International Council For Traditional Music

Some Implications of Local Concepts of Space in the Dance, Music, and Visual Arts of Aceh Author(s): Margaret Kartomi
Reviewed work(s): Source: Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol. 36 (2004), pp. 1-49 Published by: International Council for Traditional Music Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20058790 . Accessed: 05/12/2012 00:53
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SOME IMPLICATIONSOF LOCAL CONCEPTS OF SPACE IN THE DANCE, MUSIC, AND VISUAL ARTS OF ACEH
By Margaret Kartomi
Design
concepts
in Acehnese
of space.
dance, music,
The
and visual
arts is guided
concept,
by four general
by the
upstream-downstream
governed
tendency to travel to the forests upstream and the coastal towns with Animist-Hindu-Buddhist is associated and downstream, mysticism commercial success respectively, resulting inmethods of creating arts and crafts that belong either to upstream or downstream areas or both (in the latter case, for in the making of the great frame drums). Traces of the cardinal example, a similar Animist-Hindu-Buddhist of directional space, with concept link the directions to dominant colours used in artists' costumes, background, centuries-old
performance The geometric arena backdrops, governs arena, embroideries, formations as well as concept in a performance and other paintings, of dancer-musicians some traditional visual arts and and crafts. musician and
dancers
art designs
some modern
300 B.C.E.), concentric
paintings.
this concept
Probably
is
dating back to the pre-D?ng-son

linear, circular, concept
era (before c.
square, of space and is
designs.
Finally,
in various expressed the central-point-in-a-circle
believed to have its parallels in Perso-Arabic links thinking and points to Aceh's It with Persian, Moghul, Turkish, and Arabic cultures over the past millennium.
governs mosque-centred town planning, some visual art designs and some
formations of dancers and musicians who circle around their leader at the centre point. Parallels between the Acehnese performing and visual arts lie in their versus the of of freedom form. The creative invention and principle application free ornamentation of leading singers and dancers contrast with the melodic and textual symmetry, disciplined compactness, and cyclic redundancy of their group followers, just as the artistic creator of a visual artwork invents an original design within stylistic limits while also using some cyclically repetitive border designs. Introduction This article presents a hypothesis that the main dance formations guiding and musician-dancers, Acehnese dancer-musicians together with the colour associations of costumes and stage decorations and the making of the large frame drums, were conceived on the basis of four concepts of space. The term dancer musicians refers to artists who are primarily dancers, but also use their bodies as and vocal instruments to produce body percussive music while percussive in contrast to the term musician-dancers, which movements, performing body refers to frame drum musicians who also use their bodies as percussive and vocal instruments between bouts of frame drum playing and body movement.1 When
The present dancer-musicians' whose ranub only 1 focuses investigation and musician-dancers' function dance, is to dance usually to mainly on the floor structure plans. and It does cultural as of meanings not deal with dancers in the case players. of the Nor
typical instrumental by
lampuan
accompanied
accompaniment, frame drum, drum,
and wind
2004 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC
either group of artists performs body percussion, they produce patterns of shoulders, rhythmic sound by beating on their bodies?chests, thighs, and their feet, and snapping their fingers; they also usually sing hands?stamping to elaborately ornamented melodic-textual group responses settings that are a of "child of poetry"). improvised by pair alternating singers (aneuk syah?, lit., There are four main Acehnese of that is, "specific space, concepts way[s] inwhich people from a particular culture conceive space and experience it in their daily life" (Bar-Yosef 2001:423). These are the upstream-downstream,
the cardinal directional, the geometric, and the central-point-in-circle concepts. I
in selected examples of the aim to show how these concepts are expressed traditional and contemporary performing and visual arts of Aceh. Links between in traditional the concepts and the artefacts are expressed, for example, see between the cardinal directions and the that many Acehnese relationships colours that they use in costumes, embroideries, paintings, and architecture. The concept is likewise reflected in the formations of dances and the geometric decorations on musical instruments and other craft objects, and includes lines,
parallel lines, triangles, and circles, as well as concentric circles, squares,
concepts rectangles, and diamond shapes. Before focussing on the Acehnese space, however, I shall discuss a few comparative intercultural examples. Intercultural concepts of space
of
As has become clear in recent ethnological studies of music and dance, various human groups adhere to their own distinctive way of looking at space, spatial
relationships, and the environment. A concept of space applies and deep-seated
cultural
may be
ideas about the nature of space and its human organisation,

expressed in music, dance, visual arts, architecture, the
ideas that
other arts
(see, for example, Bar-Yosef 2001 and Giurchescu 2003). Particular views of the spatial structure of the world across societies affect how the respective people choose a location for and design a building or cemetery, how they refer to directions when out walking or sailing, how they obtain natural materials tomake objects needed in daily life, including utensils, objets d'art, and the particular visual designs and artistic ideas lying behind their creation, how they design and decorate a musical instrument, how they structure floor formations of their dances, and how they choose to structure performance spaces for their dancers
and musicians. Performances, or re-performances, of a familiar artistic event,
such as a ritual, dance, or competition held in a field or a building, are social expressions that include the space inwhich they are performed. As Stokes puts it,
a dance or music performance event "evokes and organises collective memories
is it intended movement, Structural found
a thorough of Acehnese structural dance and analysis choreography that awaits detailed dance scholars. further study by specialist topic court bedhaya in Central of choreographies Javanese dances may be analyses to be a and of Malay (1992:183-300), zapin of dance Acehnese formations, choreographies, Analyses have not yet been fully documented. techniques dances movements, in Nor and
in Brakel-Papenhuijzen
(1993:132-56). body percussion
KARTOMI
ACEH CONCEPTSOF SPACE
of place with an intensity, power and simplicity and presents experiences unmatched by any other social activity" (Stokes 1994:3). Concepts of space and the resulting aesthetic ideas and practices tend to vary from society to society. For example, the "general concept of space" in Romania is described as "narrow, straight, crowded", a concept that is "followed in the ornamental design of traditional costumes, in the way graves are massed in a cemetery, in people's proxemics (a very narrow interpersonal space) when or in the dance, and in the 'compact' small groups, dancing walking watching form of dances music based on varied and/or the local and dance compositional n. 5). This contrasts (Giurchescu 2003:166, heterogeneous linking of motifs" with the dominant European space concept in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Here space is regarded as infinite, while partial autonomous spaces, framed or bordered, are seen as part of it. Framed spaces include towns, performance arenas, and picture frames that impose an orientation on the objects they contain. Thus, a dancer moves according to directions implied by the shape is disconnected and proportions of the stage, which from the outer world and constitutes a complete autonomous space in itself (ibid.). Concepts of space also differ from era to era in the one society. The traditional Romanian and other in the twentieth century, for example, when European folk concepts diversified "modernist" concepts of space were exemplified architecturally by skyscrapers followed by "postmodernist" concepts that rejected them and returned to more user-friendly, village-size units within cities. More is an important space relevant to present-day Muslim Aceh in traditional Perso-Arabic culture. This concept concept is "oriented to a central or for the objects around it, cosmic local. The central is referential point, point often arranged in concentric circles" (Bar-Yosef 2001:434). Thus, an ideal Muslim city is built around itsmain mosque as the central point, as in the case of Baghdad, built in the eighth century CE. by the Khalif al-Mansur, with the mosque and palace being located at its centre (ibid.). The lines of graves in a Muslim graveyard in Aceh and other parts of Indonesia are normally organised around a central point that orients the head-stones to face the direction of Mecca, are oriented likewise. Even belly dancers that is, roughly north-west. Mosques in relation to a central point, their navel (ibid.). conceive of their movements on cosmological Based ideas that have Animist-Hindu-Buddhist2 remained influential in parts of the archipelago from the early first to the early second millennium CE., remnants of the cardinal directional concept remain extant in Aceh and some other parts of Southeast Asia to this day. In Hindu Buddhist thought (first to fourteenth centuries CE.), space is arranged according to the four cosmic, cardinal directions with a fifth point in the centre (Lombard in Leigh 1989:172). "Space is highly ordered ... and its use is organized according to definite rules..." that are derived from cosmological religion and nature beliefs the oldest evidence of this system (Hobart 1978:5-7, referring to Bali). However, dates from the twenty-third century before our era, when Chinese cosmological thought and ritual saw the cardinal directions as being related to the winds,
2 By "animist" is meant veneration of the spirits of the ancestors and of nature.
of which musical seasons, abundance of grain, and even the main materials of instruments (Needham instruments are made (see the pa yin classification In insular Southeast Asia's early Animist-Hindu 1962; Kartomi 1990:38-39). the cosmic directions were linked to specific Buddhist societies, similarly
spiritual, natural, and socio-political concepts, including colours, metals, winds,
in behaviour. Thus, people in Java?as seasons, and associated socio-political to construct buildings or fields and conceive of their performing arts Aceh?tend in relation to the dominant spatial relations of the cardinal points, which are "embedded in (their) system of beliefs" (Bar-Yosef 2001:435).3 When Javanese court dancers perform in the usual rectangular pavilion, they orient themselves toward north, south, east, and west, and in relation to a central fifth point in that
square. "Space is square, one moves through it rectangularly..." (Geertz
1960:31). Thus court dancers are taught to move "to the north", or to the south, east, or west, or to the centre (Brakel-Papenhuijzen 1992:183-200). Three of the four spatial concepts applied in Aceh?the upstream and the geometric?are the cardinal directional imbued with downstream, two?the and the central Animist-Hindu-Buddhist geometric thought, while
point-in-a-circle?also possess Acehnese-Muslim connotations. Whether
associated with Islam or not, traditional Acehnese concepts of space are believed to have originated in their adat (B.I.), that is, traditional customs and moral order derived from the ancestors. Deriving from local Animist beliefs and augmented ideas that permeated the region and then with another by early Hindu-Buddhist ideas added on top, adat "provided the cosmological order, the layer of Muslim primary ... explanation that rendered the world intelligible and informed one how to act in it" (Acciaioli 1985:153). This amalgam of Animist, Hindu-Buddhist, and ideas has clearly influenced the particular visual designs and artistic Muslim ideas lying behind their artistic creativity across the arts. Concepts
The
of space in Aceh
concept of space
upstream-downstream
and historical sources, the upstream-downstream According inMalay or Indonesian as ulu-ilir known also orientation, space (unong-barohf or hulu-hilir, is of ancient origins. The Acehnese people took their spatial mountain that extend from north-west to from the Bukit Barisan ranges bearings backbone of Sumatra and the rivers that run south-east down the west-central from their upland sources down to the coast.5 In the virtual absence of a
to the folklore
For
discussions etc, see
of
similar
associative
direction-colour and A.
Java,
essays by H. L. Shorto, A. Turton, a of pan-Indonesian (1949) provides good overview 4 are in Acehnese in this article words Foreign Indonesia, here used "B.M." to Bahasa on Acehnese Melayu, arts and
cosmologies Christie otherwise to Arabic). mainly
Animist unless
in Burma, Thailand, in Milner (1978). Hoop motifs. and Hindu-Buddhist noted ("B.I." my refers to
Bahasa 5 Data
and "Ar." culture
derive
from
field
trips
throughout Aceh
issued et al. by research 1980-81;
in 1982-83 and 2003 and unpublished booklets on music

