {gondang
saem) all of which are accompanied by the gondang sabangunan.
Throughout this century the gondang sabangunan has been performed as part of
religious observance, governed by specific social and religious rules. These rules have
guided the ensemble players {pargonsi), the ceremonial dancers (panortor) and the
feast-giving groups {suhut or hasuhuton). A suhut is a unit that includes a man and his
wife, sons and brothers and their wives as well as male members of the clan who have
descended from the man's grandfather. The main rules are as follows. The gondang
sabangunan may not be performed unless it accompanies a ritual ceremony. It must be
used exclusively to accompany ceremonial dancing, the tortor. In a pre-fiineral
ceremony, the gondang sabangunan may not be performed outdoors unless the
deceased has had grandchildren from male and female descendants. Approval must be
obtained from a datu, the adat experts or the clan elders. Without their permission, a
gondang performance will not be socially acceptable. Rules of performance include a
proscribed order of presentation of gondang and tortor; and practitioners must always
adhere to them.
We need now to ask what circumstances a gondang sabangunan performance is
socially and religiously acceptable in traditional society. Li addition we need to ask the
204
following questions. How were people expected to treat gondang musicians? What
status and role did people attribute to musicians during gondang performances? Who
performed the tortorl How is one to dance the tortor in a socially acceptable manner?
On the occasion of a ceremony, who should dance first, second, and so on? Which
gondang performance structure did people normally follow when performing the
gondang sabangunan? How did the rules and structures of gondang sabangunan
performance reflect the values of the pre-Christian Toba Batak belief system?
My basic assumption is that since the rules and structures of gondang
sabangunan performance originated from adat, they were interdependent. When
performing the gondang sabangunan, musicians and ceremonial practitioners had to
consult the adat ni gondang, for to disobey its tenets would be socially and religiously
inappropriate.
Neither local nor foreign scholars have yet investigated the link between the
rules and structures of adat on the one hand and the rules and structures of gondang
sabangunan performance on the other. As my literature review shows, scholars to date
have only made musical analyses of gondang pieces and investigated the adat, religious
feasts, and the gondang instruments; they have neglected the social and religious aspects
and the rules and structures of gondang presentation. Moreover recent authors have
mostly discussed ceremonial events that occurred in the post-Independence era rather
than in earlier periods. In trying to fill this lacuna I was able to obtain only limited data in
the field, and consequently was unable to prepare a detailed list of all facets of adat ni
gondang in early and late times. Nevertheless, I am able to outline the most prevalent
rules and structures of gondang sabangunan performance as follows.
205
5.1 Rules Governing Gondang Sabangunan Performance
As Sinaga, one of many Catholic priests in North Sumatra who encourage the use of
gondang sabangunan in the local Catholic liturgy, maintains:
lung so adong do sada 'sisfern' manang aturan naung tangkas taringot
tu gondang dohot tortor ni sada luat. Sude do umbotosa so adong
jumpang na gabe 'raja panungkunan'. Molo nisungkun tu sahalak
gabejempek alusna: 'Asing do di hami dison.' Songon dia parasingna
gabe soi boi mambahen rangrang dohot ojahanna. (Sinaga 1991: 20)
(there is no definite system governing gondang and tortor performance.
All of the people claim that they know about the gondang and the tortor,
which suggests that there are no raja panungkunan (wise persons) that
they can consult concerning gondang performance procedures. If the
people are asked they simply answer: 'Ours [adat ni gondang] here are
different'. How different is uncertain, because mere are no comparative
references to consult.)
Despite the lack of explicit rules, there are some implicit social and religious
norms that the people consciously follow from time to time. In 1968, Tampubolon, a
Toba Batak scholar from Medan, wrote that:
Pelaksanaan adat itu selalu berbeniuk
upatjara-upatjara,
persembahan-persembahan, tari-tarian dan gondang... Jang memimpin
pelaksanaan adat dan menjaga kemurnian adat adaiah ketua adat dan
dukun (datu). (Tampubolon 1968: 4)
(Adat has usually been practiced in the form of ceremonies, making
offerings to the supernatural powers, and the performance of dances and
gondang... Those who led the practices and maintained the purity of the
adat ceremonies were the adat experts and/or datu.)
I presume that the term pelaksanaan adat (adat practice) in this statement includes all
adat feasts that occurred prior to the 1960s. Tampubolon's statement clearly suggests
that gondang sabangunan performance was one of the many forms of adat practice; in
other words, that gondang performance was always associated with adat feasts. Most
S
206
importantily, the reference to people who controlled the purity of the adat practices
indicates that social and religious norms did exist and were followed. Thus Vergouwen,
a former Dutch officer who observed the practice of adat and gondang sabangunan
among the people around the early 1920s, wrote as follows:
The gondang is ... played when the spirits of the ancestors, the
sumangot ni ompu, are summoned at ceremonial occasions of all kinds
when the presence, benediction and assistance of the revered ancestors
are invoked. It is played on the adoption of a name; when a house is
consecrated; when sickness and calamities have to be warded off; when
the bones of one of the ancestors are reburied, etc. (Vergouwen 1964:
34; see also Schreiner 1994: 46 and Sangti 1977: 16-18)
Vergouwen's statement is supported a statement in 1953 by Siahaan1, an adat expert
from Balige:
Molo masapesta manang siulaon di haJakBatak [Toba], djotdjotan sai
margondang do suhut, ima songon di tingki: 1. Pesta pangoiihon anak;
2. Pesta martutuaek...3. Pesta mangompoi jabu...4. Pesta mangupaupa 5. Marhorja manangpaturunhon...6. Di tingki partuaon ni natuatua naung margoar gabe ima naung marpahompu di anak jala
marpahompu di born 7. Mangguntarguntari...8. Alani ulpuhan ni
datu...9. Manduduhonpangidubalang. (Siahaan 1953: 3)
(When ceremonial feasts were held among the Toba Batak people, feastgiving groups would usually perform the gondang [sabangunan]. These
ceremonial feasts include (1) wedding ceremonies (2) the ceremony to
name a newborn bab...(3) a house-warming ceremony... (4) the giving of
consecrated meals; (5) the exhumation of ancestral bones and/or the
reburying of a deceased person ... (6) pre-funeral ceremonies, provided
that before death one already had grandchildren from one's male and
female descendants (7) the dance for the sick, or an elderly person
whom one may expect would soon die...(8) the performance of a
ceremony requested by a medicine-man...(9) the making of offerings to
the supernatural powers)
Similarly, the late Batak musicologist Manik said that:
Siahaan's book, Gondang Dohot Tortor Batak (Batak Gondang and Tortor) which was published
in Toba Batak language in 1953, is probably one of the most informative books regarding the gondang
sabangunan.
207
bahwa dalam semua upacara-upacara keagamaan dan upacaraupacara Adat maka Gondang Batdk [gondang sabanguari] mempunyai
peranan sentral...Gondang...hanya dipakai dalam pesta-pesta atau
perayaan-perayaan yang bersifat keagamaan atau yang berhubungan
dengan Adat. (Manik 1977: 71-72)
(in all adat and religious feasts, the gondang sabangunan has a central
role to play. The use of the gondang is restricted to celebrations that
have to do with adat and religious practices.)
Likewise, a sarune player from Palipi named Amani Bunga Sinaga correctly
maintained mat the performance of the gondang sabangunan is restricted to the context
of ceremonial events and that it would otherwise be socially unacceptable. Gondang
music was definitely not a subordinate constituent of adat and religious practices; it was
essential, indeed inseparable from the ritual practices involved. A gondang performance
without a ritual ceremony did not comply with adat.
Yet, in the context of a particular adat practice, e.g. a pre-funeral ceremony, the
performance of the gondang sabangunan was restricted. Li pre-Christian adat practice,
members of a family with an elderly parent who had just died usually went into the
forest in search of a tree trunk with which to make a coffin. In so doing they often
brought an ogung (gong) with them and played it while searching. When they found a
suitable tree trunk, they cut it down and transported it while playing the ogung. The
gondang sabangunan then had to be performed prior to the funeral ceremony of the
deceased. If the deceased had had grandchildren from both his/her male and female
descendants, the mangaliat di alaman could be performed, i.e. the gondang
sabangunan and tortor could be performed outdoors, as long as livestock was first
slaughtered and the meat shared among relatives. The Toba Batak scholar Panjaitan
asserted that the gondang sabangunan was always performed in association with adat
Interview with Amani Bunga Sinaga, held in Desa Siupar, Palipi, Samosir, October 1994.
208
feasts. He enumerated the rules regarding gondang performance as follows. Firstly, the
ensemble must not be performed in pre-funeral ceremonies unless the deceased is an
elderly person. Secondly, unless the deceased had grandchildren from both his/her male
and female lines, ceremony-giving groups were not allowed to have an outdoor
performance and livestock could not be slaughtered (Panjaitan 1968: 6).
A Toba Batak scholar named Simanjuntak mentioned mat the gondang
sabangunan was not only performed for the pre-funeral ceremony of a corpse who had
grandchildren, but also for the pre-funeral ceremony of a person who had married but
did not have offspring (napunu). Such a gondang performance is known as gondang ni
na punu (a ceremony for a childless person). Simanjuntak explained that the so-called
torior sigak-gak (the Toba Batak puppet dance) originated from the gondang ni na
punu ceremony (see Simanjuntak 1968: 19-20). However, Simanjuntak failed to give
evidence of how and when the gondang ni na punu transformed to tfye tortor sigaleas
gale.
s
My field data corroborate Panjaitan's views but contradict Simanjuntak's. In the
last twenty years or so I have attended many pre-funeral ceremonies for a deceased male
or female person, some young and some old, some who had children, some who were
childless, and some who had grandchildren, and some who did not. Of these, the
gondang sabangunan was performed exclusively in the pre-funeral ceremonies for male
or female persons who had grandchildren—the ceremony is known as namate
sarimatua or namate saurmaiua? My data also confirm that Panjaitan is correct in his
view that if a corpse is laid down outdoors, the gondang sabangunan must always be
performed outdoors. As regards the current Orders of Discipline of the HKBP as well as
3
The term 'namate sarimatua' is different from 'namate saiomatua'. The former is normally
attributed to a deceased person who had grandchildren, some of whom have not married. The latter is
attributed to a deceased person if all his/her descendants have married and have offspring.
209
the Orders of Discipline of 1952, and 1968, all of which prohibit performances of the
gondangni napunu, there is no doubt that Simanjuntak is also correct that the gondang
ni napunu was performed from 1952, possibly even before 1952. The Protestante no
longer perform the ceremony, presumably because the church does not tolerate it; it
regards the gondang ni napunu simply as an 'animist' (hasipelebeguan) practice.4
In personal letters to me, Situmorang maintained that the gondang sabangunan
was integral to every pre-Christian Toba Batak adat and religious celebration. He said
that it functioned not only to accompany the tortor but also to serve as 'ritual language',
by which I presume he means that the performance of the gondang sabangunan in
religious ceremony functions as a means of communicating with the gods through
music. My interpretation of Sitomorang's words is based on my conversation with
Osner Gultom, a Parmalim gondang musician who played the sarune during the 1994
Sipaha Lima ceremony at Hutatinggi, Laguboti. Osner Gultom maintained that he did
not consider the gondang music he performed to be merely an accompaniment to the
tortor or the ceremonial event per se, but as zpelean (offering) to the gods.5
The current Parmalim leader, Naipospos, told me that he agreed with
Situmorang. He agreed that gondang sabangunan is part of the Sipaha Lima ceremony,
in which people bring offerings to the Mula Jadi Na Bolon. Evidence obtained from the
video recordings documenting the ceremony over the last twelve years corroborate
Naipospos's views.6 Gondang music is, indeed, used as a communication tool between
human and supernatural powers. Interestingly, the words 'gondang sabangunan' almost
4
See the Order of Discipline of the HKBP of 1924,1952,1968 and the current Order.
5
Interview with Osner Gultom, held in Laguboti, July 1994.
The Music Department, Faculty of Letters, University of North Sumatra at Medan has
documented performances of the ceremony over the last twelve years. The video-recordings are held in the
Music Department's archive.
210
always appear in the ritual prayers delivered by the rajapaminta in the ceremony. The
following excerpt is an example of a prayer delivered by Naipospos in the ceremony.
Nunga ro be hami among Raja Na Siak Bagi manghobasi lona mi,
nunga ojak be hami di pangantaran ni parpitaan dohot
partonggoanmom. Marningot hami among parbue ni hapadoton sian
daian hasintongan, ido na hutitang hami among Raja Na Siak Bagi
jadi pelean puji-pujian tu ompunta DebataMuIa Jadi Na Blon dohot tu
hasangapon mi, ima horbo sitingko tanduk siopat pusoran na hualualuhon hami marhite gondang sabangunan...
(We come before you, our father, Raja Na Siak Bagi, to carry out your
request. Together, we gamer in your house of worship. To the
accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan, we offer to you, our gods,
the Mula Jadi Na Bolon and the Raja na Siak Bagi, this sacrificial buffalo,
horbo sitingko tanduk sipoat pusoran, as a token of our honest hard
work...)
Furthermore, Naipospos asserted that Parmalim members also perform the gondang
sabangunan in the pesta pangoli anak or pesta pamuli boru (wedding ceremony—the
bride and the groom must be Parmalim members), the mardebata (individuals to
worship gods), and the manopoti sala (personal or family confession for disobeying
religious laws).7 He insisted, however, that Parmalim musicians consult the social and
religious regulations that guide the use of the ensemble in the Parmalim community.
No doubt the gondang sabangunan is one of the main constituents of adat
events. It is performed not only to accompany the ceremonial tortor but also to assist
people to express their religious feelings and to strengthen solidarity between kinsfolk.
This is evident not only in tortor performances but also in the mangido gondang (a term
used to describe a person who requests that gondang pieces be played). The person who
executes the mangido gondang—usually a male—is called rajapaminta (a person who
requests). Before requesting that gondang pieces be played, a rajapaminta must deliver
7
Interview between the author and Naipospos held in Medan, July 1994.
211
an adat speech known as hata ni gondang. A hata ni gondang usually contains
blessings or advice and expresses the requests of the worshippers. It also refers to the
titles of the gondang pieces that are requested. A hata ni gondang may be addressed to
the gondang musicians, the suhut or other parties. A hata ni gondang is completed with
the performance of the tortor as well as the gondang pieces selected by the raja
paminta. Thus, the tortor and the gondang pieces become the culmination of a hata ni
gondang that includes adat purposes.
I believe mat this is the reason why the Toba Batak people call the ceremonial
performance of the tortor and gondang sabangunan the 'tortor adat' and/or the
'gondang adaf, meaning a tortor or a gondang performance performed in association
with adat practices. The same happens in Parmalim religious ceremonies. The
presentation of ritual prayers {tonggo-tonggo) and the tortor to the accompaniment of
the gondang sabangunan are meant for worshipping the gods. Parmalim members call
such a performance a gondang mamele, meaning 'gondang for worship.' Attributes
such as the 'gondang adat' and 'gondang mamele' are never to be associated with a
non-adat gondang performance. Indeed, followers of adat believe that to perform the
gondang outside a ritual context could be an insult to adat and mat it could result in
disaster. Accordingly, village communities will not support a gondang performance by a
feast-giving group (suhut) unless they aim thereby to fulfil adat or religious needs. If a
feast-giving group intends to perform a ceremony to the accompaniment of the gondang
sabangunan, it must inform the relatives and the village community in order to obtain
their support. This means that a gondang performance presented by an individual suhut
(a family), always remains a social concern. Evidence obtained from early and recent
sources suggests that most of the gondang sabangunan performances were induced by
adatu..
!>!
212
Between 1881 and 1913 a Christian missionary named Gustav Pilgram
proselytised among the Toba Batak people at Balige, a village located on the south shore
of Lake Toba.8 On 8 July 1885, Pilgram wrote a short article called 'Referat 1885' that
provided some valuable information about the social function of the gondang
sabangunan. He asserted that the gondang sabangunan was performed for a variety of
reasons, one being at the request of a datu.9
Evidently, during the early stage of
Christianisation the datu played an important role in social life. He was believed to
possess healing powers as well as magic powers that could endanger people's lives.10
Despite the fact that medical doctors are quite easy to find in rural and urban areas
today, many still visit a datu in time of illness for advice and treatment. During his
residence in Balige, Pilgram wrote that people would consult a datu when trying to cope
with an illness, grief, or misfortunes such as a bad harvest, childlessness, or having more
female than male descendants. Li such situations, often a datu would ask the family
concerned to summon their ancestral spirits and request blessings of them. This meant
that the families had to perform a ceremony and make offerings to the accompaniment of
the gondang sabangunan (Pilgram 1985 cited in Lumbantobing 1981: 98-99).
Amani Bunga Sinaga, who throughout most of his life performed the gondang
sabangunan at adat ceremonies, spoke in support of Pilgram's data. He maintained that
people not only consulted the datu when they were sick, but also when they were
constructing and carving the main poles of their traditional houses {manuhil tiang ni
parjabuan) and when dispersing rice seeds during the rice-growing season {maname or
8
Most of Pilgram's activities during this period are recorded in Lumbantobing (1981).
9
Some sections of the article have been translated into Toba Batak by Lumbantobing. The
translation is published in Lumbantobing (1981: 97-108).
10
References to the datu can be found in Bartlett (1973) and Situmorang (1993b).
is.
213
marsame). He said that if a daiu required the performance of a gondang sabangunan
during these events, the musicians would automatically oblige.11
Li her SI (Bachelor degree) thesis of 1990 Gultom described a particular
gondang saem, i.e. a healing ceremony to the accompaniment of the gondang
sabangunan which was performed by a family in the Paraduan village, Samosir, in
1987. Her thesis confirmed Pilgram's and Sinaga's data. Gultom reports that the
ceremony she attended aimed to cure a childless husband and wife, that it was led by
three datu, and that each was required to carry out a particular duty. As Gultom
correctly asserts, most childless couples tend to consult a datu, because a datu is
believed to help childless people to have descendants. According to Gultom, a datu must
evoke the ancestral spirits as well as the Silaon Na Bolon (the cfeity of fertility) by
performing a ceremony to the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan. Thus many
childless couples prepare for the ceremony even before visiting a datu.
Most importantly, the ceremony must be prepared in three stages following a
meeting attended by the family and its community. As Gultom reports, the first stage is
the husip saripe, in which the suhut side gathers and selects a datu to be consulted as
well as gondang musicians to play in the ceremony. The second stage is the sungkun
sajabu, in which the suhut side, after consulting a chosen datu, discusses
the
preparation for the ceremony with the relatives and requests advice from the hula-hula
party. In the final stage of preparation (the tonggo raja), the suhut side invites its
relatives and the village community, including adat experts, village chieftains, and
gondang musicians, to the ceremony. In the meeting the suhut describes the purpose of
the ceremony and, most importantly, asks for support (see Gultom 1990: 84-86). At all
the tonggo raja I attended, people were involved in arguing whether or not a ceremony
11
Interview with Amani Bunga Sinaga, held at Palipi, Samosir, October 1994.
214
could be performed, and whether or not the planned preparations are sufficient.
Interestingly, in a tongo raja the people never fail to respond to a suhufs appeal but
most of the participants take hours to reach agreement.
The data I obtained from my fieldwork in Palipi confirm that Gultom's
experience is normal. An informant, Sitohang, admitted that in 1992 one of the many
reasons he and his family exhumed the bones of their ancestors to the accompaniment of
the gondang sabangunan was because a datu had recommended they do so. Sitohang
informed me that a few weeks before the ceremony took place, he and his family
performed a tonggo raja. It was via the tonggo raja that he and his family asked for
community support for the ceremony.12
These accounts clearly shown that a chosen datu must be a socially and
religiously influential person. His request legitimises a performance of the gondang
sabangunan. Implementing his advice means implementing adat and religious practice.
As Amani Bunga Sinaga mentioned, obtaining either approval from local religious
leaders (parbaringin), village or clan elders (raja bius), or a datu prior to a performance
of the gondang sabangunan was a rule that people always observe. According to Amani
Bunga Sinaga, even at present a performance of gondang at ceremonial feasts in his
village is usually induced by a datu and supported by those village or clan elders who
are considered to be adat experts. As he maintained, these leaders know how to practise
adat for the sake of social stability. In elaborating his explanation he referred to the
gondang saem, in which ceremony he participated many times as a gondang musician.
He mentioned that consulting a datu, informing relatives and performing a tonggo raja
prior to a performance of a ceremony, have become routine. Clearly, a tonggo raja is a
requirement that every suhut must observe. If&suhut fails to do so, people may refer to
12
Interview with N. Sitohang, held in Palipi, Samosir, October 1994.
pm
215
him as being nasomaradat {adat ignorant), which is an insult. Clearly a gondang
sabangunan performance is socially and religiously acceptable only if requested by a
datu or performed in the context of adat and religious events. As the German theologian
Schreiner wrote, the gondang sabangunan could not be performed outside the context
of ritual practice without disobeying adat (1969: 296).
Another rule pertaining to the performance of the gondang sabangunan is that a
suhut, in invitingtinspargonsi (gondang musicians) to participate in a ceremony, had to
fulfil adat obligations. According to the adat ni gondang, the pargonsi may not request
that they play the gondang sabangunan in any ceremony.13 On the contrary, a suhut
must seek them out and invite them to play at a ceremony. Likewise, gondang musicians
may not be given financial remuneration, instead only meals and the satisfaction of
having fulfilled the adat requirements for which the feast-giving group is responsible. In
addition, in the early 1900s cash was not widely used as medium of exchange, thus
appreciation was shown by meals given to musicians.14 Performing gondang music
served to express adat and/or religious requirements, as did a request to the pargonsi to
perform. As Kalabius Simbolon and Amani Bunga Sinaga maintained, the normal adat
procedure to be fulfilled by a suhut included the pre-performance invitation (mangalap
pargonsi) and
the presentation of a meal to the pargonsi prior to a gondang
performance (manggalang pargonsi). At the end of a gondang performance, a suhut
group was also required to provide another meal for the pargonsi to take home.
13
Interview with Amani Rospita Sinaga (a taganing player from Palipi, Samosir), held in Palipi,
July 1989; Amani ni Bunga Sinaga (a sanme player from Palipi), held in Medan, October 1994; Kalabius
Simbolon (a sarune player from Pematang Siantar) held in Medan, December 1994; Osner Gultom (a sanme
player from Porsea), held in Hutatinggi, Laguboti, July 1994; Mamingar Sitorus (a taganing player from
Laguboti), held in Hutatiggi, Laguboti, July 1994; J. Nainggolan (a sarune player from Medan), held in
Medan, September 1994; Faber Napitupulu (a sanme player from Medan), held in Medan, October 1994.
14
It is not known exactly when the Toba Batak people started using cash as the medium of
exchange. It is evident, however, that the people in the Samosir area used rice as medium of exchange prior
to 1913, and that they already used cash, i.e. guilders, as a medium of exchange in 1913 (see Sherman 1990:
3).
216
Some of my gondang musician informants explained the detail of the preperformance invitation as follows.15 The pargonsi had to be called for, e.g. a suhut had
to visit either a sanme (parsarune) or a taganing player (partaganing) of a gondang
group. During the visit, a suhut had to give the sarune or taganing player an 'invitation'
(sitogu-togu ro) comprising demban tiar (betel nut) accompanied by a verbal invitation.
The invitation had to explain the need to hold an adat feast to the accompaniment of the
gondang sabangunan. If the invitation was accepted, Okie pargonsi was then responsible
for informing as well as organising other musicians, such as the ogung, hesek and
gordang players, to perform. It was the rule that in every gondang sabangunan
performance the eight pargonsi—i.e. parsarune, partaganing, panggordangi, pandoali,
pangihuti, pangoloi, panggora and pangheseki—must be present. In other words, each
instrument in the ensemble had to be played by one musician. This is why, as invited
musicians, the pangonsi are always called the raja na ualu (the eight kings), a status
that is attributed to them only on the occasion of their performance of the gondang
sabangunan. Although they are, of course, ordinary people, when performing the
gondang sabangunan they become important people and must be respected and treated
as experts. This is why the pargonsi are always addressed by the title pande nami or
partarias na malo {gondang expert). In pre-church time times they were even called
'batara guru', the name of a deity attributed with being the source of life and as having
a deep knowledge of gondang music. When people addressed the pargonsi by the name
batara guru, they actually believed the pargonsi had been deified. Thus gondang
musicians have a high religious function; they convey the people's request through their
music to the gods (see Manik 1977: 14, 71). As Simon writes, the pargonsi is 'the
15
For example, Amani Bunga Sinaga, Amani Rospita Sinaga, Marsius Sitohang, Sarikawan
Sitohang, J. Nainggolan, Osner Gultom, Mamingar Sitorus and Kalabius Simbolon.
217
mediator between [the] gods and [the] people' (Simon 1993: 82). Though such religious
status is no longer attributed to them by most Protestants, Parmalim followers do so, as
is evident in the tonggo-tonggo (ritual prayers) delivered by a raja paminta during the
gondang sabangunan performance at Sipaha Lima ceremonies, excerpts of which are
as follows:
Amang panggual pargonsi, nungajonjong hami dison, alu-aiuhon ma
jo tu amanta Raja na Siak Bagi, pangihutantai... Patuan Raja Malim,
roma hami pasahathon diri nami, ngolu nami nang dohot tondi nami
mangihut dipudina, mandok mauliate di asi ni roha pininta nai sian
ompunta Debata Mula Jadi Na Bolon...
(Honourable musicians, as we are standing here, please inform [i.e.
through the gondang music] the Raja Na Siak Bagi, our spiritual leader,
the leader of the Parmalim, that we are present here to offer ourselves,
our lives, and our souls and to follow him and to be thankful for all the
blessings obtained from the god Mula Jadi Na Bolon.)
Panggual pangonsi, andorang so hupinta hami mangelek-elek hami
marhite parhinaloan parbinotoan mu tu amanta Raja Na Siak Bagi
pangihutantai, jumolo majo hupasahat hami namora mauliate. Tung
tipis pe amang namanminta ma hami dipangidoani anggiat rittar
marhite pangaluan mi parhinaloan mi. Pangidoan nami asi ni roha ni
amanta Raja Na Siak Bagi pangihutantai marparsiulakhon hami.
Bahen majo among... gondang hamauliateon nami tu sahala guru na
mangajari hami...
(Honourable musicians, before worshipping our leader the Raja Na Siak
Bagi through your music, we would like first to thank you. This is a
small gift,16 yet we hope that all the requests we make of the Raja Na
Siak Bagi through your music will be fulfilled. We request that the Raja
Na Siak Bagi have mercy on us. Please now perform for us the gondang
for thanksgiving to the sahala guru11 who teaches us.)
From these two quotations it is clear that the ceremonial participants believe that the
pargonsi can communicate with the deities.
16
After delivering this particular sentence, the speaker presented gifts, i.e. betel nut and a sum of
money, to the sarune player.
The sahala guru in this context probably means the spirit of the Raja Na Siak Bagi.
218
At gondang performances, the pargomi normally play their music from the
balcony of a traditional house. If a performance takes place outdoors, the pargomi play
from the external front balcony; if from indoors, they play from the internal front
balcony. If the house in which a ceremony is held does not have a bonggar, however,
the pargonsi perform at ground level or on a stage built in front of the house, or in
indoor performances, at floor level.18
Why do the musicians normally play up in the bonggar while the dancers and
others are at ground level below? As mentioned in Chapter Two, Simon speculated that
musicians represent the gods above while the dancers and others remain ordinary people
and therefore stand below. Simon's view is convincing. Indeed, when I attended an
exhumation of bones ceremony at Palipi, Samosir in 1989, the participants placed the
pargonsi on the internal balcony during the indoor components of the ceremony and on
the external balcony during the outdoor components. However, Simon's speculation
does not hold for all Toba Batak people. The leader of the Parmalim organisation,
Naipospos, told me that the pargonsi do act as mediators between the gods and human
beings and that Parmalim followers respect the role of the musicians, but they do not
expect musicians to play on a high balcony. As Naipospos said, 'We never place the
pargomi higher than other ceremonial practitioners; I as the religious leader perform the
religious ceremonies sitting together with participants, including musicians, at the same
level, because every one is equal before the gods'. 19 On the first day of a three-day
18
One gondang sabangtman performance that took place in the bonggar of a traditional house is
documented by an old photograph entitled 'Groep van Dansede Vrouwen'. It was published in 1903 by Dutch
missionary' Meerwaldt in his book, Pidari qfDe Strijd van het licht tegen de dnisternis in de Bataklanden.
Another photograph showing the same type of performance can be seen in Simon's article 'Gondang, Gods
and Ancestors, Religious Implication of Batak Ceremonial Music' (1993). Another photograph showing the
gondang sabangtman performance on the interior balcony of a traditional house also appears in Gultom
(1990). A photograph showing a gondang sabangtman performance on the ground in 1920 also appears in
Sibeth (1991).
19
I interviewed Naipospos after he had just finished leading a Sipaha Lima ceremony at
Hutatinggi, Laguboti, in July 1994. His statement was in Toba Batak.
>-'
219
celebration of the Sipaha Lima ceremony, I saw fhe pargonsi playing the gondang from
the veranda of a house that was about 70 cm higher than the ground level. On the second
day the celebration took place both inside the bale pasogit (the Parmalim house of
worship) and outside in a yard which measured about 20 square metres. During the
outdoor performance, the pargonsi sat on the ground together with other participants;
and when the celebration took place indoors, they sat on the floor. Naipospos told me
that the placing of the pargonsi on the veranda had no special significance. He said that
considering the limited space available for worship, the veranda was suitable for the
pargonsi as it gave them a direct view of the audience.
As mentioned above, a suhut has to give a meal to the gondang musicians as a
sign of respect. This practice is called manggalang pargonsi (welcoming musicians)
(see also Gultom 1990: 89-90). As Amani Bunga Sinaga, Kalabius Simbolon and Osner
Gultom mentioned, at the present times many suhut still frequently give meals to the
tx
musicians.
Indeed, when I witnessed the practice at the exhumation of bones ceremony at
Palipi, the meal given to the pargonsi differed from meals served to other participants as
is normally the case. (They sometimes even differ from one ceremony to another). As
Amani Bunga Sinaga explained, in the pasiarhon ceremony (causing someone to be
possessed), a meal given to gondang musicians may contain, for example, dengke
nalinuturan (fish), sagu-sagu (rice-cake), mardengke nilaean (roast fish), and
marmanuk na pitu (chicken). Li the pasiarhon jujungan ceremony (making someone
possessed by a particular spirit), the meal may contain, for example, indahan na
tinuturan (rice), mardengke nilaean (fish), and sagu-sagu (rice cake); and they should
all be put on a wooden-plate (sapa). In the mangongkal holi (exhumation of bones
ceremony), no meal is required; however, betel nut should be given to musicians
,-4
^
!
220
(interview with Amani Bunga Sinaga, held in Palipi, Samosir, October 1994).20 In most
of the adat ceremonies which I attended, the meal was eaten in die interior balcony of a
traditional house (bonggar ni ruma). However, in others, such as the Sipaha Lima
ceremony, the pargonsi receive the adat meal in an ordinary house.
Both procedures
are valid; and in either case, the degree of respect afforded the musicians is the same.
Normally, after the meal has been provided in a manggalang pargonsi, the
pargonsi asks the feast-givers to give them an offering called harbue santi
panungkiman. This marks the end of the manggalang pargonsi and the beginning of the
next event, which is cducil manjujur gondang. At this event, the pargonsi and feastgivers pursue a dialogue in adat form. At the end of the dialogue, the pargonsi (i.e.
either the sarune or the taganing player) deliver a tonggo-tonggo, in which the pargonsi
re-offer the harbue santi panungkunan to the gods and the sahala gum or the badia ni
guru, who is the spirit believed to be the musicians' spiritual companion during a
gondang performance. As Amani Bunga Sinaga explained, a tonggo-tonggo delivered
by that sarune or taganing player is in fact the prayer from all members of the pargonsi
to the gods, ancestral spirits and the badia ni guru. The tonggo-tonggo must be
followed by the presentation of the sipitu gondang (a series of seven gondang pieces). (I
shall further discuss the tonggo-tonggo, the dialogue between feast-givers and gondang
musicians and the sipitu gondang under my next topic of discussion.)
However, during the preparation of the Sipaha Lima religious ceremony, this
event was omitted. As Naipospos explained, there was no need for it, because all
participants came to the ceremony for the same purpose and all already knew its aim.
Musicians and non-musicians are equal in functional importance; musicians play the
20
21
Another reference regarding meals served to gondang musicians can be found in Gultom (1990).
1 was lucky enough during the reception to have the chance to sit and eat the meal together with
the musicians and the Parmalim leader, Naipospos.
2
•1
>\
221
gondang whereas non-musicians prepare the offerings; thus both are significant
constituents of the ceremony. It is everybody's duty to help each other in order
corporately to achieve the purpose of ceremony.
Nowadays the Protestant church prohibits its members from inviting gondang
musicians in the traditional way, serving a meal to gondang musicians at the bonggar,
and practising the manjujur gondang. Nor does the church allow gondang musicians to
deliver the tonggo-tonggo, or to perform the gondang panjujuran. To the church, these
practices belong to the hasipelebeguan.
Despite this, many gondang musicians still
require feast-givers to fulfil their adat obligations at adat ceremonies and many
Protestants in rural areas still adhere to adat practice; to date none of them has been
disciplined by the church.
Naturally, the gondang sabangunan and the tortor must be performed
simultaneously; a gondang performance without tortor is regarded as incomplete, and
inconsistent with the adat ni gondang. Certainly tortor body movements are performed
not for art's sake but aspekan (offerings) to gods. Like the music, the tortor is a ritual
language-like means of communication to venerate the gods and to honour the wifegiving party at a feast. As the late Batak musicologist Liberty Manik maintained, the
people perform the gondang and the tortor to worship the gods and ancestral spirits in
22
The Protestant Church's attitude towards such practices is recorded in the book of regulations
called Ruhut-ruhut Paminsangan (Order of Discipline of the Church); this will be discussed in the next
chapter.
23
Amani Bunga Sinaga, Kalabius Simbolon, Osner Gultom and Mamingar Sitorus informed me
that feast-givers are always required to fulfil their adat obligations to the pargonsi if the feast is an adat
feast. However, Kalabius Simbolon, Osner Gultom and Mamingar Sitorus would not require it if the
gondang sabangunan is going to be performed in church functions. In contrast, Amani Bunga Sinaga
admitted that he normally resisted performing gondang sabangunan in church functions, because to him,
church functions present the gondang sabangunan for entertainment and usually in church functions, there is
no need the pargonsi to apply adat. Marsius Sitohang, Sarikawan Sitohang, J. Nainggolan and Faber
Napitupulu who performed the gondang sabangunan mostly in an urban area such as Medan, admitted that
such a practice should not be required, especially at church functions. However, should adat feast-giving
groups perform it to them, they would accept it.
222
religious ceremonies and to honour their hula-hula in adat feasts (Manik 1977: 72).
The tortor is a spiritual expression.
