Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T05:24:49.165Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gondang, Gods and Ancestors. Religious Implications of Batak Ceremonial Music

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

Artur Simon
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The Batak live in the countryside around Lake Toba in Northern Sumatra. According to linguistic and some other cultural differences they are divided into the subgroups Toba, Karo, Simalungun, Pakpak and Angkola/Mandailing. All Batak are obliged to the same adat, the traditional code of social behaviour which governs the relations among the three kinship groups (Simon 1982, 1984, 1987). The old-religious beliefs and customs of the Batak, upon which Christianity and Islam have been superimposed, are still an important part of adat ceremonies. I will confine myself here to certain old-religious implications of the ceremonial gondang music as found among the Toba and Karo.

Type
Articles
Information
Yearbook for Traditional Music , Volume 25 , 1993 , pp. 81 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © 1993 by the International Council for Traditional Music

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

De Boer, D.W.N. 1920 Het Toba-Bataksche Huis. Batavia: G. Kolff & Co. (= Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitengewesten bewerkt door het Encycopaedisch Bureau, Aflevering XXIII).Google Scholar
Parkin, Harry 1978 Batak Fruit of Hindu Thought. Madras: The Christian Literature Society.Google Scholar
Schreiner, Lothar 1970 Gondang Musik als Überlieferungsgestalt altvölkischer Lebensordnung. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde. Deel 126. ‘S.-Gravenhage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, Artur 1976, 1978 Aufnahmeprotokoll. Unpublished Notes of Field Research in Northern Sumatra 1976 and 1978. Ms.Google Scholar
Simon, Artur 1982 Altreligiöse und soziale Zeremonien der Batak (Nordsumatra). Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 107, 2: 177–205.Google Scholar
Simon, Artur 1984a Functional Changes in Batak Traditional Music and its Role in Modern Indonesian Society. Asian Music 15, 2: 58–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, Artur 1984b Gondang Toba. Instrumental Music of the Toba Batak, Northern Sumatra/Indonesia. Two LP-records with booklet. Museum Collection Berlin MC 12.Google Scholar
Simon, Artur 1985 The Terminology of Batak Instrumental Music in Northern Sumatra. Yearbook for Traditional Music 17: 113–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, Artur 1987a Gendang Karo. Trance and Dance Music of the Karo Batak, Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Two LP-records with booklet. Museum Collection Berlin MC 13.Google Scholar
Simon, Artur 1987b Social and Religious Functions of Batak Ceremonial Music. In: R. Carle (ed.), Cultures and Societies of North Sumatra. Berlin/Hamburg: Dietrich Reimer Verlag: 337–349.Google Scholar
Simon, Artur 1988 A Film Documentation of Social and Religious Ceremonies and Ceremonial Music of the Batak in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Visual Anthropology 1: 349–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, Artur 1990 Synkretismus und kulturelle Identität in den Musikkulturen Indonesiens. In: Petersen (ed.), MusikKulturGeschichte. Festschrift Constantin Floros, 527–542. Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel.Google Scholar
Simon, Artur 1991 Musik und Besessenheitstänze bei einem altreligiösen Fest der Karo-Batak in Indonesien. In: Helmut Rösing (ed.), Musik als Droge? (= Parlando 1. Schriften aus der Villa Musica). Mainz: 48–60.Google Scholar
Stöhr, Waldemar 1965 Die Religionen der Altvölker Indonesiens und der Philippinen. In: Stöhr/Zoetmulder (eds.), Die Religionen Indonesiens. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag: 1–221.Google Scholar
Warneck, Johannes 1909 Die Religion der Batak. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Winkler, Johannes 1925 Die Toba-Batak auf Sumatra in gesunden und kranken Tagen. Stuttgart: Chr. Belser Verlagsbuchhandlung.Google Scholar
Wirz, Paul 1926 De Dans met den Tooverstaf. Nederlandsch-Indië Oud en Nieuw 11, 5: 131–143.Google Scholar