teams employed and Idris by 1986-87; the Department Idris et al. of Education 1993). The and Culture historical data
and dance
(Isjkarim is mainly
Burhan
KARTOMI
sustainable road system till recent decades, the many local rivers served as the main means of overland travel. To the question: "Where are you going?" one would commonly answer either "upstream" (u kuala kreueng) or "downstream" (u pucok kreueng)6 Given that most rivers inAceh happen to run approximately from south to north, north to south, or between northeast and southwest (the latter concept roughly along part of Aceh's west coast), the upstream-downstream coincides with the grid of the four cardinal points. Thus, the saying tunong
baroh, timu barat, which translates as "from upstream and downstream, from
(Bakar et al. 2001:61), refers to the four cardinal directions, but is an ulu-ilir view of the world. engendered by A common motif found in Acehnese and other Sumatran folk stories is the implementation of a hero's desire to seek his fortune: travelling downstream to found a village, spread Islam, or prove himself before a king, or travelling in the form of gold or forest upstream to find a princess or gather wealth products.7 Until recently, this ulu-ilir concept also strongly influenced the ways in order to make objects needed in in which people obtained natural materials musical instruments, and other objets d'art. Indeed, daily life, including houses, is a in many parts of Sumatra, "the juxtaposition of upstream and downstream east and west" significant one" (Andaya 1993:13).8 The dichotomy also had its political and social class parameters, with downstream people regarding their upstream counterparts as being somewhat inherent "primitive" and belonging to an inferior social class. Binary oppositions that are still extant include the in the upstream-downstream dichotomy natural mountains/coasts, highlands/lowlands, forests/swamplands,
from Christian Snouck two-volume book The Acehnese and a few Hurgronje's (1906) sources era. other Dutch from the colonial 6 or brief descriptions at the end of of such terms as this, see the glossary For definitions this article. 7 over As documented in Malay the past millennium, belletristic literature the so-called coasts have provided Sumatra's and Malaya's the "coastal dwellers" around "uplanders" in coastal their trade, and traders urban centres where and local merchants foreign plied with gold and other minerals, and forest and agricultural from upriver. products spices, 8 was writing areas of Sumatra here about the Jambi and Palembang Andaya (in Although the upstream-downstream also the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries), dichotomy as documented sources and folklore parts of Aceh, by written (especially an to the origins of the Peureulak and Pas? kingdoms). For example, to the upstream Acehnese how Muslim who wanted folk story recounts king of Seumali, a kingdom near Peureulak. some years founded After he took a sampan Islam, spread downstream with till he reached he his entourage the mouth of the Pas? river where applied stories in many related founded Muhammad a new called kingdom to rule as chieftain, of his two sons, open from Seumeurlang then another in Kecamatan (now Samudera) to the south called in the forest for his Balik son Rimba
to be ruled by his son Ahmad. Then he founded and built a mosque

between those both a daughter by cutting acquired a son by stealing found him of an Elephant")
in another kingdom
were of whom, childless. Muhammad however, a bamboo a baby girl inside. Ahmad shoot and finding at his his guardian?an who died encrazed elephant, pers.
loss; later the villagers found his jaw in the soil and named their village Jungka Gajah
("Jaw (M. Husin Amin, com.).
the sacred/the culture/civilisation, sources/production, primordial profane, nature/culture, and the upstream versus downstream artistic styles.9 Thus, in her visual arts and crafts, Leigh distinguished between "upland study of Acehnese
styles"?as in the multi-coloured reed plaited mats?and "coastal styles"?as in
the gold-thread embroidery using the four basic colours (Leigh 1989:30). the and dance forms associated with upstream areas were music Similarly, as and rustic, and unpolished, different, regarded practised by artistically areas to to talented who would sometimes travel downstream people magically earn arts For their and their handsome dancers young ply example, boy keep.10 with beautiful voices who starred in seudati performances were traditionally offspring of poor Acehnese highland parents or slaves from Nias, who earned their way in travelling seudati troupes (Snouck Hurgronje 1906:11, 221).11 To this urban dance troupes day some of the best singers (aneuk syah?) in well-known hail from poor upland areas (Ibu Aisyah, pers. com., 1982). The upstream-downstream concept of directional space arising out of the people's reliance on rivers also lies behind the making of the venerable great
frame drum called rapa 'iPase, the Acehnese musical instrument par excellence.
Its ergological attributes are still linked to upstream forest and downstream as practised among artists in rural villages directions and spaces, especially Pas? (Pasai, B.M.) lam) in its home area, North Aceh's (ureueng gampong this particular kind of rapa'i was named. Located near district, after which present-day Aron, Pas? was the capital of the late thirteenth century Malay speaking kingdom of Samudera Pasai (B.M.) which was one of the first two documented Muslim realms in Southeast Asia (map l).12
This
was
pointed concept mountain look down
out was
in discussion probably
the ulu-ilir (upstream typically
created
who live groups men "civilised white with interior", natural setting com., 10 As and ibid.). Stokes social the and
as people), on "primitive" in the interior. Western penetrating upstream the belief
Iwan Dzulvan who also commented that Amir, rather than the or ang gunung dwellers by coastal the Acehnese coastal and their successors aristocracy mountain the Gayo and Alas ethnic dwellers, including with colonial and literature primitive also virgin contains forests accounts of of the dark
the mysterious forests retaining that spirits inhabit
a mysterious, aura due to their magical the trees and other natural objects (pers.
noted,
"the They
boundary.
constructed involve notions of difference through music 'places' of a moral also organise hierarchies and political order" (Stokes
1994:3). 11 One such seudati boy said in his poetic dialogue (kisah) with his lead dalem (male adult
seudati 237). "I am a son of the upper reaches dancer): that a hero Snouck also wrote Hurgronje of the river" was in Aceh spoken that downstream (Snouck often Hurgronje of 1906:11, as aneu were '
of the river ") and tunong krueng ( "son of the upper reaches more "civilised" than upstream 1906:1, 34). (Snouck Hurgronje people 12 was Malay-speaking, The thirteenth Samudera Pasai kingdom century in Greater lived only Pasai. At that time, ethnic Acehnese Aceh spelling: of Pidie around are still and Daya Remnants of this kingdom (West Aceh). in North Aceh where the first great rapa 'iPas? drums to be made to this day. and continue Arun
people
its Malay a few parts to be found in the area hence and apparently originated
KARTOMI
Map
1. The Province
of Nanggroe
Aceh
Darussalam.
Pas? one,
The reliance on rivers affected the way in which makers of the rapa 7 have traditionally built the instrument. On receiving a request to construct the makers, usually a father and son (or other apprentice) who are also
travel upstream to a near-virgin area of forest to select a suitable tree,
shamans,
tree, which must be very tall and have a broad usually a tualang (honey-bee) Each of the trunk.13 stage ensuing process of felling and preparing the tree is
13 The general (botanical name for very tall trees in Sumatran and Malay Koompassia peninsular parvifolia); is jungles on the size
tualang
names:
Koompassia
malaccensis,
preceded by spiritual procedures after the manner of their frame drum-making ancestors, whom they believe date back to the thirteenth century Malay-speaking Samudera-Pasai kingdom. After singing prayers at the foot of the tree and promising to fell it in a way that is not destructive of surrounding trees, they utter more prayers before cutting off the lower trunk. Finding a suitable tree, requesting permission to fell it, cutting it down, removing its lower trunk, and partly gouging its pith out may take several months. Then they sail downstream with the lower trunk till they reach their home village where they may work on itwith several helpers for six months or so. They continue to gouge out the pith until it has a thin, waisted bracelet shape. After carving two or more sets of parallel rills around itsmiddle and lower outer surface with smooth sections in between, they polish it to a beautiful finish. Finally, they fit a large piece of treated cow skin across the drum's head, which may have a diameter of up to a metre or more, tucking the ends into the rim of the upper body. When the drum is presented to its new owner, traditionally in exchange for a buffalo or other similarly valuable item, the maker leads a mystical rapa 'i Pas? naming ceremony, bestowing on it an anthropomorphic proper name such as Rapa'i Raja Kuneng (Yellow King Frame Drum). The instrument is then a with from frame twenty or so rapai Pas? owned by other villagers suspended and played by a village team. Sets of these great frame drums are often played in competitions between two or more villages. Revered and protected from theft by being stored in a safe place in the home, each instrument is handed down from generation to generation as a family heirloom. The spiritual aura that surrounds these beautiful heirlooms is connected to that of the primordial upstream forests where the bodies of the drums originated. Their mystical power derives from and spiritually correct manner in their closeness to nature, from the ecologically which responsible and spiritually gifted men make them, and from their powerful sound, perceived as being most beautiful and unified when heard from afar. Many Acehnese associate them with supernatural energy, the spirits of nature and the religion of Islam. Sets of the ancestors and?in syncretic fashion?with rapa'i Pas?, for example, are traditionally played in large numbers, often in competition between village troupes, so that their players can acquire ?leum?e (mystical knowledge),14 enabling them to take part in rituals that mark life cycle and religious feasts and celebrations. Rapa'i Pas? can also serve as a signalling agent between
of these trees,
villages.15
see Foxworthy tree (1926). area Bees often build hives in them, presumably because
their height provides protection (Goldsworthy

called trunk a sialang of which in the Siak out of Riau. is gouged to AH Akbar ?leum?e keubai to make a rapa'i there of
1978:1). If they contain hives, they are

For a drawing of a tualang "bee see Hasselt Pase, (1882:vol sub-branches and ?leum?e tree", 3/1, the pi.
LXXXVII). 14
According example, magic". 15 The despite
(pers.
com.),
are various
"knowledge
invulnerability" associations
of ?leum?e, for " sih? black
Pas?'s rapa'i their mystical
syncretic associations
religious Muslim
prayers
are exemplified by the fact that a performance are said before and some
KARTOMI
influenced by ulu-ilir directional The rapa'i Pas?, thinking, differs from the smaller and more radically in shape, size, sound and venerability rapa 'idab?h and the slightly ubiquitous frame drums, such as the medium-sized
smaller rapa 'i geurimpheng and rapa 'i pulot. Although valued, these smaller
frame drums are made much more quickly and use only local materials at hand; moreover, they are normally undecorated with rills or other designs, as are case with the rapa 'i Pas?. the typically The cardinal directional concept of space As has already been mentioned, the concept of the four cardinal directions with a fifth point in the centre dates back to the cosmological beliefs of the ancient times. In some parts of the archipelago Chinese and to Animist-Hindu-Buddhist to this day?in Hindu Bali, for example?the pairs of cardinal directions on the
two grids are seen as continua "between polar extremes" (Hobart 1978:5-7),16
with white, south each direction being associated with a particular colour?east with red, west with yellow and north with black (Brinkgreve and Stuart-Fox to this Southeast Asian, including Acehnese, 1992:148) According cosmology of the cardinal directions, east is associated with white or silver and the metal silver, south with red and an alloy of gold and copper, west with yellow and the metal gold, north with black and the metal iron, and the centre point with mixed colours and a four-metal alloy, as the grid in diagram 1 shows.17 or silver, red, The colours associated with the cardinal directions?white or both the visual and the and black?influence yellow gold, performing arts, modern artists' traditional and stage costumes, embroideries, paintings, including backdrops. These four colours are dominant in the elaborate bridal couches characteristic of the various cultural sub-areas of Aceh (see illustration 1), sometimes with the Muslim-associated green colour added, as befits a culture that prides itself on its strongly Muslim identity and respect for elements of arts. The colours are used in the kasab (gold-thread) embroidery Perso-Arabic
designs on cushion covers, wall hangings, woven cloths, and other artistic genres.
They are also dominant
in the costumes
of musicians
and dancers.
The themes. song texts have Muslim ("mother"(zWw&)) largest are attributed with ancient and imbued with animist origins
specimens, as well as
in particular, Sufi-Muslim
and social meaning (Kartomi 2004). spiritual 16