Just as performance of the gondang sabangunan is ruled by social and religious
norms, so is the tortor. 'Adat ni tortor' is the term used to refer to rules for performing
the tortor. 'Panortor' (tortor practitioner) is the term used for describing people who
perform the tortor. Who are they? Ceremonial participants in an adat feast normally
consist of hundreds of people; and each person present normally has the right to
perform the tortor. This right is known as jambar tortor. However, as the tortor is
performed collectively, not solo, the participants have to divide into groups. A group
may represent a particular territory, a clan association, or one of a set of three status
factors in the dalihan na tolu. Groups usually perform the tortor one after the other; this
I shall call a 'tortor sequence'.
According to the adat ni tortor, every panortor must use the ulos (ceremonial
shawl) and put it over his/her shoulder when performing the tortor. This is called
marsabe-sabe. Why should the panortor wear the ulos, and what religious significance
does the ulos denote in tortor performances? A.W.K. Samosir, a gondang musician
from Jakarta, says that wearing the ulos is a requirement; a tortor costume is incomplete
without it.26 However, Samosir does not explain the religious function of wearing the
ulos. Actually, the ulos
with its extensive decorations and symbolic patterns has
multiple functions. People normally wear the ulos on social occasions, e.g. a wedding,
funeral or a re-burial of bones ceremony. Participants also exchange the ulos as a
ceremonial gift to express a wish for good luck, happiness, wealth, many descendants,
and a long life (see also Sibeth 1990: 200). Most importantly it serves to strengthen
kinship relationships. An ulos given to someone at a time of illness is considered to
26
A.W.K. Samosir's statement is included in an article entitled 'Tetap Tidak Dapat Disebut Tortor
Batak' (It still cannot be called the Batak Tortor) in Bonapinasa (1992, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 10-11).
223
possess healing powers. An ulos given to someone at a ceremonial aflat feast symbolises
blessings. As mentioned above, in iortor performances people communicate with one
another through the exchange of ceremonial gifts to the accompaniment of the gondang
and tortor as a sign of respect and blessings.
Respect and blessing may be conveyed as follows. One panortor (referred to
here as the receiver) may express respect (manomba or marsomba) during a tortor
performance by touching the lower jaw {maniuk) of the other panortor (the giver). The
giver in return touches the top of the head of the receiver (mamasu-masu or mangolopi
or manolopi) in order to bless him/her. This procedure is determined by the relationship
and status of the two parties. The giver, i.e. the hula-hula, is of superior status; while the
receiver, i.e. the boru, is of inferior status. Blessings are commonly bestowed by giving
an ulos. This is usually performed during a tortor performance, in which a giver simply
places an ulos over the shoulder of a receiver. Blessings are also bestowed by giving
rice grains called parbue si pir nitondi or boras si pir ni tondi. Sherman translates
'boras si pir ni tondi' literally as 'the rice of the solid (hard, immovable) soul' (Sherman
1990: 95). Rice grains are indeed a common ceremonial gift, given only by a hula-hula
party to a boru party.27 When a hula-hula member places a handful of rice grains on the
top of the heads of members of a. boru party, this symbolises the hula-hula's blessings
on the boru. Sometimes members of the hula-hula party fill a basket (tandok) with rice
grains and give it to the bom party. These activities can be performed with or without
gondang accompaniment
Thus it is clear that the function of the ulos is more than just a costume for
tortor practitioners to wear. It is a ceremonial tool by which people bestow blessings on
A reference to the social and religious functions of rice in ceremonial usage is made in Sherman
(1990).
224
others. As long as blessings are bestowed in tor/or performances, the use of the ulos
will clearly remain socially and religiously significant in the Toba Batak society.
In performing die tortor, participants must observe social rules that guide
performance behaviour, particularly in relation to the parts of a panortor's body, and
especially the eyes, hands, heads, mouth and feet. The panortor must dance in a
respectful manner so that the ceremonial participants or spectators are not offended.
Thus a panortor may not raise his/her head; on the contrary, he/she must lower his/her
head and eye. Apanortor may not look directly at the spectators' eyes and must always
remain quiet, with eyes focused towards title front. A panortor must dance the tortor
heavily ^domdoni
or lboraf), i.e. with feet flat on the ground, and toes and body
moving to the rhythm of the music. Apanortor may not smoke, chew betel-nut, laugh or
talk; he/she must keeps his/her lips closed. In order to avoid the impression of
arrogance, dipanortor must not raise his/her hands above eye level and must not extend
the arms but must keep them close to his/her body. To avoid appearing to put people
§
down, a panortor must not push his/her hands downwards (Siahaan 1953: 14-16).
i
Similarly, Sinaga explains that apamatang najogi (good appearance) is a basic rule that
apanortor must always observe in performing the tortor. 'Good appearance', according
to Sinaga, includes, first, controlling the ruas ni pamatang (parts of a, panortor'§ body)
such as the simanjujung (head), the simalohng (eye), the tangan (hand), thejari-jari
(fingers), the bohi ni tangan (palms of the hands); and, secondly, controlling his/her
body-movements, which include the mangitrdot (upward and downward movements of
the body), manerser (heel and toe crab step), mangebang and adian (movement in a
circular motion and crouching from time to time). Sinaga also referred to a tortor
movement called manomba (to pay respect), in which a panortor concentrates on
his/her hands, fingers, heads and eyes. In this particular movement, the palms are held
225
vertically together, elbows in, fingers held at an angle of 45 degrees, head straight, and
eyes reverently focused on the fingertips; and & panortor must avoid looking around and
blinking.
My field data confirm Siahaan's and Sinaga's descriptions of tortor movements.
Manypanortor I observed followed the above rules, and performed the tortor according
to its basic rule. According to my field observation, the basic rule of performing the
tortor is that male and female dancers must start with the mangurdot and then perform
the manomba position, after which they perform hand movements according to their
desire to express something in particular—e.g. an aspect of routine daily life (see also
Sinaga 1991: 22-34). At the end, the panortor perform the manomba position again to
bring the tortor to an end. This I considered to be the basic sequence of tortor
movements.
The question now needs to be raised as to the relation between the beginning
at'
and the end of the dance on the one hand and the music accompaniment on the other. As
explained above, normally the taganing players begin to play, followed by the hesek, the
gordang and the ogung; and the sarune enters last. As Amani Bunga Sinaga says:
'saleleng so mangkuling sarune, na sojadi manortor raja" (unless the sarune has been
played the panortor may not start performing the tortor). A tortor performance that
follows such a procedure is considered to be a 'tortor ni raja' (respectful tortor). In
contrast, a panortor who starts moving his/her hands before the entrance of the sarune
is considered to be 'nasoumboto adat ni tortor' (ignorant of the adat)29 In the field I
found Amani Bunga Sinaga's view to be correct in most respects. In many adat feasts I
attended during my field work in Medan, Laguboti, Palipi, and Sipaholon I witnessed
that most of the panortor, irrespective of whether they were conscious of the procedure
28
Interview with Amani Bunga Sinaga, at Desa Siupar, Palipi, October 1994.
226
or not, did indeed practise it. Some, however, disobeyed mis basic rule; they did not
even follow the basic sequence of
movements. For example, they moved their
hands before the sarune started to play. Li the manomba position, for example, some
used one hand instead of two, while others stood without moving their bodies up and
down. Despite such impropriety, the adat leaders did not criticise them It is probable
that the correct procedures have lost their social meanings for some, or they no longer
regard them as important.
When should a panortor end his/her performance within a presentation of a
gondang piece? Likewise, when should gondang musicians accompanying a tortor
come to an end? My observations of many tortor performances lead me to conclude that
in every tortor sequence, a group of panortor may perform a tortor once, three, five or
seven times, depending on their whim. Gondang musicians correspondingly perform
one, three, five or seven gondang pieces, depending on the dancers' requests. A
panortor group must end one tortor before starting a new one. Similarly, gondang
musicians must end one gondang piece before starting another one. Just as the
presentation of the hata ni gondang in the mangido gondang tells gondang musicians to
be ready to perform a gondang piece, so the end of a tortor becomes a signal to the
musicians to end the gondang piece they are playing.
This, however, raises the question as to when a dancer stops dancing a tortor in
the performance of a gondang piece? Authors such as Sinaga and S jahaan have not paid
much attention to the music-dance relationship, and have not explained when the
dancers should end a tortor performance. Gondang musicians whom I interviewed
were divided in their response to this question. Some maintained that there used to be
no time limit on a tortor performance. The dancers could stop whenever they feel like it,
for example, if they felt tired. Others said that dancers had to stop when they had
>cz
227
completed their ritual task—e.g. to pay respect. I agree with this second view. As I
witnessed many times, if the dancers current task was to pay respect to a particular
group of people or to a certain god, they would stop when they felt they had properly
conveyed their respect. If they chose to pay their respect by dancing the manomba
movement, they would move clockwise or anticlockwise in upright position, or simply
perform the manomba movement in stationary position. In some adat feasts I also
witnessed that the dancers conveyed their respect to the others by touching their lower
jaws {maniuk) or placing an ulos over their shoulder. On finishing the task they normally
returned to a stationary position and stopped dancing. If the current task was to perform
the mangaliat (dancing in circular motion), the dancers started to dance in a circle then,
after one or two cycles, stopped dancing. Religious feasts performe4 by the Parmalim at
Hutatinggi followed the same procedures, as confirmed by my observation of several
such feasts.
38
Another question that needs to be raised here is: who is the first to dance at adat
and religious ceremonies? In the Sipaha Lima ceremony, the leader of the congregation
{raja ihutari), village leaders {ulu punguari) and the congregation normally perform the
tortor concurrently. In other words, in this religious ceremony people do not divide
themselves into groups. At adat feasts performed by the Protestants, it is, the privilege of
members of feast-givers {suhut party) to have the first turn to perform the tortor. 'Dijolo
ni saluhut, andorang so manortor angka tutur na ginokhon, ingkon sai jumolo do
bagian suhut manortor' (the suhut must always be the first to perform the tortor and
then be followed by those who are invited to the feast) (Siahaan 1953: 16). The
paniaran ni suhut, i.e. wives in suhut families, are normally the first to perform the
tortor, followed by the ama (husbands) (ibid. 16) . In other words, female and male
panortor may not perform the tortor together. This traditional rule is confirmed by
228
photographs published early in this century by Meerwaldt (1903:193) and Sibeth (1991:
99) which show a group of female panortor in action.30 However, this rule of tortor
performance is no longer practised today. In the last ten years or so, man and women
always dance together. Members of a feast-giving group, however, are still given the
privilege of taking the first rum at performing the tortor at adat feasts. This conclusion
is based on observations of tortor performances by members of the Parmalim as well as
the Protestants living in urban areas (such as Medan and Pematang Siantar) and in rural
areas (such as Palipi, Sipaholon, and Hutatinggi) during the 1980s and 1990s.
5.2 Performance Structure of Gondang Music
Figures 19, 20 and 22 depict the general structure of gondang performances in preChristian adat practice. When explaining the structures of the gondang performance to
me, my gondang musician informants31 kept qualifying their statements by saying 'na
job' (in the past) or sometimes 'mangihut tu adat ni gondang najolo* (following the
rules for performing the gondang in the past), indicating that they referred to the era
before the gondang sabangunan had been influenced by Christianity. In my account
below, however, I shall write in the present tense, since pre-Christian adat ni gondang
is still practised today.
m
As Figure 19 shows, a performance of gondang and tortor comprises three
main parts, which I have called sections A, B, and C. The sections distinguish two or
.itj'fl
more features, such as the current activity, the identity of the participatory groups, the
ritual aims and the structure of the music. Section A comprises the musical and ritual
30
Sibeth (1991) published a photograph, 'Parsanggul na Ganjang' (Long hairs) which was probably
taken ca. 1920. Meerwaldt published another photograph entitled 'Group van Dansende Vrouven' in 1903,
thus the photo must have been taken prior to 1903.
31
These informants are those gondang musicians whom 1 have mentioned previously.
a
at
229
Opening
Main Gondang
Section
A
B
(Al)
(A2)
(A3)
Manggalang
Pargonsi
(honouring
musicians)
Panjujuran
Gondang
(honouring
gods,
deities, and
spirit of
ancestors)
Mambuat
Tua Ni
Gondang
(feast givers
preambul)
[:(B1)
Closing
Ceremony
C
(B2)
(GONDANG DALIHAN
Mula-mula
(Beginning)
Pasupasuan
(Blessing)
(B3) :]
(Q
NA TOLU)
Manutup
Gondang, or
Panjujuran
Hasahatan
gondang
(Completion) (Closing
ceremony)
_». repeated ad infinitum
^_
Figure 19. Three-part structure oi gondang performance in an adat ceremony
2B
230
opening (mamungka gondang), section B the main gondang-tortor section {gondangtortor dalihan na tolu) and section C the music of the closing ceremony (manutup
gondang). A section can be divided into sub-sections; as I have mentioned, it may
perform two or more different functions with a different purpose. Thus, the opening
consists of three sub-sections: the manggalangpargonsi (serve the musicians) (Al), the
manjujur gondang (approach the performance) (A2), and the mambuat tua ni gondang
(call for a blessing on the performance) (A3). Each of the sub-sections of section A is
performed only once. The main gondang section also consists of three sub-sections: the
mula-muia (the beginning) (Bl), the pasu-pasuan (the blessing) (B2) and the hasahatan
(the completion) (B3). These three sub-sections are repeated ad infinitum throughout the
main gondang section and every gondang-tortor sequence must include the three subsections. Similar to the opening, the closing (C) is performed only once, thus bringing a
ceremony to a close. (I shall explain further about the gondang-tortor sequence when I
discuss Figure 22.) The first and the third sections of the three part structure ([Al - A2
- A3 ] - [: Bl - B2 - B3 :] - [C]) focus on the relationship between the human beings and
the gods and the ancestral spirits, whereas the second section concentrates on the
relationships between human beings. In pre-Christian times, every gondang-tortor
performance had to follow this structure; there were no structural options, only gondang
piece options.32 However, my field data suggest that nowadays many Protestants
remove some of the sections and exercise only those that are not against Christian
teachings. To the Protestants the three elements of section A are optional. Most of the
Protestants, however, dismiss Al and A2 and perform only A3. They follow the
structure of section B and complete a gondang performance with section C, as there is
no option for these sections. Despite this, people make their own choice of gondang
32
Interview with Amani Bunga Sinaga, held at Palipi, Samosir, in 1994.
tx
231
pieces for sub-section A and each of the three sub-sections in B as well as for C. (I shall
discuss this matter further in Chapter Six.) Figure 20 provides details of each section.
Structure
—*A1
—*A2
Event
Participants
Manggalatig
pargonsi
Feast-giving
group + musicians
Manjuj'ur
gondang:
a) Demban
panjujuran
Feast giving
group +
musicians
b) Tonggo-tonggo Musicians
c) Panjujuran
gondang
Musicians
/
Mambuat tua
ni gondang
Feast giving
group + musicians
Gondang
dalihan
na tolu
(gondang-tortor
sequence)
Feast giving
group +
relatives +
musicians
Manutup
gondang
Musicians
A3
—••
B
C
Activity
Giving a meal to
musicians
Aim
a) to pay respect to
musicians
b) to announce the
purpose of the feast
Giving betel nut
to musicians
to request musicians to
convey the purpose of
feast to gods or deities
Reoffering the betel
nut to gods, deities,
and sahala guru
Performing a series of
seven gondang pieces
without the tortor
to reconvey purpose of
feast
a) Pronouncing a
tonggo-tonggo or
delivering adat speech
or making request
b) Performing the three
sections of a gondang
performance (*)
c) Performing the tortor
a) Pronouncing a
tonggo-tonggo, or
delivering adat speech
or making request
b) Performing the
tortor
c) Performing the three
section of gondang
performance (*)
d) Giving and receiving
blessings through tortor
movements
Performing a series of
seven gondang pieces
a) to worship sahala guru
b) to request permission
from sahala guru,
c) to ask sahala guru to
prevent them from evil
influence
to call for blessing on the
first gondang and tortor
performances
a) to present ceremonial
gifts to each other
b) to express kinship
solidarity
to close the ceremony
* ) = Detail see Figure 22
Figure 20. The structure of gondang performance in an adat ceremony, distinguished
by the name of events, the participatory groups, the activities, the aims of the ritual and
the music
vs.
fi
232
I shall now explain the opening section and the meaning and purpose of its three
sub-sections. As shown in Figure 20, there is no musical activity in the manggalang
pargonsi. This event, as explained earlier, features the suhut 's presentation of a meal to
the gondang musicians. The manjujur gondang consists of three activities, including the
offering of betel nut to the gondang musicians (demban panjujurari) (Ala); the
presentation of a verbal ritual prayer by the musicians (martonggo) (Alb); and the
presentation of a musical ritual prayer by the musicians (panjujuran gondang) (Ale).
When the offering of betel nut takes place, members of the suhut party and gondang
musicians usually engage in a dialogue; the gondang musicians ask members of the
suhut party what the purpose is of inviting them to play the gondang at the ceremony. At
the same time, members of the suhut party present an offering (harbue santi) to the
musicians. Normally, there is no musical activity when the offering of betel nut takes
place. The dialogue itself marks the beginning of the gondang perfonrjance section of a
at
ceremony. Gondang musicians such as Amani Bunga Sinaga, Kalabius Simbolon, J,
Nainggolan, Marsius Sitohang, Amani Rospita Sinaga explained to me that 'hata do
mula ni gondang' (speech is the beginning of the gondang performance), where the
word 'hata' (words or speech) refers to the dialogue. The following excerpt is an
example of dialogue between a member of the suhut and a taganing musician as
described by Amani Bunga Sinaga during my interview with him in 1994:
Musician:
Ido nuaeng amania suhut, nga tipak hamu dison? Asa
marsipasungkunan hita.
(Have all of you, member of the suhut, gathered here?
If you have, we should talk.)
Suhut
Nunga be raja nami.
(Yes, we are ready, our honourable musicians.)
:
Musician:
Antongpaborhat hamu ma harbue santi panungkunan \
(If so, please pass the harbue santi [offerings] to us.)
S
233
Suhut
:
(Gives the offering to the gondang musicians without words).
Musician:
Jadi, ima nuaeng di hamu suhut, dipaborhat hamu nuaeng dison
harbue santi, santi madingin santi matogu, ringgit sitio-tio, napuran
saur napuran tiar, rudang-rudang najagar, sagu-sagu, miak-miak
Hinatahon nion tangkas mapaboa suhut.
(You serve us with an offering, a pleasant and a sturdy offering; it
includes cash, betel-nut, beautiful flowers, rice-cake, and perfume. We
would like you to explain to us what all these offerings mean.)
Suhut:
Jadi nuaeng amang pargonsi nami, alusan ma hata nipande.
Marbingkas ulaon on, namangulpok do amanta datu ingkonpaluon
do ogung sabangunan asa mdlum sahit. la unduk do hami
mangoloi, upir do na manjua, anggo sopaluon nami ogung
sabangunan ndang malum sahit. Jadi mandok ma na malo ingkon
paluon gondang sabangunan, bahenon gondang saem asa malum
sahit. Jadi ala ni ma amang pargonsi nami, baima hinatahon ni asa
mangido ho tu ompunia debata, asa malum sahit.
(Honourable musicians, we now answer you. We perform the ceremony
because a member of our family has been sick and a datu has asked
us to perform the gondang sabangunan to cure him. We nod our heads
> show our agreement and we shake our heads to show our
disagreement; if we do not perform the gondang sabangunan, his illness
cannot be healed. This is why we request you to play the music and that
is why we host this gondang saem ceremony. This is what die offering
means. We ask you through our offerings that you request mercy of our
god, Debata, so that his illness may be cured.)
It is clear from the above excerpt that the offering of betel nut aims at requesting the
gondang musicians to convey the purpose of the ceremony to the gods. It is also clear
that the offering given to the gondang musicians is the medium through which members
of the suhut party convey their ritual appeal to the musicians. In response to members of
the suhut party's request, gondang musicians make offerings to the gods in an event
called martonggo, which literally means uttering a ritual prayer (tonggo-tonggo) to the
gods, ancestral sprits and other supernatural powers. In other words, the martonggo is
an event at which a person or a group worship the supernatural powers and at which a
ritual prayer is spoken. In the context of the demban panjujuran, tiie presentation of a
ex
234
ritual prayer by the gondang musicians is an event at which they can communicate to
their gods and badia ni guru. A ritual prayer is normally delivered without musical
accompaniment. The following excerpt is an example of aritualprayer, as Amani Bunga
Sinaga described it during my interview with him in 1994:
Ima da ompung na martua Debata, unduk do namangoloi upir do na
manjua. Namandok do ninna amanta datu, paluon ni amanta suhut
gondang sabangunan asa malum sahit. Ndang dohot nasida dohot ma
hami mangido, marhite uning-uningan on sahat ma pangidoan tu
Ompunta Mula Jadi, Siraja Hatingkosan. Nuaeng pe, namangido ma
hami tu ho, asa asima roham, lambok ma pusu-pusum, lean ma
pangidoan na i. Dipasahat do dison demban tiar, dohot demban saur
dohot harbue santi parhitean dison mandok mauliate tu ho, tangan na
somba dohot hata na elek dohot parhite-hitean dohot uning-uningan,
ima ogung sabangunan na sungkot di langit na tonjol di tano... Ima
tung elek-elek nami tu hamu saluhut ompu nami naparjolo. Ala nunga
mangunduk amanta suhut ingkon paluan ogung sabangunan. Nuaeng
pe, sahat ma tu badia ni guru, guru na lao guru na mangolu, asa
martangi marbinege hamu. Boto na hurang, ajari hamu hami, jonok
ma hamu dison. Asa tangkas ma tuturi hamujala ajari hami. Nuaeng
pe, paluon nami on marhite ogung sabangunan
i
• v
{Debata, we shall nod our heads to show our agreement, or shake our
heads to show our disagreement. A datu has advised the suhut party that
the gondang sabangunan must be performed for the illness to be healed.
But the suhut party does not request this of you, instead, we do so on
their behalf. We believe that with the accompaniment of the gondang
sabangunan the suhut party's petition will reach you, the god of Mula
Jadi, the king of the truth. We worship you and ask mat you bestow
mercy upon the suhut party and grant its members what they request.
Here are our betel-nut offerings to thank you; we worship you with our
prayers to the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan, the
ensemble that hangs over the sky and sticks out of the ground This is
also our prayer to you, all the spirits of our ancestors, because members
of the suhui party have nodded their heads so that the gondang
sabangunan be performed. Now, we worship you, the spirits of our
teachers, both those who have passed away and those who are still alive.
We request that you spirits remain attentive to what we are doing. If
something is incomplete, please tell us; therefore, be close to us. Now
we are ready to perform the; gondang sabangunan.)
Immediately after the presentation of aritualprayer, a musical ritual prayer (panjujuran
gondang) is presented. It serves to complete a verbal ritual prayer, in which gondang
c
as
235
musicians perform the 'sipitu gondang' (a series of seven gondang pieces) in worship
of the supernatural powers. A belief among some people, especially gondang musicians,
holds that during the presentation of a musical ritual prayer the summoned gods and
ancestral spirits will come and perform the tortor. Therefore, human beings are not
allowed to perform the tortor during this particular event.
Gondang musicians and non-gondang musicians are divided according to their
titles as well as the order of the sipitu gondang performed in the presentation of a
musical ritual prayer. Figure 21 shows nine different opinions. AJ1 my sources agree
that the Gondang Mula-mula and Gondang Hasahatan Sitio-tio/Gondang Sitio-tioHasahatan pieces must be the first and the last pieces of the sipitu gondang. As Figure
21 suggests, musicians are allowed to make their own choice of gondang pieces as long
as the first and the last piece are the two pieces mentioned above an4 the total number of
pieces is seven (see Hutasuhut 1990: 25). In an interview, Amani Rospita Sinaga and
Amani Bunga Sinaga maintained that musicians may play the seven pieces one after the
other, either with or without a rest in between every other piece. This is confirmed by
Hutasuhut's data (see Hutasuhut 1990: 68). Hutasuhut attended a pasiarhon jujungan
ceremony which was performed by the people of Lubuk Pakam, Kabupaten Deli
Serdang in 1988. He reported that in the ceremony he witnessed the presentation of the
panjujuran
gondang,
in which musicians performed
seven gondang
pieces
consecutively.
Sometimes, however, musicians perform one gondang piece instead of seven.
This practice ij known as 'sangombas' (once). In the exhumation of bones ceremony
held at Palipi, Samosir in 1989, I witnessed Amani Rospita Sinaga and his group
presenting only one gondang piece as their musical ritual prayer. When asked why he
performed one instead of seven pieces, he claimed that such a presentation was common
a
Order of the Sipitu Gondang
Sources
l.R. Simbolon(Sm)
\.Gd. Mula-mula; 2.Gd. Lae-laeDebata; 3.Gd. Lae-lae Sombaon; 4.Gd. Habonaran;
5.Gd. Lae-lae Sumangot; 6.Gd.
2. T. Tampubolon (Sm)
l.Gd. Mula-mula: I.Gd. Debata;
3. Amani Rospita Sinaga (Pip)
l.Gd. Mula-mula; 2.Gd. Debata Sori; 3. Gd. Bane Bulan
4.Gd. Haro-haro; 5. Gd. Habonaran;
6,Gd. Sibane-bane
• 7. Gd. Hasahatan-Sitio-tio
4. Guntur Sitr>hang (Sm)
I.Gd. Mula-mula: l.Gd. Paduahon;
4.Gd. Debata Sori;S.Gd. Bane Bulan:
6.Gd. Habonaran; 1. Gd. Hasahatan-Sitio-tio
5. J. Ambarita (Sm)
l.Gd. Mula-mula; l.Gd. Somba;
6. Shohang(Md)
l.Gd. Mula-mula: l.Gd. Paduahon;
3. Gd. Mulajadi;
4. Gd. Somba;
7. Tampan Nainggolan (Sm)
l.Gd.Mula-mula; l.Gd. Sipaidua;
3. Gd. Patoluhon;
4. Gd. Habonaran;S.Gd. Apul-apul;
6.Gd. Hasahatan; l.Gd. Sitio-tio
8. Siahaan (BI)
l.Gd. Mula-mula; l.Gd. Mulajadi;
3.Gd. Batara Guru;
4. Gd.Balabulan; S.Gd. Debata Sori
6.Gd. Habonaran l.Gd. Sitio-tio Hasahatan
9. Amani Bunga Sinaga (Pip)
l.Gd. Mula-mula; l.Gd. Debata Gum; 3. Gd. Debata Sori;
4. Gd. Bane BulanS.Gd. Mulajadi
6. Gd. Sibane-bane1. Gd. Sitio-tio
Abbriviations:
Gd -Govdang;
3. Gd. Sahala;
3. Gd. Debata Guru;
3. Gd. Mulajadi;
7. Gd. Sitio-tio Hasahatan
4.Gd. Habonaran; 5. GdMarnini-marnono; 6.Gd. Sibane-bane
; 7. Gd. Sitio-tio Hasahatan
4.Gd. Habonaran; 5.Gd. Apul-apul;
S.Gd. Habonaran;
6.Gd. Hasahatan; 7. Gd. Sitio-tio
6.Gd. Apul-apul; l.Gd. Hasahatan-Sitio-tio
Sm= Samosir; Plp= Palipi; Md= Medan; Bl = Balige
Figure 21. Sipitu Gondang {AW informants, except the author Siahaan (no. 8) are gondang musicians. Information provided in sources no.
1-7 are quoted from Hutasuhut (1990: 27); The data in source no. 8 are based on reading Siahaan (1953: 4-5), and data in source no.9 are
based on an interview between the author and Amani Bunga Sinaga at Palipi in October 1994.
237
amongst gondang musicians provided that musicians assumed that one represented
seven. He explained that to gondang musicians the presentation of a series of seven
gondang pieces constitutes a prayer; and a prayer may vary, depending on how
musicians perform it. To him, seven gondang pieces constitute a long prayer, and one
gondang piece a short prayer. He insisted that both a long and a short prayer are valid.33
Thus, the fact that gondang musicians are not restricted to performing seven gondang
pieces suggests that the sipitu gondang is not a fixed repertoire but a flexible one.
Whether six, five, three or two pieces are allowed remains open to dispute. The religious
meaning of the presentation of musical ritual prayer does not lie in the total number of
gondang pieces performed, but in its purpose as a prayer.
The mambuat tua ni gondang is the first tortor performance in every adat feast.
It is performed exclusively by the suhut party. This is why people refer to the mambuat
tua ni gondang as the tortor ni suhut or the gondang suhut (tortor or gondang by the
3B
suhut party).34 The mambuat tua ni gondang was excluded from the Sipaha Lima
ceremony which I witnessed, suggesting that it is used exclusively for adat feasts.
Members of the suhut party usually gather ready to perform the tortor immediately after
the panjujuran gondang is over. In this event the gondang-tortor presentation is
patterned according to the gondang-tortor sequence, as shown in Figure 22. (Details of
the gondang/'tortor sequence are given in the discussion of the gondang dalihan na tolu
below.) Central to the mambuat tua ni gondang is the call for blessings on the
gondang performance. In other words, it is in this event that a suhut summons its
ancestral spirits. In the exhumation of bones ceremony that I attended at Palipi, the suhut
33
1 interviewed Amani Rospita Sinaga at an exhumation of bones ceremony held at Palipi in July
1989. He participated in the ceremony as a taganing player.
34
This is also explained by Batara Sangti (1977: 13), though he classifies mambuat tua ni gondang
as part of sipitu gondang.
238
Sub-section
Piece/item
Activity and aim
Gondang A lu-alu
(Free choice of pieces, e.g.:
1. gondang alu-alu tu Mula
Jadi Nabolon;
2. gondang alu-alu tu sahala
ni ompunta;
3. gondang alu-alu tu sahala
ni angka Raja;
(Bl)
Performed
without tortor
Gondang Mula-mula
(No alternative)
Performed
with tortor
a) to pronounce tongo-tonggo
or to make adat speech
and request
b) to express a belief that
everything has its own
beginning
c) to dance the tortor
Performed
with tortor
a) to pronounce tonggo-tonggo
and request
b) to express respect to
supernatural powers and
human beings whose names
are being addressed
Mula-mula
Gondang Somba
(Free choice of pieces, e.g :
1. gondang somba tu Mula
Jadi na Bolon;
2. gondang somba tu Amanta
Debata
(B2)
Pasu-pasuan, or
Pinta-pinta
(B3)
Hasahatan
and request
b) to ask musicians to make a
musical announcement to
supernatural powers and
human beings whose names
are being addressed
Free choice of pieces, e.g.:
I. gondang sitorop maribur.
2. gondang simonang
monang
3. gondang saurma-tua
4. gondang siboru
Performed
with tortor
and request
b) to express and strengthening
kinship relationship
c) to give and to receive
blessings
d) to exchange ceremonial gifts
e) to dance the tortor
1. gondang hasahatan, and/or
2. gondang sitio-tio
3. gondang hasahatan/Sitiotio
Performed
with tortor
and request
b) to close the event with the
word horns
Figure 22. Structure of a gondang-tortor sequence
a.
- \
239
party (i.e. the Sitohang family) performed the mangalap tua ni gondang, in which I
witnessed a member of the suhut being possessed by a spirit who was believed to be an
ancestor of the suhut party. The possessed person then gave advice to the suhut party. It
is probable that the latter regarded the advice given them by the possessed person as
blessings. However, this point is open to question. The mambuat tua ni gondang is also
to be considered as the completion of the opening section. Its completion bridges the
opening and the gondang dalihan na tolu, the next main structural part of a gondang
performance.
Before discussing the gondang pieces presented in the gondang dalihan na tolu,
it is necessary first to discuss the meaning and the purpose of this particular event. The
substantial difference between the gondang dalihan na tolu and the mambuat tua ni
gondang lies in their aims (see Figure 22 and see also Figures 19 and 20) and, related
to this, the participants in each event. In the gondang dalihan na tolu, the dancers
cs
SB
include members of the suhut party, other relatives and neighbours. Every group of
relatives and neighbours takes its turn to perform a tortor sequence, but the order of
entry is always uncertain. According to my field data, there is no definitive procedure to
guide people in this matter. Even among the same people, the order may vary from one
gondang adat performance to another.
Requests for gondang pieces as well as
speeches and expression of wishes are executed by relatives and neighbours; they are
the people who are supposed to give moral support, wishes, blessings to and show
appreciation of the suhut party.
The main gondang-tortor sequence shown in Figure 22 elucidates the aims of
the gondang dalihan na tolu. The three sub-sections of section B differ from one
another not only in terms of ritual purpose but also in terms of gondang pieces
performed in or chosen for each sub-section (see also Sinaga 1991: 12-15). The bottom
240
line shows that the dancers in the mula-mula section aim to express their relationships to
the supernatural powers and to express their respect to both guests and visitors. As part
of their worship of the gods they ask the musicians to play special gondang pieces,
including the Gondang Somba tu Mula Jadi Na Bolon (Gondang to worship Mula Jadi
Na Bolon). The title of the latter piece varies according to the object of worship. It is
important to note that when a raja paminta requests a gondang piece to be played, he
must deliver a hata ni gondang, i.e. a speech addressed by a raja paminta to the
gondang musicians and/or ceremonial participants. A hata ni gondang must not be
confused with a tonggo-tonggo. A hata ni gondang usually depicts the theme of a feast
while others depict a raja paminta's requests to the supernatural powers. Below is an
excerpt of the hata ni gondang delivered by a raja paminta at the exhumation of bones
ceremony that took place at Huta Raja, Sipaholon, in 1994, as follows:
Among panggual pargonsi, bahen ma gondang siboan boon, ai
mamboan do hami parbue na pir, asa pir sude tondi ni angka sude
gelleng nipinompar ni namboru namion, dohot ulos siganjang rambu,
asa ganjang antong umur ni gellenghon pinompar ni namborunghon...
ulos na bolak, asa bolakpandaraman tu sude angka gellengkon... ulos
si las ni roha, asa marlas ni roha hami sude na marhula-hula dohot
pinompar ni namboru namion
(Honourable musicians, please perform Gondang Siboan-boan
[Gondang of bringing]; we have come here and brought with us the rice
grain of the strong soul, so that the souls of all descendants of our
father's sister [namboru] become strong. We also bring an ulos with us
with its long fringe, so that all descendants of our father's sister will
have a long life. That ulos is a wide one, so mat all descendants of our
father's sister will have sustenance. The ulos is a happy ulos, so that we,
the hula-hula and our boru party, can enjoy happiness.)
Despite this, some other hata ni gondang may sound like a ritual prayer. This can be
examined closely from the following excerpt of a hata ni gondang which was delivered
by a participant of the Parmalim religious ceremony Sipaha Lima, held at the village of
Hutatinggi, Kecamatan Laguboti, in July 1994:
a
at
241
Bahen ma gondang somba tu tuhanta Tuhan Simarimbulu Bosi,
pargogo na sohatudosan, na soolo matua na tongtong doli-doii. Asi
ma rohana manjanghon haroronta mangihut dipudi ni amanta Raja Na
SiakBagi marsogot manitang pehan puji-pujian mardongan Gondang
sabangunan tu adopanna. Dijanghon ma haroronta, sahat dipargogoi
ma hita, hot di patik dohot uhum tinindanghon ni amanta Raja Na Siak
Bagi. Dipargogoi ma parbinotoannta, dipargogoi ma dohot ngolunta
nang dohot tondinta.
(Please perform the gondang somba to worship our almighty god,
Tuhan Simarimbulu Bosi, the god who never gets old, but always stays
young. May his mercy be bestowed on %ts who follow our ancestor Raja
Na Siak Bagi, and may he accept the offerings we present to the
accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan. May he bless us, and may
we always obey the laws and commandments uttered by Raja Na Siak
Bagi; may he gain our knowledge, and may he bless our lives and souls.)
As explained earlier in this thesis, the people believe that the god Mula Jadi Na
Bolon is the creator of everything. Similarly, the people believe that everything in the
I
world has its own beginning. Traditionally, when dancers ask gondang musicians to play
Gondang Mula-mula (gondang of the beginning), they actually express this sort of
belief.
Every gondang musician I interviewed said that sometimes in the mula-mula
section a raja paminta makes a ritual announcement (alu-alu) to the gods, the ancestral
spirits, or the relatives and visitors; others, however, dismiss it. An announcement is
made that takes the form of a short speech. At ceremonial feasts, it is a raja paminta
that delivers an announcement before, or sometimes after, the request that the Gondang
i
Mula-mula or Gondang Somba be played. Normally a raja paminta makes an
announcement to the gondang musicians and asks them to forward that announcement
to a group of people or to the supernatural powers through their music. This practice
upholds the role of the gondang musicians as mediators. In such an announcement, a
raja paminta may say that he and his companions are present and are ready to practise
242
the adat ritual. Many toes during my fieldwork I heard such announcements, as
follows:
Amang panggual pargonsi, nunga rade hami dison. Alu-aluhon ma jo
tu sahala ni angka raja na Wat na lolo.
(Honourable musicians, we have gathered here, please inform the
ceremonial participants of our presence.)
After this short speech, the gondang musicians usually perform the so-called Gondang
Alu-alu tu Sahala ni Angka Raja Naliat Nalolo (Gondang to announce to the
ceremonial participants), which is a short rhythmic pattern played solo on the taganing
(see Figure 10). A raja paminta may make several announcements addressed to
different objects, and for each announcement he may ask the taganing player to perform
the Gondang Alu-alu. The title of this piece varies, depending on the objects being
addressed. The following are some examples of its titles: Gondang Alu-alu tu Mula Jadi
na Bolon (Gondang to announce to Mula Jadi Na Bolon), Gondang Alu-alu tu Juara ni
na Torop (Gondang to announce to the crowd), Gondang Alu-alu tu
Sahala ni
Ompunta Sijolo-jolo Tubu (Gondang to announce to the ancestral spirits).
In a pasu-pasuan section, the participant's attention is focused on the suhut
party as the giver of the feast and to whom their moral support is given. Normally the
dancers of the feast-giver party and their relatives and neighbours exchange ceremonial
gifts and bestow and receive blessings to the accompaniment of the gondang. The
dancers communicate with each other through tortor body movements such as the
maniuk, the mansabei, the manolopi, and the mamasu-masu. Likewise, the hata ni
gondang accompanying every gondang piece performed during this particular event
aims primarily to strengthen social relationships.
x.
243
The last part of the gondang daJihan na tolu is the hasahatan (completion)
sectioa It is the closing event for every gondang-tortor sequence. Exclusive to this
event is the presentation of the Gondang Hasahatan Sitio-tio or the Gondang Sitio-tio
Hasahatan as the piece bringing a gondang-tortor sequence to an end. The
accompanying hata ni gondang for this piece usually expresses the hope that what has
been conveyed in the pasu-pasuan will bring peace and happiness (horas) to all
participants. Thus at the end of this event all of the dancers shout the word horas three
times. Should another group of dancers perform another gondang-tortor sequence, the
three patterns—the mula-muia, the pasu-pasuan and the hasahatan—must be observed.
The question that needs to be raised now is: how many gondang pieces should
be included in a gondang-tortor sequence? Which gondang piece must people request
to be played in order to begin or end a gondang-tortor sequence? Likewise, which
gondang pieces must a rajapaminta request the gondang musicians to play in between
the beginning and the ending of a. gondang-tortor sequence? Musicians and scholars are
divided in their opinions. Some argue that traditionally a gondang-tortor sequence
contains seven pieces (sipitu gondang), or five pieces {silima gondqng), or three pieces
(sitolu gondang); others even argues that it could be one gondang piece (sisada
gondang) (Simon 1984: 59; see also Sinaga 1991: 15 and Okozaki 1994: 115). Yet
others say that it should contain eight gondang pieces (see Siahaan 1953: 5). Actually
these opinions are all correct because the number of gondang pjeces in a gondang
sequence is always indefinite, depending on the identity of the people who make the
request, the time given to a group of dancers to perform the tortor, and the time needed
to complete an adat feast. During my field work, some people requested up to eight
gondang pieces. There were some people, too, who requested seven, six, five, four, or
only three pieces. All of these are valid.
244
Musicians and scholars do agree, however, that a gondang-torior
sequence
must start with the Gondang Mula-mula and ended with the Gondang Hasahatan or
Gondang Sitio-tio. They also agree that in between these pieces a raja paminta is free
to choose any gondang pieces he desires. Gondang musicians such as Amani Bunga
Sinaga, Marsius Sitohang, Sarikawan Sitohang and Kalabius Simbolon confirm this
opinion. I partly agree with their opinion because in some gondang performances I
attended not all raja paminta followed such a procedure. Some raja paminta asked the
gondang musicians to play Gondang Somba tu Amanta Debata first and then Gondang
Mula-mula. Others asked gondang musicians to play the Gondang Alu-alu first,
followed by the Gondang Mula-mula and the Gondang Somba, or the other way
around. This suggests that all of these procedures are valid. Regardless of these
procedures, what I found to be the norm was that during the mula-mula section the
panortor must always request the Gondang Mula-mula to be played. This particular
piece has become a stereotype for the starting of a gondang-tortor sequence in every
adat feast. The other two pieces, Gondang Somba and Gondang Alu-alu are optional. I
also found that the Gondang Somba is often requested by the raja paminta in the gift
exchange ceremony (ihepasu-pasuan).
The very last part of the gondang performance structure is the manutup
gondang (closing ceremony), which is performed only once. Like the panjujuran
gondang, it is performed exclusively by gondang musicians as their particular prayer to
the gods. Amani Rospita Sinaga informed me that since a gondang performance is
opened with a prayer, so must the performance be closed with a prayer. Amani Bunga
Sinaga supported this assertion when he explained to me that the pieces presented in the
manutup gondang are usually the pieces presented in the panjujuran gondang, i.e. the
sipitu gondang. Nevertheless, like ihe panjujuran gondang, gondang musicians agreed
245
that it is also possible to perform one gondang piece IV the manutup gondang,
suggesting that there is no restriction in the number of gondang pieces played. Nor is
there any presentation of a ritual prayer or betel-nut ceremony (see Gultom 1990: 61).
As soon as the manutup gondang is executed, no more tortor or gondang pieces are
allowed; in other words, the manutup gondang completes the ceremony.
5.3 Conclusion
The gondang sabangunan and tortor were, and still are, full of religious connotations.
Thus, the rules have to be followed whenever
they are performed. These include
serving a meal for the musicians, performing betel nut-giving ceremony, worship of the
badia ni guru, consulting a datu, delivering the hata ni gondang and the tonggo-tonggo,
calling for a blessing on a performance, presenting the seven gondang pieces, consulting
the rules for performing the tortor, following the three sub-sections of the main
gondang-tortor sequence, and respecting the status of the musicians. All of these are
important aspects of the pre-Christian Toba Batak adat and belief systems. Yet, they
also define the way in which the gondang and tortor are prepared and performed. This
suggests that the gondang sabangunan and tortor are not merely tools, but also crucial
constituents of the adat and hasipekbeguan.
Since the Protestant churches (HKBP and GKPI) disagree with the traditional
values associated with tortor and gondang performance, they regulate their members'
practice of the dance and music in social life. The Orders of Discipline of the church
were established in order to decontextualise tortor and gondang performance from adat
so that they could be accepted in Christian circles. I shall discuss tl|e way in which the
Protestant church has dealt with these issues in the next chapter.
246
CHAPTER SIX
FROM CONFLICT TO RECONCILIATION:
THE CASE OF THE GONDANG SABANGUNAN m THE ORDER
OF DISCIPLINE OF THE TOBA BATAK PROTESTANT CHURCH
This chapter discusses the prolonged conflict, dating from the 1860s to the 1940s,
between the church as represented by the missionaries and/or the synod on the one
hand and its congregation on the other. These conflicts resulted from divergent views
about adat practices among members of the church and restrictions the church placed
upon gondang-tortor performance. The early German missionaries decreed that preChristian adat practices, such as the gondang-accompanied exhumation of bones and
pre-funeral ceremonies could not be tolerated, as they were part of hasipekbeguan.
They therefore established the 'Order of Discipline of the Church' which served to ban
the use of the gondang sabangiman and the tortor. They also introduced regulations
preventing any adat aspect that was associated with hasipekbeguan from being
practised. 'Order of Discipline of the Church' is an official pronouncement of the
church synod about the rules and disciplines that control behaviour of Protestants, based
on Christian teachings. There have been seven Orders of Discipline to date.
Despite the
Orders of Discipline,
however, congregations have always
continued to practise aspects of adat and have striven to maintain the gondang-tortor
tradition. In 1952 the
church synod and the
congregation reached a point of
reconciliation, following reconsideration of the use of the formerly forbidden gondangtortor tradition. This process of reconciliation was set in train when Toba Batak
ministers replaced German ministers in leading the church from 1940. After twelve
years in the leadership, they established the Order of Discipline of the Church that
accommodated some adat practices. In so doing the Toba Batak ministers, unlike the
German missionaries, decontextualised the performance of the gondang sabangiman
a
\
247
and tortor from pre-Christian adat and hasipelebeguan practices, and at the same time
recontextualised the performance into the context of Christian teachings.
To begin the
discussion, I shall describe the
situation that first brought
congregation into conflict with the German missionaries. I shall need to outline two
Orders of Discipline of the church which were instituted by the German missionaries,
i.e. the 1907 and 1924 Orders of Discipline as well as the 1952, 1968, and 1987
Orders of Discipline issued by the HKBP and the 1970 and 1982 Qrders of Discipline
issued by GKPI At present the HKBP uses its 1987 Order of Discipline while the
GKPI uses its 1982 Order of Discipline.1 Below I shall explain how a reconciliation
gradually evolved between the two parties between 1952 and the present time.
6.1 The Rise of the Conflict
Conflict between the German missionaries and the Toba Batak people first arose in the
early 1860s when a German missionary, Nommensen, came to live in the Silindung
»
*
valley. The people of Silindung valley conceived of all so-called sibontqr mata ('white-
1
eyes' or 'whitemen') as being people who failed to observe adat, and believed that their
non-observance could cause natural disasters such as epidemics, crop failures, or
earthquakes (Pedersen 1970: 36). Thus, their adat told them not to accept foreigners
(ibid. 59-60). Their strong resistance to foreign interference almost caused
Nommensen's death (ibid. 60).
Before contact all the people of the Silindung valley practised the same kinship
traditions, celebrated the same ritual and religious practices, worshipped the same gods,
believed in the same ancestral spirits and performed the
1
same music and dance.
On June 19971 received an official letter from Reverent Siregar of the GKPI Padang Bulan in
Medan that confirms the data.
248
Nommensen had to gathered the substantial number of people he had converted to
Christianity into a protective village, Huta Dame, because their relatives had expelled
them from their clan or village religious associations (Lumbantobing 1992: 71).
Members of this new Christian community performed Sunday services and sang
Christian hymns; and they restrained themselves from performing the old sacrificial or
other ritual and religious ceremonies which Nommensen had forbidden. These
developments caused tensions to mount and emotional conflict to rise, which led to a
deep social breach between the new converts and those of their relatives who had
retained their spirit beliefs (see Situmorang 1993a: 45).
As Nommensen and other missionaries persisted in resisting local adat
practices, the conflict developed into more than a deep social breach. In the late 1860s,
a civil law was instituted which aimed at Christianising adat practices. During this early
stage of Christianisation, Nommensen was yet to understand how deeply the local
people were committed to adat (see Bendtz 1986: 34-35; see also Schreiner 1994: 64).
As mentioned earlier, in pre-Christian Toba Batak society adat not only gave religious
meaning to their life but it also governed their established socip-cultural practices.
Performing ancestral worship rituals to the
accompaniment of the
sabangunan was one of their major adat religious practices; it was their
gondang
way of
achieving social harmony. The missionaries, on the other hand, conceived of adat as
comprising two divisions: (i) social occasion (e.g. weddings, pre-funeral ceremonies .as
well as inheritance practices) and (ii) spirit worship and sacrificial ceremonies to the
accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan, whereby the former were acceptable and
the latter were not. The missionaries supposed that by instituting and applying civil laws
they would be able to Christianise adat and simultaneously restrict the people from
practising their traditional religion (see also Aritonang 1988: 405; Schreiner 1994: 67).
249
Thus as early as 1866, two years after the
establishment of the first Christian
community in Huta Dame, the German missionaries enforced an Orcjer of Discipline
which regulated adat practices (see Hutauruk 1993: 50-54; Schreiner 1994: 63). In
1867, Nommensen and Johannsen added the so-called civil law for the Christians to
the Order of Discipline, the exact content of which cannot be accurately outlined,
because the relevant documents have not yet been found (Schreiner 1994: 64, 72; see
also Hutauruk 1993: 54-56). Schreiner surmised, however, that the civil law of 1867
and its revised form (proposed by Johannsen) of 1892 mainly contained rules regarding
marriage, inheritance and disciplinary action to punish gambling and stealing (Schreiner
1994: 72). It is not clear whether the 1867 civil law officially prohibited gondang
sabangunan and tortor performance, even though we have evidence that the first
converts were prohibited from practising this music and dance. The fact remains that
the 1867 civil law was the first attempt to Christianise adat practices among the Toba
I
Batak people.
Despite this, many Christianised people found they were unable completely to
give up their attachment to pre-Christian adat practices; that is, thejr adat practices did
not cease after they became Christians. The sources show that some converts used the
gondang sabangunan and tortor in the saur matua pre-funeral ceremony for an elderly
person in the
early 1870s in the
Toba District (Schreiner 1994: 52). Although
Nommensen disciplined those who participated in the ceremony, its practice remained
intact among the people. As a result, the missionaries insisted that converts must not be
allowed to perform pre-funeral ceremonies on the basis of adat practices (ibid. 52-53).
This issue became the main consideration in a major meeting of the missionaries in
1872 (ibid. 52). By this time the conflict was felt not merely among tjie missionaries,
but had become a concern of the church itself. The meeting finally issued a regulation
250
that Christianised people were not allowed to participate in any ritual ceremonies to the
accompaniment of the gondang and tortor (ibid. 52-53).
Nommensen and other missionaries also felt that
traditional religious
organisations such as parbaringin and bius, and adat practices such as pesta bius with
gondang sabangunan and tortor accompaniment interfered with the
Christianisation. Thus, when the
process of
Dutch took over the Silindung valley in 1879,
Nommensen asked them to ban those traditional practices. It is probable that between
1879 and the late 1930s the colonial government joined the missionaries in enforcing
the civil law which banned mese traditional performance practices. The law applied not
only to Christianised people but also to those who retained the spjrit beliefs (see also
Situmorang 1993a: 45, 65). In 1913, the Dutch officer J.C. Kielstra listed the civil law
in his book Beschrijving van het bijzondere Adatrecht van de inheernsche Christenen in
hei Batakland (List of Adat-Law for Christian Toba Batak in Batak Lands) (Schreiner
i
t
i
1994:71).
H
Although the civil law facilitated the task of the missionaries and the Dutch
colonial government in Batak Lands, it remained a thorn in the side of the people. Those
who remained devoted to adat established religio-political organisations to confront the
expansion of 'whitemen' and to maintain adat practices, including the
gondang
sabangunan. The most powerful of the organisations was the Parmalim, which was
established by Guru Somalaing Pardede between the late 1870s and the early 1880s
(see Situmorang 1993 a: 94). Despite the civil law, members of Parmalim continued to
practice pesta bius and gondang sabangunan (ibid. 94).
In 1881, the title of 'Ephorus' (leader of the Protestant Toba Batak church) was
bestowed on Nommensen by the RMG in Wuppertal-Barmen, Germany (Pedersen
1970: 66). As church leader he extended the pursuance of the civil law to areas outside
21
251
Silindung valley. Thus in the 1890s the prohibition was applied to the people in Balige
(Vergouwen 1986: 85, 115) and in 1918 the people of Samosir Island (Siahaan 1964:
43; Situmorang 1993b: 142-143). Between 1896 and 1897 I \yarneck proposed a
general Order of Discipline of the Church which included about 200 regulations, in
which all forms of gondang sabangunan and tortor performances, deifying gondang
musicians, and all forms of magico-religious practice were regarded as serious
transgressions (see Schreiner 1970: 297; 1994: 76 footnote no. 2). Christians who
transgressed the rules had to be punished by being excluded frorn Holy Communion
(see also Hutauruk 1993: 52). About the same time, the missionaries introduced 162
Dutch and German hymns to Toba Batak congregations and the number was increased
to 277 in 1904 (Hutauruk 1993: 60).
In 1899, a Christian Toba Batak chief requested the church's permission to
perform the gondang and tortor at a pre-funeral ceremony. After the missionaries,
church ministers, Christian Toba Batak chiefs and Dutch officers had discussed the
request, they decided not to approve it due to the 1897 Order of Discipline (Schreiner
1970: 296-297). Yet the use of gondang in adat ceremonies within the Christian
community remained important, especially in a pre-funeral ceremonies for an elderly
person with such rituals being accompanied by the gondang sabangunan, despite the
fact that the church authorities strengthened their demands that Christianised people be
'freed'from the gondang tradition.
In 1911 and in 1914, however, the Dutch colonial government revised the 1892
civil law, thereby reducing the authority of the church, whereupon the missionaries
criticised the revision on the grounds that it did not reflect Christian teachings (Schreiner
1994: 77). On 23 May, 1918, Nommensen died. About the same time Germany was
defeated in World War I. Both these events affected the authority of the
German
252
missionaries in Toba Batak lands, especially in the process of establishing the civil law
for Christians and attempting to Christianise the adat (ibid. 78). The conflict between
the missionaries and the colonial government re the civil law continued until 1923, with
no conclusive result (ibid. 78).
From 1920 a German missionary, Warneck, assumed the leadership of the
Protestant Toba Batak church. He admitted that the
former civil law had lost its
relevance. The missionaries no longer demanded that they be involved in writing civil
law, or be otherwise involved in the social and religious life of non-Christian Toba
Batak (Schreiner 1970: 297 and 1994:78).
From the 1920s onward, the missionaries assumed a changed role. They gave
up issuing bans and sanctions against non-Christian Toba Batak people who performed
religious ceremonies to the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan and tortor.
This was evident in the celebration of tinepesta bius in 1923, hosted by the people of
£
t
Limbong, a village in the foothills of the Pusuk Buhit (Situmorang 1994: 142). The
6
to
Dutch administrator, V.E. Kom, who was the provincial head of Tapanuli in the late
1930s, officially lifted the ban on gondang performance in 1938 (Situmorang 1993 b:
142-143). Following the lifting of the ban, the people of Sihotang, a village on the
south-west shore of Lake Toba, performed the pesta bius, which war also attended by
V.E. Kom (ibid. 142-143).
Even after the Dutch had lifted the ban, however, the
missionaries still
prohibited their Christian congregations from celebrating pre-Christian adat practices to
the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan and tortor, because they considered
them to be a powerful influence. They feared that they still attracted the full sympathy
and inner involvement of the people and might lead to spirit possession practices. Thus
253
the
missionaries continued to ban the
gondang tradition among Christians until
leadership of the German missionaries ceased in the early 1940s.
6.2 The Orders of Discipline of the Protestant Church between 1907 and 1990
In 1907 the German missionaries published the Aturan ni Ruhut di angka huria na di
tongatonga ni HalakBatak (Order of Discipline of the Church among the Bataks). It
consisted of thirteen sections, each subdivided into several articles. Some sections
included instructions such as how to conduct a Sunday service, Holy Communion,
baptism, confession and conversion as well as how to run a funeral ceremony. The
articles outlined rules on marriage and explained how teachers and ministers should
behave in school and how Christians could become evangelists. It is not clear why this
Order of Discipline did not include any reference to or explanation of the gondang
sabangunan, tortor and adat practices such aspesta bins.
As explained previously, between 1911 and 1923, the
Dutch colonial
government opposed the civil law proposed by the German missionaries. In other
words, the government resisted the proposal that the missionaries should be the only
party to outline the civil law. This was the reason why the missionaries lost their
influence and authority in planning and implementing the civil law. In response to this,
the missionaries concentrated on rearranging the previous Order of Discipline of the
church. Thus, in the 1924 Order of Discipline (the Oehoem Parhoeriaon Siingoton ni
angka Hoeria Kristen Batak) the missionaries defined the church's attitude towards
gondang and tortor as well as adat practices. For example, they wrote that Protestants
would commit a sin if they were to return to the hasipekbeguan, i.e. if they were to
perform pre-Christian adat and religious practices to the accompaniment of gondang
and tortor, including invoking spirits of deceased persons, performing ancestral worship,
j
254
giving offerings to ancestral spirits, asking blessings from deceased persons, and
dancing around a deceased person (Anon 1924: 5). It was also written that the church
would regard it as a sin if those who intended to perform pre-Cfiristian adat and
religious practices did so quietly behind the scene. The Order of Discipline held that
those who wanted to hold an adat ritual to the
accompaniment of the
gondang
sabangunan and tortor had to consult the church synods beforehand, that the synod
would decide whether or not it would be allowed (ibid. 5), and that anyone who broke
these rules would be called transgressors (sipinsangon) and would be punished, for
example by being excluded from Holy Communion or ecclesiastical tasks among the
church congregation (ibid. 7).
How far this Order of Discipline succeeded in restricting Christians from
performing the gondang-tortor tradition is still unclear. It is documented that in 1925
and 1926 many Toba Batak people in the Toba and Samosir areas performed the
gondang and that in 1929 the people of Silindung presented a water buffalo and an ulos
to a Dutch officer to the accompaniment of the gondang and tortor (Schreiner 1970:
298). Despite the Order of Discipline the people continued to preserve their adat and
musical tradition.
In 1933 the church synod held a meeting. Some Christians appealed to the
synod for permission to use gondang and tortor in adat feasts (s,ee Schreiner 1970:
298). In response the church synod issued a new policy which served to introduce two
classifications of gondang performances: those that were forbidden and those that were
permitted. If they were associated with pre-Christian religious practices such as prefiineral and exhumation of bones ceremonies and/or other types of ancestral worship,
they were strictly prohibited. If performed in honour of respected people, to celebrate
the construction of a new house or village, or to celebrate a newborn baby they were
255
allowed. Called gondang riang-riang (joyful feasts), they were not ritually bound. Thus
the church synod tried to ban the religious function of the gondang and tortor. Yet the
boundaries between the two classes, including their manner of performance, structure,
rules and repertoire, proved to be difficult to draw. In both types of gondang
performances, the dancers may be possessed by spirits and therefore lead participants in
the direction of the hasipelebeguan. Because of mis the synods warned that those who
hosted a gondang riang-riang had to assume personal liability for any breach of the
church's ban on any performances associated with the hasipelebeguan (ibid. 298-299).
Despite the church's expression of tolerance, the basic conflict remained,
however. Schreiner, after studying the general report of the
1937 synod meeting,
reported that the issue of permitted and forbidden gondang and tortor performances
was still on the synod's agenda. During the meeting, some of the priests requested mat
no gondang practices, including gondang riang-riang, be permitted because church
members still used the gondang to call spirits of the dead (ibid. 299). The 1937 synod
meeting failed to achieve a unanimous decision on the matter; and t}ie problem remains
unsolved. When the Toba Batak ministers fully managed the HKBP in the early 1940s,
the former conflict regarding the adat and the gondang tradition between the church
and adat practitioners continued, because the church synod assumed the same attitude
as the former German missionaries (see Okazaki 1994: 158-159; see also Schreiner
1970: 299-300). After a long period of conflict between the church synod and its
congregations, the church synod cautiously designed an Order of Discipline in 1952 that
accommodated some local adat practices, whereby parishioners could perform prefuneral ceremonies and exhumation of bones ceremonies to the accompaniment of the
gondang-tortor tradition. This is clearly recorded in Section Three of the
pronouncement, which reads as follows:
*
\
c
256
Molo monding sada natuatua, ndang jadi disi padalanon juhui tata
andorang soborhat bangke i tu kuburan. Laos songoni do ndang masa
na marhajinjang di na paulakhonjual tujabu, saboiboina jual manang
ianda na assign pe, ndang sipatupaon disi, ndangjadi tortoran bangke
ni na monding jala tingki na mangarapot pe ndang jadi masa na
martonggo... Molo naeng pamasaon gondang, ditingki masa
hamatean, holon diparmonding ni na marpahompu do haoloan jala
ndang jadi masa disi ondaonda jala jumoh ma tangkasan ni Kerkerat
aturan ni gondang i. {Order ofDiscipline 1952:13)
(In pre-funeral ceremonies, Protestants are allowed to perform gondang
sabangunan and tortor only if the
deceased has had some
grandchildren. Nevertheless, hosts of ceremonies must consult the
church beforehand. In pre-funeral ceremonies, participants must not
partake of portions of uncooked meats (jambar) unless the deceased
has already been buried. Participants are not encouraged to place
baskets (JUG!? beside a corpse. Nor may participants dance the tortor
around it. Communications with ancestral spirits, especially during
meetings of family elders, are strictly prohibited. Prior to a gondang
performance the church must be informed about the performance
procedure. The host must declare that during the gondang performance
there will be no requests for blessings from deceased persons.)
Section four deals with the exhumation of bones ceremony as follows:
Asa haoloan Kerkerat pangongkalon holiholi, ingkon unang adong
masa disi ruhut ni hasipelebeguan, jala ingkon marsitorus do holiholi
sian tanoman na buruk tu tanoman na imbaru ndang jadi masa disi
namanotori holiholi, namanulangi, na mangalehon napuran dohot
ragam ni hasipelebeguan na asing. Jala ingkon di bagasan panolopion
ni Pandita do asa haoloan i. (Order of Discipline 1952: 13-14)
(The church allows exhumation of bones ceremonies to be performed
as long as participants do not include any pagan practices. Exhumed
bones must be removed directly from the old burial ground and placed
on the newly-prepared plot of earth. Participants must not dance the
tortor infrontof the exhumed bones nor give offerings such as betel nut
to the bones. All exhumation of bones ceremonies must be carried out
under the supervision of church ministers.)
Section five details the performance of adat practices to the accompaniment of
the gondang sabangunan and tortor as follows:
2
Ajual is usually filled with rice-paddy, sanggar (Anthistiria arguens), ompn-ompu (Haemanthus
pubesc&is) and leaves of an hariara tree (Ficus).
£
257
Holan gondang riang-riang do na haoioan pamasaon, nasa ragam ni
ondas, gondang purpur sapata, mangalap tondi tu ruma, gondang
siala parsorian dohot na suman tusi, ndang jadi pamasaon. Sude
gondang sipamasaon, ingkonjolo ditimbang Kerkerat do jala Kerkerat
do na mamatamatai aturan nipargondang i, asa unang masa na siarsiaran nang parjujian pe. Pasi-pasi ni hasipelebeguan, namanjujur ari,
ugasan homitan, mamele sumbaon dohot na suman tusi, ndang jadi
masa be di haiak Kristen.{Order of Discipline 1952: 14)
(Only the performance of the gondang riang-riang is permitted.
Ceremonies accompanied by the gondang for the purpose of
requesting blessings from the deceased, freeing someone from a curse or
grief, or calling for a lost tondi to repossess its bearer, are strictly
prohibited. Protestants who want to perform a ceremony to the
accompaniment of gondang music must consult the church ministers
beforehand, and the church ministers will judge whether or not approval
will be given. Church ministers will supervise any gondang performance
in an adat ceremony so that no spirit practices will be involved.
Remnants of hasipelebeguan must not be practised by congregations.)
Whether the 1952 Order of Discipline accomplished its aim is not clear. There is
evidence that in the 1950s and early 1960s many Protestants continued to perform
ancestral worship practices such as the iugu feast and pre-funeral and exhumation of
bones ceremonies to the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan and tortor. This
was for reasons of adat obligation. In 1953 traditional ceremonies dedicated to the late
charismatic Toba Batak leader, the Sisingamangaraja XH took place.3 His bones,
together with those of his two sons, were taken from their graves in Tarutung and
placed in a monument located in Soposurung, Balige (see Schreiner 1994: 182). In the
early 1960s a substantial number of urban Christian Toba Bataks, who had obtained
economic benefits after Independence, returned to their villages in Tobaland. They built
their clan monuments and sponsored ceremonies for the exhumation of the bones of,
their ancestors (Tampubolon 1968: 1; see alsoBruner 1987: 137).
3
The family of the Sisingamangaraja XII had been Christianised as early qs 19}0 (Schreiner
1994: 184).
258
Such monument-building movement awakened pre-Christian religious practice
among the Protestants (Schreiner 1994: 181-182). Indeed, the hegemony of the church
in the 1950s and 1960s—right to the present time—could not thoroughly eliminate preChristian adat practices. The 1952 Order of Discipline made room for Protestant Toba
Batak people to practise pre-Christian adat but it did not give instructions about how to
perform a ceremony, music and dance in an acceptable way to adat and the church.
Rites continued to be performed according to adat rather than the Order of Discipline of
the church, for to disobey adat could lead to disaster, while disobeying the Order of
Discipline—which was originally not part of adat—could of course earn discredit from
the church; but the transgressors could confess their sins and be reapcepted as members
of the church.
Before the 1966 synod meeting of the HKBP, some church members alleged
that many Protestants in the villages had performed tugu feasts and exhumation of bones
ceremonies to the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan and tortor in accord
with hasipelebeguan.4 They insisted that the church synod take the so-called return of
pre-Christian religious practices into consideration. In response, the synod decided to
hold a seminar on adat in order to re-evaluate the 1952 Order of Discipline as well as to
discuss ways to prevent the Christians from carrying out pre-Christian religious
practices. In July 1968 the synod called for papers to be presented at the ' Seminar Adat
di HKBP' (Adat seminar in HKBP). Eight speakers spoke on seven topics associated
with adat practices, including the pre-funeral ceremony, the gondang tradition,
inheritance, the tugu feast, the exhumation of bones ceremony, the parjambaran
4
This is according to the report presented by M.L.Siagian of the Steering Committee of the 1968
Adat Seminar, at the opening ceremony on July 25,1968 (Proceedings of the 1968 Adat Seminar).
1
259
(partaking of uncooked meats) and celebrations for newborn babies.5 The results of the
seminar were to be presented to the synod meeting in 1968.6
Although divergent views about adat and gondang-tortor tradition were
discussed at the seminar, it led in fact to a degree of reconciliation. One speaker,
Siagian, argued that the church should allow its members to invite gondang musicians to
play and therefore to enjoy gondang-tortor performances at adat feasts, including the
saur matua ceremony. Siagian's view about adat obligations and gondang-tortor
performance at a saur matua ceremony merits mention here:
Molo di has Huria do gondang di parmonding ni na marpahompu, ba
sian dia ma botoon molo so loason djual dohot tanda na asing djala
adong gondang hope ndang boi tortoran? Niantusan do pandirion ni
Huria nadjolo disi, asa unang samak-samak Hakristenonta i binahen
ni hasipelebeguan, alai beha ditingki on, adong dope sihabiaran? Di
aturan ni Hurianta i diorai do ondaonda, molo naeng pamasaon
gondang, boasa? Molo oraan ma, dia na boi ganti ni ondaondai?
Diaturan ni hurianta... sahat tu na muba saotik ti taon 1952, sai
tjuriga do taringot tu gondang, ala ni nahinan sai masa na
siarsiaran... Beha ndang dope tingkina hita mambahen penindjauan?
Boasa so tambortamboron gondang (kebudajaan) i di las dohot arsak
ni roha? ... Andigan pe tingkina tarungkap rohani na marbakat sian
Hurianta manulinght dohot mangisi tortor-gondang hombar tu
Hakristenon bahen hasangapon ni Debata? (Siagian 1968: 2)
(If the church allows gondang performance at saur matua ceremonies,
why should prohibit people from using the jual and other symbolic
materials as well as dancing the tortor in that ceremony? It is
understandable that prior to the 1950s the synod was concerned with the
influence of the hasipelebeguan, but what about these days? Why
should we be afraid of it? Why should the church prohibit people from
dancing the tortor in front of a corpse? If the tortor is prohibited, what
should be substituted for it? When the previous Order of Discipline of
the church was changed in 1952, the church still discredited the
gondang tradition because many had formerly used the gondang for
spirit possession. But should we not revise the 'Order of Discipline?'
Why should we not play the gondang whether in sorrow or in
5
This was announced by Lumban Gaol, the 1968 Adat Seminar organiser, in a speech presented
during the opening ceremony and recorded in the Proceedings of the seminar.
6
See the introductory speech by M.L. Siagian and Lumban Gaol in the Proceedings of the 1968
adat seminar.
260
happiness? When will our talented musicians be able to adapt the
gondang and tortor to Christian practices?)
Another speaker, Simanjuntak, asserted that adat practices should be
consecrated so that they could be used within Christian practices; that the gondang
tradition should be used so that it would not be forgotten (Simanjuntak 1968: 12). He
proposed that performers of the gondang sabangunan at adat feasts should accompany
participants dancing the tortor as a way to express their respect, sorrow and happiness
in general (ibid. 19-20). He admitted that formerly many danced the tortor while being
possessed by spirits, but that such spirit possession was hardly ever found among
present-day Christians. He requested that church ministers always supervise adat
practices to the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan and that, should spirit
possession occur, those ministers immediately stop the performance. He concluded that
because the church synod had allowed the saurmatua ceremony to be accompanied by
the gondang sabangunan, that it should also allow participants to dance the tortor in
that ceremony.
However, before a gondang sabangunan is played, it should be
consecrated, he said (ibid. 3 7-3 9). He also said that participants should not request
specific gondang pieces to honour the ancestral spirits, nor should they utter ritual
prayers to evoke them. He recommended that each gondang-tortor sequence be limited
to three gondang-tortor pieces only, i.e. the Gondang somba-somba tu amanta Debata
{Gondang to honour God), the Gondang Pangidoan taringot Disiulaon {Gondang to
request blessings) and the Gondang Sitio-tio Hasahatan {Gondang to complete a
ceremony) (ibid. 38)
Another speaker, Panjaitan, agreed that the Protestants should maintain the
gondang tradition. The church should not forbid the use of the gondang sabangunan
and tortor, he said, but should reject any gondang performance that was led by a datu
261
for the purpose of hasipelebeguan. Members of the church should act according to
their sense of Christian moral responsibility and use the gondang for joyful feasts that
reflect such a sense of responsibility. Adat ceremonies with gondang and tortor should
be performed during daylight only, he suggested. Li a gondang-tortor sequence, no
more than three gondang pieces should be requested, i.e. the Gondang Mula-muia
{Gondang for Beginning), the Gondang Bane-bane {Gondang for requesting blessings
from God), and the Gondang Hasahatan {Gondang for completion') (Panjaitan 1968:
9-10).