In Hindu west
for example, this idea is expressed in the linking of north-south and east Bali, to the kaja-kelod "to the mountain?to the sea" (Bandem and de ritual axis, meaning links the cardinal or containers directions (Brinkgreve with ritual colours, deities, and Stuart-Fox 1992:149). sounds and
Boer 1981:32-33). 17 A Balinese m?ndala days, and ritual
instruments
10

Utara/Hitam/Besi North/Black/Iron 4 Pusat/Anekawarna/Campuran jenis logam keempat Centre/Multicoloured/ V^ Alloy of the four metals
Barat/Kuning/Emas West/Yellow/Gold
Timu
r/Pu tih/p erak
East/White/Silver
S elatan/Mer
ah/ Su asa
South/Red/Suasa (Mixture of gold & copper)
inAceh and other formerly Indianised states of 1. Cardinal directions, colours, and metals Diagram Southeast Asia (based on a seminar by Denys Lombard on "Concepts of time and space in of Sydney, 23 October with permission from Leigh Indonesia", University 1986). Reproduced (1989:172).
the available evidence suggests that some of the details of Although colour usage have changed in Aceh over the past century, costumes traditionally focused on the four basic colours. In the 1890s, the adult male seudati dancers (spelled sadati in Snouck Hurgronje 1906) wore white shirts (except for the sy?h, who wore black), black trousers, and a dark sar?ng and headcloth. One or two lead boy dancers (also called sadati) wore "a kupiah or hat with a golden crown ... but no loin-cloth. He (was) ... (tamp?"), a coat with many gold buttons
covered with feminine ornaments, such as anklets, bracelets, rings, a chain
around the neck, and a silver girdle round the waist", with a colourful embroidered kerchief "over his shoulders" and a fan held in one hand (Snouck in ibid.:226, 224, 231). Since the early 1906:11, 232, photographs Hurgronje as seudati dancers those shown in illustration 2) have normally male 1960s, (such worn a white (rather than a black) bajee saman (long-sleeved, buttoned, fitting a white and from waist babah keumarah red kasab shirt), (trousers), gold sar?ng to above the knee, a rencong (dagger) slipped into the left front of a dark red cloth belt, and a round tengkuluk head-band with a high rooster-like crest, while lead boy dancers continued to add female-associated jewellery and other items.18
Due object appear (pers.
to suspected of
pederasty, ulama-Xz? increasing in some performances, and others in the
com.),
the young handsome in seudati the became boy component to criticism from the 1950s. However, boy artists continued as witnessed Ali Akbar Lance Castles com.), by (pers. are now apparently rare. 1980s and 1990s. They
KARTOMI
11
^'^i<;:^^^^^f^^i
Illustration associated oiph?. with Festival 1. Bridal couch, with geometric designs and colours (white, red, yellow, and black) the cosmic, cardinal directions. Detail from the author's recording of a performance of Dance and Seurun? Kal?e, Lhok Seumawe, March 2003. Photo by Iwan Dzulvan Amir.
12
2004 YEARBOOK FORTRADITIONAL MUSIC
2. Seudati dancers in a concentric Illustration rectangular formation (four dancers in an inner rectangle and four in an outer rectangle). Each iswearing a pair of white trousers and shirt with a shiny red and gold kain kaseb, a rencong in their belt, and a round head-band with a high rooster-like crest. Sigli, Aceh Pidie, 1982. Photo by H. Kartomi.
Illustration
leader kneeling
3. Ph? dancers wearing yellow and gold in a central-point-in-a-circle formation, with the in the middle; a still from the Festival of Dance and Seurun? Kal?e, Lhok Seumawe, March 2003. Photo by Iwan Dzulvan Amir.
KARTOMI
13
Female artists' costumes also still mainly use the four basic colours plus the Muslim-associated green or even blue on occasions. Thus, unmarried girls who dance the contemplatively sad pho dance usually wear long-sleeved yellow a black dark red or dark green wrap-around trousers, blouses, sar?ng kasab a or to above the dark red dark blue knee, just falling slendang (with a scarf a its around the neck and ends tucked under falling gold or silver belt on both sides of the front chest down to the thighs), antique jewellery (earrings, anklets, and bracelets), and wearing their hair either in a knot sloping slightly to the right with white flowers attached or covered by ajilbab (Muslim head scarf, as in illustration 3). The unmarried girls who perform the seudati inong or laweuet and meuseukat dances wear costumes that are similar to those used for ph? (as in illustration 4). The male frame drum players frequently wear black or gold trouser suits with a red and gold wrap-around sar?ng kasab, a. rencong in their belts, and a headdress or headband (as in illustration 5) or other combinations of the basic colours and the colour green.
Illustration 4. Part of a row often red- and black-dressed meuseukat dancers, showing the sy?h (kneeling upright in front and wearing a blue jilbab on her head,), two other dancers (kneeling on their and an aneuk syah? (on the right, wearing a pink heels at the back and wearing orange jilbabs), inMeulaboh, 1982. Photo by H Kartomi. November jilbab),
14
MUSIC 2004 YEARBOOK FORTRADITIONAL
Illustration
black costumes,
from Sanggar IAIN Banda Aceh, wearing gold and line of rapa 'i geleng musicians lowering and raising their rapa 7 creating a "musical border pattern" by alternately inMarch 2003. Photo by H. Kartomi. at the Festival in Lhok Seumawe geurimpheng 5. A
The geometric concept of space Like the other three concepts of space, the geometric concept of space influences the Acehnese approach to some genres of the performing and visual arts. The is often expressed with consummate decorative design, which for predilection and pottery, also wood in traditional architecture, weaponry, carving, artistry governs the weaving of cloth and making of gold-thread (kasab) embroidery and and other rites of jewellery that are seen at their elaborate best at weddings passage (Leigh 1989:30, 54-76, 89, 93-95). Acehnese designs embroidered or sewn onto costumes, or carved on jewellery or the walls of houses, are basically geometric, with or without added plant, bird and other designs. This predilection and parallel lines, squares, rectangles, triangles (for for geometric design?single the decorated triangular tumpal motive), aces of diamonds, circles and example, ovals and half-ovals, half-circles, figures of eight, stars, concentric circles,
concentric ovals, spirals, cyclic waves, concentric squares and rectangles, keys,
rhombs, oblique equilateral parallelogram shapes, and Islamic crescent moons a and stars?has exerted strong and lasting influence on Aceh's visual arts, from traditional carvings and embroideries to modern works by Aceh's most famous contemporary painter, A. D. Pirous (b. 1933).19
Although geometric for their use in Muslim that Islam, strictly
ideas
and ornamentation
cultures,
interpreted,
are of pre-Muslim the predilection origin, to the fact is usually attributed that of Aceh, including and other of living beings artistic representations prohibits
possible idols.
KARTOMI
15
The geometric motives used in Aceh are of ancient origin; indeed, they used in other Southeast Asian the motives art20 dating from the to the archipelago in Annam the of from Yunnan and D?ng-son place migrations see also Heekeren B.C.E. (Heine-Geldern from c. 2500-1500 1932:519-37; era art that were the products of D?ng-son 1958). Among transplanted were bronze D?ng-son drums that the magnificent throughout the archipelago were found inmany archaeological diggings. Their upper surfaces, covered with decorative geometric, flora, and fauna designs, feature either squat eggcup shapes that resemble contemporary Acehnese shapes or elongated hourglass Pas? drums. When the Hindus arrived from India in the early frame rapa'i Common Era they apparently found these geometric decorative designs to be and expressed in various locally developed forms. well-established The ornamental surface design of circular parallel rills carved around the body of a rapa'i Pas? has both visual and acoustic effects. These rills have (Ali Akbar, pers. com.), as the circle is an old Acehnese mystical associations (Noerdin Daood, pers. com.). shape that symbolises completeness geometrical They not only serve as the rapa 'iPas? 's distinctive ornamental feature but also to improve its acoustic quality when the drumhead is struck: by interrupting and varying the length of the fibres of the wood, they expand the vibrations of the overtones and alter the drum's acoustic fundamental and the higher-pitched a The specimen shown in illustration 6 fuller sound.21 richer, properties, creating has a total of twenty-three circular parallel lines incised close together on the upper and lower surfaces of its curved, waisted wooden body, including two lines near the head, seven lines on the upper part of the body, and seven lines on the lower part, with another seven lines incised on the circular rim of the base itself. resemble
The The central-point-in-a-circle central-point-in-a-circle concept concept of space in the art of many Southeast Asian
features
societies; for example, circular dances around a central dancer or object are found in most of Indonesia from Bali to the east. The same space concept in Aceh, is associated with that of its dominant religion, Islam, which shares however,
with the above areas a central-point-in-a-circle concept of space.
culture through Islamic art began to become embedded in Acehnese contact with Muslim countries from at least as early as the late thirteenth century, the time of the first Southeast Asian royal conversions and creation of the first Southeast Asian sultanates at Peurulak and Pasai (located in present-day Aceh). visual arts found not only ancient Leigh's study of contemporary Acehnese Southeast Asian geometric designs (such as the tumpal or decorated triangle)22 and stylised flora shapes, especially leaves, but also elaborate mosaic-like
20 21 For This a good overview holds see Hoop of early Southeast Asian motives, (1949). structure that the rills thin out the instrument's heavy wooden by reference of the optic fibres, the vibrations and thereby enhancing indebted to Peter
cutting
hypothesis the longitudinal
or higher-pitched overtones. I am the production of brighter maximising Handsworth October for this com., 2003) (pers. hypothesis. 22 in the large structure next to the Gunongan, The tumpal design is found as well as in Javanese artwork in Banda Aceh, batik architectural century
the seventeenth designs.
16
MUSIC 2004 YEARBOOK FORTRADITIONAL
designs and gold-thread embroidery belonging to Islamic culture. For example, the latter was probably influenced by the Mughal court culture of Gujerat, and other forms by Turkish contact23 (Leigh 1989:30).
Illustration
6. A small rapa 7 Pas? with parallel circular lines incised around Taman Mini, Jakarta, February 2003. Photo by H. Kartomi.
its wooden
body,
at
above) design
The basic Arabic-Islamic concept of space referred to by Bar-Josef (see focuses on a central point within a circle, for example, a circular town thread around a central mosque. Thus, the structure of the metallic
23 During Aceh's "Golden Age" (the early seventeenth century), theMughals of Gujerat were exercising their power in the Indian subcontinent and the Turkish Ottoman Empire
was in a period of ascendancy. Aceh had relations with both powers.
KARTOMI
17
(kasab) embroidery shown in illustration 7 comprises a central circle (depicted as a tight spiral) surrounded by several concentric circles or star-shaped circular lines, within three outer concentric squares, and with a cyclical border pattern design featuring a variety of geometric and plant shapes. The glass disc sewn over its circular centre point emphasises the Perso-Arabic spatial concept outlined above (a point at the centre of a circular periphery). The decorative border patterns are created from symmetrical geometric designs based on cyclic cushion covers (kasab) from repetition, as in this and other embroidered Meulaboh, West Aceh, home of the pho dance. Its basic colours are gold on red, with blue added. Some embroideries have gold or silver and red geometrical designs with black borders, with a structure comprising concentric diamond shapes surrounded by concentric squares, as in the geometric design below the buraq (heavenly bird) in the lower section of the 1982 s?rigraphie print entitled "Sura Isra II/Homage to Mother" by the Meulaboh-born artist A. D. Pirous in with This is coloured red and (illustration 8). mainly gold, yellow and white a As and black border and Pirous calligraphy sky. explained in a letter to the author, his print was inspired by kasab25 embroideries made by his mother for his inMeulaboh when he was an impressionable five-year old, sister's 1937 wedding an experience that has influenced his approach to art ever since.26
24 metallic Kasab, meaning of embroidery shiny work "a metal (B.A.) means a supplementary weft, Some 1989:80). (Leigh
or copper), is also silver, (in gold, metallic thread used on cotton cloth; cushion thread-embroidered cover". The metallic thread art with creating excellent a slightly raised metal-threaded pattern on a silk
a term meaning a thus kasab bantai thread is used as
or cotton
are referred pieces a piece of very high quality where is used to designate and refinement. blayat 25 was a very talented that his mother Pirous wrote artist who "a high developed on in her Like other female Aceh's artists virtuosity" craftsmanship. embroidery south coast, her many embroideries were based on her concept drew covered of traditional
background to as kasab blayat, of degree west and geometric,
floral, and bird designs, including the buraq, a mythical bird believed to have taken the
Prophet Muhammad work. His mother to the seventh believed that one heaven, step and which taken by Pirous the buraq in the upper part of his a distance as far as
one can see (Pirous, written communication, 26 to me, one of his paintings As Pirous wrote
2004). that features
Acehnese
geometric
designs
is
the multi-media
acrylic, frame gold (front
"When the Earth Quakes" (1982; 162 x 207 cm, made of fibre glass,
Buchari and panels), et al. 1985). featuring Another two back-to-back painting while 1985:85),
in a square triangles an isosceles presents triangle et al. and parallel lines (no. 42G in Buchari another concentric comprises AAAAA a cyclic in the smallest and a circle and concentric squares square, design, features concentric circles (no. 215, ibid.:74). Yet another rectangles (ibid.:25). cover,
leaf on canvas,
18
^Vv^
Illustration
7. A traditional
red, gold, and blue embroidery with a geometric Aceh Barat Daya. Photo by M. Kartomi.
design
from Meulaboh,
KARTOMI
19
toMother 8. A 1982 print entitled Sura Isra /Homage (80 x 54 cm) by Meulaboh-born artist A. D. Pirous, showing a geometric design below a buraq (heavenly bird), using basically red, (from reproduction No 42G in yellow (gold), white, and black colours. Reproduced with permission Buchari et al. 1985:82). Illustration
Aspects of the geometric, cardinal directional, and central-point-in-a in the artists' costumes and the concepts of space are also expressed backdrops of performance arenas (such as the cushions and the elaborate bridal is used in the ph? dance, see illustration 3). couch illustrated above, which and Moreover, shapes determine the mostly geometric central-point-in-a-circle circle
20
into which groups of musicians and symmetrical and cyclic spatial formations dancers move in a performance arena (see figures A-C below). Itmay even be are said that the cyclic geometric patterns used for borders in embroideries on a analogous to certain symmetrical formations of dancers and/or musicians in illustration 9, where the dancers, by stage, as may be seen, for example, alternately kneeling upright and bending forwards, produce a geometric "border items sung in unison or chorus in musical pattern design" effect. The melodies and dances may also feature symmetrical, cyclic structures (see transcription 1). The typically four-square melodies often comprise four balanced, cyclic (though varied) phrases of, say, sixteen beats each, beginning with (i) a melodic statement or "question" (ending with melodic ascent), (ii) a transposed re-statement of the first line as a melodic sequence or an "answer" (ending with a descent), (iii) a tonally varied but rhythmically similar melodic phrase to the one used in the first line, and (iv) a line that resembles the first but ends with a descending melodic cadence. The whole melody comprises a single unit that can be cyclically as as demands. times the occasion many repeated
dance performance Illustration 9. Meuseukat showing dancers alternately kneeling upright and inNovember bending forwards to produce a dance "border pattern design" formation in Banda Aceh 1982. The dancers standing upright wear pink jilbabs, blue blouses, and pink and gold sar?ng, while the dancers bending forwards wear greenjilbabs, light pink blouses, and green and gold sarong. Photo by H Kartomi.
27 Symmetry is defined as balance of structure resulting from right proportion between the parts of thewhole design and, more precisely, balance that allows the design to be divided
by a point or line into two or more parts exactly similar in size, shape, and position
(Concise Oxford Dictionary, OUP, 1964).
KARTOMI
ca40 teenage Pho CutNya Performers: Dhicn. girls. Nona SitiJcram, led (cheh) bysinger and Ibu Cut Asia(group Hadi bin Zalear?an leaders): Bp. Tcuku Umar Johan kaiee Pahlawan; Seurunee player. Rahim and tambo Bp.Ridwan, Bp.Abdul players. tambrin Oaud player, Bp.Zainuddin Bp.Sulaiman; canang player, snapping group finger hand clapping beating thigh Solo (femalevocalist) Group percussion