Tampubolon men presented a paper on the exhumation of bones ceremony,
reminding those who perform the ceremony to think of it as a commemorative event
rather than an act of spirit worship. If the gondang sabangunan and tortor are
performed in a ceremony, it should be for the purpose of strengthening family and
social relationships, not as tools to honour the ancestral spirits. Christians should begin
and end a gondang performance with Christian prayer and limit the length of a
performance to a day. Church ministers should always be present to supervise adat
ceremonies so that no hasipelebeguan practices occur (Tampubolon 1968: 21-23).
All the speakers expressed opposition to the hasipelebeguan but without
stipulating details.7 Despite their objections, however, they did not entirely oppose preChristian adat practices. Instead, they tried to find ways of legitimating adat so that it
could be accepted. As has been mentioned, some were convinced that adat practices
should be Christiaaised, for example, through eliminating traces of hasipelebeguan
terms or prayers or replacing them with appropriate terms or prayers. Performances of
adat practices should be held during daylight and should begin an4 end with Christian
7
See the papers presented by Simanjuntak, Siagian, Panjaitan and Tampubolon in the
Proceedings of the 1968 adat seminar.
262
practices.8 They requested that the church synod revise the 1952 Order of Discipline of
the church.
As mentioned above, the seminar actually served to strengthen the process of
reconciliation. The speakers proposed that adat practices, including the gondang-tortor
tradition be interpreted. This view affected the 1968 Order of Discipline of the church.
Thus Part A Section Two of the pronouncement reads as follows:
Molo naeng pamasaon gondang ditingki masa hamaiean holan di
parmonding ni na sarimatua do haohan. Ndang sipamasaon disi
ondas dohot tortor na manahui (namangait tua sian na mondingi). Alai
boi do ianggo gondang lotung... jala di tingki na mambahen ulaon
panambahon ... dibungka jala ditutup ma dohot tangiang {Order of
Discipline 1968: 18).
(Only in pre-funeral ceremonies {sarimatua) are gondang performances
permitted. Participants are allowed to dance the tortor, however, ondas
[dancing while moving the palms of ones hands up and down to
symbolise request for blessings from the
deceased] is strictly
prohibited...the ceremony must be opened and closed with Christian
prayers.)
Part A, Section Three, explains some of the conditions that should be met in order to
perform an exhumation of bones ceremony. The same conditions must also be applied
at tugu feasts. According to the pronouncement:
Haohan do mangongkal holi mola alani: a. Kuburan na sega; b.
Kuburan na niaek ni dalan, parhutaan, pembangunan, industri,
napasadahon simin, napasadahon saring-saring ni naimg jumolo tu
simin na imbaru; c. Na pasadahon kuburan ala mate di luat na dao.
Molo tung adong na naeng pasadahon angka saringsaring (holi-holi)
ingkon radot ma Parhalado ni Huria unang masa disi ruhut ni
hasipelebeguan songon na manortori holi-holi, namanulangi, na
mangandungi, pamasuk holi-holi tu ulos, tu pinggan dohot ampang,
manganapurani, songoni na pamasuk batang ni pisang tu
pangongkalan ni holi-holi i. {Order of Discipline 1968: 18-19)
The church will allow members to carry out an exhumation of bones
ceremony if they meet the following conditions: i.e. a grave has broken
'Ibid.
263
down; people intend to turn out a grave yard to become public residence
or industrial land; or people intend to combine several mausoleums from
different areas into one. In any exhumation of bones ceremony, a church
minister must act as supervisor to prevent participants from carrying out
hasipelebeguan practices, such as dancing to the exhumed bones,
presenting food and betel nut to the bones, crying to the bones, putting
the exhumed bones onto the ulos, plate or basket; or putting a banana
tree into the hole from which the bones have been unearthed.)
Part B of the pronouncement included some resolutions about the performance
of the gondang sabangunan and tortor. It is written that at adat feasts male and female
participants must perform the tortor together; the former tradition, i.e. male and female
dancers performing the tortor separately, should not be practised. Another resolution
held that members of a suhut party may request up to three but no more than five
gondang pieces be played, whereas relatives should request no more than three
gondang pieces. It was expected that within the performance of these three gondang
pieces relatives accomplish their right and obligations such as performing their tortor,
delivering adat speeches, or receiving and giving ceremonial gifts (Order of Discipline
1968: 28). In pre-funeral ceremonies, the gondang sabangunan may be used to
accompany the tortor as long as it functions as a medium to express sorrow. Neither
male nor female dancers are allowed to place their ulos on their heads, nor to perform
any symbolic hand movements. When bones are being unearthed in an exhumation of
bones ceremony, the gondang and tortor are not allowed to be performed. The same
rule applies when church ministers lead Christian services during a ceremony. In neither
part of the ceremony may the gondang and tortor be performed during daylight hour
(Order ofDiscipline 1968: 27-28).
Basically, the 1968 Order of Discipline served to maintain the status quo. It
only contained a few new regulations which attempted to control the duration of a
gondang performance by restricting the number of gondang pieces performed. It also
264
removed some restrictions on practice of the gondang and tortor and at the same time
narrowed the scope of the restrictions. There is evidence, nevertheless, that from 1968
onward the gondang sabangunan and tortor were performed in church functions.9
Two years after the HKBP synod enforced the 1968 Order of Discipline, the
GKPI established its own Order of Discipline called the Hukum Siasat Gereja (BI),
Ruhut Paminsangon Dalan Manogunogu (BT). Li some respects it resembled the 1968
Order of Discipline of the
HKBP, according to which members of the GKPI were
allowed to perform pre-funeral and exhumation of bones ceremonies under the
supervision of church ministers. The statement insisted that dancing to the exhumed
bones was strictly prohibited. It did not detail the use- of the gondang performance in
pre-funeral ceremonies but it prohibited performances associated with pre-Christian
religious practices {Order of Discipline 1970: 12-14).
As the consequence of this pronouncement, members of the GKPI who wished
to perform adat feasts to the accompaniment of the gondang and tortor had to seek
permission from the church. In 1977, the church ministers of the GKPI approved an
exhumation of bones ceremony with gondang and tortor in Panjaitan, a village located
on the valley of Sagala. The approval was given after the feast-givjng party had signed
a promissory note (surat perjanjiari) in front of the church ministers, the contents of
which Sherman translates as follows:
I, who have signed below, that is, the principal of this feast of the
gondang make everything in this endeavor subject to the rules of the
Protestant Church of Indonesia (GKPI). And these rules are as written
below.
1. We shall not carry out a spirit-worshipping endeavor, such as
purification [with water from the source of a spring, burning incense,
putting up Dracaena, lemon leaves, or Gandarusa above the door, nor
anywhere else.
' See Panjaitan's 'Gondang' in the Proceedings of the 1968 adat seminar (1968: 8).
265
2. Making oblations [and] offerings to the spirits of ancestor will not
occur, since there is no meeting [lit. agreement] of the death and the
living.
3. Bringing about possession so the spirits of the dead come will not
occur. If someone is nevertheless possessed, then the orchestra will be
stopped and they will be reminded, so that they do not continually get
possessed. [If they are asked one last time] they will be taken to a more
solitary place [forced to leave].
4. They cannot rejoin the feast at any time of its duration.
5. Only after they have been removed can the feast be continued [lit.,
can the orchestra resume].
6. If it is not done like that, the feast will be paid no more attention
by the workers of the church at its conclusion. And we the principals,
we will be put out, punished by the church, if we wilfully engage in
spirit worshipping.
Thus we undertake mis letter of promise, this oath-taking, with a
pure mind, in front of God as well as in front of the cjergy of the
church of the principals (Sherman 1994: Appendix C).
In 1976, another adat seminar was held, sponsored by the Indonesian Regional
Asia Program for Advanced Studies at Nommensen University, Pemataîg Siantar. The
seminar discussed the role of the adat dalihan na tolu in social relationships.10 During
the seminar, the Catholic priest, Sinaga, explained the attitude of the Catholic Toba
Batak church towards adat, emphasising that the Catholic church respected local
culture. He asserted that the Catholic church made use of selected adat practices, having
consecrated and used them as tools to worship God (Sinaga 1.976: 1-3; see also Okazaki
1994: 183-192). This seminar had no affect on Protestant church policy towards the
gondang tradition, because after the seminar, the rules pertaining to the gondang-tortor
tradition, the exhumation of bones ceremonies, the pre-funeral ceremonies and the tugu
feasts remained intact.
10
See the proceedings of the 1976 adat seminar, including Sormin's 'Fungsi Social Sihal-sihal
Berhubungan dengan Dalihan Na Tolu dan Lima Saodoran Dalam Adat Batak' (1976); Sherman's
'BeberapaPencatatan Terlambat untuk Seminar Adat Batak IRAPAS'(1976); Sinaga's Tola Pemikiran
Triade dan Kwartade Pada Orang Batak Dalam Sihal-sihaV.
266
In 1977, another adat seminar11 discussed the possibility of establishing an
indigenous church liturgy. Such aa idea probably resulted from the concept of
'inculturation' which was brought into existence by the Second Vatican Council. Some
proposed that the gondang sabangiman, tortor, and other adat elements—e.g. the ulos
and other aspects of the traditional costume and local terminology—should be
incorporated into the church liturgy so that it could adopt a Toba Batak character.12
Others, including members of the Protestant church synod, were reluctant to do this; to
them, the present liturgy was quite satisfactory and they saw no need to incorporate
adat and gondang music into it (Pardede 1977: 1-4; 1987: 247). The Protestant church
was concerned with the possible negative effects of the proposal. As Pardede noted,
'for them [the church], a return to the original status means in every case an open gate
for paganism (Pardede 1987: 248).
To the best of my knowledge (i.e. until the last day of my fieldwork in Medan
in 1994), no performance of the gondang has ever taken place in a Protestant church
service. However, the church openly welcomes the use of the gondang and tortor in
other church functions. According to the statistics of the HKBP, in 1985 and 1986
about 74 church functions within Tobaland occurred to the accompaniment of the
gondang sabangiman and tortor (Simanjuntak 1986: 113). During my fieldwork in
Medan in 1994, all church functions that I attended were accompanied by the gondang
and tortor. Indeed,
the gondang sabangunan and iortor have become regular
constituents of all church functions except for Sunday liturgical services. On the other
hand, the Catholic church has been using the gondang in both church functions and the
11
The seminar was also sponsored by the Indonesian Regional Asia Program for Advanced
Studies, held in Nommensen University, Pematang Siantar, 16-19 September 1977.
12
See Report of the 1977 adat seminar in Lokakarya Study Pemprilmmian Liturgia dan
Kebaktian (1977) published by Indonesia Regional Asia Program for Advanced Studies.
267
liturgy from the early 1980s to the present (Okazaki 1994: 189-190). Members of the
Catholic church have even started composing new gondang pieces for use in worship.13
The present Order of Discipline of the HKBP was written jn 1982 and that of
the GKPI in 1987. Each maintains its previous rules but makes some additional points.
For example, the HKBP prohibits any kind of music or dance from being performed
during the process of burying or reburying corpses, or of unearthing and removing the
bones of a deceased person. Nevertheless, the HKBP openly allows the
gondang
sabangunan and tortor to be performed during adat feasts, provided that it is under the
supervision of a church minister and it concludes with Christian hymns and prayers.
This is recorded in Section III, Article No. 6b of the current Order of Discipline of the
HKBP and reads as follows:
Ala boi ro angka pangunjunan di na pamasa gondang, isara ni na
siar-siaran, songon hataridaan ni haporseaon na hurang, gabe
sitiroan ni parhalado ni Huria do ganup na pamasa gondang. Ganup
gondang naeng ma dimatamatai jala ingkon dipaujung di bagasan
tangiang. (Order of Disicipline 1987: 27)
(Temptations, such as spirit possession, may result from performing the
gondang and, if it happens, it demonstrates the weakness of the
performers' faith. Church ministers must advise anyone who wishes to
host a gondang-tortor performance about this. Every gondang-tortor
performance must conclude with [Christian] prayer.)
The GKPI similarly requires that those who intend to perform adat feasts associated
with traditional practices must request the church's approval and every adat feast must
begin and end with Christian practices. Section XII, article no. 1 and 3 of its current
Order of Discipline, reads as follows:
13
In September 1996,1 received a personal letter from Yoshiko Okazaki, who was staying in
Medan from July to August 1996. After attending the music liturgy seminar held by the Catholics in Medan,
she informed me that the seminar had encouraged talented musicians to compose new gondang pieces for use
in worship.
268
Setiap seni-budaya yang ada, beserta upacara-upacara/ritus-ritusnya
harus tetap mendapat penelitian/pengawasan dari pelayan-pelayan
Jemaat dan mengatur serta menasehati segala bentuk/rttpa-rupa
pelaksanaan yang dikaitkan dengan penyembahan berhala, sihir dan
Iain-lain... Setiap upacara adatyang berlatar belakang tradisi budaya
yang
diadakan
oleh anggota
Jemaat
GKPI
mendapat
penelitian/persetujuan dari Pengurus Jemaat dan upacara tersebut
hams dimulai serta ditutup dengan upacara kebaktian khusus yang
dipimpin oleh Pelayan Jemaat yang bersangkutan {Order of Discipline
1982: 20-21).
(Church ministers must always investigate/supervise any ritual
ceremony. Church ministers must discourage members of the
congregation from performing any practice that is associated with
paganism...Those who wish to perform adat feasts that are associated
with local traditions must first obtain approval from church ministers.
Church ministers must open and end an adat feasts with a short
Christian prayer.)
See Chapter Seven for further discussion of the implementation of the two Orders of
Discipline in contemporary gondang performances.
The HKBP and the GKPI insist that those who disregard the regulations may be
penalised, for example, by their church membership being suspended. To be reaccepted
as a member of the church, any transgressor must tender an apology in front of the
church ministers and congregation. The two synods of
both church insist that
punishments will only be carried out if the transgressor; after having been admonished
by the church ministers, still does not intend to change his/her attitude.
6.3 Conclusion: Reconciliation, a Conditional Understanding
The early German missionaries conceived of the gondang tradition as the essence the
hasipelebeguan, which they saw as interfering with the Christianising of the people.
They expected that the ban against performing the gondang and tortor would destroy
hasipelebeguan. However, this did not occur; the essence of hasipelebeguan lies in
adherence to adat, which is deeply ingrained among the people (see also Schreiner
269
1994: 27-30). The theologian Harry Parkin criticised the former German missionaries'
approach to adat, maintaining that their intention was to destroy hasipekbeguan. Yet
they did not realise that their prohibition, in effect, almost destroyed tortor and gondang
music by the early twentieth century (Parkin 1977: 8).
The seminar on adat was an intellectual attempt to solve the prolonged conflict.
Speakers disputed the former ban on the gondang-tortor tradition on the basis of more
rational arguments. Via the seminar, the church accommodated the gondang-tortor
tradition in the Order of Discipline. Hence, the seminar was itself a medium for
reconciliation. The 1968 Order of Discipline, unlike the former pronouncements,
represented the assessment of the church and its congregation.
The church synod was at first intolerant and then tolerant, concerned at the
apparently widespread return of the Protestants to the practice of hasipelebeguan. The
church believed that the performance of the gondang and tortor could eventually lead
its practitioners to spirit worship. Nevertheless, the church could not cjeny that for the
people, adat and gondang-tortor are extremely valuable cultural capital. Meanwhile, the
peoples' petitions convinced the church that the gondang-tortor tradition should be
allowed under certain circumstances instead of being totally banned.
Likewise, despite their ecclesiastical responsibility, Toba Batak church ministers
found it necessary to practise adat, otherwise they have been excluded from social
relationships. When ministers hosted an adat feast, they therefore sometimes presented
a gondang-tortor performance. When they attended adat feasts to the accompaniment
of the gondang, they also participated in dancing the tortor. Frequently, when they
visited a particular congregation during church functions, they were honoured with the
performance of the gondang music. Being so honoured, they had to respect it, and dance
the tortor together with members of the congregation, some of whom were their
270
relatives. Toba Batak church ministers understood the use of the gondang and tortor
from their own experiences, which persuaded the Protestant church to tolerate the use
of the gondang-tortor tradition.
In order not to lose its members, the church did not ask them to choose between
adat and church teachings. Although the church does not want its members to practise
hasipekbeguan, it has to recognise the pre-church social traditions through which the
people strengthen social relationships. The church's prolonged efforts to free the people
from the hegemony of the adat as well as implanting Christian teachings meant that it
needed to accept adat practices and adapt them. The Order of Discipline is a medium
through which the church defines its understanding of adat. The fact that the church
welcomes the use of the gondang and tortor in its functions is itself a declaration of the
reconciliation it has reached between adat and Christian belief.
I found that that all participants at gondang-tortor performances within church
functions followed the Order of Discipline. However, this does not always happen in
adat feasts because many ignore the Order of Discipline. In the pre-funeral and
exhumation of bones ceremonies with gondang and tortor performance Medan and
Sipaholon, in 1994, the worship of ancestral spirits openly occurred. Such a situation led
some to ask whether the church allows the Protestants to choose between obeying the
Order of Discipline as member of Christian parishes and observing their adat
obligations as members of clans? The answer to this question is still unknown. But the
fact that the church did not discipline those who performed the worship of ancestral
spirits openly implies that a high level of tolerance exists.
271
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE GONDANG SABANGUNAN
AMONGST THE PROTESTANT TOBA BATAK PEOPLE
IN THE 1980s AND 1990s
This chapter explores methods of performing the gondang and the tortor in adat and
non-adat feasts during the 1980s and 1990s, in which period of time adat and Christian
practices have coexisted and have been equally important for the Protestants. Church
institutions or other voluntary organisations no longer make such an attempt as the
seminar on adat to unify people's perception of adat and its practice. Likewise, the
development of sound technology, the music industry and tourism in this period have
also influenced gondang-tortor performances. I aim to demonstrate how some
Protestants, despite the Order of Discipline, still implement pre-Christian rules for
performing gondang. I also aim to show the extent to which Christian practices are
implanted in gondang-tortor performance practice today, for example in the invitations
made to gondang musicians to play (manggalang pargonsi), in the opening and closing
of a gondang performance {manjujur gondang and manutup gondang), and in the calls
for blessings on a gondang performance (mambuat tua ni gondang). I shall also
investigate the ceremonial symbols employed at gondang and tortor performances, and
examine the present structure of the gondang-tortor sequence which ceremonial
participants normally consult. Finally I shall discuss the use of sound amplification and
ways in which musicians and others set up the stage or other arena for gondang-tortor
performance.
My fieldwork data deals with gondang-tortor performances that took place over
the last ten years or so. I shall concentrate on some gondang-tortor performances in
non-adat feasts, including three church functions held in Medan (one in 1987 and the
other two in 1994), two cultural festivals (Pesta Danau Toba) held at Parapat (1992 and
272
1993), a youth festival in Medan (1994), and four adat feasts, including a pre-funeral
ceremony in Medan, 1991, two exhumation of bones ceremonies (one in Medan in
19941 and the other in Huta Raja, Kecamatan Sipoholon, in 1994), and a wedding
ceremony in Medan (1994).
7.1 Betel Nut Versus Remuneration: The Invitation Ceremony to Gondang
Musicians to Play
According to pre-Christian rules for performing the gondang, adat feast-givers who
wish to have a gondang performance must first appeal to the gondang musicians and,
while conveying their invitation to play at the event, present them with some betel nut.
Before the gondang performance takes place, they must also serve a meal to the
gondang musicians and at the same time convey the purpose of the feast. In return, the
gondang musicians must utter a ritual prayer, which conveys the purpose of the
ceremony to the gods. In this way, the feast-givers actually deify the gondang musicians
and confirm the musicians' role as mediator between the human feast participants and
the gods. When the gondang musicians receive the presentation, they are conscious of
receiving a great honour and they also feel obligated to perform their role as mediators in
adat ceremonies.
In church functions, however, adat rules for performing gondang and tortor are
never regarded as being more important than church law. In the eyes of the church,
every participant of a ceremony, irrespective of his/her role in that ceremony, is equal;
thus, inviting gondang musicians with betel nut and serving a meal to them is to give
them high status, and is therefore not allowed. None of the organisers of the church
1
Unfortunately, I was only able to obtain limited information about gondang and tortor
performance at this ceremony, due to a fault in my recording equipment. I did, however, conduct interviews
with musicians and make some notes on the gondang and the tortor performances.
273
feasts that I attended ever performed this ritual. How do church feast-organisers invite
musicians to play the gondang, then? In church feasts, it is the task of the so-called
panitia pesta (feast organiser or feast committee) which is part of the entertainment
division (seksi hiburan or seksi gondang) to invite the musicians. The terms panitia and
seksi do not belong to the local dialect, nor are they comparable to the term hasuhutan
or suhut (i.e. people who host adat feasts). Probably the Indonesian word panitia began
to be widely used before the 1940s. The entertainment division's invitation to gondang
musicians is usually made by a visit or simply by phone, after finding the name of a
group of gondang musicians in an advertisement or business card. This is the way in
which the gondang performance at the cultural festival {Pesta Danau Toba),2 Parapat,
in 1992 and 1993, the Youth Festival, Medan, in 1994, the HKBP Fund-raising Festival,
Perumnas Mandala, Medan, in 1987, the 29th Anniversary Celebration of the GKPI,
Jalan Pattimura, Medan, in 1994, and the 30th Anniversary Celebration of the GKPI, at
the T.D.Pardede Hall, Medan, in 1994 were organised. Below are some examples of
business names and a leaflet that I obtained from some gondang musicians in Medan.
Similarly, none of the hosts of the four adat feasts that I attended during my
field work in Medan and Hutaraja, Sipaholon, performed the two adat practices in
question. I came early to a Protestant family three-day long pre-funeral ceremony in
Medan in 1991 before any musicians had arrived.3 When members of the Gondang
Batak Maduma (a group from Jalan Pancing, Medan) arrived, I asked their leader,
Nainggolan, whether or not the host had invited him and his group according to the adat
2
Interview with Sitohang, a sarune player from the village of Harian Boho, Kecamatan Tapanuli
Utara (June 1993). Sitohang led the performance of the gondang sabangunan in the cultural festivals {Pesta
Danau Toba) held at Parapat in 1992 and 1993.
3
Members of the family belong to the HKBP in Medfin.
274
ni gondang. He informed me that no invitation had been made with betel nut; a member
of the host family had come to his shop4 immediately after
PATRA MUSIK
Jl. Agenda No.26 - Ayahanda
Tel.554006 - 544710 Medan
Jl. Kapt. Ngumban Surbakti No.39
Simp. Sempakata Pd. Bulan - Medan
BERSEDIA DIPANGGIL UNTUK MELAYANI
rtdat - Scwx THatm
laJuw,
- S<vti TfUtcoz
Figure 23. An example of a leaflet advertising a gondang group
4
In everyday life, Nainggolan and his family operate a small coffee-shop called lapo tuak, which
iells coffee, soft drinks and tuak, a drink that contains alcohol derived from coconut. During the day and the
evening, different people visit the shop. Most visitors, however, are public transport drivers. Inside the shop
are different kinds of drink stored on wooden shelves; there were also some musical instruments, including a
set oitaganing. a set of ogung, hasapi, guitars, and a sarune. Some are laid on the floor and others hang on
the wall. A half metre square piece of timber with the name of the gondang group written on it is hooked on
the wall. Various activities happen in the shop. For example, some people play musical instruments, other
enjoy playing cards while having their drinks, while others talk to each other.
275
GONDANG BATAK
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Figure 24. Examples of business cards ofgondang groups
276
an elderly member of the family had died to ask him if he and his group could perform
the gondang in the ceremony. After the remuneration he had requested had been
approved by the host he agreed to the request. The same thing happened when
Nainggolan and his group performed the gondang sabangunan in the exhumation of
bones ceremony of another Protestant family from Helvetia, Medan, in 1994.5 As he
explained, a person representing the host came to his shop about a month before the
ceremony took place. The host's request was conveyed to Nainggolan when both of
them were having a drink in the shop. No betel nut ceremony was held, only discussion
of remuneration.
In the same year, Nainggolan and his group performed the gondang
sabangunan in a wedding ceremony at Medan hosted by two wealthy Protestant Toba
Batak families—one from Medan and the other from Jakarta.6 The wedding, like many
church functions, was organised by a committee called Panitia Pesta Resepsi
Pernikahan. On the committee Nainggolan and three other persons who represented
other music groups, belonged to the seksi gondang/hiburan (division of gondang and
entertainment). They were responsible for organising entertainment at the wedding
ceremony. Nainggolan had to attend every family meeting that took place prior to the
wedding ceremony. Nainggolan and his group received financial remuneration for all the
jobs they accomplished, but not betel nut or a meal. Likewise, the gondang group from
Laguboti, Gondang Batak Marsiolopan,
received money for playing at a three-day
exhumation of bones ceremony hosted by a Protestant family at Huta Raja, Sipaholon, in
1994. Sirait, the gondang leader, is a member of the Parmalim organisation of
5
The family also belongs to the HKBP in Helvetia, Medan.
6
Both families are members of the HKBP, one in Medan and the other in Jakarta.
7
The family are members of the GKPI at Hutaraja, Sipaholon.
277
Hutatinggi, Laguboti. He accepts invitations to perform gondang at adat feasts as his
main source of income. When I asked him if the host of the ceremony in Huta Raja
invited him according to the adat ni gondang, he answered no. As he explained, a
member of the host had come to his village in Laguboti and left a message saying that he
was requested to perform at the ceremony. As Sirait emphasised to me, this kind of
practice is becoming more and more socially acceptable in rural areas.
Why has the community generally abandoned adat-style invitations to gondang
musicians before a gondang performance at an adat feast? The adat practice is taboo
according to the Order of Discipline. Gondang musicians cannot make feast-givers
invite them according to the adat, even though many would like them to pay their
respects to them in that way. As Nainggolan asserted, 'We, gondang musicians, have to
admit that the change of invitation style is part of the social and religious change of the
Toba Batak people.' Sirait said he holds to the same view, saying that he could not ask
hosts to do what he thought was right according to the adat ni gondang.9
Thus the relationship between gondang musicians and feast-givers is not only
adat-based but also commercial concern, for musicians receive remuneration for their
services from feast-givers in return for a job accomplished. Why is it, though, that
musicians such as Nainggolan, Sirait and Marsius Sitohang agree to play gondang at
adat feasts without being paid the respect that comes with being offered a betel nut and
a meal? To them, accepting an invitation to perform the gondang, which may only
happen once a month, means gaining an income. Nainggolan informed me that for one
performance, a. gondang group of six to eight musicians, may receive from 150,000,- to
250, 000 (A$87 - $145),10 depending on how long they are asked to play. The amount is
8
Interview with Nainggolan, Medan, August 1994.
9
Interview with Sirait, Hutaraja, Sipaholon, November 1994.
278
not insignificant to them, even after sharing it among six or eight members. Thus, the
need for money had enforced these musicians to accept adat-hss invitations.
However, others, for example two gondang musicians from Porsea, Osner
Gultom and Mamingar Sitorus, do not even expect adat invitation. When performing in
a non-Parmalim religious context, these two musicians usually do what feast-givers
want them to do without reminding them of the adat rules. In their view this is necessary
to allow gondang to survive any threat, be it church regulation or adat interpretation.n
In many communities adat invitations have indeed lost their social and religious
meaning. Many hosts choose to pay musicians as it is easier and more efficient and most
importantly, it does, not have any pre-Christian adat connotations. Some informants12
maintain that they pay gondang musicians because they think that it does not infringe the
Order of Discipline. Moreover, they said, musicians need money. Some musicians
agreed with this.13 Some musicians consider gondang performance in adat and non-adat
feasts to be a business matter, while others see it as a religious observance. Musicians
from rural areas such as Amani Bunga Sinaga (Palipi), Amani Rospita Sinaga (Palipi)
and Kalabius Simbolon (Pematang Siantar) strongly disagree with the practice of not
offering betel nut and a meal to musicians. As they explained to me, they never agree to
perform the gondang at adat feasts unless the hosts first invite them with betel nut and
10
statistical data provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics in the book entitled lndikator Ekonomi (1996:
36).
11
Interview with Mamingar Sitorus, Osner Gultom (Laguboti, July 1994) and B. Sirait (Hutaraja,
Sipoholon, November 1994).
12
Nainggolan and Situmorang, who are both from Medan. Nainggolan invited gondang musicians
to performed at his daughter's wedding ceremony in 1990 while Situmorang invited gondang musicians to
play at his mother's funeral ceremony in 1991.
13
For example, Nainggolan, Faber Napitupulu, Roy Sagala, Sarikawan Sitohang, Marsius Sitohang,
Solmen Sipangkar, Posman Sipangkar, and Halomoan Sipangkar. All of these gondang musicians live in
Medan.
279
serve them a meal before the performance, and this is irrespective of the host's religion
and any remuneration offered to them.14
7.2 The Manjujur Gondang versus Christian Practice: Beginning a Gondang
Performance
Offerings (harbue santi) served by feast-givers to musicians before a gondang
performance are meant to convey the purpose of a ceremony to the gods. In return,
musicians must then deliver a ritual prayer (tonggo-tonggo) and perform a musical
ritual prayer, i.e. often a series of seven gondang pieces (sipitu gondang) to the gods,
including the spirits of their teachers (sahala guru)15 Through these ritual payers,
musicians convey the host's requests, and
ask that evil spirits not disturb their
performance; gondang musicians refer to these practices as manjujur gondang
(approaching a gondang
performance).
Without them, gondang
sabangunan
performance in ceremonial feasts is incomplete. Gondang musicians, however, will not
perfonn their musical ritual prayer openly unless members of the suhut party first give
them an offering (harbue santi). Some Catholics in rural areas also still carry out these
rituals, as was evident in the exhumation of bones ceremony that I attended at Palipi in
1989 and in the healing ceremony at Paraduan village, Samosir, in 1990.16
As we have noted, the Order of Discipline of the Protestant church decrees that
hosts of adat feasts may not present an offering to the musicians, and that musicians
may not deliver a ritual prayer or a musical ritual prayer. Thus, the opening of the
gondang performance for the Fund-raising Festival at the HKBP Perumnas Mandala,
Medan, and the 29th Anniversary Celebration of the GKPI Padang Bulari, Medan,
14
Interview with Amani Rospita Sinaga (Palipi, July 1989), Amani Bunga Sinaga (Palipi, July
1989 and October 1994) and Kalabius Simbolon (Pematang Siantar, June 1992 and Medan, December 1994).
15
The series of seven gondang piece is referred to in Figure 3, Chapter Five.
16
See Gultom's thesis (1990).
280
began with an indoor service, led by a minister. The same happened during the 30th
Anniversary Celebration of the GKPI in T.D.Pardede Hall, at Jalan Hayam Wuruk,
Medan, in 1994. The gondang performance began after the congregations sang hymns,
and a priest delivered a sermon, followed by a prayer.
Nor did the two cultural festivals at Parapat and the youth festival at Medan
include adat practices in their programs. Likewise, none of the organisers performed any
Christian before or during the gondang and tortor performance, which served purely as
entertainment, being free from both adat and Christian practices.
However, many gondang musicians disregard the Order of Discipline of the
HKBP and the GKPI. As Amani Bunga said, to them the offering of the harbue santi,
and especially the presentation of the series of seven gondang pieces., is an indispensable
religious observance to gondang musicians. Some musicians on finishing setting up the
gondang instruments, play one, two or three gondang pieces, as if they were warming
up. Marsius Sitohang explained to me that in such a situation it may be correct mat
musicians are warming up. But it may be that the musicians are performing a musical
ritual prayer for their own sake. Gondang musicians believe that a musical ritual prayer
can protect them from evil spirits. These musicians cut the ritual prayer short, i.e.
perform one gondang piece instead of seven and, to avoid being criticised by the hosts,
do so secretly. Marsius Sitohang, Kalabius Simbolon, Amani Rospita Sinaga, Amani
Bunga Sinaga, B. Sirait, Osner Gultom and Marningar Sitorus explained that they
always do this, or at least pray silently to the spirit of their teachers. Some of these
musicians are Parmalim followers whilst others are Catholics. They say that they must
be responsible to their own religious beliefs. I found this to be a serious hidden conflict
between gondang musicians and some of the Protestants who practipe adat.
281
I was interested to know how this hidden conflict affected the four adat feasts I
attended. The first and second day of one three-day pre-funeral ceremony in Medan was
predominantly Christian. A church minister led the singing of hymns and prayers in
front of the deceased. In between, a minister delivered sermons. When the relatives
expressed their grief, they started with a hymn, followed by speeches and ending with
prayers after singing another hymn. Undoubtedly, these practices confirmed their
Christian beliefs and showed their moral responsibility as church parishioners. The
gondang musicians arrived at the host's house early in the evening of the second day,
setting up their instruments outdoors, facing the front door of the house where the
ceremony was to take place. This setting allowed musicians to face members of the
audience both inside and outside the house. No meeting was held between the gondang
musicians and the members of the suhut party, even after the musicians had finished
setting up the instruments. This meant that members of the suhut party had dispensed
with the offering of the harbue santi. As the musicians finished setting up their
ensemble, they performed three gondang pieces, but no one danced the iortor}11 did
not ask the musicians why they played those particular pieces as I was aware that it was
their personal concern. Thus, whether that gondang presentation was part of their
personal musical ritual prayer is uncertain.
A similar procedure was followed at the second ceremony, i.e. a gondang
performance during exhumation of bones ceremony in Medan. The day after the bones
had been unearthed, members of the suhut party and their relatives gave a family feast to
the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan. The ceremony took place in a yard
17
I was familiar with two out of three pieces that the musicians played, namely Gondang
Parsahadatan tu Patuan Raja Uti {Gondang for the Worship of Patuan Raja Uti) and Gondang Parbinsar ni
Mata niAri {Gondang of the Rising Sun). I heard the former performed at a Parmalim ceremony in 1994 and
I learned to play the latter when I took private gondang lesson from a musician in Medan.
282
outside a hall. When I arrived, the gondang ensemble had been set up on the ground
under a wide nylon tent beneath which the feast participants had gathered. While waiting
for the ceremony to commence, musicians sat on chairs behind the ensemble but did not
play any gondang pieces. When the ceremony was about to begin, a member of the
suhut party holding a microphone called the relatives to gather together. Members of the
suhut party led participants in the singing and uttered a Christian
prayer, thereby
affirming their Christian faith and the Order of Discipline. After the Christian rituals
were completed, members of the suhut party requested the musicians to perform the
gondang pieces. Thus, the host had implicitly dispensed with the presentation of the
offering ritual (harbue santi) and the musicians had dispensed with their presentation of
verbal and musical ritual prayers. Again, whether the musicians had prayed silently to
the spirit of their teachers is unknown.
In the third ceremony—a wedding in Medan—a Western-style Christian service
was predominant. The wedding service took place in a church whilst the adat feast took
place in a hall next door. During the service, a minister delivered prayers and a sermon,
a student choir sang a few choruses to the accompaniment of an electric organ, and the
congregation sang some hymns with the same organ. A group of gondang musicians
who had been invited played for a limited time. The gondang leader, Nainggolan,
explained that he and his group had been told by the so-called ketua panitia (chief of
committee) not to play the gondang unless asked. Thus, they only performed gondang
on three occasions, i.e. while the newlyweds walked out of the church towards the hall,
while the guests entered the hall, and while the participants exchanged ceremonial gifts.
Neither the offering of the harbue santi by members of the suhut party nor the
presentation of a musical ritual prayer by the musicians took place in the ceremony.
283
At the fourth ceremony—a three-day exhumation of bones ceremony at
Hutaraja, Sipaholon members of the suhut party gathered at home, and a church minister
conducted a short Christian service with a hymn and a prayer. This indicated mat the
ceremony has been approved by the church. The suhut party invited gondang musicians
to play on the third day when all the unearthed bones had been removed into a new
tomb. Thus members of the suhut party intended to eliminate any impression that the
performance of the gondang and iortor in that ceremony aimed to worship the ancestral
spirits. The gondang musicians arrived at the host's house in the morning and
immediately set up the ensemble on a three-square-metre stage. As in the beginning of
the gondang performance at the pre-funeral ceremony described above, they performed
some gondang pieces but there was no dancing. The leader of the gondang musicians,
Sirait, explained that the piece was called Gondang Sitogu na Hundul (Gondang for
asking people to stand on their feet) and it is normally performed to encourage people to
dance the tortor and/or to ask participants to be ready for their turn. When I asked Sirait
whether he and his group would perform the panjujuran gondang, he replied that it
would not happen unless the host's party provided betel nut and meal offerings, and they
did not. Sirait explained mat despite the lack of offerings, he had evoked the sahala
gum through prayer before he played his sarune. Unfortunately I was unable to observe
this in detail.
7.3 The Manutup Gondang: Closing Ceremony in a Gondang Performance
The manutup gondang (closing ceremony) is the last section of a gondang performance.
Traditionally, gondang musicians completed a gondang performance the same way they
started one. Thus, musicians would perform a series of seven gondang pieces (sipitu
gondang) after accompanying the last gondang-tortor sequence, which was usually
284
requested by members of a suhut party. No further gondang-tortor sequences could
then be performed. The seven gondang pieces at a closing ceremony were intended as a
form of worship to the gods and the spirits of their teachers (sahala guru) for their
1o
guardianship during the performance.
As has been explained
above, the Protestant church bans such traditional
practices, and requires that its congregations close every gondang performance—
whether in the context of adat or non-adat feasts—with Christian practices. All
gondang performances at church functions obey these injunctions. Indeed, during the
closing of the gondang performances at the above-mentioned three church functions, all
members of the feast-organising committee and the church ministers danced in the last
gondang-tortor sequence. At the end of the performance (hasahatan), a church minister
led the hymn singing, delivered a prayer, and then led the Lord's Prayer.
However, not all gondang performances at adat feasts follow the church's
instructions. At the exhumation of bones ceremony in Medan and in Hutaraja,
Sipoholon, members of the suhut party performed the last gondang-tortor sequence
complete with its three part structure and ended by shouting the word horas three times.
Thus they did not close the gondang performance with Christian rituals. The gondang
performance at the wedding ceremony in Medan closed neither with Christian rituals nor
in the traditional way. The gondang musicians left the ceremony before it had finished.
The leader, Nainggolan, informed me that his group had been asjced to play only to
welcome guests before the adat ceremony commenced, to accompany the presentation
of ceremonial gifts to the newlyweds by ceremonial participants, and to accompany the
introduction of the new daughter-in-law to relatives by the groom's family (patortorhon
parumaeri). There was no gondang performance after the introduction of the new
18
Interview with Amani Bunga Sinaga in the village of Siupar, Palipi, September 1994.
285
daughter-in-law, even though the ceremony continue*! for over three hours as hundreds
of guests gave gifts to the newlyweds and presented the parents of the groom with an
ulos.
Similarly, the last gondang pieces were played at the pre-funeral ceremony in
Medan late at night on the second day. On the third day of the ceremony gondang
sabangunan performance was replaced by predominantly Christian ritual, including a
sermon, prayers, and hymn singing to the accompaniment of a brass band, with adat
speeches delivered in between.
Thus the manutup gondang is now optional since both adat and Christian
practice are included in many adat feasts. Some of the old practices are retained but are
assigned new meanings as parishioners both express their moral responsibility to the
church and exemplify their respect for adat.
7.4 The Mambuat tua ni gondang'. Calling for Blessings on Gondang
Performances
Some people still believe that the first presentation of gondangAortor sequence at adat
feasts, known as mambuat tua ni gondang, attracts good fortune and blessings (tua) of
the supernatural powers to tortor performers.19 This particular event takes place only
once, after the musical ritual prayers of the gondang musicians. As the host, the suhut
members normally take this first turn (mambuat tua ni gondang) and call for blessings
on this event for their own benefit. Thus through die gondang and tortor, they worship
1
I
the gods and the ancestral spirits, asking not only for blessings but also advice. Advice
i
and blessings are bestowed by a medium such as a member of the host party who is
possessed by spirits during a gondang presentation. I observed these matters at a calling
19
Interview with Marsius Sitohang, Medan, 1994.
286
for blessing ritual at a gondang performance in an exhumation of bones ceremony
hosted by a Catholic family at Palipi, in 1989.
Unlike this, the participants of the wedding ceremony in Medan dispensed with
the call for the blessings ritual on a gondang performance. It was a fully Christian
wedding. Choruses and hymns were sung to the accompaniment of an electric organ.
Not until the service was completed did the gondang musicians begin to play,
accompanying the procession to welcome guests into the reception hall.
The participants of the pre-funeral ceremony in Medan, the exhumation of bones
ceremony in Huta Raja, Kecamatan Sipoholon, and the exhumation of bones ceremony
in Medan did include the ritual, called it by another name, gondang suhut. Why they
used such a term remains open to dispute. However, I think it is probably due to the
fact that it does not expose the connotation of paganism as explicitly as the other term
does. Nowadays the gondang suhut is performed for different purposes: (i) to strengthen
family relationships; (ii) to ask blessings from God or other supernatural powers; and
(iii) to show adherence to Christian practices. These three purposes are evidenced in the
three adat ceremonies mentioned above which I shall now describe.
At the exhumation of bones ceremony in Medan, members of the host party—
men and their wives—stood in a circular position in front of the gondang ensemble. The
men wore trousers, shirts, jackets and ties. Attached around their waists were the
sarong (mandar) called lopes. A sabe-sabe (a piece of ulos) rested on their right
shoulders and a tali-tali (another piece of ulos) was tied around their heads. The women
each wore a kebaya (blouse) and sarong, having fastened their hair into a bun called
marsanggul, and putting an ulos over their right shoulders. (Women do not tie their
heads with an ulos.) A person representing the party of the host (raja paminta) asked
the musicians to play Gondang Alu-alu tu Amanta Debata (Gondang for Addressing
287
[the Christian] God) and Gondang Alu-alu tu Amanta na Liat na Lolo {Gondang for
Addressing the Participants). With mis request, the first section (Mula-muJa) began. The
raja paminia refrained from making an announcement to greet the ancestral spirits or
deities, nor did he call for their blessings. Subsequently, the gondang piece Gondang
Mula-mula was played, whereupon the participants responded by dancing the tortor,
bobbing their bodies in time with the music (mangurdot) and joining the palms of their
hands in front of their chests (marsomba). It was difficult to anticipate what was going
on in their minds during the tortor, but their gestures suggested that they were engaged
in worship. Despite the fact that the raja paminta greeted the Amanta Debata in the
Gondang Alu-alu, whether the Christian God or the gods were being worshipped was
unclear. The raja paminta did not deliver an adat speech (hata ni gondang); and he
only asked the musicians to play the piece by announcing its title. There was no
perceivable object of worship. Not until the next section, the pasu-pasuan (blessing),
when the raja paminta asked for other gondang pieces to be played, did the raja
pamintd's and participants' object of worship become clear. Each time the rajapaminta
requested a piece during the blessing section, he delivered an adat speech that contained
his requests as well as the title of a gondang piece. Most of his requests were for
blessings from Amanta Debata (God), including wealth, good health, the maintenance of
family relationships, a long life and numerous descendants of the unearthed corpse. How
the movements of the dancing throng reflected these requests remains to be researched,
yet it was obvious that they performed the same basic tortor movements to every
gondang piece in the blessing section. This suggests that requests made in the hata ni
gondang are more important that the movements of the tortor, indeed, to the host a
request is a prayer.
288
Even in the blessing section, the dancers did not exchange ceremonial gifts or
receive or bestow blessings. This was because the dancers were all members of the
same suhut party; no members of the boru or the hula-hula party were involved. To
close the blessing section, the raja paminta requested that the Gondang Hasahatan
Sitio-tio be played. This piece aims at accomplishing all the requests made to God in the
blessing section. After the tortor the dancers raised their hands, and shouted the word
horas three times.
Calling for blessings on a gondang performance in traditional practice has the
same purpose as in the exhumation of bones ceremony: to evoke blessings. The
difference lies in the object of worship from which the blessings are requested. Central
I
to the former is the worship of deities, ancestral spirits or other supernatural powers, in
which spirit possession constitutes its main practice. Central to the latter is worship of
the Amanta Debata (God); in other words, the blessing is approached via Christianised
gondang and tortor performances. Participants requests are conveyed to Amanta
Debata (God), a fact that clearly demonstrates the influence of the Order of Discipline,
and the transformation of the original meaning of the mambuat tua ni gondang or the
gondang suhut from the traditional to the thoroughly Christian.
The gondang suhut was played indoors at the pre-funeral ceremony in Medan,
and it commenced early in the evening of the second day of the ceremony. Before the
performance, the musicians set up the ensemble outdoors, facing the front door of the
house. The deceased lay on a single bed in the middle of the living room. The suhut
party, including their boru members, stood surrounding the deceased. Some neighbours
sat on mats indoors, others on chairs outdoors. The participants were not limited to the
family of the male descendants of the deceased, but also included his female
289
descendants as well as the boru party of the host and neighbours. They all wore casual
dress with uloses over their right shoulders.
When the musicians performed the Gondang Mula-mula, members of the suhut
party responded by bobbing their bodies {mangurdot) to the rhythm of the music. They
refrained from performing the mangondasi (a movement to ask blessings from the
deceased), because it is prohibited by the Order of Discipline. Nevertheless, they
performed the marsomba (honouring) gesture, facing the deceased, thus actually
worshipping the deceased via the marsomba gesture. After the performance of the
Gondang Mula-mula, the raja paminta asked the musicians to play other gondang
pieces, including the Gondang Somba tu Amanta Debata {gondang to worship God),
the Gondang Sampur Marmeme {gondang of charity), the Gondang ni Parorot
{gondang of the guardians), the Gondang Didang-didang {gondang for carrying
children on one's arms), the Gondang Liat-liat {gondang for dancing in circular
motion), the Gondang Sibane-bane {gondang of graciousness) and the Gondang
Hasahatan Sito-tio {gondang to finish). The tortor movements used in these gondang
pieces resembled those performed to the Gondang Mula-mula; mostly the dancers
performed the mangurdot and the marsomba and sometimes symbolic movements. For
example, during the presentation of the Gondang Liat-liat
the married male
descendants (the hula-hula party) of the deceased bestowed blessings on their married
sisters (the boru party) by placing an ulos onto their shoulders. In return, the boru party
touched the lower jaws of members of the hula-hula party to express respect. During
the Gondang Sibane-bane, all members of the suhut party bestowed blessings on a
childless daughter and a son-in-law by touching their heads and putting an ulos on their
shoulders. In these rituals, members of the suhut party were actually requesting that the
daughter and son-in-law bear offspring in days to come.
290
It is clear that the call for blessings on the gondang ritual in this ceremony
demonstrates the coexisting of adat and Christian practices. The raja paminia delivered
adat speeches to God requesting Him to bestow blessings upon all participants. While
dancing the tortor, all the daughters-in-law of the deceased carried sacks on top of their
heads, and with other dancers—male and female—moved in a circle around the
deceased, telling participants that the deceased is a hagabeon, i.e. a person who died
after having grandchildren from his/her male and female descendants. While dancing the
manomba gesture, moved in a circle motion around the deceased. Through the requests
to God presented in front of the deceased, they were implicitly expressing the hope that
the childless daughter may bear children, as is evident in the following adat speech
delivered by the raja paminta
as he requested the musicians to play the Gondang
Didang-didang:
Jadi mauliate ma pande nami, hami sian partubu mansai las do roha
nami marnida hasadaon ni roha ni pinompar ni ina nami na saur
matua on. Asi ma antong roha ni amanta Debata, sai dikanma antong
pomparan ni natua-tua dipomparan ni ina nami na saur matua on...
Songoni do nang tuboru nami siangkangan, pahompu ni ina nami na
saur matua on ima na marhuta di Suansidoa. Molo dibilangan ni hita
jolma, ba nunga boi dohonon i na ngolngolan, ai nunga lobi hurang
tolu taon naung marhuta boru namion, alai i dope huroha, ala sai tong
ndang marindang dope nasida. Anggiat ma antong dipudian ni
ompungna, ima ina nami na suar matua on, sai dipajalohon Amanta
Debata antong di boru nami dohot di hela nami i antong anak dohot
boru tujoloan ni arion... asa ipe pargonsi nami, bahen ma jo Sibanebane, anggiat bane roha ni Amanta Debata silean tuai, mangoloi
pangidoan nami i, tupa songon lomo ni rohana.
(Honourable musicians, we feel happy because of the unity of the
descendants of the deceased mother. May God have mercy; may He
gives the descendants of the deceased a long life. Our oldest daughter,
the grand-daughter of the deceased has been married for more than three
years without having children. In days to come may God bestow
offspring upon our daughter and son-in-law. Therefore, honourable
musicians, we request you to play the Gondang Sibane-bane, and may
God, who is the source of all blessings, be merciful and grant our
request.)
291
At the above-mentioned exhumation of bones ceremony in Hutaraja, Sipoholon,
the same ritual event took place in a tent in front of the host's house as well as in the
new tomb into which the unearthed bones had been removed. At the ceremony were
members of the suhut party and their boru party. In colourful dress and with ulos on
their shoulders, they stood in the tent. The gondang musicians were on a stage located
between the tomb and the house. Members of the suhut party appointed one man to be
the raja paminta. During the ceremony, however, he neither danced tortor nor wore an
ulos; he simply stood outside the dancers' circle, close to the stage and held a
microphone as well as a book in which all the gondang pieces to be requested were
listed. Participants called him the protokol (master of ceremony). He behaves in this
way at church feasts but not at adat feasts. Normally, as the representative of a group of
people, he dances together with the people he represents.
The first gondang piece which One protokol asked the musicians to play was the
Gondang Mula-mula. But his request was not accompanied by the delivery of an adat
speech. Some members of the suhut party responded to the music by performing the
marsomba gesture and bobbing their bodies to the metre of the music. Others moved
their hands but did not move their bodies up and down. Some dancers talked to each
other while dancing the tortor. Even participants who were not dancing walked in the
middle of the dance arena. Normally during the Gondang Mula-mula the dancers
believe they are expressing their veneration of God, but on this occasion this was
i
uncertain. When requesting the second piece, i.e. the Gondang Paiduana (second
piece), the protokol again omitted to deliver an adat speech; he simply mentioned the
name of the gondang piece. All dancers performed a similar marsomba gesture to the
one performed during the Gondang Mula-mula. At the end of the Gondang Paiduana,
the protokol delivered a short speech to the musicians, explaining that the boru party
292
would like to honour their hula-hula party, the host of the feast, by this requesting that
they play the Gondang Somba, whereupon the boru party approached the hula-hula
party and touched their lower jaws and in return the hula-hula party touched their heads
in order to strengthen family relationships. The fourth piece requested was the Gondang
Parhusip {Gondang to Whisper), in which the hula-hula party remained in stationary
position and the boru party moved to the centre of the arena. Together they crouched
and suddenly bounced their bodies up and down while shouting a meaningless word to
express their joy. The fifth piece requested, the Gondang Hasahatan Sitio-tio, was
performed to end the event. At the end of this piece the dancers held their ulos and,
whilst lifting their hands, shouted the word horas.
The call for blessings on the gondang performance in this ceremony differed
from those described previously only in that it had lost its original meaning while
introducing a new meaning. Members of the suhut party performed it not to ask
blessings of God or the ancestral spirits, but to strengthen family relationships.
Calling for blessings on a gondang performance are excluded from church
programs, as evidenced by the three church functions that I attended in 1987 and 1994.
A Protestant priest, Siregar, explained to me that Christians may only obtain blessings
from Almighty God, not from a gondang performance and/or the gods.20
7.5 Ceremonial Symbols
Some ceremonial symbols used at gondang performances in pre-Christian times persist
in contemporary gondang-tortor performances. These symbols include the delivery of
adat speeches (mandok hata), symbolic gestures (e.g. maniuk, mar somba, mamasu-
20
Siregar explained this to me in a letter which I received on 16 June 1996.
293
. \ 21
masu, manolopi),
ceremonial gifts (ulos, money and rice) and the three-part structure
of the gondang-tortor sequence.
7.5.1 Delivery of Adat Speeches
The delivery of speeches at adat feasts is fundamental, not only because through them
members of the suhut, the boru and the hula-hula parties can communicate with each
other, but also because they explain the aims and procedures of those adat feasts. A
speech may contain requests, blessings or advice, depending on who delivers it, who is
being addressed, and what is being celebrated. At many ceremonies, people deliver
speeches to accompany the exchange of ceremonial gifts between these three kinship
groups. People also deliver speeches when they request musicians to play gondang
pieces {mangido gondang). These speeches are known as hata ni gondang.
fi
The raja paminta at gondang performances which I observed during adat
feasts, church functions, and youth festivals (such as the one that I attended during my
fieldwork) always observed the mangido gondang. This was confirmed by the raja
paminta at (i) the four adat ceremonies; (ii) the three church functions; (iii) the Sipaha
Lima ceremony held in 1994 by members of the Parmalim in Hutatjnggi, Laguboti; (iv)
the exhumation of bones ceremony held in 1989 by the Caiholic family in Palipi; and (v)
at the anniversary celebration of the Siahaan clan association in 1989 in Medan. The
mangido gondang is also found in commercial cassette recordings issued under the title
of Gondang Sahata Saoloan (Vols. 1-10).22 Commercial cassettes are not, of course,
made to be used at adat feasts, yet the gondang musicians recorded are always obedient
to the gondang tradition. By including the mangido gondang in the recordings, the
21
2i
The meaning of these terms has been discussed in Chapter Five.
The recordings were published by Mini Record.
294
musicians confirm that the presentation of gondang pieces is incomplete without the
hata ni gondang.
Speakers {raja parhata) at adat and non-adat feasts still normally speak
spontaneously. Similarly, a raja paminta always presents a hata ni gondang
spontaneously. Those raja paminta
who cannot deliver a hata ni
gondang
spontaneously, prepare it on paper beforehand and read it out when they request
gondang pieces be played. I witnessed this in a gondang-tortor performance at the
Thirtieth Anniversary
Celebration of the GKPI and at the exhumation of bones
ceremony at Hutaraja, Sipoholon. In neither gondang performance did the raja paminta
ft
dance the tortor. In the latter the rajapaminta stood beside the dancers, read his notes,
I?
and chose the pieces that he wanted the gondang musicians to play. Li the former, the
rajapaminta stood on a podium behind the dancers and read his prepared speech before
every gondang piece he requested.
Since the content of adat speeches is central to the function and meaning of
gondang performance, I shall discuss it further in the next chapter.
7.5.2 Tortor and Ceremonial Gifts
Okazaki
correctly maintains that even though every adat ceremony has a certain,
purpose to achieve, constituent elements of each are more or less the same (Okazaki
1994: 104). Among the elements is the ceremonial dancing which is always included.
However, some tortor movements—namely, the tortor juangga di langit and the tortor
pangodotodot—are not socially acceptable.23 These movements are performed neither
at adat ncr non-adat feasts in my experience. The Protestant church allows the maniuk,
the marsomba, the manolopi,
23
and the mamasu-masu movements, but forbids the
I have explained Uie meaning of the two movements and why they are not socially acceptable in
Chapter Two.
295
mangondasi (sometimes called the manahui), a very common movement at pre-funeral
ceremonies. In it the dancers continually move the palms of their hands up and down
{manahui) facing towards their chests. When dancers perform these movements in front
of a corpse, it means that they are asking its blessings. As Sihombing writes:
Somalna sahurang-hurangna dua borngin bangke ni na mondingi di
jabu. Di ondas-ondas i ma i. Lapatanna: marhaliang-haliangma angka
pomparanna. tarlobi angka boru, manortor mardalan humaliang
bangke i. Tingki na manortor i, sai songon na manahui ma duansa
tanganna dibahen, namarlapaian manahu (manjalo) tua sian na
mondingi. (Siahaan 1985: 217)
(Normally, a corpse must be kept at home for two days. Members of the
family, especially those of the female descendants of the deceased, must
dance the tortor, moving in a circular motion surrounding the corpse,
with the palms of their hands moving up and down in front of their
chests. This movement means to ask blessings from the corpse.)
Not surprisingly, the church explicitly bans this particular movement. Section IV, article
number 6d of the current Order of Discipline of the HKBP reads as follows:
Hatolopan Huria do gondang di tingki na matean, alai ndang jadi
masa disi onda-onda hasipelebeguan, jala ingkon tangkasan ni
parhalado taringot tu ruhut ni gondang i {Order of Discipline 1987:
27).
(The church allows the gondang to be performed at pre-funeral
ceremonies, provided that participants do not perform the traditional
animist religious practice, onda-onda [mangondasi], and above all, that
programs performed in those ceremonies are approved by the church.)
Despite church law, the mangondasi movement persists in tortor performances,
although the movements and musical accompaniments are now more varied. At the
exhumation of bones ceremony at Huta Raja, Sipaholon, all dancers performed the
mangondasi in front of some wooden boxes filled with human bones. During the prefiineral ceremony held by a Protestant family at Jalan Kuda, Medan, on September
1994, all descendants of the deceased performed the mangondasi movement while
296
dancing in circular motion around the corpse. Unlike in traditional practice, on both
occasions the mangondasi was accompanied by a brass band that also performed some
church hymns. Li contrast, the ceremonial participants of the pre-funeral ceremony held
by another Protestant family at Jalan Mongonsidi, Medan, in 1991 refused to include the
movement in question in the tortor to gondang accompaniment. The tortor movements
they mostly performed were the marsomba, the mamasu-masu, the maniuk, the
manolopi, and the mangaliat, whereby in the latter dancers form a line and move in a
circular motion.
Thus some Protestants refuse to employ the gondang ensemble but not the
tortor movements. Others are reluctant to use the tortor movements but use the
gondang ensemble as musical accompaniment. Some ceremonial participants feel it is
safe to perform the mangondasi provided that it is accompanied by church hymns
played on a brass band, which they see as a neutral musical ensemble having nothing to
.!•'*
do with traditional animist religious practice. Indeed, brass bands are normally used in
church liturgy. To some Protestants use of this strategy in adat practice means that they
have followed the Order of Discipline and therefore have Christianised their adat
practice.
Yet other ceremonial participants want to follow the adat, insisting that a tortor
in a pre-funeral ceremony be accompanied by the gondang sabangunan ensemble. As
Nainggolan explained to me, a pre-funeral ceremony which omits a performance of the
gondang
sabangunan and tortor is incomplete (see also Ruhut Parsaoran Di
Habatahon [1984: 33-35]). 24 Simanjuntak holds to the same view:
Molo monding sada na tua-tua naung sarimatua, mangkuiingma
gondang sabangunan, djala digoari mai gondang ondas manang
24
Interview with Nainggolan, Medan, 1991.
297
lolung-lotung, laos on mapaboahon tu luat i naung marujung ngolu ni
natua-tua i. (Simanjuntak 1968: 19)
(In the pre-funeral ceremony of an elderly person who has died and had
sons, daughters, and grandchildren, the gondang sabangunan must be
performed. This is called gondang ondas or Jotung-Iotung. The
gondang performance also serves as an announcement to the community
mat an elderly person has died.)
Thus, in order to follow the Order of Discipline, the participants of the above-mentioned
pre-funeral ceremony chose not to perform the mangondasi. Yet the dance remained
religiously bound because it took place around the corpse, the female descendants
danced with a sack on their heads, and all dancers faced towards the corpse. This
strategy, like the previous one discussed, aimed to conceal the animist aspect by
excluding the mangondasi movement while retaining its meaning.
As has been noted, the marsomba, the mamasu-masu, the maniuk, the
manolopi and the mangaliat are the most common dance movements performed in
gondang performances at adat feasts. Dancers are normally familiar with the meaning
of these movements and know how and when to perform them. As has been explained,
dancers always consist of members of the three kinship groups (dalihan na tolu). When
members of a suhut party dance with members of their bom party, they dance these
movements just as they exchange ceremonial gifts. Participants at church functions,
which are not based on the three kinship groups, also use these tortor movements; but
they do not perform these movement in order to fulfil a specific adat obligation.
Gondang-tortor performance at church functions serve purely as entertainment, but they
still follow the basic rules for performing the tortor.
Similarly, most ceremonial gifts exchanged at both adat and non-adat feasts
today are the same as those exchanged at adat feasts in pre-Christian times. They
include rice-grains, food, money, portions of meat, and ulos (see also Niessen 1994:
298
92-106).25 The church allows participants to exchange these ceremonial gifts both at
adat and non-adat feasts. In the last twenty years or so, many have also used beer as an
item of exchange at adat feasts. To many, beer is an expensive drink, a symbol of
prosperity and social prestige. Beer is always served by members of a boru party to
their hula-hula party. During the exhumation of bones ceremony at Hutaraja, Sipaholon,
members of the boru party served a glass of beer to each members of the hula-hula
party while they were dancing the tortor to indicate their prosperity.
Gondang at concert situations do not involve the exchange of ceremonial gifts.
At church functions participants mostly exchange cooked food, ulos, and money.
Participants donate money by placing it between dancers' fingers during a tortor
performance. The other ceremonial gifts are basically for sale through an auction
accompanied by gondang music. The sales make a profit for the church.
7.5.3 The Gondang-Tortor Sequence
No variation is allowed in the order of a gondang-tortor sequence presented by a group
of dancers. As has been noted, it always consists of a three-part structure. However
different gondang pieces may be chosen in each part. In the mula-mula, dancers express
their honour to supernatural powers. In the pasu-pasuan or the pinta-pinta dancers
exchange ceremonial gifts and convey their requests. In the hasahatan, dancers
complete their gondang-tortor sequence presentation, in which a rajapaminta makes a
request that everything conveyed in the pasu-pasuan will reach the gods and will benefit
all ceremonial participants. The figures below exemplify the content of the three part
25
For discussion of the meaning of ulos, money and rice exchanges in adat feasts, see 'Marga and
Dalihan Natolu' in Chapter Three and 'Rules for Performing Gondang' in Chapter Five.
299
structure of gondang-tortor sequences performed by different groups of dancers in
different performance contexts.
Dancers
Raja
Paminta
Gondang-Tortor Sequence
(Three-part structure)
Beginning
(Mula-mula)
Members of
the suhut and
the boru
parties
One
member of
the suhut
party
x
-Gondang Alu-alu tu
Amanta Debata
-Gondang Alu-alu tu
Amanta Raja
-Gondang Alu-alu tu
Raja na Hat na lolo
-Gondang Somba tu
Amanta Debata
Pardenggan Basai
-Gondang Mulamula
Blessing
Completion
(Pasu-pasuari) (Hasahatan)
-Gondang Liatliat
-Gondang
Sibane-bane
-Gondang
Didang-didang
Gondang
Hasahatan
Figure 25. The gondang-tortor sequence presented at a wedding ceremony
hosted by two Protestant families in Medan, in December 1994
Dancers
Raja Paminta
(Three part structure)
Beginning
(Mula-mula)
Members of the
feast organisers
and the Rector of
the University of
North Sumatra
Members of the
feast organisers
and the Rector
of the University
ofNorth
Sumatra and his
associate
Members of the
feast organisers
and a group of
students
one of the feast
organisers
-Gondang
Pangelek-eleknai
-Gondang
Somba
Rector of the
University of
North Sumatra
Gondang Mulamula
one of the
students
Gondang Mulamula
Blessing
(Pasu-pasuari)
Completion
(Hasahatan)
Gondang
Hasahatan Sitio-
none
tio
- Gondang Liatliat
- Gondang
Nasuman tusi
Gondang
Hasahatan Sitio-
-Gondang Liatliat
-Gondang
Selayang
Pandang
-Gondang
Parhusip
Gondang
Hasahatan Sitiotio
iio
Figure 26. Three presentations of gondang-tortor sequences at a youth festival
hosted by the students of the University ofNorth Sumatra, Medan, in December
1994
300
Dancers
Raja
Paminta
(Three part structure)
Beginning
{Mula-mula)
Members of the
feast organisers
and church
ministers
One of the
church ministers
-Gondang Mulamula
-Gondang
Somba-somba
Blessing
(Pasu-pasuan)
-Gondang Liatliat
-Gondang
Sibunga Jambu
Completion
(Hasahatan)
Gondang
Hasahatan
Sitio-tio
Figure 27. The gondang-tortor sequence presented at the thirtieth anniversary
celebration of the GKPI in the Medan/Aceh district, held in the T.D.Pardede
Hall, Medan, in September 1994
Dancers
Raja Paminta
Beginning
{Mula-mula)
Blessing
(Pasu-pasuan)
-Gondang Liatliat
-Gondang
Sampe marorot
-Gondang ni
Simatua nami
-Gondang na
hombar tu
namamboan
ringgit sitio
suara
-Gondang Liatliat
-Gondang
Hasahatan
-Gondang Liatliat
-Gondang
Simonangmonang
-Gondang Liatliat
-Gondang
Hasahatan
Members of the
suhutand the
boru parties
one member of
the boru party
Gondang mulamula
Members of the
suhutand the
hula-hula parties
Members of the
suhut and the
hula-hula parties
one member of
the hula-hula
party
one member of
the hula-hula
party
Gondang Mulamula
Members of the
suhutand the
hula-hula
parties
one member of
the hula-hula
party
Gondang Mulamula
Gondang Mulamula
Completion
{Hasahatan)
-Gondang
Hasahatan
Gondang
Hasahatan Sitiotio
Figure 28. Four presentations of gondang-tortor sequences at the exhumation
of bones ceremony hosted by a Protestant family in Hutaraja, Sipaholon, in
December 1994
301
Dancers
feast organisers
and church
ministers
Raja Paminta
one of the feast
organisers
Beginning
(Mula-mula)
Blessing
(Pasu-pasuan)
-Gondang mulamula
-Gondang
Somba-somba
-Gondang OlopOlop
•Gondang
Sibane-bane
Completion
(Hasahatan)
Gondang
Hasahatan
Sitio-tio
Figure 29. The presentation of gondang-tortor sequence presented at a church
fund-raising festival hosted by the congregation of the HKBP, Penimnas
Mandala, Medan, in June 1987
Dancers
Raja Paminta
Beginning
(Mula-mula)
Blessing
(Pasu-pasuari)
Completion
(Hasahatan)
-Gondang
Paiduanai
-Gondang
Saurmatua
•Gondang Siatur
maranak siatur
marboru
-Gondang
Sijagaron
-Gondang
Sibane-bane
-Gondang
Monangmonang/
Gondang Liatliat
-Gondang
Didang-didang
-Gondang
Sampur
marmeme
-Gondang LiatLiat
-Gondang Siatur
maranak siatur
marboru
-Gondang
Sibane-bane
-Gondang
sampur
marmeme
-Gondang liatliat
Gondang
Hasahatan Sitiotio
Members of the
suhut party
one member of
the suhut party
-Gondang Mulamula
Members of the
hula-hula and
suhut parties
one member of
the hula-hula
party
-Gondang Mulamula
Members of the
boru and suhut
parties
one member of
the boru party
-Gondang Mulamula
-Gondang Alualu tu Amanta
Debata
Members of the
boru and suhut
parties
one member of
the boru party
-Gondang
Somba
-Gondang Mulamula
Gondang
Hasahatan
Siotio-tio
Gondang
Hasahatan
Sitio-tio
Gondang
Hasahatan
Sitio~tio
Figure 30. Four presentations of gondang-tortor sequences at a pre-funeral
ceremony hosted by a Protestant family, Medan, in March 1991
302
As the figures show, the total number of gondang pieces presented in the threepart structure vary. Some raja paminta request gondang musicians to play eight
gondang pieces; others request them to play seven, six, five, four or three gondang
pieces. Despite this, the pattern of the three-part structure remains intact. The Gondang
Mula-mula always starts a gondang-tortor sequence, while the Gondang Hasahatan
Sitio-tio (Gondang Hasahatan and Gondang Sition-tio), which are often played
successively as one piece, bring a gondang-tortor sequence to an end. Some raja
paminta request musicians to play Gondang Alu-alu and Gondang Somba before or
after Gondang Mula-mula. This is normal as they are part of the mula-mula.
Nevertheless, a request for these pieces is optional; they are not as important as the
obligatory piece, Gondang Mula-mula. This is why some raja paminta even exclude
them altogether from a gondang-tortor sequence.
As the figures show, the raja paminta normally make a free choice of gondang
pieces in the blessing section. In their speeches, most raja paminta relate the title of the
chosen gondang piece to the ritual or celebration at hand. In a pre-funeral ceremony, a
raja paminta usually requests musicians to play Gondang Saurmatua, because he and
members of his group want to celebrate the deceased's long life or to note that the
deceased had many descendants. Likewise, a raja paminta may ask the gondang
musicians to play Gondang Liat-liat because he and members of his group want to
show off a ceremonial gift for the host, and to do this they need to perform a circular
dance (mangaliat). Alternatively it may be because a raja paminta and his group want
to greet, bless or show respect to other dancers and need to move (mangaliat) away to'
meet other dancers.