Rateb Meuseukat
inthetown HKartomi of Recorded byM. and AcehBarat, 1982. Meulaboh. Kabupaten M. Kartomi and Transcribed byB. Kornhauser
21
Jak ku - ti -mang hai a neukmeu - jak ku - ti -mang, jak ku - ti -mang Bung
ong keu mang hai a -neuk_mu
boh ha-
te_ma
oh,_oh
Bung ong keu mang hai a-neuk_mu
boh
ha-te_ma
oh sa-yang
oh sa -yangjwhha-te Jak ku-do - dohai a-neukdodo - da i - di a-neuk si-bang Si kum
y
A-TT".|
,h'
-^
i>=?
I Ol0nu
? ~~
??:
?^ m
ji?w
iPhraseBJ
bang ma
- noe hai a - neuk bak bi - neh. pa
v j D j-un ;.ji i ,f
si
is j rm
oh sa- yang_boh
oh sa- yang_
ha - te
Transcription
1. Extract
from a performance of rat?b meuseukat', recorded 1982. Aceh Barat, November Meulaboh,
by M. and H. Kartomi
in
Clearly the spatial elements of the music, dance, and the visual arts a remarkable unity of creative thought; they all use and develop similar ideas, mostly including symmetrical forms, modes of variation, and patterns of redundancy. The main exception that "proves" the orderliness and symmetry rule is the l?nglong ("disorderly, in disarray")28 formation that occurs display artistic
28
The word
l?nglong
is also
used
to mean
a bankrupt
person
(Bakar
et al. 2001:514).
22

during which the dancers
near the beginning of a seudati dance performance, move in disorderly random directions.
Floor plans for dancer-musicians
After explaining the basic geometric formations and floor movements below, I shall briefly analyse their application in three of the most representative dances: (1) the male seudati dance, also known as seudati agam (lit., "male seudati") and its female equivalent laweuet (from salaweuet, salawat (Ar.)), also known as seudati inong (lit., "female seudati"); (2) the femalepho dance, depicting grief, and (3) the female or male meuseukat dance, inwhich a row of kneeling dancers between their group responses to perform body percussion and body movements the singing of the alternating aneuk syah?. Then I shall describe the sitting or of the group players of the four main standing formations and body movements frame drum genres, traditionally performed only by men: rapa'i Pas?, rapa'i
dab?h, rapa'igeurimpheng, marapa'ipulot.
are decided by a The sequence of dance formations and movements a under their before troupe sy?h's leadership performance begins. The sy?h * in the is for (marked responsible diagrams below) planning, demonstrating, and in their and performances of the the dancers and/or musicians rehearsals leading and for their formations and the types and sequences of body movements, sounds produced, that is, the solo and group coordination with the musical singing, group frame drum playing, and/or group body percussion music. The sy?h is assisted by a hierarchy of seven other dancers, with the four ap?t?the ap?t (sy?h) or assistant leader, ap?t wie (also, wie) or assistant leader on the left, ap?t likok or assistant rear leader, and ap?t uneuen (also, uneuen) or assistant of middling rank, and the three sago?the leader on the right?being sago or left
front dancer, sago or left rear dancer, and likot sago or rear edge dancer?being
of lowest rank (as shown in diagram 2).

dancers aneuksyah? O
D
sago
?
ap?t wie
O
sy?h
?
uneuen
safbineh
[front row]
TD o
sago ap?t likot
of performers 2. Hierarchy
o
ap?t
in an Acehnese
a
likot sago safrueng [back row]
group dance performance.29
Diagram
or are usually between eight and twelve dancer-musicians a can some in the there be in dances musician-dancers, (as meuseukat), though a of The is number. unlimited group augmented by pair theoretically There 29 This diagram is based on Isjkarim et al. (1980-81:51).
KARTOMI
mellifluously-voiced in alternation with
musicians syah?, performing aneuk dhiek,
23
vocalists standing on the side, whose elaborate solo singing each other is also responded to in chorus by the dancer
in a horizontal or aneuk seudati, row. The vocalists, with each who other are called to sing aneuk partly alternate
improvised pant?n (rhyming quatrains) to metred or non-metred melodies, with each singer freely adding improvised melodic ornamentation to the melodic line, according to his or her musical abilities. Usually the first soloist performs a few verses, after which the other soloist joins in near the end of a verse as the first soloist tails off and then stops to rest. The practice of singing in an overlapping, alternating sequence developed because it is too strenuous for one individual to that may last all night. This technique produces a sing unaided in performances seamless vocal performance and also allows the singers time and respite to in the maintain a high standard of melodic invention and poetic commentary largely improvised and often topical song texts. The beauty and complexity of the vocal style produced varies between performances, depending on the atmosphere of the occasion, the vocalist's talent, and the skills and experience acquired. as such audience Intangible aspects, appreciation and the type of performance the in determine vocalists' event, help enthusiasm, creativity, and effectiveness performance (Marzuki Hassan, pers. com., July 2004). When the lead singer alternates his or her segment of a melody?as, for A rat?b Phrase of the meuseukat line in melodic l30?with example, transcription a segment sung by the chorus of dancers or instrumentalists?for example, the segment marked "Chorus" between phrases A and B?the length and nature of are often the alternating segment is decided beforehand in rehearsal. Melodies "symmetrical" in the sense that they comprise a rising first phrase (such as Phrase followed by a descending phrase (such as Phrase B) A) that ends inconclusively, answers and completes statement by forming a convex which the melodic
melodic contour in the second phrase. Members of the chorus may also surprise
the audience by singing short melodic segments with a repeat of a long phrase by 7 and 8, 14 and 15 of transcription 1. Usually the soloist, as in measures the chorus sings only the basic notes of a phrase and with less ornamentation than the soloist (or pair of soloists). Its vocal responses are also performed to simpler
dance movements than occur in the sections in which the dancers only move or
dance without singing. A close comparison of the soloist's and chorus' renditions of the rat?b meuseukat melody in the transcription shows minor variations of not only between and melodic the ornamentation, rhythm, pitch, melisma, soloist's of and chorus' but also between the renditions, (or pair soloists') soloist's own renditions. Soon after the soloist begins, the chorus enters with a sound on each beat and then changes to a rhythmic rhythmic, finger-snapping motive comprising an anacrusis followed by a double clap on the breast on the second and fourth beats of the quadruple-metric unit.31
30 A recording of this excerpt may be found on Kartomi (1998:track 1). 31