At many gondang performances, the presentation of the Gondang Mula-mula
and the Gondang Hasahatan Sition-tio are normally shortened; it is played for about
303
twenty to thirty seconds. Gondang pieces played in the blessing section, in contrast,
always take a longer time, because it accompanies such rituals as bestowing blessings,
receiving blessings, and exchanging ceremonial gifts. When musicians play a gondang
piece to accompany ceremonial participants exchanging gifts, they will not stop playing
that piece unless the two parties complete that activity. This situation raises the question
as to why the performance of the Gondang mula-mula and the Gondang Hasahatan
Sitio-sitio is always short? This probably has to do with the simplification of adat
practices and gondang-tortor performance resulting from the Seminar on adat in 1968,
which was instituted in the 1968 Order of Discipline.26 As it suggests, any adat practice,
from the time the guests have their meal to the time the feast is closed by a church
minister, should take place within three hours. The ideal time to finish an adat feast is at
5 p.m. To some adat practitioners, simplified adat practices are acceptable; to others
they are not. This situation is clearly reflected in some polemical articles found in
Bonanipinasa, a widely-read Batak popular magazine.27 It also suggests that every
group of dancers in a gondang-tortor sequence may ask the gondang musicians to play
only three gondang pieces. When members of the suhut have their turn to dance, they
must ask the musicians to play no more than five gondang pieces. Clearly, this strategy
is meant to simplify a gondang performance. Since the total number of people that
usually attend adat feasts with gondang performance may number in the hundreds or a
thousand or two, this strategy allows every group of dancers to perform their own
26
See Section B, articles bl, b2, b3, and b4 [page 20] and section C. EL, articles b.l, b2, b3, M,
b5 [page 24] of the 1968 Order of Discipline.
27
The articles include 'Jangan Sampai Melunturkan Nilai-Nilai Filosq/is' (As long as it does not
Obfuscate philosophical values) in Bonanipinasa (1990, Vol. 2, No. 10 , p. 13; 'Siapa Berani Memulainya'
(Who Dares to Start it) in Bonanipinasa (1990, Vol. 2, No. 7, p. 17); 'Mana Kriterianya, Mana Ukurannyd"
(Where are the Rules and Where are the Measurements) in Bonanipinasa (1990, Vol. 2, No. 6, p. 14); and
'Maningkir Tangga dan Paulak Une SepertiMain Sandiwara' (The Meeting between Bridegroom Families
After a Wedding Ceremony is Like Performing a Play) in Bonanipinasa (1990, Vol. 2, No. 8, p. 44).
304
gondang-tortor sequence. From its introduction in 1968 until the present, many
gondang-tortor performances have been shortened in each part of the three-structure.
However, in some cases only the Gondang Mula-mula and Gondang Hasahatan are
shortened because bestowing or receiving blessings and exchanging ceremonial gifts
take place only in the second part, and in this way the dancing can be longer during the
blessing part. Thus the three-part structure of a gondang-tortor sequence survives in the
modern world at both adat and non-adat feasts.
7.6 Performance Settings and the Use of Sound Systems
At adat feasts, musicians played the gondang on the external or the internal balcony of a
traditional house, or on the ground; and this practice still remains whether or not the
house is a traditional house. Between 1970 and the 1990s, however, most performances
have taken place either on the ground outside a house, on a house floor, or on a specially
constructed stage. It is probable that such a practice will soon fade with the demise of
traditional houses in both rural and urban areas. The use of new building materials, such
as cement, bricks and iron in the Post-Independence era, have contributed to the demise
of traditional houses and the building of modern houses. As I travelled in 1992, 1993
and 1994 from Medan to Sibolga, Tarutung, Sipaholon, Muara, Dolok Sanggul,
Bakkara, Balige, Laguboti, Porsea, Parapat, Tomok, Pangururan, Palipi, Harian Boho,
and many others villages in Samosir, I saw few traditional houses. Most were modern
houses built at ground level with bricks and cements, with zinc instead of palm-fibre
roofs, and with cement instead of timber floors. Thus, at gondang performances themusicians usually play on the ground, on the floor of a home, or on a stage build
alongside or in front of a house. While waiting for their turn to dance, ceremonial
305
participants may sit on chairs or on mats. Some examples of settings of contemporary
gondang-tortor performances at adat and non-adat feasts are shown below.
N
Tortor dancing arena for
guests while presenting gifts to
the feast organising committee
Side-door
Sound system
Frontdg
Stage
Gondang sabangunan
ensemble
Sound system
Sitting area for
participants
Sitting area for participants
Side-door
Standing area for members of
the feast-organisine committee
I
Figure 31. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at the 30th anniversary
celebration of the GKPI congregations in the Medan/Aceh district, held at the T.D.
Pardede Hall, Jalan Batam, Medan, 1994
306
t
Road
1
Gondang
sabangunan
ensemble
nzr
Gate
Sound system
Front door
N
Tortor dancing
arena for all
dancers while
receiving/presenting
ceemonial gifts
a corpse laid on a
bed
Kitchen area in which people sit, cook, talk, eat, and drink
Figure 32. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at a pre-funeral ceremony,
Jalan Mongonsidi, Medan 1991.
307
Nt
r i n g area for
members of the feast
organising
committee while
dancing the tortor
Gondang sabangunan
ensemble
Standing area for
guests while
performing the
tortor
Audience
sitting on
chairs
Stage with bannerstyle advertisement of
the sponsor
Tortor dancing arena for
members of the feast-organising
committee and their guests
Figure 33. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance in a pavilion at a youth
festival held by the University of North Sumatra, Jalan Universitas, Medan, 1994
308
Sitting area for
ceremonial
participants
Road
N
Front door
Church
Front door
r
Sopo Codang
HKBP
Sitting area for
members of the
suhut party and
other ceremonial
participants
Gondang
sabangunan
ensemble (played
when musicians
welcome ceremonial
participants
and the newlyweds
Gondang
sabangunan
Balcony
Tortor dancing
arena for members
of the suhut party
and other
ceremonial
participants
Sound system
Figure 34. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at a Wedding Ceremony at the
Sopo Godang H.K.B.P Hall, Jalan Sudirman, Medan, 1994.
309
Road
Sitting area for
ceremonial
participants and
food selling area for
the feast-oganisers
N
Church
Tortor arena for all dancers
while presenting ceremonial
gifts to the church
Sitting area for
ceremonial
paerticipants
Gondang
sabangunan
ensemble
Figure 35. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at the 29th anniversary
celebration oftheJalan Kapten Pattimura GKPI congregation, in Medan, 1994
I
i
310
Road
sitting area for
ceremonial
participants
Sound
system
Gondang
sabangunan
ensemble
Church
Standing area for
the feast organisers
A table on which
donated money is
placed
Tortor dancing
arena for all dancers
Standing area for
ceremonial
participants while
presenting gifts
Figure 36. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at the HKBP fund-raising
festival, at Jalan Elang, Perumnas Mandala, Medan, 1987
311
N t
Cooking area
Tortor arena for
all dancers while
receiving/
presenting gifts
Host's house
Sound system
Stage
Gondang
sabangunan
ensemble
New tomb
Standing area for
members of the
suhiit party
Standing area for
relatives /guests
Figure 37. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at the exhumation of bones
ceremony, Hutaraja, Sipoholon, Tapanuli Utara, 1994
312
Road
Taman Sari HaH (2)
(used when
participants have
meal; participants
sit on chairs
Tortor arena for all
dancers while
presenting/
receiving
ceremonial gifts
Sound system
Taman Sari Hall(l)
(not used)
Standing area for
members of the suhut
party
fir
fa
Gondang
sabangunan
ensemble played on
the ground
Standing area for
relatives/guests
Figure 3 8. The setting for a gondang-tortor performance at the exhumation of bones
ceremony at the Taman Sari Hall, Medan, 1994
313
Although musicians often play on a stage instead of the balcony of a traditional
house, the traditional gondang-tortor performance setting is always observed. For
example, whether they perform on stage or on the ground gondang musicians are
usually seated in two rows. The gordang, the taganing and the sarune players always
sit together in the front row, facing the tortor arena. The four ogung and the hesek
players stand or sometimes sit behind the other three groups of musicians.
Two major agents of change in the gondang-tortor tradition in the last two or
three decades are the spread of Western and Batak popular music throughout the
province of North Sumatra as well as the introduction of Western sound systems and
play-back technology. Between the 1970s and
the 1990s many gondang-tortor
performances have been given on a hall stage, or in outdoor courtyards, usually with
sound amplification. At a large scale adat feast, with several hundreds or even a
thousand people in attendance, sound amplification is necessary during gondang-tortor
performances. However, it is not usually supervised by a professional sound operator.
Very often as a result of wrong placement of the microphones, the sound of the
gondang becomes unbalanced. As I have often witnessed, many musicians placed one
or two microphones in front of the sarune but none beside the other instruments. Not
surprisingly, the sound of the sarune is too louder in relation to the other instruments. To
some musicians as well as many dancers, however, the sound of the sarune is more
important than that of other instruments, so they tolerate this imbalance.
7.7 Conclusion
The Protestants church expressly forbids the traditional mode of performance (adat ni
gondang). However, the church has not really made clear how its members should deal
with the gondang-tortor tradition at ceremonial feasts. The church apparently allows its
314
members the freedom to interpret the Order of Discipline as they wish. Accordingly,
some conscientiously comply with its edicts, while others neglect it, depending on how
strictly a particular congregation or community wishes to observe adat vis-a-vis the
church laws. Adat has changed as social condiaons have, and this has affected many
Toba Bataks in practising ceremonial adat feasts, including the gondang-tortor
tradition. Today the practice of adat is no longer an absolute obligation but a matter of
personal or group choice. Gondang and tortor remain part of the adat, which prevents
this performance practice from becoming decontextualised, whether or not a group of
people ultimately adjust adat to Christian teachings. Some Protestants adhere to adat
and Christian teachings. At many gondang-tortor performances in the period between
the 1980s and the 1990s elements of both coexisted.
315
CHAPTER EIGHT
HATA NI GONDANG:
EXPLORING THE SOCIAL FUNCTION AND MEANING OF
GONDANG-TORTOR PERFORMANCE IN THE FROTESTANT
TOBA BATAK SOCIETY TODAY
This chapter examines speeches {hata ni gondang) delivered by various raja paminta in
various gondang performance contexts. As I have argued, understanding the content of
the speeches presented at a gondang-tortor performance can help to unfold the social
function of that performance. Speeches, like other ceremonial gifts, are representations
which constitute the essence of the meaning of gondang-tortor performances. A speech
may contain a blessing, advice, or simply a request, depending on the speech-maker and
the context in which that speech is delivered. The gondang, the tortor and the
ceremonial symbols, including the ulos, rice grains, money, drink, and consecrated
meals, are tools employed by ceremonial participants to represent and achieve the
purpose of the ceremony as stated in the speeches.
After transcribing some randomly selected speeches delivered by the raja
paminta in different gondang performance context, I shall explore the content of the
speeches and interpret them in relation to the performance context in which they are
delivered. For comparison, I shall include some transcriptions of the speeches presented
by the raja paminta at the Sipaha Lima ceremony. I shall illustrate how ceremonial
participants, through the gondang and tortor performance in a ceremony, actualise the
content of the delivered speeches and what it tells about that particular gondang
performance as well as its participants.
316
8.1 Transcription of Speeches
1.1.1 Speeches presented at the Sipaha Lima Ceremony held bv Members of the
Parmalim in Hutatinggi. Laguboti. 1994
Below are some examples of speeches addressed to gondang musicians at a
Sipaha Lima ceremony. They were delivered by a raja paminta, who represented a
group of dancers participating in the ceremony.
tl.
(transcription 1). Amang tungkang nami, jongjong hami nuaeng
dison, mangoloi tona ni angka Raja Na Siak Bagi, di ari
marsangap di ari martua; mandok mauliate hami tu ompunta
Debata Mula Jadi Na Bolon, dohot tu saluhut amanta na
marsangap na martua i, sai dipasial ma hata pangidoan nami,
bahen ma gondang hamauliateon nami tu Amanta Raja Na Siak
Bagi, amanta pangihutantai, dipaihut ma hami songon mangihut
dipudi na, mangihuthon puji-pujian tu ompunta Debata, laho tu
tangan nai marsomba, tu saluhut asi ni roha nai, na manarihon
ngolu nami siganup ari...
(Honourable musicians, we come to this place on this sacred day
to follow the order of Raja Na Siak Bagi and to thank our god, the
Debata Mula Jadi Na Bolon. Please play a gondang piece to
express our appreciation to our father the Raja Na Siak Bagi. We
hope that he will allow us to follow him in presenting our
offerings to our god, the Debata, who always cares about our
daily life.)
t2. Bahen ma gondang somba tu ompunta Debata na tolu, silehon
parbinotoan silehon roha na ias dohot tondi hamalimon, silehon
gogo dohot silehon tondi marsangap dohot tondi martua. Roma
hita mangihut dipudi ni amantai marsomba tu hasangapon nai
marsogot, marhite pelean puji-pujian mardongan gondang
sabangunan.
(Please play a gondang piece to worship the Debata Na Tolu
(three gods), the gods who give knowledge, sincerity, compassion,
strength, and are strong and honoured souls. Let us come and
kneel before the gods, and present our offerings to the
accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan.)
t3. Bahen ma gondang hamauliateon ni roha nami tu ompunta
Sisingamangaraja parasi roha na sumurung i, dohot tu sahala
marsangap sahala martua, tu sahala ni inanta sipangampu, jala
sipangulosi, sahat diampuanna ma nang dohot parrohaon nami
317
(Please play a gondang piece to express our appreciation to the
Sisingamangaraja and to the honoured spirit of our mother who
always looks after us. May our hearts rest before her.)
t4. Bahen ma gondang hamauliateon ni roha nami tu Tuhanta Debata
Na Toiupargogo na sohatudosan i dohot ompunta Mula Jadi Na
Bolon ah ibana do na manjadihon saluhut nasa na adong,
diparbisuhi ma hita jala dipargogoi manghobasi ulaon na
tinonahon ni amanta Raja Na Siak Bagi sihongkop hita i, sahat
dijanghon ma haroro nami.
(Please play a gondang piece to express our appreciation to the
Debata Na Tolu, and to the Mula Jadi Na Bolon, who has created
everything in the universe. May the gods help us in carrying out
the duty of which the Raja Na Siak Bagi reminds us. May he
accept our presence.)
t5.
Amang Umgkang nami, sai asima roha ni ompunta Debata Mula
Jadi Na Bolon namangoloi hata pangidoan Amanta Raja Nasiak
Bagi, sai tioma asi ni roha nai pangoluhonon nami, tio mapasupasuna na sumurung i siparngoluhonon nami. Bahen ma
gondang sitio-tio i anggiat tio panggabean nang dohot
parhorasan.
(Honourable musicians, because we follow the Raja na Siak Bagi,
may god ihe Mula Jadi Na Bolon have mercy on us, may his
peace enliven our lives, and may his blessings be pure in our lives.
Please play gondang sitio-tio)
8.1.2 Speeches presented at a Pre-Funeral Ceremony held by a Protestant Family in
Medan. 1991
The following speeches were delivered by a member of the suhut party.
t6.
Mauliate ma pande nami, ipe bahen ma jo Gondang Somba tu
Amanta Debata, ai Amanta Debata do silompa on.
(Thank you, honourable musicians. We now ask you to perform
Gondang Somba tu Amanta Debata, because it is God who
created the deceased.)
t7.
Mauliate ma pande nami. Ina namion, andorang dingoluna sada
ina na barju, na dompak marmeme anak dompak marmeme
boru. Asa ipe pargonsi nami, bahen ma jo Sampur marmeme i.
Thank you, our honourable musicians. During her life, our mother
was a loving person who did not distinguish between her sons and
daughters. Because of this, we ask you, honourable musicians, to
play Gondang Sampur Marmeme.
318
t8.
Mauliate ma pande nami, dilean do antong hagabeon sirsir
maranak sirsir marboru, marpahompu di anak marpahompu di
boru... asajumpang ma antong di pinomparan ni natua-tuaon
songon na nidok ni na tua-tua, asa erne ni sitambatua i
denggan...di ari marsogot, Amanta Debata do silehon tua horas
mapinompar ni natua-tuaon diparorot Asa i pe pargonsi nami,
bahen ma jo Gondang ni Parorot.
(Thank you, our honourable musicians. God has given many
descendants to our mother during her life... we hope that her
descendants' requests will be realised. As the maxim says, the
paddy of Sitambatua may bear good harvest in days to come, may
the Amanta Debata who bestows blessings look after the
descendants of this deceased person. Honourable musicians, we
ask you to play Gondang ni Parorot.)
t9.
Asa i pe pargonsi name, bahen ma jo didang-didang i, asa
tangkas aniong mandidang anak mandidang nang di boru,
saluhutna pinompar ni ina nami nasaur matuaon.
(Honourable musicians, we ask you to play Gondang Didangdidang, so that in days to come all descendants of the deceased
may have sons as well as daughters.)
tlO. Songon na hudok i tutu anggo ina namion nunga tangkas
namartuaon nga gabe, asa mangaliat ma hami, asa angggiat
tong songonna nidok ni natua-tua Hat panggabean Hat
parhorasan dipinomparni ina namion na saur matua on nang di
hita on saluhut na. Jadi ipe bahen ma jo Gondang Liat-liat i.
(As I mentioned, our mother was a respected person for she has
many descendants. We would now like to dance and to walk in a
circle so that blessings and happiness may encircle the
descendants of the deceased as well as all of us who gather here.
Honourable musicians, we ask you to play Gondang Liat-liat.)
til. Jadi mauliate mapande nami. Hami sian partubu, mansai las do
roha nami marnida hasadaon rohani pinompar ni ina nami na
saur matuaon. Asi ma antong roha ni amanta debata, sai
dilehon ma antong pomparan natua-tua di pomparan ni ina
nami na saurma tuaon. Asa balintang pagabe antong
tumundalhon siiadoan, nunga aniong ari ni pinompar ni natuatuaon gabe ala tangkas nasida denggan masipaolo-oloan. Raja
nami, suang songonima nang di ianakhon ni natua-tua namion
na dipardalanan dope nuaeng, asa anggiat antong Tuhanta na
mangkhorasi, dipadao abat-abat, ... suang songoni ma amang
raja inang soripada, boha pe hinagabe ni jolma, boha pe
hinamorana sai adong do anggo na lao sipingkiran. Songoni do
nang tu boru nami, siangkangan, pahompu ni ina nami na saur
matua on, ima na marhuta tu Suansidoa. Molo dibilangan ni hita
319
jolma.ba nunga boi dohonon i nangoingolan, ai nunga lobi
hurang tolu taon naung marhuta bom namion, alai ido pe
huroa, ala long ndang marrindang dope nasida. Anggiat ma
antong, dipudian ni ompungna, ima ina nami na saur matuaon,
sai dipajalohon amanta Debata antong diboru nami i dohot di
hela nami i antong anak dohot boru tujoloan ni arion. Nang tu
bom nami naung marhuta tu Nainggolan, sahat ma dipasahai
amanta Debata antong pasu-pasuna olak nion tu joloan ni
arion. Asa i pe pargonsi nami, bahen ma jo Sibane-bane,
anggiat bane roha ni Amanta Debata silehon tua i, dioloi
pangidoan nami, tupa songon lomo ni rohana.
(Honourable musicians, we are so happy to see the unity of the
descendants of the deceased. May God have mercy; and may God
grant a long life, like our mother's, to all the descendants of the
deceased. As the maxim says, the balintang1 and ihepagabe2 are
behind the sitadoan,3 today is a happy day for all the descendants
of the deceased because they help each other. May God also bless
all the descendants of the deceased who are on their way to this
place. We also admit mat no matter how rich and how successful
we are, there are always problems in life which we have to
address. The grand-daughter of the deceased, our oldest daughter
and her husband from the village of Suansidoa have experienced
misfortune. They have been married for three years without
having children. In days to come, after the celebration of this prefuneral ceremony, may God bestow offspring upon our daughter
and son-in-law. Therefore, honourable musicians, we request you
to play Gondang Sibane-bane, and may God, who is the source of
blessings, be merciful and grant our request.)
tl2. Mauliate ma pande nami ala sude pangidoan nami i nunga
dibahen ho i toho-toho. Mansai las do roha tutu marnida
pinompar ni ina nami naung saur matua on di sada ni roha lao
patupahon adat na gok tu ina nami naung saur matua on. Pos do
roha antong pajumpang antong songon na didok ni natua-tua,
uli do antong porda pandohotan ni ulamon, sai tamba ma jo Ima
dipinompar ni ina nami natua-tua namion...sai tu jolo antong
saluhutna pinompar ni na tua-tua on, disi ma dapotan
pansarian. Asa ipe pargonsi nami, ala nunga marsisabean hami
dohoi disomba boru nami hami bahen ma Hasahatan i, asa
sahat-sahat ni solu ma i antong sahat tu Bontean, sahat hitaon
mangolu sahat ma tu panggabean. Bahenma Hasahatan padomu
tu Sitio-tio.
1
''Balintang* is part of a weaving tool.
2
'Pagabe1 is a big measuring-stick used in a weaving.
3
'Sitadoan' is a place for one's feel to rest when weaving.
320
(We thank you our honourable musicians because you performed
what we requested. We are so pleased to see the unity of the
descendant of the deceased in performing this adat to the
deceased... we wish that the descendants of the deceased increase
in number in the days to come...and we wish that they will have
work and resources wherever they live. Our honourable
musicians, as we have strengthened our family relationships and
we have been honoured by our boru party, we now ask you to
play Gondang Hasahatan and to proceed to Gondang Sitio-tio.)
tl3. Bahen ma Gondang Mula-mula i laos dohot ma Somba-somba i
asa marmula do na gabe marmula do nang na horas. Behen
hamuma Gondang Mula-mula i.
(Honourable musicians, please play the Gondang of Beginning
because everything has its own beginning, and then proceed with
the Gondang of Worship.)
tl4.
Tangkas huboto hami ia inanta na matua bulung on naung gabe
do on, marpahompu di anak marpahompu di boru sahat lu na
mamini. Dipiga-piga ari naung salpu, nunga diadopi inanta na
matua bulung on ima pahompuna siampudan baoa sian tonga
dibagas on. Jadi nunga hot parborhat ni namboru naung...ni
inanta na matua bulung on pahompuna sian tonga ni bagas on,
ipe asa borhat imana manadinghon hita. Asa nang pangidoan
tu Amanta Debata, anggiat ma tu angka na baru solhot dohot
naung solhot diangka nangongolan diangka hajolmaon anggiat
ma tutu lam tu dimposna togu ma i diuratna, mardangka i tu
ginjang, marbulung i [songon manjunjung] tu ginjang tujoloan
ni ari on iumpahon ni Amanta namartua Debata. Sai hatop dililit
andorna ma antong saluhutna pinompar ni natua-tuaon
namaminta dihajolmaon tuangka pangaturon ni ari. Asa anggiat
dapot songon nidokhon ni umpasa ni natua-tua: erne na...ma
antong ditoru ni Hariara, asa torop ma antong maribur
pinompar ni natua-tuaon namatua bulung, na tangkang ma
dohot na juara. Bahen hamu ma Gondang Monang-monang i
dohot songon pangullus ni alogo lubis i. Bahen ma amang asa
mangaliat hami.
(Thank you, honourable musicians for playing the Gondang
Mula-mula. As we know, before our mother died, she had many
descendants. A few days ago, our mother attended the wedding of
her grandson in this house and so had completed a good life
before she died. We wish to God that the descendants of the
deceased, who have just been married as well as those who have
been married for a long time will have many descendants in days
to come. As the maxim says, the rice-paddy under the Hariara
tree, may the deceased have many brave and friendly descendants.
Please play the Gondang of Victory, so that we can move in a
circular dance.)
321
The following speeches were delivered by a member of the boru party.
tl5. Ipe amang pande nami panggual pargonsi, nga jonjong harni
dison boru ni hula-hula namion. Naung torop marribur do hami
dison. Jadi hami ma jo mewahli di borngin onpajagarhon dohot
pasangaphon hula-hula nami dison. Antong bahenmajo amang
panggual pargonsi Mula-mula i.
(Honourable musicians, we the boru party stand here. Although
we are few in number, we would like to pay our respect to our
hula-hula party, the hosts of this ceremony. Please play the
Gondang Mula-mula.)
tl 6. Nunga dibahen ho amangpandenami pangidoan nami i. Ihut ma
bahen jo tusi aso husomba hami hula-hula namion, asa
mamasu-masu nasida tu hami. Bahen ma gondang Somba, jala
huhilala ihut ma tusi Gondang Liat. Bahen jo amang.
(You have performed what we asked you to play. Please play now
a gondang piece to honour our hula-hula party, so that they will
bless us. Please combine this piece with a piece for dancing in a
circle dance.)
tl7. Mauliate ma tutu di hamu pande nami, nunga dibahen hamu
pangidoan nami. Alai tong dope sai godang pangidoan nami,
ima parhitean ni pangidoan ni hami saluhutna tu Amanta
Debata. Antong bahen ma jo amang muse, ala naung saur
matua do natu-tua on, asa songon i nang hami angka
pomparanna boi mangihuthon songon na tua-tua on tulus ni
rohana dohot saurmatua, manadinghon sude nasa ulaon iiurtiur baru borhat natua-tuaon. Ndang piga songon natua-tuaon
songon on jolo sidung do angka ulaon ni pomparanna baru
borhat imana tu Tuhanna. Antong bahen ma jo Gondang
Saurmatua i.
(We thank you honourable musicians, because you have
performed the gondang pieces that we asked you to play. We
have many requests to make to God. As we know, this deceased
person had a long life. We, the descendants of the deceased,
would also like to have such a long life. We would like to inherit
our mother's sincerity. We are grateful that our mother died
peacefully. Please play the Gondang of Old-age.)
tl 8. Mauliate ma amang, nga dibahen ho pangidoan nami i. Alai on
ma ondolanna, asa haru bane ro hami Tuhanta pasauthon
pangidoan nami ima alu-alu nami tu Amanta Debata, antong
bahen ma jo Gondang Bane i.
(Thank you, honourable musicians. So that God may grant what
we have asked him, please play the Gondang of Appreciation.)
322
tl9. Ima tutu amang panggual pargosni, nunga rode hami dison na
markula-marboru, manortori natua-tua nami naung saur matua
on. Asi ma roha ni Amanaia Debata, saurma panggabean saur
parhorasan tumpahon ni amanta Debata dihami pomparan ni
natua-tuaon tujoloan on. Jadi nuaeng pe amang panggual
pargonsi, songon naung pinatortor ni boru nami, ianakhon
nami, hela nami Sinurat rap dohot boru nami si Rita, ima dalan
lao mangido tu Amanta Debata. la tubu ninna Hariara
diholang-holang ni huta, ia gabe amana sai gabe ma nang
boruna. Asa amang pargonsi bahen damangma Gondang Siatur
Maranak Siatur Marborui, asa sirsir sude hami pomparan ni
natua-tuaon maranak marboru tumpahon ni Amanta Debata.
Marhite on amang panggual pargonsi, pasahaion nami ma ulos
sibahen na las, asa las roha ni ianakhon nami ima
dinamarnortori natua-tua nami ompungna, pasahaton nami ma
ulos Bintang Maratur, asa atur Amanta Debata mangalehon las
niroha dihami saluhut pomparan ni natua-tuaon. Asa bahen
damangma Gondang Siatur Maranak Siatur Marboru asa
borhat hami mangulosi gelleng nami. Bahen damang gondang i.
(Honourable musicians, we gather here as members of the boru
and the hula-hula parties to dance to the deceased, our mother.
May God have mercy on us, and may God give us a good and a
long life. Honourable musicians, the Hariara trees grow in
between villages, if a father has many descendants, so must his
daughters. Please play the gondang of having many sons and
daughters, so that all the descendants of the deceased may have
many sons and daughters. In this ceremony, we would like to
present a ceremonial shawl called Bintang Maratur, a shawl mat
will give the warmth of happiness to our daughter and son-in-law.
Please now play the Gondang of having sons and daughters.)
8.1.3 Speeches presented during the Celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the GKPI
Congregations in the Medan/Aceh District, held at the T.D. Pardede Hall. Medan, 1994
The following prepared speeches were delivered by one of the church ministers.
t20. Amanta raja, inanta Soripada, na hinaholongan dibagasan
Kristus Jesus. Pujionta dope dibagasan acara on Tuhanta na
marsangap i siala sude denggan ni basanana. 30 taon ma umur
ni GKPI, tontu ndang tarsoadahon hita, na asi ni roha ni
Debata do namanangannangan hita, mamungka sian na
mardalan pat na uju i tu Pearaja, sahat tu na mdrjonjongan
angka Gareja. Saluhutna i, nunga tapahibul dibagasan sada
pandohan: 'Sabas Mar-GKPV. Asa tabahen ma gondang
sadarion, gabe gondang mandok mauliate tu Tuhanta, siala asi
ni rohana. Asa erne ni si Tamba tua ma parlinggoman ni
siborok, Amanta Debata do sileon tua, sai horas ma GKPI
diparorot. Asa on pe amang Pande nami. Mauliate ma
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diharadeon mu mandongani hami di Pesta las ni roha on, asa
patubegehononmu ma soara ni ogung na ummuli, dohot
taganing na marhotorhotor, ai Panitia nunga rage dison
manortor. Baen damang ma Gondang Mula-mula.
(Distinguished guests, in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. In
this celebration, we thank God for all of His blessings. We are
here to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of our church, the GKPI.
We must remember that it was God that guided us through the
process of forming mis congregation...Today we celebrate the
thirtieth anniversary of our church...Because of this, we perform
the gondang today as a way of expressing our gratitude to God
for all his blessings. The rice of Sitamba tua, the shelter of
Siborok; God who bestows blessings, God who looks after the
GKPI. Honourable musicians, we thank you for your presence at
this celebration and we ask you to perform your best music. The
committee is ready to dance the tortor. We ask you to play the
Gondang Mula-mula.)
t21. Pande nami, Panggual pargonsi! Na marmula do tutu sude nauli
namarmula nang na denggan, jala diginjang ni saluhutna i ima
Amanta Debata. Alani i, ibana ma sipujion, huhut si sombaon.
Baen damang ma Gondang Somba-somba i, asa disomba panitia
Tuhanta.
(Honourable musicians, all good things have their own beginning.
Above all, however, is our God. He is the one that we must praise
and honour. Thus, please perform the Gondang Somba-somba
because the committee would like to praise God.)
t22. Amang panggual pargonsi! parindahan na suksuk ho ninna
parlompan na tabo, sasintongna nang so hupangido hami
gondang on nunga diboto ho. 160 halak lobi anggota Panitia,
disi do angka pandita disi nang angka sintua. Dohot do ruas
biasa, songon i nang angka gurunta. GKPI do goar ni hurianta.
Seluruh Indonesia do na hinanghamna. Portibi on do anggo
umbuge barita ni parjonjongna. Huria panindangi do GKPI
ninna halak Eropa. Marningot i, sai lam tu ringgasna ma angka
Pangula. Domu tusi Pandenami, bahen damang ma Gondang
Liat-Uat i, asa dipasuman pnitia parhinsa ni langkana.
(Honourable musicians! You always eat delicious food and you
always know instinctively what gondang pieces we are going to
ask you to play. Here are 160 people, including church ministers,
elders as well as members of our church. 'GKPI' is the name of
our congregation and its members include many people in
Indonesia. People around the world have heard about its
establishment. European people acknowledge the witness of the
GKPI. May all our church ministers work constantly. We
therefore ask you, our honourable musicians, to play the
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Gondang Liat-liat so that members of the committee may move
in step.)
t23. Pande nami! Nunga mangaliat panitia ni pesianta. Sai Hat ma tu
GKPI hagabeon dohot hahorasan tumpahon ni Amanta Debata.
Asa pinoro ma miak hushus sian hau ni inggolom, niusehon tu
bagas guri-guri, dipadao Tuhanta ma sian hita uJaon na hohm,
sitongka ma nang angka na marsalisi. Asa sahat solu sahat tu
Bontean. Nunga dipungka panitia gondang on, sai sude ma hita
taruli horasjala gabean. Baen damang ma Gondang Hasahatan
i, laospadomu tu Sitio-tio.
(Honourable musicians, the committee has danced its circular
tortor. May happiness encircle the GKPI. Oil is taken from the
tree of Inggolom,4 and put it into the guri-guri. May God save us
from the time of trial, may we live in peace. A canoe has arrived
at Bontean. The committee has commenced the gondang
performance, and we all be happy. Please play the Gondang
Hasahatan and Sitio-tio.)
8.1.4 Speeches presented during the Exhumation of Bones Ceremony held bv a
Protestant Family at Hutaraia. Sipoholon. in 1994
The following speeches were delivered by a person appointed by the suhut party, i.e. the
protokol (master of ceremonies), referred to here as raja paminta.
t24. Among panggual pargonsi, nunga rade hasuhutanta naeng
manortor nasida...Behen hamu ma jo Gondang Mula-muia i.
(Honourable musicians, members of the suhut party are ready to
perform their tortor. Please play the Gondang Mula-mula.)
t25. Nunga dibahen hamu Gondang Mula-mula i, ihuthon hamu ma
Gondang Paidua na i.
(You have played the Gondang Mula-mula, please play the
second gondang piece.)
t26. Nunga dibahen hamu Gondang Paidua nai, saonnatj bahen
hamu ma Gondang Somba-somba, anggiat tung manombanomba angka pamoruonnami tu hami hula-hulana.
4
Inggolom (Lat: Melaleuka leucadendron) is a tree that produces eucalyptus oil (Sanimpaet 1994:
159).
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325
(You have played the second gondang piece, now please play the
Gondang Somba-somba, because the members of our boru party
want to pay their respects to us, their hula-hula.)
t27. Saonnari pe ba nunga disiuk-siuk boru nami hami, ba nuaeng pe
among panggualpargonsi, bahen hamu ma gondang asa huulosi
hami boru nami.
(Honourable musicians, we have just been honoured by the boru
party. We now ask you to play a gondang piece as we want to
bless members of the boru party.)
The following speeches were delivered by a member of the boru party.
t28. Mauliate ma di hamu hula-hula nami. Dison nunga hujalo hami
parjambaran umum. Mauliate ma di hamu raja nami. Ro ma
hami sian pomparan ni namboru muna, ima apala boru ni
ompunta na tapestahon on, Hutabarat, Sibagariang...dohot
angka pomparan na saluhutna. Mauliatema tu Amanta
namartua Debata. Ipe roma hami manomba-nomba hamu raja
nami. Marnatampak ma hita sude na angka boru. Asa marudur
hita sian uluan an asa ro nasida laho manjalo hita. Jadi ido
among panggual pargonsi, bahen hamu ma Gondang Mulamula i.
(We have received a portion of meat and therefore would like to
thank you, our hula-hula party. We are the descendants of your
father's sister, the daughter of our great-grandfather whose bones
have just been exhumed and celebrated in this ceremony. We also
thank God. Now we would like to honour the members of our
hula-hula party. Honourable musicians, please play the Gondang
Mula-mula.)
t29. Bahen hamu ma gondang asa hupasahat hami ringgit sitio
suara.
(Please play a gondang piece because we want to present some
money as a gift.)
t30. Mauliate ma among panggual pargonsi, ala nunga dibahen
hamu Gondang Mula-mula. Ala ni i namangido ma hani asa
dibahen hamu Gondang Liat-liat, asa mangaliat hami manomba
hula-hula nami di son songon ni nang angka lae nami.