Tonal and rhythmic analysis of the music lies beyond the scope
of this article.
24
Basic geometric dance formations In contemporary practice, usually between eight and twelve dancers and a pair of alternating singers standing on one side form linear and other geometric as for floor plans for Acehnese formations. Choreographic dancer-musicians,
musician-dancers discussed in the section on the rapa'i genres, are always
designed with an eye for the balance and symmetry of the corporate geometric formations, shape. They include the (i) linear or parallel-linear representing communal order and balance; (ii) circular/oval or half-circular/oval, representing communal unity and theMuslim symbol of the new moon (bintang buleuen); (iii) square, rectangular, or circular with amiddle point, representing the Perso-Arabic in the centre or a dance design with the concept of a town with the main mosque leader in the centre; (iv) triangular/half-diamond-shaped, representing the gable traditional house or the shape of the Acehnese of an Acehnese tumpang cake, and Daood, pers. com., (Noerdin hospitality respectively symbolising protection July 2004); and (v) the puta taloe ("twisted rope") formation, with interweaving dancers moving around a circle, symbolising strength and power. Some of these are shown in figure A.
Figure A. Basic formations of dancers or musicians:
audience
aneuksyah?
r\
*
sy?h
r\
dancers:
oooooooo
("one row").
A(i).
Saf, safsa
KARTOMI
aneuksyah? P safsa
25
oooooooo
the sa/breaks into two:
By diagonal movement,
oooooooo / / V ? o o
becomes: safdua (two rows)
T) o
A(ii). Safsa moving
O o
to safdua
O o
("two rows").
O o
aneuksyah? D
o
A(iii). Pha rangkang.
aneuk syah? O
A(iv).
Gl?ng. Note:
clockwise
or anticlockwise
movement by the sy?h.
by the dancers
depends
on a decision
made
26

aneuk syah? P b
A(v).
Gl?ng.
Variant: puta
taloe.
aneuksyah? P
A(vi). Formations one
Cicempo. or more lines are seen as
containing
straight
identity, the rum?h Aceh symbolising parts of an important symbol of Acehnese (traditional Acehnese house).32 A row of dancers (saf A(i)) is seen to symbolise the top roof-line of an Acehnese house or communal unity (Noerdin Daood, pers. com., July 2004). A square or rectangular formation that contains an inner concentric square or rectangle is called pha rangkang, where pha literally means "thigh" and rangkang means "a single men's hut in a field" (A(iii)). The four house and the points of the outer square represent the pillars of an Acehnese inner square the house itself (ibid.). A single circle formed by eight dancers
As we in other
have forms
the line and parallel noted, art. of Acehnese visual
lines
are
important
elements
of geometric
design
KARTOMI
27
Standing at the cardinal and sub-cardinal points is called gl?ng, representing communal unity (A(iv), ibid.). A variant circle formation is called puta taloe (lit., "swirling rope"), with odd and even-numbered dancers' paths interweaving like folds in a rope as each group walks in staggered half circles around each of the the rope-like eight points in the circle formation (A(v), ibid.), symbolising a of circle design Another unified communal variant the basic of group. strength is the pair of adjacent circles or figure of eight formation called cicem po, where cicem literally means "bird" and po "respected" (A(vi)). As already mentioned, circular formations by dancers or musicians around a performer or object located at the central point, as in the (at times) circular formations of the seudati,
laweuet, pho, and meuseukat dances, resemble the geometric Perso-Arabic idea
lies on an axis connecting heaven and earth, and the that the holy city of Mecca view that the ideal city circles around a central mosque. Dance formations
featuring concentric circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles also occur.
Along with the ordered linear, parallel, square, rectangular, and circular formations, a disordered formation and several linking formations may be found. In seudati, for example, the ordered linking formation called puta taloe (A(v)) may be followed by the disordered l?nglong ("moving in disarray" formation, as explained above), which in turn may be followed by the ordered bintang buleuen (lit., "star and moon", that is, half-circle or half-oval) formation, with the sy?h in the middle, then the ordered tampong (lit., "roof-top line") formation. Finally, the freer manok ("rooster") formation, with acrobatic movements, may be performed as well (Noerdin Daood, pers. com., March 2003). In contemporary dances, the performers may form various geometric for shapes: example, a pair of bintang buleuen half-ovals joining in an oval (as in the meusare-sare (Burhan and Idris ["mutual help"] dance created by Yuzlizar resam in the bereume 1986-87:133-36)), ["habit of &pi (Greek letter) shape (as wet rice farming"] dance (ibid.: 147)), and an isosceles triangle in a rectangle (as in a version of the ranub lampuan ["betel-nut in a tray welcome"] dance (Idris et al. 1993:142)).33 Examples from the ph? dance discussed below include an irregular pentagon (C2(i)), a boat-like box on an upturned half-oval shape (as in the bineuih ["procession"] formation, C2(ii)), and a diamond within or protruding like a house gable from the top of a rectangle (as in the ayon aneuk formation, is far from complete; the artists' C2(vi) and C2(vii)). This list of formations to construct that be allowed other geometric shapes in demands they creativity and the visual arts, including artists' costume dance, musical performances, designs. In some dances the sy?h may add various more complex formations than
those mentioned above, especially in kreasi baru (B.I., "new creations").
of dancers are shown in figure B below The four basic floor movements These are the "vertical" (vertikal, B.I.;, with (based on Idris et al. 1993:119-20). to change places with their four opposite four dancers in the front row moving numbers in the back row, and vice versa (B(i)); the "horizontal" (horizontal,
33
Pirous's
1982
Enlightenment")
Demi painting also comprises
yang Cahaya Pagi an isosceles triangle
Cerner in a
lang
("For
rectangle
(Buchari
the Morning et al.
1985:85).
28
B.I.), with the front and back rows moving to the right and then the left to form one row (B(ii)); the "diagonal" (diagonal, B.I.), with four dancers forming an inner rectangle surrounded by the other four forming an outer rectangle and to change places with the closest dancer (B(iii)); and the moving diagonally "circular" (gl?ng), either comprising a pair of concentric circles or a single circle, as in B(iv), and focussing around a central point.34 Within the circle formations, or anticlockwise the sy?h are free to direct dancers to move in a clockwise direction (Noerdin Daood,
Figure
pers. com., February 2003).

B. Basic floor movements of dancers:
O O
O O
O O
O O
B(i). Vertical.
o o
o o
o o
o o
B(ii). Horizontal.
B(iii).
Diagonal.
34
The
individual
seudati
and
laweuet
dance
movements the main forward
will
not dance
be
discussed
here. include rheng
However, nyap
to Daood com., (pers. 2003), according of knees), of (bending langkah (sequence
movements steps),
and
backward
(turning in a circle), asek (moving of head to left), keutep jarou (finger snapping), nyet (bending of knees with feet apart), dhet (clapping hands while lifting shoulders), and
geudham gaki (stamping feet and snapping fingers).
KARTOMI
29
B(iv).
Circular.
Geometric floor plans in selected dances I shall now discuss some applications of these basic floor plans or formations the contexts of selected dances: (a) seudati, (b)pho, and (c) rat?b meuseukat. Formations
in
of the seudati (seudati agam)y?>r male dancers and laweuet (seudati inong) for female dancers (figure Cl)35 The time and place of origin of the most famous of all Acehnese dances, the male seudati or seudati agam (male seudati) and its female equivalent laweuet or seudati inong (female seudati, see figure Cl) are unknown. Snouck Hurgronje (1906:11, 221^47) and other Dutch writers documented its existence in the 1890s, in competitions between two or more noting that it was normally performed groups (ibid.: 122) and often featured one or two young boy solo dancer-singers wearing items of female dress such as fans and jewellery (ibid.:221) among a row
of dancers and pair of solo singers. know Seudati and laweuet were re-developed a century in the
Pidie
Daood,
area and widely

pers. com.). We
popularised
also
throughout Aceh
that seudati was
from the 1960s

ago
(Noerdin
as rat?b
known
sadati
body the
(Snouck Hurgronje
movement", and
1906:1, 21), where

performances?mostly ... of
rat?b means
by two
"religious
or more
song with
competitive
troupes?usually
"most
lasted from late evening

the religious
to midday
rat?b ...
of the next day. Sadati36

performed by companies
is
of
characteristic
from 15 to 20 men
35 The basic formations and body the female
accompanied
of laweuet
by a pretty boy
are the same as for
in female dress who

seudati. differ, as being However, as well
has been
some of the
movements dance
more sar?e style, being perceived ("refined", and the male more ram? ("vigorous"). This lies beyond the scope "cool") topic, however, of this paper. 36 to Snouck the word sadati derives from y? sad?tJ, meaning "Oh According Hurgronje, lead boy-dancer), while sadati means my masters" (that is, words spoken by a handsome both a dance genre and "dancing he wrote, "The rat?b sadati takes Further, boys". always the form sound over "eu of a contest" " apparently century. (Snouck replaced 1906:11, 222). The common Hurgronje " the "a in the first syllable of sadati Acehnese throughout vowel Aceh
sounds percussion dance movements
and movements
as
the overall
the past
30
MUSIC 2004 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL
specially members
A century ago, the adult trained for the purpose" (ibid.TI, 221-22). of a sadati troupe often had a close admiring relationship with the lead dancer-singers (sadati), who were usually either handsome young boys bought from their parents by the troupe or sons of Niasan slaves, and were trained as (ibid.TI, 222). Snouck Hurgronje showed that the dance and sung dancer-singers while noting that the erotic, even p?d?rastie, suggestiveness, poetry possessed profession of a young sadati boy was not based on immoral purposes (ibid.).38 The inclusion of one or two seudati (post-Republic spelling) boys in troupes diminished from the 1950s due to ulama disapproval, though some troupes still included them in the late 1980s (Lance Castles, pers. com., January 2004). In a seudati troupe today, normally only eight men dance and sing responses to the two alternating solo singers (aneuk syah?); a troupe performs either singly or in competition with one or more other troupes, as in the annual seudati festivals that were allowed to resume in August 2003 and 2004 after ceasing for a few years due to the poor security situation. A seudati performance normally begins with a saleum (initial greeting dance), the first section proper in dances such as seudati and laweuet, during which the pair of vocalists?followed thank, by the chorus of dancers?greet, that and ask forgiveness of all those present, seen and unseen, for any mistakes may occur in the performance. A brief bak saman (lit., "trunk of the saman" section follows, with seven of the dancers [singing of text with body movement]) a around the sy?h in the middle, thereby creating in formation circular standing formation illustrated in B(iv). Together they decide the central-point-in-circle which saman (poetry and movement) they will perform in the sequence. After the likok section, the saman ("advice") and ("dance configuration") performing kisah ("story") sections are danced, with the vocalists and sy?h singing love, comic, or advice-filled poetry in the former and a story in the latter. In the lanieu (or ekstra [extra]) section, popular regional and national songs in Indonesian may be mixed with Acehnese. An often lengthy nasib ("rhythmic poetry")39 section 37 A photograph in Snouck Hurgronje (1906:11, 226) shows members of a male adult
sadati troupe wearing dark head-cloths, their (long trousers, and and kain sarung (B.I., wrap-around torso
cloths) with white shirts (except for the sy?h, who wears a dark shirt) performing in rat?b
due shirts, on (kneeling position a female slendang an female acrobatic blouse heels), stole around a pair of young the neck), sadati anklets, boys wearing and wearing white fans a and bracelets, is shown armlets,
performing patterned anklets. 38 The seudati comparative the 1890s
A back-flip. with matching
"dancing head-cloth,
(ibid.:261) boy" dark trousers,
bracelets,
dance of
has
study in Greater
changed the current
Aceh
over the past century, in some details though a thorough in those noted by Snouck Hurgronje regional styles with to be carried out. Snouck of remains description Hurgronje's performances texts of that he the secular observed songs in the sung 1890s in one
religiously-based some included
sadati (ratib, Ar.) translated transcribed and rat?b
(Snouck Hurgronje 1906:1, 21, 244; II, 22X-41). performance 39

Nasib is defined (B.I., "competition Snouck Hurgronje
secara as pertandingan berirama bentuk sajak yang diucapkan dalam et al. 2001:629). Bakar in the form of rhythmically performed poetry", at a rat?b in Ach?h", recited but also as "an Arabic it as "verses defines
KARTOMI
31
then begins, stretching far into the night, inwhich the aneuk syah? spontaneously improvise humorous or political and socially critical texts, and answer allusions and questions posed poetically?and songs improvised by always elegantly?in side is decided by a jury and by the vocalists of the other side. The winning
audience acclaim.40
formations The basic geometric begin to appear in this opening seumbah: the dancers usually form a single row (sa?, with the sy?h positioned near the right end (facing the audience) and the ap?t sy?h and others in the hierarchy assuming corresponding positions (Cl(i)), after which they move into a two-row formation, with odd-numbered dancers in the front row (safbineh) and as in ones in the back row (saf rueng), seated hierarchically even-numbered diagram 2 above.41 In the seudati or laweuet dance sections, the sy?h may decide that the dancers will move into the pha rangkang formation. To do so, four of the dancers
form a rectangle or square and the other four another rectangle or square around
they vary the concentric rectangles or squares by forming a half row and a straight back row within the external rectangle (as in front oval-shaped the second diagram in Cl(ii)).42 In the cicem po formation, the front four dancers form a circle that vertically adjoins another circle formed by the back row of dancers, thus constructing a figure-of-eight shape (as inA(vi) above). Two gl?ng ("circle") formations follow. In the first, the front four dancers move to form the front half of a complete circle, with the back four moving to join up the back half of the circle (as inA(iv) above). In the second, a a concentric is rectangular formation relatively complex variant of gl?ng, around the inner rectangle of dancers, with the achieved by circular movement on each side of the external rectangle changing other two pairs positioned each other with (Cl(iii). positions Somewhat similarly, the embroidery pattern in illustration 7 comprises a circle in the middle of a pair of concentric squares, thereby producing a static it. Sometimes
image rather than a moving one as is possible in dance.
(nasib
love poem" and
(Snouck kisah) account of
"the most he writes, 1906:11, 372). Further, parts important Hurgronje ' are in the distinctive metres in ... rat?b of the recitations sanja of this dance structure Aceh", is based and has on Noerdin been amended Daood's on text Iwan
Aceh" (ibid. :II,77) 40

The above "Sekilas mengenai Amir.
Tari
Seudati
unpublished advice from
Dzulvan 41 The following to Isjkarim et
(1993:139-40). et al. (1980-81:114-15). in Isjkarim given 42 or squares and half-oval, Concentric rectangles
of seudati is based on recent practice dance sections sequence according Burhan and Idris Idris et al. al. and (1980-81), (1986-87:124-27), Each gives similar accounts. is The main meuseukat formation basically oval, or circular are also found in
shapes
embroidery designs (as in illustration 7).
32

for male agam) dancers: for female dancers and laweuet
Figure
Cl.
Formations
of the seudati (seudati inons)
(seudati
audience aneuksyah?
oooooooo
oroooooooo
aneuk syah? P
or
its variant:
?
Cl(ii). Pha
D Q Q
rangkang.
aneuk syah? P b 10 9
* = sy?h ** = ap?t sy?h
Cl(iii).
Gl?ng m pha
rangkang.
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33
Formations of the ph? dance (figure C2) The sy?h in a ph? performance may employ most, if not all, of the formations used in the seudati and laweuet dances and add some more complex ones of her (or his) own. The diagrams in Idris et al. (1993) and Isjkarim et al. (1980-81)43 indicate the following shapes: a pentagon (C2(i)), a boat-like square on top of a half-oval shape (C2(ii)), a triangle or a closed half-oval shape (C2(iii), an open half-oval shape (C2(iv)), a pair of separate circles (C2(v)), a triangle in a rectangle (C2(vi)), a triangle partly protruding from a rectangle (C2(vii)), a a triangle (C2(viii)), closed half-oval and an isosceles containing triangle The of space is applied. (C2(ix)). central-point-in-a-circle concept Unlike the spirited, vigorous, and joyful seudati and laweuet dances, the sad and gracefully lithe in character. It is performed ph? dance is contemplatively only by unmarried girls, with a pair of female aneuk syah? singing verses in the Aneuk Jam?e dialect that is spoken in the kabupaten (districts) of West Daya and South Aceh. The name ph? is said to derive from peuba-epo, meaning meuratap, "to mourn in song and dance". It once took the form of a centuries-old ritual mourners a a with as in circle to in around referred dirge dance, corpse, dancing classical hikayat (sung oral literature); in recent times ph? is danced to sung verses recounting the tragic story of Madion a young South and Malelang, Acehnese brother and sister, who were sentenced to death as victims of slander The more recent dance form called (see the stylised dance formations C2(i)-(ii)). after the enforcement of the Muslim ban on ritual ph? apparently developed
expressions ago. of grief began to spread, perhaps several decades, or even a century,
One of the pair of aneuk syah? begins the first scene, the saleum of all present), by singing a welcome to (greeting and prayer for the well-being
all those present, seen and unseen, while eight to twelve or more dancers enter.
First the dancers form two parallel rows (saf dua), then each odd-numbered dancer in the back row moves diagonally forwards to form a single row (saf), a reversal of the process shown in A(ii)). The dancers bow to the audience with downcast eyes, holding their open hands vertically together in front of their
chests.
The sad story of the two main characters, Madion and Malelang, begins to be told by the singers in the following bineuih ("procession") section, as the dancers move in a clockwise direction around a pentagon introspectively formation (C2(i)). At this point, the sy?h may vary that structure to create the ticempho ("flying") structure, which creates a dance formation resembling the wings of a bird in flight (Noerdin Daood, pers. com., March 2003). Another alternative is to create a boat-like square formation on top of a half-oval shape (C2(ii), ibid.). The tren dar? haro ("the bride descends to bathe") section then follows (C2(iii) and (iv)). In it the dancers form a meuratap (sad singing) formation that
43 The below are based on the slightly varied of
diagrams
versions
the dance
in which
the
story of Madion andMalelang

et al. (1980-81:179-87).
is told, appearing in Idris et al. (1993:130-31)
and Isjkarim
34
may

comprise an isosceles triangle, and then a half-moon shape with three
dancers following the sy?h, three following the ap?t, and two staying "on the rear depicting the bathing of a bride edge". All the while they perform movements an before the groom joins her for the actual wedding ceremony. Meanwhile as she prepares to appropriate pant?n text is sung about the bride's sad feelings of is also sadness. (This leave her family home. The half-moon shape symbolic a on from Noerdin is communication based Daood.) personal paragraph In the following jak kutimang ("sway back and forth") section, the eight circles dancers form two parallel lines, followed by two clockwise moving a two at two of while the end then and rectangle watching (C2(v)), pairs standing other pairs stand in a diamond or circular formation and depict the swaying of a lovingly suggesting a mother (C2(vi)), their movements baby in a hammock sing a lullaby text. The singing her child to sleep, while the pair of vocalists shape of the diamond formation resembles that of a wajik (traditional Acehnese) cake, which is a commonly used symbol of Acehnese identity (Noerdin Daood,
pers. com., March 2003).
In the next section, entitled ayon aneuk ("sway a child"), two pairs of dancers form a similar rectangle while the other two pairs form a diamond shape projecting outside it and depict the swaying of a baby (C2(vii)). The sy?h stands in front and the others group into a threesome and a foursome respectively, moving to depict the way inwhich a mother sways her baby in a hammock. The house that shape reflects the gable of an Acehnese protruding half-diamond protects the baby inside (Noerdin Daood, pers. com., March 2003). At this point, as in the latter part of a seudati or laweuet performance, the troupe normally adds some crowd-pleasing popular dances and songs in is Indonesian and Acehnese. This may continue for some time if the performance in which case the traditional rules are applied strictly not part of a competition, and less opportunity exists to perform modern dances and songs. The various texts of these so-called laneui (lit., "moving through") or ekstra ("extra") pieces
may serve to provide edification, satisfy a sponsor, or simply entertain. On
the song texts performed may offer advice (for example, to a special occasions, tell a story or jokes appropriate for the occasion, bridal couple at their wedding), is or refer to topical events, with appropriate dances to boot. An example in which the singer performs peuleuet manok ("gold-trimmed chicken/rooster"),44 two parallel lines of four dancers form the two-row a classical text while formation safdua followed by a half-oval or U-shape, with three dancers at the rear forming a triangle (C2(viii)). In another example, the vocalists sing a text entitled bineuih bungong inwhich the dancers stand in two rawatu ("a heavenly bird flower procession"), a rows in formation then (C2(ix)), and finally in a triangular (safdua), parallel single line (saf).
44 rooster March reference term peuleuet manok that several believes is correct seudati to Noerdin are derived Daood from
The
com., of
roosters
2003), who and chickens.
according movements
(pers. those
meaning
"gold-trimmed
read peuleuet other sy?h say the term should However, bride" pers. com., March 2004). (Mark Durie,
manoe,
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35
In the next example, thum b?d?k ("cannon shot"), the dancers reiterate the popular routine of moving diagonally from two parallel rows (safdua) to one (sa? again. In the last laneui example, entitled gr'um it-it manoe ("bathe (the bride) to the sound of beating and prayer"), the eight dancers vary the single line routine by rotating clockwise on the spot (C2(x)). is the closing saleum, in the The final segment of the ph? performance text of which the dancer-vocalists for any request the audience's forgiveness mistakes and sing farewell as they perform the respectful, closing seumah (or in a single line. seumbah) movement
Figure C2. Formations of the ph? dance:
aneuksyah? O
C2(i).
Bineuih
(section
inwhich
the story of Madion
and Maleleng
is sung).
aneuk syah? o o
C2(ii).
Bineuih
(cont).
aneuksyah? O
C2(iii).
Tren dar?
bar o (section
portraying
the bathing 1993:130).
of the bride before her wedding
(in Idris et al.
36

aneuksyah? P
C2(iv).
Tren dar?
baro
(cont.) ^
(in Isjkarim et al. 1980-81:184). ^ N
aneuksyah?
X)
Ox O
p O
C2(v). Jak kutimang (section portraying the way a mother sings her child to sleep).
aneuksyah? o o
C2(vi).
Jak kutimang
(section
portraying
the way
a mother
sways her child
in a hammock).
aneuksyah? P
C2(vii).
Ayon aneuk
(section
showing the way inwhich a mother swings al. 1993:131; Isjkarim et al. 1980-81:181).
her baby to sleep)
(Idris et
KARTOMI
aneuksyah? o o
37
C2(viii).
Laneui
(ekstra)
(dances/songs
for entertainment, manok.
offering
advice,
telling a story): Peuleuet
aneuksyah? P
C2(ix).
Laneui
(ekstra): Binueh
bungong
rawatu.
aneuksyah? P
:0:0:0:0;0:0:0:0;
C2(x). Laneui (ekstra): Gr'um it-it manok.
Formations of the rat?b meuseukat dance (figure C3)45 The dance genre, meuseukat,46 is inmy experience usually performed
of ten or more women, or sometimes men. Kneeling close together on
by a group
their heels
in a row for bodily support, they perform virtuoso body movements and body a in while with alternation of aneuk singing syah? (soloists). They percussion pair sing religious (or sometimes secular) texts about the birth and life of the Prophet themes. This body movement and singing genre is Muhamad and other Muslim to have developed in western Aceh from the widely believed spontaneously after Isya practice of singing songs of praise and performing body movement prayers (observed daily at about 7.30 P.M.), within or outside a religious teacher's
45 46 Based The on Isjkarim et al. (1980-81:191-94). et al. 1980? meuseukat derive from seukat may (Ar.), "to pray" (Isjkarim It could also derive "to move from the Acehnese word meuseuh, while seated"
name
81:114). name
(Bakar et al. 2001:857). According