(Thank you, honourable musicians, because you have played the
Gondang Mula-mula. Please play the Gondang Liat-liat, because
we want to honour the members of our hula-hula party as well as
our brothers-in- law.)
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t31. Mauliate ma dipargonsi nami. Dison hami boru ni amanta
siampudan. Namangido ma hami tu amanta Debata marhite
ulaon on asa sahat sude cita-cita nami sude hami pinomparan ni
ompung nami, asa anggiat tu joloan on Hat parhorasan Hat
panggabean. Namangido gondang ma hami muse, aJa memang
tangkas diboto hamu, godang do hami tubu ni siampudan alai
adong dope na hurang. Asa mangido ma hami pargosni nami,
ingkon tangkas do bahenonmu, ala na hurangan di jolma do
hami apalagi songon nuaengon. Namangido ma hami Gondang
Sampur Marorot, asa anggiat tubuan anak angka na so
maranak, tubuan boru angka na so marboru, tangkas ma bahen
damang.
(Thank you, honourable musicians. We are the boru party. Our
request is that through this ceremony God might give us many
descendants and prosperity in the days to come. There are many
descendants of our youngest grandfather; we, too, need many
descendants. Honourable musicians, please play the Gondang
Sampur Marorot, so mat those who do not have sons will have
sons and those who do not have daughters will have daughters.)
t32. Nunga dibahen hamu tutu gondang nahupangido hami Gondang
Sampur Marorot, anggiat ma martinangi amanta namartua
debata, songon na pinagidohon nami i, dioloi sude angka
sangkap ni roha nami. Jadi nuaengpe, pungu do hami dison
boru ni amanta siampudan, namangido ma hami, asa bahen jo,
gondang ni simatuangku dison, asa ro nasida, ala mangido hami
boruna asa disabe i hami nang diulosi di ombas nami on.
Nang hami pe tongtong do mangido tangiang sian natua-tua
nami asa anggiat tujoloan on marhite ulaonon dipasu-pasuma
angka sahala ni da ompung dohot damang, sai asima roha ni
amanta debata, tutambana angka pansarian, pansamotan suang
songoni nang tamba ni hajolmaon.
(As you have played the Gondang Sampur Marorot, may God
listen to and grant what we have requested. We, the boru party,
request you, honourable musicians to play a gondang piece as we
ask the members of our hula-hula party to bless us. We wish that
through this ceremony the spirit of our grandfathers will also be
blessed. May God have mercy on us, and may he give us good
life, good resources and many descendants.)
8.1.5 Speeches presented during the Fund-Raising Festival held by the Congregation of
the HKBP at Medan. in 1987
The following speeches were delivered by the church ministers. After a speech, the
gondang musicians immediately played the piece requested.
*
327
t33. Jadi amang panggual pargonsi, parindahan na suksuk
parhmpan na tabo, ndang dope hudok nga diboto ho.
Tamulaima nuaeng pestanta on. Marmula do nasa na adong,
songon na nidok ni hata ni Debata, sian mula ni mulana ditompa
Debata langit dohot ianoon. Bahen damang ma jolo Gondang
Mula-mula i.
(Honourable musicians, you eat delicious foods and you always
know instinctively what gondang pieces we are going to ask you
to play. We want to begin the feast. Everything has its own
beginning. As the word of God says, in the beginning, God
created the universe. Please play the Gondang Mula-mula.)
t34. Nunga dibahen ho amang Gondang Mula-mula i, sahat ma hita
nuaeng tu somba-somba ma Tuhanta...holan Debata do
sisombaonjala sioloan. Bahen damang ma Somba-somba i.
(You have played the Gondang Mula-mula, and we now ask you
to play the Gondang Somba-somba, as we want to worship God.
God is the only one we worship and follow.)
t35. Nuaeng pe amang panggual pargonsi, bahen ma Gondang
Olop-olop asa mangolophon Amanta Debata di panggabean di
parhorasan dohot ima di pembangunan ni hurianta di HKBP
ima Perumnas Medan dua on, di na pasahathon ima tumpak
hami sian distrik dohot sian resort ima na di Medan Aceh.
Antong bahen damang ma Gondang Olop-olop i.
(Honourable musicians, please play Gondang Olop-olop so that
God will give us descendants and help us to complete this church.
May God also bless the gifts we bring.)
t36. Nunga dibahen damang Gondang Olop-olop, bahen damang ma
Gondang Sibane-bane i, asa bane roha ni Debata...
(You have played the Gondang Olop-olop, please now play the
Gondang Sibane-bane.)
t37. Bahen damang ma Gondang Somba i, marsomba tu Debata, ala
naparhalado do hami na manortor on saonnari. Asa marsomba
hami sahat Debata anggiat ditangihon angka pangidioanta.
(We who dance now are the church ministers, so please play the
Gondang Somba. We want to worship God, and wish that God
might grant our request.)
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8,1.6 Speeches presented during the Celebration of the 29th Anniversary of the Jalan
Kapten Pattimura GKPI Congregation, in Medan. in 1994
The following speeches were delivered by the church ministers. After a speech, the
gondang musicians immediately played the piece requested.
t38. Amang panggual pargonsi, dison hami nuaeng pangula ni huria
jongjong hami naeng manortor asa anggiat ma bahen damang
ma jo gondang ni angka pangula ni huria, jala alu-aluhon
damang ma jo tu Tuhanta Debata asa denggan ulaon on ala ni
tangiang ni pangula ni huria. Mauliate. Laos alu-aluhon ma jo
tu angka dongan nami pangula ni huria mungkin na ro sian
angka pagaran. Laos alu-aluhon damang ma jo tu na Hat na
lolo. Antong bahen ma amang Gondang-mula-mula i. asa
marmula do nauli marmula do na denggan.
(Honourable musicians, we are the church ministers and we want
to dance. Please play gondang pieces for the church ministers.
Please request God to enable this feast to run smoothly. Please
make an announcement to all the church ministers from other
churches who have come to this feast. Please now make an
announcement to all in attendance at this feast. Now please play
the GondangMula-mula.)
t39. Mauliate ma amang panggual pargonsi, nga dibahen ho
Gondang Mula-mula i. Bahen ma jo Gondang Liat-liat i asa
mangaliat hami.
(Thank you honourable musicians, you have played the Gondang
Mula-mula. Please now play the Gondang Liat-liat because we
want to dance in a circle dance.)
t40. Mauliate ma amang panggual pargonsi, nga dibahen ho
Gondang Liat-liat i. Saonnari bahen ma jo Gondang mauliate ni
sude ruas ni huria Padang Bulan on mandok tu Debata asa
denggan sude ala mardalan dohot denggan do sude tahe ulaon
on. Bahen ma amang panggula pargonsi.
(Thank you, honourable musicians, you have played the Gondang
Liat-liat. Now we ask you to play a gondang piece to express our
appreciation to God that this feast is running smoothly, and will
continue in this way.)
t41. Mauliate ma amang panggual pargonsi nami, ala nunga
dibahen ho Gondang mauliate tu Tuhanta, laos bahenma
Gondang sahat-sahat i laos udut ma tu Sitio-tio.
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(Thank you honourable musicians, as you have played a gondang
piece expressing our gratitude to God. Now please play the
Gondang Hasahatan-Sitio-tio.)
t42. Amang panggual pargonsi, dison hami nuaeng panitia mandok
mauliate tu Tuhanta i, jala marhite mauliate ni roha nami naeng
manortor hami dison. Bahen ma jo amang gondang nami, ima
laos mulahon ma gondang nami on asa intor humatop. Bahen
ma Gondang Mula-mula i.
(Honourable musicians, we members of the feast-organising
committee, want to thank God and because of that we want to
dance. Please play the Gondang Mula-mula.)
t43. Mauliate ma nga dibahen ho Gondang Mula-mula i tutu,
marmula do nauli marmula do nadenggan. Saonnari pe amang
panggual pargonsi, bahen ma jo asa huliati hamijala husomba
hami Tuhan i, jala mandok mauliate tu ibana laos bahen ma
Gondang Liat-liat i songon sinangkin pande nami.
(You have performed the Gondang Mula-mula. Indeed,
everything has its own beginning. Now we ask you to play the
Gondang Liat-liat because we want to express our appreciation
to God.
t44. Jadi mauliate ma di Tuhanta. Jongjong do ro do hami dison sian
huriapagaran muna sian GKPI Kuala Bekala, ala marpesta hi fa
las rohanta sadarion. Jadi hamu panggual pargosni, bahen
hamu ma jo Gondang Mula-mula i asa marmula do na denggan
sahat tu na marujung pesta on. Bahen damang ma.
(Thanks be to God. We members of the church of Kuala Bekala
come to this feast to express our happiness. Honourable
musicians, please play the Gondang Mula-mula, as everything
has its own beginning.)
t45. Jadi laos torushon damang ma asa huliat hon hami songon
pasahathon las ni roha nami sadarion di pesta pembangunan
pemekaran gereja GKPI Padang Bulan. Jadi bahen damang ma
Gondang Liat-liat i.
(As we want to dance in a circle dance while presenting our
ceremonial gift, please play the Gondang Liat-liat)
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8.2 Interpretation of the Function of Gondang-Tortor Performance at a Parmalim
Sipaha Lima Ceremony
The Sipaha Lima ceremony, which is
sacrificial
also known as Pamekan na Badia (holy
ceremony) aims to offer the best of the harvest to the gods (see also
Naipospos 1991/1992: 12). Members of the Parmalim perform this ceremony annually,
after harvest time. In this ceremony they worship many gods, including the Mula Jadi na
Bolon, the Debata Na Tolu, the Sisingamangaraja, the Siboru Deak Parujar, the Boru
Saniang Naga, the Patuan Raja Uti, the Tuhan Simarimbulu Bosi,
the Raja
Naopatpuluhopat, the Nagapadoha Niaji. and the Raja Na Siak Bagi (see also Naipospos
1991/1992: 9). The Parmalim community believe that these gods protect and bestow
blessings such as many descendants, good harvests, knowledge, and healing in times of
sickness.
The Sipaha Lima ceremony, which is celebrated to the accompaniment of the
gondang sabangunan and tortor, is indeed part of the Parmalim belief system. With
gondang and tortor performance, members of the Parmalim express their religious
sentiments and appreciation, ask for blessing, make confession (see tl-t5), and present
offerings such as food, livestock, betel nuts, flowers, and perfume to the different gods.
Use of the gondang sabangunan and the tortor in the Sipaha Lima ceremony is
part of the tona (message) of the Parmalim ancestors.5 To the Parmalim community, the
performance of the gondang and tortor at a Sipaha Lima ceremony is itself an offering
(pelean). As I witnessed, every offering made to the gods is presented to the
accompaniment of the gondang and tortor. When an offering is made to a particular
god, it is always accompanied by a special gondang piece which takes the name of that
particular god. Thus, the presentation of a gondang piece is actually part of an offering.
Interview with R.M. Naipospos, in Medan, in August, 1994.
331
As a Parmalim musician explained to me, gondang music performed in a Sipaha Lima
ceremony is not solely an accompaniment to the tortor but also an offering {pelean) to
the gods.6 Speeches delivered by the rajapaminta when requesting gondang pieces (see
tl-t4) confirm this.
Likewise, the title of the requested gondang pieces tells us the religious
sentiment that the rajapaminta wants to articulate. At a Sipaha Lima ceremony, except
for the obligatory pieces, i.e. Gondang Alu-alu, Gondang Mula-mula and Gondang
Hasahatan Sitio-tio, most of the gondang pieces requested are entitled as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
Gondang hamauliateon ni rohanami tu... (music for expressing our appreciation
of...);
Gondang somba nami tu... (music for worship to ...);
Gondang somba hamauliateon ni roha nami tu... (music for worship and for
expressing our appreciation of...);
Gondang somba elek-elek nami tu ...(music for worship and for appealing to...);
Gondang tortorparsahadatan nami tu... (music and dance for worship to ...);
Gondang puji-pujian nami tu... (music for worship to ...);
Gondang somba puji-pujian tu... (music for worship to ...);
•
Gondang elek-elek puji-pujian nami tu... (music for worship to ...);
•
•
The word 'tu' is a preposition; it indicates an object to be addressed and to be
worshipped. The names of gods or supernatural powers or ancestral spirits generally
follow these phrases. The titles of the gondang pieces mentioned during the Sipaha
Lima ceremony include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gondang Puji-pujian tu Ompunta Mula Jadi Na Bolon {Gondang for worship to
our grandfather the Mula Jadi Na Bolon);
Gondang Hamauliateon tu Amanta Raja Na Siak Bagi {Gondang for
expressing appreciation to the Raja Na Siak Bagi);
Gondang hamauliateon ni roha nami tu Tuhanta Debata Na tolu
{Gondang for expressing appreciation to the three gods, Debata Na Tolu);
Gondang somba hamauliateon nami tu sahala ni rajanta Raja Uti
{Gondang for expressing our appreciation to the spirit of the Raja Uti);
Gondang somba elek-elek nami tu amanta namarsangap namartua Raja
Na Siak Bagi {Gondang for worship of the Raja Na Siak Bagi);
Gondang Somba tu ompunta Debata Mula Jadi Na Bolon {Gondang for
worship of the Debata Mula Jadi Na Bolon);
6
Interview with Orner Gultom, in Hutatinggi, Laguboti, in July, 1994.
J
332
Gondang Somba tu Ompunta Debata Na Tolu {Gondang for worship of the
Debate Na Tolu);
Gondang Somba tu ompunta Patua Raja Uti {Gondang for worship of the
Patuan Raja Uti);
Gondang Somba tu Tuhanta Tuhan Simarimbulu Bosi (Gondang for
worship of the Tuhan Simarimbulu Bosi);
Gondang Somba tu Rajanta Raja Naopatpuluhopat (Gondang for worship
of the forty-four chieftains);
Gondang somba tu rajanta Sisingamangaraja (Gondang for worship of our
priest-king, the Raja Sisingamangaraja);
Gondang Somba tu Amanta Raja Na Siak Bagi (Gondang for worship of
Amanta Raja na Siak Bagi);
Gondang Somba tu habonaran niparbanua ginjang dohot habonaran niparbanua
tonga pinangidohon ni amanta Raja Na Siak Bagi (Gondang for worship of the
spirit of the Upperworld and Middleworld, as requested by the Raja Na Siak Bagi);
Gondang somba dohot elek-elek tu inanta partawar na sumurung (Gondang for
worship and for appealing to our mother who has healing power);
Gondang somba puji-pujian tu ompunta Debata Mula Jadi Na Bolon dohot tu
saluhut sahala marsangap sahala martua
(Gondang for worship of our
grandfather Debate Mula Jadi Na Bolon and all the honoured spirits);
Gondang elek-elek puji-pujian nami tu saluhut sahala habonaran (Gondang for
worship and for appealing to all the spirits).
These titles represent the religious feelings of the ceremonial participants. In
other words, by using such terms as hamauliateon (expressing appreciation), pujipujian, somba, elek-elek,
parsahadatan
(veneration, dedication, worship), the
ceremonial participants articulate their deepest religious sentiments, which they actualise
through bodily gestures and facial expressions in their tortor.
In tortor performances, ceremonial participants sometimes have different ways
of expressing their religious sentiments. After the delivery of each of the five speeches
(tl-t5), the gondang musicians immediately perform the requested gondang piece and
dancers respond to each gondang with a tortor. Most of the time, both female and male
dancers bow their heads slightly and at the same time place both of their palms together
in front of their chests. The latter gesture, which is usually executed in stationary
position and in a reverent manner, indicates that the dancers pay respect (marsomba) to
333
the gods or the spirit being worshipped. As far as my field data are concerned, this is the
most common gesture used by members of the Parmalim at every tortor performance.
Sometimes while performing a tortor, dancers cry and modestly cover their
faces with their uhs. This is indeed a very common event in the Sipaha Lima ceremony.
Members of the Parmalim participate in the ceremony not only to make their best
offerings to the gods, but also to ask for help and blessings from the gods. Thus, people
who have been ill, who have had bad harvests, who have been experiencing misfortune,
or who would like to confess their sins, usually appeal to the gods in the ceremony.7
Fortunately, I was able to witness a confession of sins performed by members of a
family in a Sipaha Lima ceremony. Standing in front of the congregation, a member of
this family announced that one of his family members had been an infidel and, through
the ceremony, would like to return to be a member of the Parmalim. As part of the
confession, the person who represented the family requested gondang musicians to play
a suitable gondang piece. As they did so, members of the family as well as other
ceremonial participants performed the tortor, during which the person who made the
confession wept.
To members of the Parmalim, the gondang-tortor performance is an integral
part of their religious ceremonies. My interpretation of the speeches presented at the
ceremony unveils the profound function of the gondang-tortor performance at the
ceremony: as a sacred offering to the gods.
7
Interview with Osner Gultom, in Hutatinggi, Laguboli, in July 1994.
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8.3 Interpretation of the Function of Gondang-Tortor Performance at Adat and
Church Feasts in the Protestant Toba Batak Society
To Protestants, the function of the gondang-tortor performance depends on the context
in which the performance takes place. On the basis of reading the transcribed speeches
(see t6-t45), the gondang-tortor performance functions as a symbolic representation, as
a means of expressing religious sentiments, as a way of gaining the blessings of the
ancestral spirits, and as a way of expressing cultural sentiments through which the
ceremonial participants can strengthen their social relationships. The gondang-tortor
performance also functions as entertainment.
8.3.1 Gondang-tortor Performance as a Means of Expressing Religious Sentiment
The Protestant church requires that participants in a gondang-tortor performances must
demonstrate their moral responsibility as Christians. This includes opening and closing a
gondang-tortor performance with Christian practices and, by every possible means,
avoiding the evocation of any supernatural powers apart from the Christian God. Many
rajapaminta, either at adat or at non-adat feasts, demonstrate their moral responsibility
through speeches (hata ni gondang) in which they worship God. This is confirmed by
the excerpts from the speeches delivered by the raja paminta at
pre-funeral
ceremonies, exhumation of bones ceremonies and church feasts, as given in t6, t20, t21,
t33, t34, t37, and t42. The speeches clearly define the aim of the Gondang Mula-mula
and the Gondang Somba tu Amanta Debata as representations of the participants
religious belief. At the same time, the presentation of the two gondang pieces and the
tortor performed by the ceremonial participants in response to the music reinforce what
has been communicated in the speech, such as worshipping God, appreciating God,
declaring that God is the One to be worshipped, and declaring that everything has its
own beginning.
335
It is very difficult to say, as we have noted, whether or not the dancers mentally
express their religious sentiments through their tortor performance during the
presentation of the two requested gondang pieces. But in terms of performing the tortor,
one can observe whether or not a dancer performs with apparent reverence, by
observing his/her physical movements and facial expressions as she/he performs in
response to the music. Dancers are expected to perform their tortor with an attitude of
worship, i.e. standing in a stationary position with the body bobbing up and down in
time with the musical metre, palms held together with hands in front of the chest, head
slightly bowed, and eyes focused on the tip of the fingers. In the ceremonies I witnessed,
I saw some dancers performing these gestures, while others placed only the right hand in
front of their chests and hung the left hand by their side with bodies not bobbing up and
down in time with the music, talking to each other, and always looking around. Of
course, the latter is not the correct way of dancing the tortor. Why do some dancers
perform the tortor with apparent reverence and others not? To some the adat ni tortor
remains important while to others it is no longer important. As a dancer at an HKBP
fund-raising festival told me, many older people who can dance fee} uncomfortable
about performing the tortor seriously, because other people might describe their tortor
performance as 'songon panortor ni halak sipelebegu' (like the dance of those who
practise paganism). To avoid this sort of allegation, many dancers ignore the traditional
rules of tortor performance.
8.3.2 Gondang-tortor Performance as a Way of Gaining the Blessings of the Ancestral
Spirits
Even though gondang-tortor performance serves as a way to worship God at adat and
church feasts, there are many ceremonial participants who use gondang-tortor
performances as a way of gaining the blessings of ancestral spirits. But, to the best of
336
my knowledge, this happens only in gondang-tortor at adat feasts; it never happens at
church feasts or other non-adat feasts.
As has been noted, it is undeniable that many parishioners these days still
practise pre-Christian adat This is evident in the pre-funeral and exhumation of bones
ceremonies held by the Protestants in rural and urban areas, in which they worship the
spirit of the deceased. Some believe that if they unearth the bones of their ancestors and
place them into a new tomb, they will maintain a relationship with, and most
importantly, obtain blessings, from the spirits of the deceased (see also Pedersen 1970:
29-30; Schreiner 1994: 193 and Gultom 1991: 11-12). To them, a man or woman who
dies after having many descendants, should be celebrated so that the spirit of the
deceased may find its way to its new world and the power of that spirit (sahala) will
bless all its descendants. Some even believe that dancing to the deceased or unearthed
bones will gain the sahala of that deceased (see Sihombing 1985: 217).
It is the practice of this belief that occurred in the pre-funeral ceremony at
Medan and the exhumation of bones ceremony at Hutaraja. At the pre-funeral
ceremonies, the dancers performed the tortor in front of the deceased while asking
blessings from it. At the exhumation of bones ceremony, on the day after transferring the
unearthed bones to their new tomb, the participants shared their portion of meat and
performed the tortor in front of the tomb to the accompaniment of the gondang
sabangunan. At both ceremonies, the rajapaminta mentioned the request that after the
ceremony, illness would disappear, family members would increase in number, and
childless couples would bear children in days to come. The raja paminta also made a
request that after the ceremony, all the descendants of the deceased would obtain better
jobs, long life, happiness, high social status, and social respect. All of these points are
337
clearly illustrated in the speeches (see t9, tlO, t i l , tl2, tl4, tl7, tl9, t31 and t32) and
the way ceremonial participants responded to the gondang piece after each speech.
What is interesting about these speeches is that the raja paminta did not convey
his wishes directly to the spirit of the deceased, but to God (Amanta Debata) (see tl 1,
tl4, tl7, tl9, 6 1 and t32). If the raja paminta were not to do this, the ceremony would
not be acceptable to the church. Similarly, what is interesting about the response of the
ceremonial participants to the music after each speech is mat they performed the tortor
in front of the deceased at the pre funeral ceremony and in front of the tomb at the
exhumation of bones ceremony. Why do the participants (the descendants of the
deceased) act in such a manner? Because they want to show their unity to the other
participants (see t i l and t!2) and also because they believe that being united will
appease the spirit of the deceased. They also believe that they will obtain the blessings of
the spirit if it is appeased (see tl 1, tl2, tl7, tl9, tl 9131 and t32). These beliefs suggest
that the ceremonial hosts wanted to maintain their relationships with the ancestral spirits.
To be acceptable to the church, however, they had to perform it in a different way.
These ceremonies and gondang-tortor performances demonstrate the coexistence of
pre-Christian adat and Christian practice.
8.3.3 Gondang-Tortor Performance as a Tool to Strengthen Social Relationship
Interaction between dancers during the gondang-tortor performance at the pre-funeral
ceremony and the exhumation of bones ceremony mentioned above also confirms the
notion that gondang and tortor performances at adat feasts serve as a tool to strengthen
social relationships. Undoubtedly, adat feasts help maintain relationships between the
three members of the dalihan na tolu. Through adat feasts ceremonial participants share
cultural sentiments, i.e. they play or listen to gondang music, they dance the tortor
338
together while exchanging ceremonial gifts, they bestow and receive blessings, they give
honour and they are honoured. The speeches in transcriptions t i l , t!2, tl4 and tl9,
which were delivered by a member of the hula-hula party to members of the boru party
while requesting gondang pieces, confirm this notion.
In response to the speeches in t i l and tl4, both the boru and the hula-hula
parties danced the tortor, during which members of the hula-hula party approached
members of the boru party, placed ulos onto their shoulders, and touched the top of their
heads. To receive this symbolic blessing, members of the boru party had slightly to bow
their heads and touch the lower jaws of members of the hula-hula party. In response to
the speech in tl9, members of the hula-hula party approached the childless husband and
wife and presented them with an ulos by wrapping it around their shoulders. The couple
cried, bowed their heads and put their palms together in front of their chests to pay
respect to the hula-hula. The presentation of the ulos to the accompaniment of the
gondang clearly symbolised the bestowing of the blessing. Throughout the ulos
presentation and the playing of the gondang music, members of the hula-hula party
strengthened the souls of the childless couple so that they might have children in days to
come. No exchange of ceremonial gifts or bestowing or receiving of blessing took place
after the speech in tl2, as it was time for the members of the hula-hula party to ask that
the Gondang Hasahatan Sitio-tio be played in order to end the gondang-torlor
sequence.
tl6, t28, t29 and t30 are example of the speeches delivered by members of the
boru party to members of the hula-hula party. In some speeches, it is mentioned that
they wanted to honour members of the hula-hula party. In other speeches, members of
the hula-hula party are requested to bestow blessings. t28 is an introductory speech for
the Gondang Mula-mula. During the presentation of this piece, there was no significant
339
interaction between dancers, which occurred only after the delivery of the speech in tl6,
in which members of the boru party approached members of the hula-hula party and
touched their lower jaws. Similarly, after the delivery of the speech in t29, the members
of the boru party handed over their ceremonial gift—put money on a plate—to members
of the hula-hula party. Likewise, after the delivery of the speech in 6 0 , members of the
boru party served members of the hula-hula party with beer. In all these cases,
members of the boru party wanted to satisfy members of the hula-hula party so that
their sahala (the power of their souls-londi) might continuously bless them in days to
come.
8.3.4 Gondang-Tortor Performance as Entertainment at Church Feasts
In the last three decades or so, adat feasts have no longer served as the main venue for
gondang-tortor performances. Nowadays they serve as entertainment on such occasions
as the annual public festival at Parapat (Pesta Danau Toba), the annual youth festival at
the University of North Sumatra at Medan (Gondang Naposo), and church feasts,
including church anniversaries (Pesta Ulang Tahun Gereja) and fund-raising festivals
(Pesta Pembangunan Gereja). These feasts have nothing to do with adat obligations.
I shall now briefly discuss gondang-tortor performances at three church
functions: (i) the fund-raising festival held by the congregation of the HKBP Perumnas
Mandala, Medan, in 1987, the 29th anniversary celebration of the GKPI Jalan Kapten
Pattimura, Medan, in 1994, and the 30th anniversary celebration of the GKPI
congregations in the Medan/Aceh district, held at the T.D. Pardede Hall, in Medan, in
1994.
Members of the organising committees of each church feast included gondang
performances and auctions as part of the festivities. Auctions (marlelang) have
340
commonly been held at church feasts since the early 1960s, since fund-raising is one of
the functions of these feasts. Ulos, framed pictures, framed embroideries, fruit, drinks
and foods, including fish, fried chicken, hard-boiled eggs and traditional snacks {lampet)
are among the items donated by parishioners to be auctioned at the feasts. The auctions
usually begin after a Sunday service. At the first two church feasts mentioned above, the
auction took place inside a church, while gondang musicians played their gondang
ensemble on a stage in the church yard. At the third feast, the auction took place in the
Q
hall, and the gondang musicians also played their gondang ensemble on. a stage inside
the hall. The participants of the three church feasts in question employed gondang
performance to accompany the auction and the tortor which was performed by members
of the congregations. The purpose of gondang performances at auctions is primarily to
enliven the atmosphere of the auction. At the feast that took place in the T.D. Pardede
Hall, the gondang musicians spontaneously played a short piece whenever the
auctioneer sold an item. This did not happen at the other two church feasts, because the
gondang musicians were outside and could not see the auction. Nevertheless, every time
an auctioneer sold an item he would call for the gondang musicians, via a microphone,
to play tiie gondang. When the auctioneers sold an item for a high price, they asked the
buyer to come forward. In handing over the sold item, both auctioneer and winner very
often perform some tortor gestures such as the mangurdot and the manomba in time
with the gondang, but only for a few seconds.
Gondang and tortor are also performed at church functions when group of
people formally present donations to the church. This is not, of course, adat tortor, any
tortor performed at church feasts has to be for entertainment (see 'Mengkristenkan
8
The organising committee held the celebration— the Sunday service and the gondang-tortor
performance—in this hall rather than in a church, because it could accommodate thousands of parishioners
from different congregations.
341
yang Sudah Kristen\ Tempo, 1987: XVII, No. 36, p. 79). The ceremonial participants
of church feasts are normally affiliated to voluntary organisations, such as a male, female
or mixed choir, a youth group, church minister organisation, nearby church organisation,
a Sunday School or a Sunday school teacher organisation. To show their goodwill, each
of these groups may donate some money to the church that hosts a feast, and they
usually present their contribution to the accompaniment of a gondang performance.
Before they present their donation, the raja paminta, a person who represents the group,
always delivers a speech. t35 and t45 are excerpts of the speeches addressed to
gondang musicians when the dancers are ready to present their donations.
When presenting their donation, other donors may emerge from the crowd,
dance the tortor with the groups and make a donation to the church by putting some
money notes in between the main dancers' fingers. Similarly, when young boys and girls
of a Sunday school dance the tortor, their parents come to the dance arena and put some
money notes between their children's fingers.
The Toba Batak people like to make donations. The more they donate the more
they earn social respect and status in the community. They make donations not only at
church feasts but also at adat feasts, when members of a boru party give contributions
(tumpak) to their hula-hula party at their adat feasts, a tradition that has influenced
some people to make donation at non-adat feasts, such church feasts. Several times I
have witnessed men of a boru party joining their hula-hula party dancing the tortor at
church feasts and proudly making some donations. Very often such men feel proud to be
known as a contributor and for showing respect to his hula-hula party; and conversely
the hula-hula party feel proud because their boru respect them in front of a crowd of
people.
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8.4. Conclusion
The function and the meaning of gondang-tortor performance among members of the
Toba Batak society is contextual, i.e. it depends on the purpose of a ceremony in which
that gondang-tortor performance takes place and especially on the people who host and
participate in that performance. To the Parmalim community, the gondang sabangunan
is an important element of their religious ceremonies. Not only does it accompany their
tortor performances at the worship of the gods and the ancestral spirits, but it also
constitutes an offering to these supernatural powers. Gondang and tortor performances
help members of the Parmalim express their religious sentiments and maintain their
relationship to these supernatural powers. To some Protestants, gondang-tortor
performances serve as a way of gaining the blessings of the ancestral spirits and as a
way of expressing cultural sentiments through which the ceremonial participants can
strengthen their social relationships. These are evident in such adat rituals as pre-funeral
ceremony and exhumation of bones ceremony. At these ceremonies gondang
performances accompany tortor performances by which the ceremonial participants
exchange ceremonial gifts and communicate with each other through bodily gestures and
adat speeches. To other Protestants, gondang performances serve as entertainment as is
evident in church feasts. They accompany people presenting donations, encourage
people to make donations and enliven
the atmosphere of auctions. Gondang
performances at church feasts help feast organisers to raise money for the churches.
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CHAPTER NEVE
CONCLUSION
Many centuries before the arrival of the Dutch colonial government and the Christian
missionaries in Batak Lands, a social and religious code called adat had developed
which enfolded all dimensions of community life, social and religious, past and present.
As its musical symbol, the gondang tradition was central to religious and cultural
practices with which it was associated. Thus it accompanied the worship of the gods and
ancestral spirits at life cycle ceremonies, calendrical rice-growing events and harvest
celebrations as well as healing ceremonies. The music served not only as an
accompaniment to the ceremonial dance but also, and most importantly, as an offering
and communicative medium to strengthen relationships between individuals, families,
communities and the spirits.
The gondang-tortor tradition was governed by specific social and religious
rules known as adat ni gondang. A gondang-tortor performance had to be motivated by
a religious purpose and was guided by traditional medicine men (datu) and other adat
leaders. Participants who became possessed by ancestral spirits while performing the
tortor served as a medium through which they could communicate with the spirits. It
was forbidden for a gondang-tortor performance to occur outside of a ritual celebration.
The relationship between the gondang musicians and the host of a ceremony had to be a
purely ador/-governed concern. The adat ni gondang required that musicians be highly
respected, that they be formally invited to a ceremony, and be served with meals, and
that they play on the balcony of a traditional house (ruma). Every gondang performance
at an adat feast had to include an opening section, a main gondang section and a closing
section. During the opening section, a host had to present offerings (harbue santi
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panungkunan) to the gondang musicians; and in return musicians had to deliver a ritual
prayer (tonggo-tonggo) and perform a series of usually seven gondang pieces {sipitu
gondang). It was the privilege of members of the host's party to take the first turn to call
for blessings on a gondang performance (mangalap tua ni gondang).
Every group of dancers had to perform their particular gondang-tortor
sequence, which consisted of the mula-mula, the pasu-pasuan, and the hasahatan. The
Gondang Mula-mula had to be performed at the beginning of every gondang-tortor
sequence, whereas the Gondang Hasahatan came at the end. Gondang pieces
performed in between these two pieces were always optional. The total number of
gondang pieces requested during a gondang-tortor sequence had to be an uneven
number, i.e. three or five or seven. The person who represented a group of dancers—
raja paminta—had to deliver an introductory speech {hata ni gondang) before asking
the musicians to play the gondang pieces (mangido gondang). The speech had to
include the messages which the speakers wanted to communicate to the participants as
well as the requests intended to be conveyed to the supernatural powers. Traditional
maxims (umpasa) were always an important part of every speech. Iîce grain, ulos,
livestock, money and labour were the main ceremonial gifts to be exchanged by the
ceremonial participants. The mangurdot, the marsomba the mamasu-masu, the
manolopi, and the mansiuk were the tortor movements that accompanied the giving and
receiving of ceremonial gifts.
If we compare the state of the gondang-tortor tradition 130 years ago with its
condition over the past two decades, we find that momentous changes have occurred.
The main reason for this is that the people now view adat totally differently from the
way the people viewed it during the early stage of Christianisation. Contact between the
Toba Batak people on the one hand, and the RMG and the Dutch colonial government
345
on the other results J in major socio-cultural changes. The promulgation of the Orders of
Discipline of the Protestant church and the commercialisation of gondang music also
contributed to the situation, bringing form new perceptions of adat and the gondangtortor tradition and diverse responses to the practice of adat, which in turn shaped the
function, meaning, and method of gondang-tortor
performances
among
the
Protestant Toba Batak at the end of the twentieth century. During the era of conflict
(1860s-1940s) contact with the RMG and the Dutch colonial government resulted in the
people's conversion to Christianity and the associated development of Western
education, technology, and economy among most communities.
Since the essence of the Toba Batak culture was originally found to be
antithetical to Christianity, contact interfered with adat. In order to proselytise among
the local people, the missionaries felt they needed to destroy the adat and replace it
with Christian beliefs and practices as well as Western cultural forms. After only a few
decades the German missionaries therefore collaborated with the Dutch colonial
government in an effort to eliminate the practice of adat.
In the late 1890s some of the local people criticised the missionaries and the
Dutch colonial government for attempting to control the social and religious practices of
the people and for asking the local people to pay tax. Though some people resisted
colonialism and the proselytisation of the church, most eventually accepted the church's
mission and began to appreciate the presence of the Dutch colonial government and the
missionaries in Batak Lands. Those who resisted formed a traditional religio-political
organisation, the aim of which was to prevent the rapid expansion of Christianity, to
maintain adat ceremonies and gondang-tortor performances, and to expel the 'white
men' from the Batak Lands. These objectives, however, were never achieved. In the
wars that ensued, the Dutch colonial government always defeated them; meanwhile
346
Christianity expanded rapidly in the period between the 1890s and the 1940s, and the
associated education opportunities attracting many to convert to Christianity.