of the town Muscat on the coast
to Bakar et al. (2001:602),

of Oman.
itmay derive from the
38
home,
and to have begun centuries ago to spread the knowledge of Islam throughout Aceh. Itwas then adapted for entertainment and moral sustenance at weddings and other celebrations (Isjkarim et al. 1980-81:114). The group body percussion includes breast or front of shoulder and and thigh beating, clapping, finger snapping. Each group participant weaves identical patterns in the air with the hands, repeatedly raises and bends the torso or shoulders, and performs neck and head movements. In its formations and it resembles the ph? dance, but its basic formation is a single saf costumes, which is drawn below (C3) for structural comparison with other performances that have been mentioned. aneuksyah? ?\
dancers
oooooooooooo
Figure Often each C3. Rat?b meuseukat (*sy?h, **ap?t). movements: while each for example, even-numbered
create of performers pairs odd-numbered performer
"border moves
pattern"-like forwards
performer moves
backwards
in continuous motion
for a period of time.
Formations in the frame drum playing genres As noted above, some typical floor plans for dancer-musicians
performances of by musician-dancers who play four frame drums
are also used

while performing
in
concerted body movements

singing religious or secular
in alternation with body percussion

texts. These frame drum
episodes
and the
Pas?,
genres?rapa'i
and rapa 'ipulot?are frequently performed in rapa 'igeurimpheng, or more two between line up sides. Rows of players usually competitions one or more rows turn in in each in After all the other opposite competitions. team, influenced by groups have performed, the judges announce the winning criteria such as the compactness of group sound produced, musical and choreographic
ornamentation,
rapa 'idab?h,
quality,
and the
the
costumes
lead
worn,
singer's
as well
poetic
as audience
invention
acclaim.
and melodic
alternate between bouts of thunderous Rapa'i Pas? performances sounding drumming and the singing of secular or religious song texts. In the heavy long wooden frames from which the great competitive performances, rapa 'i are suspended are placed in, say, three or four diagonal lines on each side of a competition organiser (kali rapa 'i) standing in the middle. A player stands behind each rapa 'i,with another man standing alongside it to steady its swing
after it is beaten. This layout is based on the central-point-in-a-circle concept of
space, enclosing geometric formations, each consisting of two pairs of three parallel lines arranged at 90 degree diagonal directions in an open, at 'i circular with the kali the stationed central space, rapa conceptually point (see diagram 3).
one or more
KARTOMI
39
Diagram
3. Layout
of a r?pai Pas?
competition
in an open
space.
in the secular rapa'i The formations of the all-male participants and rapa'ipulot genres are basically linear, somewhat resembling geurimpheng those of rat?b meuseukat. The players kneel either in a single line or a set of two or three parallel lines (see D(ii) and D(iii) below). However, the highly religious is appropriately connotations, rapa'i dab?h, with its Rifa'iyyah47 Sufi-Muslim Acehnese-Perso-Arabic based on the circular-and-middle-point concept of space in 7 in each As the solo vocal role the dances, rapa genre is assumed (see D(i)). a in of vocal soloists dab?h, (aneuk syah?)?or, by one or two kalipah by pair formulae and standard verbal (lit., "caliph")?who freshly improvised poetic sing texts and lead the group singing. Rapa 7 dab?h musicians traditionally sit cross-legged on the ground out of-doors on each side of the sy?h in a circular formation, each playing his frame drum held on his lap or placed vertically on the ground or medium-large floor in front of him, as befits this most strongly Muslim form o? rapa'i playing. (If performing on a stage, they form a half-circle, but this is a recent practice.) The religious leader (kalipah) and his assistant or co-equal leader usually stand or sit on one side to control certain religiously inspired specialist performers or onlookers as they enter into a trance-like state of religious concentration or invulnerability, during which they may stab themselves with a dab?h (from the Arabic dabbus) awl or dagger, or perform other feats, such as placing white-hot
47 Rifai 'yyah is theArabic name of a Sufi fraternity that probably derives (like the name of
the Acehnese (died 1182). frame The drum brotherhood rapa'i) was from strong the name in Aceh of the great in the early Rifa'i saint Syeh Ahmed to late second millennium
and traces of it remain to this day (Kartomi 2004:54).
40
or pain felt, in the belief chains on their necks, with no apparent consequences that they are protected by Allah. to in the Sufi-influenced dab?h genre aim mainly Participants to demonstrate their religious concentration and achieve a feeling of closeness God by repeating, for hours on end, the names of Allah and the relevant Prophets, Ibrahim, and Sulaiman. The religious names or texts that especially Muhamad, are constantly repeated, chanted, or sung solo and in chorus are intended for the edification of any listeners as well as the participants. I have seen competitive performances featuring sixty men on each side.48 In certain exciting parts of a between two dab?h groups, the performers on one side aim session competitive to confuse and musically "defeat" the other by destroying its established The survives the frame drum side that rhythms. disruptive rhythms is repetitive
the winner. In the secular rapa 'igeurimpheng and rapa 'ipulot genres, as mentioned
above, players of these smaller and thinner frame drums, led by the sy?h and his assistant the aneuk sy?h, usually begin by forming a single line and then adopt other formations. The basic formation of a group of rapa'i geurimpheng players is as shown inD(ii). Besides playing their frame drums, they also perform body movements and body percussion, and sing in response to the singing of their aneuk syah?. After placing their instruments on the ground or floor, the musicians divide into
pairs or threesomes to perform alternating movements, such as weaving patterns
the players are in the air with their hands. In rapa 'igeurimpheng performances, in the geometric sometimes joined by a group of dancers, who perform formations discussed above, including the separate row, pair of parallel rows, the circle, the figure of eight, and the concentric rectangular shape.
As a special feature of a rapa 'ipulot performance, a group of acrobats
may be added to the group of player-singers. The acrobats aim further to amuse and entertain their audience with their physical and verbal feats, forming a linear formation in parallel to the musicians (D(iii)). In some cases there is an odd number of players, with between three and seven acrobats; but the total number is flexible, with twenty, thirty, or even more in a group, often playing in competition with another group. After the musicians the acrobats perform feats such as walking play the frame drums for a while, along their shoulders or outstretched hands, then jump up in the air to create formations, called salikih. Each type of vertical formation is upright-triangular a number: salikih 1, salikih 2, salikih 3, etc. (Ali Akbar, pers. distinguished by acrobats stand on the shoulders of their colleagues who are The com., 2003). or at the lower level levels. In such cases, some men may jump up to standing create a vertical triangular formation of three, or even up to five, rows, with the
lowest row of up to seven men supporting a row of, say, five men standing on
their shoulders, 48
three men
standing on theirs, and one at the top, thus presenting
For a detailed description of a 1982 dab?h (also spelled daboih) performance