The
climax of the efforts of these religio-political organisations occurred between 1890 and
1897. By performing
communal
sacrificial
ceremonies (pesla
bius)
to the
accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan and tortor, they attempted to gain the
support of the local people and to attract Christian converts to return to the ancestral
tradition. New Christian converts, however, refused to join such sacrificial ceremonies
and were accordingly discredited, creating a situation which actually induced more
social conflict.
The missionaries and the colonial government tried to prevent such
obstructions to their work, fearing deeper social breaches which could lead to fratricidal
war.
In 1897 the missionaries urged the colonial government to ban communal
sacrificial and pre-funeral ceremonies—indeed, the public performances of the whole
gondang-torior tradition. Clearly the ban had political roots. Contrary to expectations,
the ban did not serve to destroy the adat; it only created chaos among Protestant
communities. The situation became even more complex as the missionaries held that
adat could be divided into three categories: the anti-Christian, the pro-Christian and the
neutral. The missionaries therefore sought not only to manipulate the adat but also to
select those aspects of it that converts would be allowed to practise. Over time this
threefold division confused the converts' understanding of the meaning and role of adat
and they were therefore divided in their acceptance of various concepts about the nature
of adat. The results of this confusion and divided understandings of adat remain to this
day.
In the early 1920s the Dutch colonial government officially lifted the 1897 ban.
However, the missionaries reinstitutionalised the Order of Discipline of the church.
Unlike the 1897 ban, the Order of Discipline was based on religious rather than political
347
considerations. Church law now held that Protestants were committing a sin if they
performed pre-Christian adat and religious practices to the accompaniment of gondang
and tortor. Anyone who broke the rules was called a transgressor (sipinsangon) and had
to be punished, for example by being excluded from Holy Communion or from
performing ecclesiastical tasks among the church congregation. This prohibition
remained in the outcomes of the synod meetings in 1933 and 1937. The various Orders
of Discipline instituted in the period between 1897 and the 1940s banned congregations
from employing the gondang-tortor tradition at adat feasts. Yet they did not entirely
succeed.
In the early 1950s and 1960s, the Protestant Batak church again attempted to
minimise the practice of spirit beliefs and to unify its adherents' perceptions of adat,
only to fail again. The attempt began in 1940 when the RMG handed over the leadership
of the Protestant Batak church to local ministers, after which all decisions associated
with church policy were made by local ministers. In 1952 the Protestant church
promulgated a new Order of Discipline that accommodated adat practices. It allowed
congregations to perform adat feasts to the accompaniment of the gondang sabangunan
and tortor if under the supervision of church ministers and not associated with spirit
belief practices. The 1952 Order of Discipline, unlike the previous ones, actually
constituted a new strategy which served to detach adat practices and gondang-tortor
performance from their original source—i.e.
spirit belief practices—and
to
recontextualise them according to Christian practices. This particular Order of
Discipline marked the early stage of reconciliation between Protestant Batak church
authorities and performers of adat practices.
In view of the tolerance of the 1952 Order of Discipline, many Protestants felt
free between the 1950s and 1960s to hold tugu feasts to the accompaniment of
348
gondang-tortor performance to honour the ancestral spirits. Thus some people realised
that one could adhere to Christianity and at the same time retain belief in ancestral
tradition and its practices. Construction of ancestral monuments (tugu) during mis
period was also probably influenced by a decree of the former President of Indonesia,
Sukarno, in 1960, which encouraged people to build monuments as parts of a nationalist
trend. On building the ancestral monuments, many family held feasts with gondangtortor performances were held. Many believed
that by constructing ancestral
monuments they would obtain blessings from the spirits. Though church leaders did not
really agree with the call to construct the monuments, hundreds of ancestral monuments
were constructed and are still to be seen in the Batak Lands. Some belong to Catholic
Toba Batak families and others to Protestants. Undoubtedly, this decree hindered the
church's attempts to minimise the practices of spirit beliefs and to unify the Protestants'
perception of adat.
In 1968 a seminar on adat attempted to find an intellectual solution to the
situation which evolved in the 1950s and 1960s. The participants succeeded in issuing
some instructions and regulations to the Protestants re adat as recorded in both the 1968
and the current Order of Discipline. However, members of the seminar failed to reach a
unified view oiadat; and many Protestants continued to practise adat in homage to the
ancestral spirits. Another seminar held in 1977 attempted to indigenise the liturgy of the
Protestant Batak church. However, the participants again failed to achieve a unanimous
decision. Those who opposed the indigenisation of the liturgy outnumbered those who
agreed with it; and accordingly, the liturgy has never been indigenised.
The
ban on communal sacrificial ceremonies and public performances of
gondang and tortor in 1897, the various Orders of Discipline of the church from the
1920s to the 1990s, and the outcomes of the two seminars underline the fact that adat
349
still deeply enfolds the social and religious life of many of the people. Though in
diametrical opposition, both adat and Christianity continue to influence many members
of the Protestant Toba Batak people in equal measure and the influence of pre-Christian
adat on the social and religious life of the Protestants is strongly apparent to this day.
We may conclude that despite 130 years of church influence, Western education,
modernisation, urbanisation, and changes in church law, the Protestants still do not
adhere to a uniform perception and practice of adat; indeed the contrary is the case, for
there is a great deal of tension and conflict still in people's minds.
The Catholic Batak church, unlike the Protestant Batak church, has incorporated
some local adat practices its the liturgy. The Vatican Council II which gave support to
the practice of 'inculturation' from the early 1960s has engendered new interpretations
of the gondang-tortor tradition among the Catholic Toba Batak community.
The new sets of laws made in the various Orders of Discipline of the Protestants
church have regulated social conduct and the musical performance practice of the
people. Publications by the former German missionaries before the 1950s totally
discriminated against adat ceremonies and the gondang-tortor tradition; whereas those
that appeared after the synod meeting in 1952 endeavoured to recognise adat and the
music culture of the people. The 1952, 1968, and 1987 Orders of Discipline of the
HKBP and the 1982 Order of Discipline of the GKPI served to decontextualise the
practice of gondang and tortor from traditional Toba Batak animist religious practice
and at the same time to recontextualise the gondang and tortor within Christian
teaching. The current Order of Discipline expressly forbids the traditional mode of
gondang performance. Yet it fails clearly to elucidate how a congregation must deal
with the gondang-tortor tradition at adat ceremonial feasts. Therefqre, while some
350
congregations conscientiously comply with the edicts, others neglect them depending
on how strictly they wish to observe the adat vis-a-vis the church laws.
Thus adat still survives and the gondang-tortor tradition remains as the musical
symbol of adat. To practice adat, however, is no longer an absolute obligation; it is a
matter of personal or group choice; this is one reason for the radical change in the
attitude of many people to the gondang-tortor tradition. Another radical change has
been the weakening of the tradition due to the negligence of many gondang practitioners
in following the details of adat ni gondang, a change that nevertheless had to happen to
allow the performance of the music and dance to become acceptable to the Protestant
church.
Because
the moral responsibility of parishioners to follow the Order of
Discipline, few Protestant-run gondang-tortor performances at adat and non-adat feasts
now include spirit possession rituals, such as the presenting of betel nut and a meal to
the gondang musicians; worshipping the spirits of the music teachers; playing seven
gondang pieces; and delivering animist prayers. Due to the ban, reference to the names
of any of the gods, ancestral spirits, or sacred places is also avoided in the titles of
gondang pieces and the hata ni gondang. Christian sermons, prayers and hymn singing
replace earlier rituals. However, some aspects of gondang-tortor performance remain
intact, such as the three-part structure of the gondang-tortor sequence at adat and nonadat feasts and the strengthening of social relationships during the middle part of a
gondang-tortor sequence. The first and the last parts are now used to worship the
Christian God. The Gondang Mula-mula and the Gondang Hasahatan Sitio-tio remain
obligatory, while the Gondang Alu-alu and the Gondang Somba tu Amanta Debata
remain optional. The total number of gondang pieces requested in a gondang-tortor
sequence always varies between three and eight. Requests for a gondang piece made via
351
a hata ni gondang (speech) by a rajapaminta persists in contemporary gondang-tortor
practice, both at adat and non-adat feasts, 55 does the use of Toba Batak maxims in the
mangido gondang in the hata ni gondang. Kice grain, ulos, livestock, money, food, and
labour remain the chief ceremonial gifts exchanged by ceremonial participants at adat
feasts, as do their symbolic meanings. Nowadays, the same kinds of ceremonial gifts
are also sold at auctions at church feasts in order to raise money for the church. Tortor
movements, i.e. the mangurdot, the manomba, the manolopi, the mamasu-masu, and
the mansiuk are still performed when ceremonial gifts are given and received by
members of the hula-hula party or the boru party. While the tortor movements have not
changed, the dancers' attitudes towards tortor performance has changed. Mostly it is
less reverent, due to the dancers' fear mat the church will look down on them and
identify their dancing as being pagan in style. Sometimes, however, it lacks all religious
reverence; for the dominant attitude is that tortor is only entertainment, and therefore
can be allowed simply to add artistic grace to a ceremonial occasion.
Thus most young people in urban areas do not know how to dance the tortor
properly, let alone the meaning of the movements. Among the reasons for this are that
young urban people do not involve themselves in adat feasts in which gondang-tortor
performances take place; that they mostly hear Indonesian and Western popular music at
weddings, the most common ceremony; that parents rarely bring tbsir young children to
adat feasts; that parents who know how to dance the tortor hardly ever teach the tortor
to their children; and that in everyday life they are bombarded with local and Western
popular music, films, television programs and audio video cassettes. In Medan, it is
much easier to hear a performance of urban popular culture than a gondang-tortor
performance, which may occur only once a month at a church or adat feast. All these
352
factors mitigate against the young people's knowledge and appreciation of their
ancestors' music, dance and ritual.
The situation is not very different regarding the gondang music tradition.
Despite the radical social changes that the Toba Batak people have experienced in the
last 130 years or so, many gondang musicians still maintain their devotion to this form
of music culture and the oral methods of teaching it by encouraging their students to
listen, watch and imitate. Gondang musicians from different areas teach and describe
their experience of the music differently, resulting in various correct versions and
understandings of the music among its learners. It is common to find musicians playing
different tunings or pitches in different gondang ensembles. This is because tuning in
the gondang tradition is a personal matter; musicians always adopt their own style of
tuning which they learn orally from their local teachers. There is no standard tuning in
the gondang tradition. Nevertheless, musicians always maintain the established pattern
of pitch arrangements within the taganing as well as the four ogung. Within a set of
taganing, the pitch of the tingling must always be higher than that of the paidua ni
tingling, the smaller the drum, the higher the sound. Likewise, the sound of the oloan
must always be lower than that of the ihutan, the sound of which must be lower than the
panggora. The doal always has the higher pitch, yet how low or how high it is depends
on the musicians who tune the instruments.
At present, two types of gondang ensembles are employed: the gondang
ensemble with odap and the one without odap. To the best of my knowledge, none of
the gondang ensembles used in adat feasts sponsored by the Protestants use the odap,
whereas the gondang ensemble used in religious feasts of the Parmalim organisation at
Hutatinggi, Kecamatan Laguboti always includes the odap; the reason this difference
exists is yet to be found. Originally, there were eight musicians in a gondang ensemble;
353
but today mere are six to eight players, yet the musical structure and the function of each
instrument are always maintained. The taganing and the sarune lead the melody, while
the oloan, the ihutan, the panggora, the doal, the gordang, the hesek, and the odap
play the role of rhythmic accompaniment.
Another recent change resulted from the effort to combine gondang with
Western musical instruments and/or enlarge the size of the original instrumentation, as
is evident from experiments held by three different groups—namely the gondang group
at the 1989 anniversary of Golkar at Medan, the 1989 Orkes Simponi Gondang at
Jakarta, and the 1992 Pesta Danau Toba at Parapat. None of these experiments was
held more than once. Each happened at a specific time and for a specific purpose.
Likewise, none of them succeeded in influencing the musical structure and
instrumentation of the gondang sabangunan and the gondang hasapi. Rural and urban
gondang musicians still use the original instrumentation and select the musical items
from the traditional gondang repertoire because the power of gondang sabangunan lies
not in its combination of non-Toba Batak musical instruments and Western harmony but
in its original instrumentation, musical structure and ritual context. Indeed, the four
elements of gondang music remained intact. These include the constant hesek pulse, the
cyclic rhythmic patterns on the four gongs, the short repetitive but varied rhythmic
patterns on the gordang, taganing or odap (if included), the heterophonic sarune and
taganing melodies, and the solo sarune melody played when the taganing plays a
rhythmic accompaniment (mangodapi). This structure persists in every gondang piece
except the Gondang Alu-alu, the structure of which consists of a short rhythmic pattern
played solo on the taganing. At the end of the Gondang Alu-alu, an ogung player
frequently adds a punctuation by a beat on the oloan.
The dialogue between the raja
paminta and the taganing player (mangido gondang) always precedes the presentation
354
of a gondang piece. The former delivers a speech to the latter who then responds by
playing the taganing. The gondang presentation begins with an introduction played on
both the taganing and the sarune. The introduction of a gondang piece played on the
taganing always varies, probably as a result of the oral teaching and learning method
that does not require musicians to use the same introduction every time a gondang piece
is performed. The hesek, which comes in as soon as the introduction has been played,
must immediately follow the pulse of that pambuka and maintain the tempo until the
piece is finished. The gongs, the gordang, and the sarune may enter after the hesek.
When the sarune joins in the introduction, it does not instantly play a gondang melody.
Like the taganing player, the sarune player usually performs a pambuka too. Until the
gong interlocking pattern and the tempo have been established, the sarune and the
taganing players may not start playing a gondang melody.
The repertoire of the gondang sabangunan has not experienced significant
change in the past ten years. Any gondang piece can still be performed on any occasion
as long as the persons who request the musicians to play it give it an appropriate title for
the occasion. Some Protestants avoid titles incorporating the names of ancestral spirits,
sacred places and deities, as is explicitly stressed in the Order of Discipline of the
church. However, titles of gondang pieces associated with name of ancestral spirits are
still very common among the Parmalim. Whether or not the Catholic Batak church
allows its congregation to use such gondang pieces is yet to be researched, though I did
witness some Catholics requesting musicians to play a gondang piece at an adat
ceremony in Palipi in 1989, the title of which was associated with the name of an
ancestral spirit. At present, most of the gondang pieces performed in adat and church
feasts are drawn from the traditional repertoire; to date there have not been any new
355
gondang pieces devised for the gondang sdbangunan. Most gondang pieces played at
adat feast are also played at church feasts.
The tenacity of the gondang-tortor tradition at adat feasts in the last ten years or
so is due to the strong adat values and practices. Adat ceremonies provide opportunities
for kinship groups who rarely meet to share their experiences, exchange ceremonial
gifts, honour each other and in return to be honoured, to strengthen their kinship
relationships, and strengthen their relationship with the ancestral spirits and with God.
Adat ceremonies were, and still are, the most common and important events at which
gondang-tortor performances are held in rural and urban areas. These ceremonies
preserve the gondang-tortor tradition in the modem world and mostly prevent its
practices from being reduced to pure entertainment. This does not of course mean that
all gondang-tortor performers ascribe to it the same meanings or perform the same
style. The various style of gondang-tortor performance and speeches delivered at
different performances show that the social function and meaning of gondang-tortor
performance depend on the particular purpose of the ceremony in which the gondangtortor performance takes place.
There are four kinds of ceremonies in which gondang-tortor performance
usually take place: (i) the Parmalim or purely adat-based, (ii) the coexisting adat-and
Christian-based, (iii) the almost purely church-based, and (iv) the entertainment-based.
The purely adat-based gondang-tortor performances at the Parmalim's Sipaha
Lima ceremony are distinctive, in that they feature the pre-Christian adat practices and
belief system; i.e. its gondang-tc nor performance is totally adotf-oriented, performed to
fulfil adat obligations according to local adat rules. Any gondang-tortor performance of
the Parmalim community is, of course, free of church law
and its prescribed
recontextualisation. A gondang-tortor performance at a Sipaha Lima ceremony serves
356
as a sacred offering to the gods, a vehicle for the participants' religious expression.
From the early stages of Christianisation to the 1940s, the German missionaries and the
Dutch colonial government banned members of the Parmalim from performing their
religious ceremonies. Not until 1980 did the Indonesian government officially recognise
the Toba Batak Parmalim spiritual organisation, giving it freedom to practise religious
ceremonies such as the Sipaha Lima ceremony. Gondang-tortor performance at this
ceremony helps Parmalim members to express themselves as followers of the Ugamo
Malim (Malim religion), which to them means 'Dalan Pardomuan Dompak Debata'
(Way of communicating with the gods). A gondang-tortor performance at a Sipaha
Lima ceremony helps Parmalim to survive in the modern world.
Gondang-tortor
performances
at
adat-and
Christian-based
pre-funeral
ceremonies at Medan and at exhumation of bones ceremonies held by Protestant Toba
Bataks, however, demonstrate how pre-Christian adat practices coexist with Christian
practices. The ceremonies open and close with Christian prayers and hymns. In the
middle section, participants make their requests, play the gondang, and perform the
tortor around the deceased and exchange ceremonial gifts. Speeches aim to restore
relationships between the ceremonial participants and the spirits of the deceased. In
brief, worship of both God and ancestral spirits, receiving blessings from and paying
respect to members of the hula-hula party, and the bestowing of blessings on members
of the boru party are manifested through these practices. Adat ceremonies originally
aimed to restore harmony in human relationships, avert disaster, preserve health and
affirm the prosperity of a group or village; and many members of the community still
hold to these aims. However, in order for adat ceremony to be accepted by the church, it
had to coexist with Christian practices. The new adat ceremonies allowed the people to
retain and merge their devotion to both adat and Christianity and to symbolise their
357
opposition to the stringent tenets of the Order of Discipline of the church. Likewise,
some gondang-tortor performances at adat ceremonies demonstrate how some
members of the Protestant Toba Batak community have solved the problem of the
former conflict between adat and Christian teaching.
Gondang-tortor performances at church feasts exemplify an approach to adat
and the gondang-tortor tradition via a thoroughly Christian orientation. When gondang
and tortor are performed at Protestant church functions, rules of performance and other
adat rules become subservient to church law. Yet, by allowing it a place in church
feasts, the Protestant church ministers have assigned the gondang-tortor tradition a new
role alongside the music of electric organs, brass bands and hymn singing belonging to
the church liturgy. This is constantly confirmed in the speeches delivered by church
ministers at church feasts.
Unlike the Catholic church, the Protestant church has not recontextualised the
gondang-tortor tradition in the positive purpose of including it in the Sunday service
liturgy. Possibly this is because the Protestant church fears the power oi gondang-tortor
to induce spirit possession. Yet the same should in that case apply to gondang and
tortor in the Catholic churches, and it has not yet happened.
To date, then, gondang performance at Protestant church feasts serves various
functions, including providing entertainment, accompanying the congregation's tortor
activity and presentation of donations, enlivening the atmosphere at a church auction and
the function of fund-raising and helping to induce participants to make donations. In this
case, gondang-tortor performance has been absorbed into Christian tradition and serves
to exemplify a mutual understanding between adat adherents and church ministers.
Outside the church, however, the tension between adat and Christian teachings remains.
Possibly it will always remain, for it exists at a very profound level. Adat and church
358
culture have distinctly different principles and objectives, as is evident in the practices
pursued at many contemporary adat feasts. Thus to many Toba Batak, adat and
Christianity are the constituents of their identity. They not only coexist but influence the
social and religious life of the people in equal measure. It is unlikely that the church will
ever fully control adat, and vice versa. Adat and
church teachings will therefore
continually have to find a creative compromise to solve the tension between them.
The gondang-tortor performances at purely entertainment-based ceremonies at
cultural festivals (such as Pesta Danau Toba and Gondang Naposo) are free of adat
prescriptions and church law. Unlike the three other categories of ceremonies and
gondang-tortor performance, participants in these festivals hail from different ethnic
groups, backgrounds and religions. The adat and church feasts featuring both
gondangltortor performance and hymn singing/prayers that developed in rural and
urban areas over the past twenty years or so will continue to occur as long as the people
maintain their respect for their own adat.
Accordingly we can expect that the two conflicting sets of social and religious
conduct represented by the adat and Order of Discipline of the church will continue to
influence the future of the gondang-tortor tradition.
359
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Sources of information for mis glossary include musicians and adat experts from
Medan, Pematang Siantar, Laguboti, Porsea, Palipi, Muara, and Harianboho. An
asterisk (*) indicates an Indonesian word; two asterisks (**) indicates a Batak and an
Indonesian word; the rest are Toba Batak.
Adat
: **social and religious code; traditional laws that change according to the needs
of their practitioners.
Ale-ale: friends.
Anak ni sarune: cane-or palm-leaf reed of a sarum.
Adat ni gondang: traditional or customary rules mat govern the way gondang music is
performed.
Bagak: [lit. beautiful, pretty] quality of sound that is good, clear, and bright.
Bunga* [lit. flowers] melodic ornamentation in sarune and taganingmelodic patterns.
A particular sarune, or taganing melodic pattern normally has different bunga
when repeated.
Begu: soul of a deceased person.
Bonggar-bonggar: a two-part balcony found inside and outside the upper storey of a
Toba Batak traditional house. When a ceremony takes place inside or outside a
house, the gondang sabangunan is usually placed on the bonggar-bonggar.
Demban : betel-nut.
Dongan sabutuha: birth-companions, those who are descended from the same parents.
Dongan tubu: those who belongs to the same marga (clan).
Dongan sahuta; neighbours.
Gondang: a ceremony, a piece of music, an ensemble, a prayer, a group of people, a
repertoire.
Gondang Alu-alu: [gondang: lit. composition, a piece of music; alu-alu: lit. to
announce] a very short rhythmic pattern on the taganing. In a performance, the
gondang Alu-alu functions to announce the presence of a particular group. This
announcement is usually addressed to the audience, or to God. Normally, the
Gondang Alu-alu is performed before a participant asks for a gondang piece to be
played.
Gondang hasapi: musical ensemble consisting of two hasapi (two-stringed, boat lute),
sulim (transverse bamboo flute), sarune etek (idioglot aerophone), garantung
(wooden xylophone) and hesek-hesek (struck idiophone)
360
Gondang sabangunan: musical ensemble consisting of taganing, gordang, odap,
sarune, ogung oloan, ogung ihutan, ogung panggora, ogung doal, and hesekhesek
Gondang suhut: the host's turn to dance the tortor.
Gordang: single-headed, conical braced-drum with a pitch that is usually lower than that
of the taganing. It is placed on the right side of the taganing and played with a pair
of wooden sticks.
Harbue sand: [harbue: lit. rice, santi: lit. ceremony] offering given by a feast-giving
group to gondang musicians before gondang music is performed. It usually
contains betel leaf, coins or notes, rice grains and perfume placed on a plate.
Normally, the person representing the feast-giving group gives it to musicians while
pronouncing his intention to provide a feast.
Hamajuon: progress.
Hagabeon: many descendants.
Hamoraon. wealth.
Hasangapon: honour, esteem.
Hasipelebeguan: spirit beliefs.
Hata ni Gondang: speech made when requesting a gondang piece to be played.
Hesek or Hesek-hesek: an idiophone occuring in many forms such as an empty bottle, a
hoe, a piece of iron or metal. It may be beaten with a wooden stick, a piece of iron
or other metal. In gondang ensembles, it provides a constant pulse. It does not play
any variations or ornamental patterns.
Hinsa: [lit. fast], relatively fast tempo, expressing happiness.
Hojot: [lit. fast], piece in fast tempo.
Horas : term to describe peace; expression used to greet someone; an expression used
to end an event at adat feasts that measn happiness.
Hula-hula: wife-givers.
Jambar: portion of meat to be given to someone.
Jambar Gondang: right of a group, clan organisation, hula-hulq, bom, or dongan
sabuluha to dance at an adat feast.
Jago : * flit, good] good sound quality.
Karas :* [lit. loud,hard] range of loud dynamic levels in gondang music.
361
Mamasu-masu : a person who bestows blessings on another person,
Manabei, mansabei, mansabe-sabei. the placing of an ulos (ceremonial shawl) by one
dancer upon another's shoulder.
Manat [lit. slow] slow musical tempo.
Mangalap tua ni gondang: to call for blessings on a gondang performance
ManggaJang: giving meals.
Manggatangpargonsi: giving meals to gondang musicians.
Mangido gondang: requesting gondlHhg pieces in gondang performances.
Mangodapi: [lit. to play the odap], constant repetitive rhythmic pattern played on the
taganing by the taganing player.
Manjujur gondang or gondang panjujuran : performing gondang pieces as ritual
prayer, usually commenced by gondang musicians at the beginning of a gondang
performance
Mansiuk: dancer who touches another dancer's lower jaw.
Maninting: tuning of drum by a taganing player.
Marga: clan.
Maniulak hosa: [lit. blowing while breathing] circular breathing technique employed
by sarune players, who need to master this technique before learning to play
melodic patterns.
Matepunu : to die without any descendants.
Nanget: [lit. soft] soft sound, as opposed to loud sound (karas).
Ondas, Mangondasi: type of tortor movement usually performed by dancers at prefuneral or exhumation of bones ceremonies. A dancer's palms are placed in front
of his or her chest facing upwards, with the fingers moving toward his or her chest.
This movement symbolises the asking of blessings from a deceased person.
- metal gong. Within the gondang sabangunan ensemble, four ogung are used:
the ogung oloan, the ogung ihutan, the ogung panggora and the ogung doal
Odap: a double-headed, cylindrical drum hung between the biggest taganing and the
gordang. It substitutes for the taganing when a particular gondang piece does not
have a melodic pattern for the taganing.
Painondur. audience.
362
Palu :* pit. to beat] command to musicians to play an instrument.
Palu-palu: stick or pair of sticks used to beat instruments.
Pambuka :* [lit. opening] introductory melodic line on sarune or taganing, played
before the piece proper begins.
ParmaUm: the TobaBatak spiritual organisation of pre-Christian origin.
Pinta-pinta: money given to a pargonsi by a raja paminta when requesting that a
gondang be played.
Paniaran: wives.
Pargonsi: ensemble musicians.
Pande* nami: ensemble musicians.
Pargonsi: [lit. instrumentalist] eight musicians in either in gondang sabangunan or the
gondang hasapi.
Punu or napunu : childlessness.
Sabe-sabe. traditional shawl (ulos) placed on both male's and female's shoulders.
Sahala: power of a tondi, quality of being honored, wealth, cleverness, charisma.
Sangombas : once; a gondang piece played once without repetition.
Sarintatua, saurmatua. old age.
Sarune: double-reed aerophone with bell attached at the end of its body.
Sipanganon namarhadohoan: consecrated meals.
Sipinta Gondang or Raja Paminta: a person who represents a group of people who ask
for a gondang piece to be played during a gondang sabangunan performance.
Sipitu gondang: series of seven gondang pieces.
Siar: to possess spirits.
Siar-siaran: dancer possessed by a spirit.
Sihil: high pitch.
Sipelebegu: people who belief in and worship the spirits of the ancestors.
Sitoru-toru: [lit. accusation, criticism] melodic pattern chosen by sarune and taganing
players to avoid boredom caused by repetitions in a gondang performance. Each
performer improvises a different line from the other.
363
Siraja na ualu: [lit. chieftains from the eight points of the compass]a synonym for
pargonsi.
Suhut or hasuhuton : feast givers.
Sumbaon or Sombaon : ancestral spirits whom a clan consider to be deities.
Tangkas: [lit. clear] asking pargonsi to play gondang piece in ceremony. In particular,
it denotes clarity and correctness of gondang piece being played.
Taganing or Tataganing: set of single-headed, conical braced-drums comprising five
tuned drums hung from a wooden beam and struck with a pair of wooden sticks.
Timbo: [lit. high] term used by gondang musicians to describe the quality of a sound.
Tondi: human soul.
Tonggo-tonggo: ritual prayers.
Tonggo raja or martonggo raja: a meeting prior to an adat feast where the feast-giving
group, the three subjects of the dalihan na tolu and the elders of the village gather
to discuss every adat activity to be carried out.
Tortor: Toba Batak ceremonial dance.
Torn : [lit. low] quality of sound.
Ugamo: religion.
Ulos: ceremonial shawl.
Urdot: bobbing up and down in time with the music.
Umpasa: maxim, proverb, saying.
364
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Discs:
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Cassettes:
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382
C. Discographv of unpublished recordings
Cassettes:
Purba, Mauly. 1987. Gondang at a Church Fund-raising Festival (Perumnas Mandala,
Medan.
1989. Gondang at an Exhumation of Bones Ceremony (Palipi, Samosir).
199i Gondang at a Pre-funeral Ceremony (Medan).
.1994a. Gondang at a Church Anniversary (Jalan Kapten Pattimura, Medan).
,1994b. Gondang at a Church Anniversary (Jalan Batam, Medan).
.1994c. Gondang at a Youth Festival {Gondang Naposo) (Medan).
1994d. Gondang at a Wedding Ceremony (Medan).
1994e. Gondang at a Parmalim Religious Ceremony {Sipaha Lima) (fifth month)
(Kutatinggi,
Kecamatan Laguboti).
. 1994f. Gondang at an Exhumation of Bones Ceremony (Medan).
. 1994g. Gondang at an Exhumation of Bones Ceremony (Hutaraja, SipohoJon).
Videos:
Nata, Asep. 1992. Gondang at a Cultural Festival {Pesia Danau Toba) at Parapat.
Okazaki, Yoshiko. 1991. Gondang at Catholic Worship Service at Aek Nartolu, Parapat.
Purba, Mauly. 1991. Gondang at a Pre-funeral Ceremony (Medan).
1994. Gondang at a Parmalim Religious Ceremony {Sipaha Lima) (fifth
month) (Hutatinggi, Kecamatan Laguboti).
1994. Gondang at an Exhumation of bones Ceremony (Hutaraja, Sipoholon).
Jurusan Etnomusikology, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sumatra Utara. 1988. Gondang at
a Spirit Worship {Pasiarhon Jujungan) (Lubuk Pakam).
. 1987. Gondang at a Parmalim Religious Ceremony {Sipaha Sada) (first month)
(Hutatinggi, Kecamatan Laguboti).
. 1993. Gondang at a Parmalim Religious Ceremony {Sipaha Lima) (fifth month)
(Hutatinggi, Kecamatan Laguboti).
383
APPENDIX 1
GONDANG PARSAHADATAN TU OM PUNTA PATIAN RAJA ITI
Performed by
Recorded by
Place/Date of rec
Duration
: Musicians of Parmalim
: P. Vampolsky and M.Purba
: Hutatinggi. Kecamatan
Laguboti/November 1990
:4'2I"
7 J J
Hs
Sr
Li Lf UU
Tgd
Od
Pg
Dl
it
Ih
01
Keys:
Hs
Sr
Tgd
Grd
Od
Pg
Dl
: Hesek-hesek
: Saruoe
Ih
: Gordang
:Odap
: Panggora
:DoaI
: Ihnfan
Ol
: CMo.in
384
3-
Hs
Sr
Tgd I
U LJUL
Od
D\
Ih
01
Hs
Sr
Tgdl
rf rff frf
Od
'
Pg
Dl
Ih
01
7/ ~~J
385
Hs
Sr
10
Hs
111
n
J
Sr
Tgd
Od
D\
111
01
J
386
1!
12
1
Hs
J J J
Sr
Tgd
Od
Pg
Dl
Ih
01
13
Hs
Sr
14
.
i
Od
,,,
Ih
01
#
J
J
! i^f f P PafP P f f f a f f
Tgd
Dl
.
^_j
1
1
»
m *
•'
387
15-
Hs
16
\ J J
.J
00
J
* M f ft
Sr
:—J
M ' 1 jf
J
i
J
:
f i9 f M M W f f ? 1 '
Tgd
Od
Pg
') 1
/y
D:
Ih
"V
1
01
Hs
Sr
17
18
|| j J
;J
- fLl/f fflffffffp
- V
L
~ ~ — ^ — 2 s j p — G E H B —
Tgd
Od
Pg
Hi
01
ft * (i
ItV" ~
J J J:
388
20
19-
Hs
1
0
- JLiA»
Sr
=
= $ =
» F ^*-»-»—-m—ff+s
f MM
=
Tgd
Od
Pg
-/ b
Dl
Ih
01 •?H?—
21
Hs
Sr
Tgd
Od
Pg
Dl
Ih
01
22
J
J
J J
i r n
389
24
23
J
Us
J
i
J 1
J-4
Sr
Tgd
Od
Pg
Dl
fli
r
'i J]
01
25
Hs
26
J
Sr
Tgd
Od
Pg
Dl
Ih
01
feb
ZQZZ
J
J
J
J I
J J
390
APPENDIX 2
GONDANC SOMBA TU DEBATA JAHOWA
Performed by
Recorded by
Place/Date of rec
Event
Sarune part transposed
Duration
: Goading Batak Maduma
: M.Pui ba
: Sopo Godang, Medan/
September 1994
: Wedding Ceremony
: 100 cents lower
:4'2I"
Spoken Voice:
TB:
Among Punggmet pmgomi,
Honourable musicians.
Tgd
OI
TB:
Debata Jahowa do sitompa langit dohot tano, ido sigomgom pangiswa smdena
At God. Jabowa, is the creator of the world. He is the shelter ofbviag thugs
Tgd
OI
TB:
Mmhemma gomdmmg Samkm
tm
Debmtm Jakowm
pmrdemggmm bmsm i
We ask you to play Gondaag Soaaba to hoaoar the Jahowa, who gives «s awrcy
Tgd
oi
(TB: Toba Batak)
391
1.
Hs
Sr
—
T
s
Tgd
1
-«8
1
f"
9 f
t
11*
u
U
Grd
-Ay
Dl
f
01
• yj*o)
• —
r
*XL-—
—
—
—
•
•
Hs
Sr
-¥-
Tgd
•
U
Grd
Pg
Dl
Ih
01
-y
3.
y
i
:
392
5Hs
--P"T»
Sr
K
Tgd
»
Grd
Dl
01
Hs
Sr
Pg
DI
m
01
/
J
"9"
p f f »
LJ l
»
p
* Pf f
3* •
P
j.,,...—T3—i
F=
1
c
u_
j
393
10
Hs
Tgdl
•
tr
*
Grd I
Dl
Ih
01
11
Hs
Sr
Tgdl
Grd I
Pg
Dl
a
01
12
394
13
14
Hs
Sr
itar
Tgd
Grd
* * •
u
Dl
Ih
01
15
Hs
Sr
Pg
Dl
01
16
395
Hs
Sr
Tgd
Grd
Pg
DJ
Jh
01
Sr
iga
(frd
Pg
Dl
Di
01
nr~i

j. - Monash University Research Repository

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