see Kartomi (1991:33-52). (1991:529-38), and for a 1972 performance inMinangkabau,
in
Lhokseumawe, see Kartomi
KARTOMI
41
formation that stretches high into the air. Formations of rapa 'ipulot musicians are a little more complex than those of the other frame drum genres; they mainly comprise linear and parallel linear shapes plus vertical triangular shapes up in the the still more complex dance air above the main row of musicians. Unlike formations, however, all the rapa 7-playing genres have formations conceived either on the basis of a linear-geometrical concept of space or the central-point
in-a-circle concept.** Figure D. Formations of frame drum players:
kalipah P
* = sy?h ** = aneuk
sy?h
formation of musicians D(i). Rapa 'idab?h, a circular or new-moon shaped semi-circular playing his religious frame drums, with a lead devotee at centre point demonstrating large to medium-sized concentration (based on Burhan and Idris 1986-87:105, 124-27). audience aneuk syah?
<-rapa
?,players-* * * Q =sy?h ** = aneuk
oooooooooooo **
sy?h
D(ii).
Rapa
'igeurimpheng
(a linear formation boy acrobats
of musicians
playing medium-sized
frame drums).
0 0 0?
aneuk
syah?
?-rapa
>? players
oooooooooooo
Q *= sy?h ** = aneuk sy?h
D(iii).
Rapa
'ipulot
(two parallel
linear formations
of acrobats
and musicians
playing medium-sized
frame drums).
42
Conclusion the four concepts of space that permeate Acehnese artistic thought and practice and influence design in the performing and visual arts, the geometric and concept is dominant in the construction of formations of dancer-musicians as as most and well traditional embroideries musician-dancers, carvings and some modern paintings. This concept, which probably dates back to the pre era (before c. 300 B.C.E.), is expressed in the straight line, parallel D?ng-son concentric lines, diamonds, straight parallelograms, designs, and curved lines, with the latter including figures of eight, ovals, and leaf and flower shapes. These in relation to an ideal of symmetry, are conceived geometric shapes, mostly found in floor plans of such genres as seudati, rapa 7 geurimpheng, and rapa 7 pulot, and in the traditional and modern visual arts. The parallel circular rills carved around the body of a rapa 7 Pas? produce a visual-ornamental effect, but also enable the player to produce a richer sound. The upstrearn-downstream directional concept, governed by the raw to centuries-old travel for materials and downstream for upstream tendency an to connects attitude trade, spaces upstream inward-looking, mystical and Hindu-Buddhism and downstream associated with Animism spaces to an success. attitude and This commercial resulted ancient division outward-looking in the expression of distinctive preferences in artistic design in the upstream as opposed to the downstream performing and visual arts. Thus, upstream people than do tend to sing and play quieter, softer, more introspective music who favour downstream residents, louder, and more extroverted high-pitched, music. The division also influences the traditional ways of making the arts and crafts. For example, when making a great frame drum (rapa 7 Pas?), mystically inclined craftsmen travel upstream to request the nature spirits' permission to fell a selected tree in an environmentally respectful way, then make their mystically Of
powerful instruments as ancestral-venerating objects in workshops downstream.
The spatial concept that is based on the central-point-in-a-circle idea is as having a parallel in Perso-Arabic seen by many Acehnese thinking. The idea of arranging circular or concentric-circular shapes around a central point in Acehnese dance formations or visual art designs, and of building towns around a centrally situated mosque, points to Persian, Moghul, Turkish, Arabic, and other These trade and Muslim historical linkages with Aceh over the past millennium. over in historical links the centuries as deepened importance religious-based a circular visited the Land and countries. Thus, Holy surrounding pilgrims created by ph? artists dancing around their leader at the formation?whether central point, by seudati dancers standing around their sy?h in the opening bak saman section, or rapa'i dab?h players seated around a religious devotee? constitutes an important feature of Acehnese dance and music formation design. concept of space is related to the Finally, the cardinal directional in Aceh mainly run between north since rivers concept, upstream-downstream the directional grid is and south. Linked to Animist-Hindu-Buddhist cosmology, still associated with the basic colours used in the visual arts and crafts, costumes, and performance arena decoration. These colours are white (which is associated
KARTOMI
with east and the metal
43
silver), red (which is associated with south and a copper gold alloy), yellow (which is associated with west and the metal gold), black (which is associated with north and the metal iron), and a mixture of colours (which is associated with the centre point and a four-metal alloy). As the above study aimed to show, parallels between the Acehnese performing and visual arts lie in their application of the principle of freedom versus form, a principle that is widely used, of course, in artistic genres found in many societies, but with particularities of style in each instance. In Acehnese performances of dance and music, a degree of spontaneous creativity is expected of the lead singer and dancer in contrast to the disciplined and compactness as a creator the the of visual structural of artistic group, just cyclic redundancy artwork invents an original new design within the allowable stylistic limits while and other also to use some cyclically choosing repetitive border designs established patterns. Thus, the lead singer and/or dancer in a group are relatively free to improvise and design variations in the formations practised by their group of followers, whose corresponding role, however, is to perform recurrent patterns in a highly disciplined and compact way, albeit often with virtuosity and building up to a breathtakingly fast tempo at the end of a section of performance. of the linear and concentric geometric concept of space, Applications
the central-point-in-circle concept and the colour associations of the cardinal
grid in the formations of performing artists resemble those used in invention, free ornamentation, designs produced by visual artists. Creative and texts symmetry, and cyclic redundancy are also qualities of the melodies sung by artists in their formations in a performance arena. In both traditional and contemporary practice, a remarkable unity of thought and practice is expressed in Acehnese artists' applications of the concepts of space in many of their music, directions
dance, and visual arts designs.
Acknowledgements Iwish warmly to thank many leading musicians, dancers, and arts administrators in our field trips (i) throughout Aceh in who assisted H. Kartomi and myself 1982, including Bp. M. Husin Amin of Kecamatan Samalanga and Bp. Kalifah B. A. Kalisyik and (ii) in and Ibu Aisyah Daud of Kecamatan Perusangan, in 2003, especially Bp. M. Riza (Artistic Director of the Festival Lhokseumawe Seni Tradisional Aceh dan Seurun? Kal?e Aceh Nanggroe Sepropinsi in Lhokseumawe in 1983), Bp. Ali Akbar (Director of Museum Darussalam in Lhokseumawe), Malikussaleh and Bp. Samsudin Jali of Lhokseumawe. Bp. Tarmizi A. Karim (Bupati of North Aceh), and Ny. Inayati S. Tarmizi extended their hospitality and gave us access to many artists. The Bireuen-born dance leader and choreographer Sy?h Lah Geunta from near Langsa also allowed us to record his performances and demonstrations during the Festival. In 1982, 2002, and 2003, and teaching leaders of many sanggar (dance performing us to of allowed record the dances and musical performances organisations) in this article (especially leaders o?ph? troupes: Ibu Cut Asia genres mentioned inMeulaboh in 1982, Ibu Rohani and the aneuk syah? Ibu Nurbaiti from Aceh
44
in Jakarta in in 2003, and Ibu Krishnamurti of Meulaboh Jaya in Lhokseumawe was Monash Council. the Australian Research funded field work by 2004). My me field lent Music?Conservatorium of School equipment. University's I am grateful to the Sigli-born choreographer, dancer, and lecturer at Institut Kesenian Jakarta (IKJ) Bp. Noerdin Daood, who assisted me throughout of Acehnese the years with his great practical knowledge performing arts and allowed us to accompany him, with Iwan Dzulvan Amir, to attend the Festival in dancer and aneuk syah? in early 2003. The fine Blangpidie-born Lhokseumawe performing arts at IKJ, has Bp. Marzuki Hassan, also a lecturer in Acehnese kindly informed and assisted me inmany ways. I am grateful to Professors Teuku in Yogyakarta for their Jakub and Ibrahim Alfian of Universitas Gajah Mada art and history, and to the Meulaboh-born discussions with me about Acehnese painter Bp. A. Pirous in Bandung for his informative letter and kind permission to reproduce one of his paintings in this article. Dr. Lance Castles and Dr. Mark I am also Durie provided valuable historical and linguistic advice respectively. and other of about seudati his to Amir's Iwan Dzulvan insights sharing grateful aspects of the performing arts with me during and after his 2003-4 fieldwork. Finally, a warm thank you to my research associates Dr. Kay Dreyfus and Ms Bronia Kornhauser for keeping my data in order in the Monash music archives and assisting in scores of other ways.
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Bar-Yosef, Amatzia
of and space concept: A model time organization Musical 45/3: 423-42 cross-cultural analogy. Ethnomusicology Clara Brakel-Papenhuijzen, 1992 The Bedhaya court dances of central Java. Leiden: E. J. Brill. Brinkgreve, Francine, and David Stuart-Fox 1992 Offerings: The ritual art of Bali. Singapore: Select Books and Image Network 2001
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Buchari, Machmud, Sanento Yuliman, and Anas Siregar 1985 A. D. Pirous, lukisan, etsa dan cetak saring?pameran retrospektip [A. D. Pirous, painting, etching, and serigraphy? retrospective exhibition]. Galeri Decenta: Bandung
Burhan, Firdaus, and Z. Z. Idris, eds.
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Ensiklopedi musik dan tari daerah propinsi daerah istimewa Aceh. Jakarta: Department of Education and Culture, Inventory of Regional Culture. Project for Documentation Sekilas mengenai tari seudati Aceh seudati]. Unpublished manuscript. [About the Acehnese dance
Daood, Noerdin c.1995

F. W.
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The size of trees in the Malay peninsula. Journal Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 4/3: 382-84.
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Geertz, Clifford 1960 The religion of Java. Glencoe, The Free Press. 111.: Anca Giurchescu, 2003 Dance in traditional Romanian aesthetics communities. Yearbook for Traditional Music 35: 163-72. Goldsworthy, David 1978 Honey-collecting on the east coast of north ceremonies
Sumatra. In Studies in Indonesian music, ed. Margaret Kartomi,
1^4. Monash Papers on Southeast Asia, Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University.
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Heekeren, H. R. van
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1932 Bedeutung und Herkunft der aeltesten hinter-indischen Metalltrommeln Asia 8: 519-37. (Kesselgongs). Major Hobart, Mark 1978
A. N. J. Th.
The path of the soul: The legitimacy of nature conceptions of space. InMilner 1978: 5-28.
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Indonesian ornamental design. Djakarta: Koninklijk van K?nsten enWetenschappen. Batviaasch Genootschap Idris, Z. H., Abd. Hadjad, Ali Hasan, Z. Z. Idris, and Alamsyah 1993 Peralatan hiburan dan kesenian tradisional propinsi daerah istimewa Aceh [Instruments of entertainment and traditional arts of the special province of Aceh]. Jakarta and Banda Aceh: Department of Education and Culture. Roneoed text.
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et al. Isjkarim (Chair of Research Committee), of Banda Aceh: Kesenian tradisional Aceh. 1980-81 Department Education and Culture, Art Development Project in the Special text. Region of Aceh. Unpublished
Kartomi, Margaret
1990 1991
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On concepts and classifications of musical instruments. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. of and methods of the intercultural Problems reception its In Tradition and and future in analysing rhythm. describing et 529-38. Tokumaru ed. Yoshihiko al., music, Proceedings of 1990. the International of Society Musicological Symposium Osaka: Mita Press. "If a man can kill a buffalo with one blow he can play a rapa 7 facets of Acehnese Pas?: How the frame drum expresses and Chii-i Journal of Folklore, Religion identity. Min-su Theatre 144 (June): 39-87. Hands
Djambatan. ed.
Leigh, Barbara 1989

Milner, G. B.,
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1978 Needham,
Natural symbols of south east Asia. London: and African Studies.
School of Oriental
Joseph of sound by timbre. 1962 Sound (acoustics): Section 4. Classification in China, Vol. 4: Physics and In Science and civilisation 141-56. Cambridge: Part 1: Physics, technology, physical Cambridge University Press. Md Mohd Anis Nor, world. Singapore: Oxford 1993 Zapin, folk dance of the Malay
University Press.
Sedyawati,
Edi Jakarta: Sinar Harapan. 1981 Pertumbukan senipertunjukan. 1984 Ed. Tari, tinjauan dari berbagai segi. Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya. Shorto, H. L., A. Turton, and A. Christie and the points of the 1978 The planets, the days of the week in InMilner 1978: "Burma". Orientation compass: symbolism
5-28.
Snouck Hurgronje, C. 1906 The Achehnese.

Stokes, Martin, ed.
English
translation. 2 vols. Leyden: E. J. Brill.
1994
In Ethnicity, Introduction: Ethnicity, identity and music. 1-28. construction The musical and music: of place, identity Oxford/Providence: Berg.
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Discography
Kartomi, Margaret
1998
The music of Islam, Muslim

Sumatra, vol. 15. Tucson,
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GLOSSARY OF ACEHNESE DANCE, MUSIC, AND RELATED TERMS

aneuk syah?, lit., "child of poetry", (or aneuk dhiek or aneuk seudati), one of a pair of alternating vocalists who improvise pant?n and other texts aneuk sy?h (or ap?t sy?h), assistant leader ap?t, ap?t sy?h, assistant lead dancer ap?t likot, assistant lead dancer at the rear ap?t uneuen, assistant lead dancer on the right ap?t wie, assistant lead dancer on the left asek, moving of the head to the left ayon aneuk, sway a child back and forth in a hammock bineuih bungong rawatu, a procession with music and dance. Lit., a flower and heavenly bird procession, where bineuih means "procession", bungong
means bintang "flower", buleuen, and lit., "star rawatu means and moon", "heavenly a half-circle bird" formation
cicem po, a figure of eight formation, where

"respected"
cicem
literally means
"bird" and po
led by a religious dab?h, (i) an awl; (ii) a Sufi Rifa'iyah-based performance in which leader (kalipah, pawang) stab religiously inspired performers themselves with an awl or dagger to show their religious concentration and invulnerability, to the accompaniment of mass frame drum playing and songs of praise of Allah and the Prophets dhet, clapping hands while lifting shoulders
ekstra, an extra dance and/or song item
geudham gaki, stamping the feet while gl?ng, a circular dance formation
gr'um it-it means means manoe, "sound "bathe" "bathe of to the sound beating",
snapping the fingers

of beating "sound of and zikir prayer", prayer", where and gr'um manoe
it-it means
or unwritten Acehnese that are sung and hikayat, written literary works declaimed in sanjak metre, including epics, tales of fiction, religious legends, and moral instruction jak kutimang, (i) lit., "if I sway back and forth"; (ii) swaying back and forth jilbab, female Muslim head scarf kalipah, lit., caliph, a religious and artistic leader in a dab?h performance keutep jarou, finger snapping kisah, story-telling section in a seudati performance langkah, a sequence of forward and backward steps lanieu, (i) lit., "move toward"; (ii) extra item (see ekstra)
48
laweuet

(from salaweuet, Ar. salawat), a female dance that is also known as
inong, (lit., "female seudati") l?nglong, moving freely, in disarray dance configuration likok, body movement, rear at the likot, behind, likot sago, dancer on the rear edge
meuratap, to mourn with song and dance
seudati
nyap, bending of knees nyet, bending of knees with feet apart pant?n, quatrain verse with rhyming couplets peuleuot manoe, gold-trimmed bride peuleuot manok, gold-trimmed chicken/rooster
pha rangkang, concentric square or rectangular dance formation, where pha
literally means "thigh" and rangkang means "single men's hut in a field" ph?, a group dance performed by unmarried girls (originally from Blang Pidie, according toMarzuki Hassan, pers. com.). Formerly a dance of grief at the death of a child or adult, latterly a dance depicting a sad legend about a brother and sister (Madion and Malelang) accused of incest a inwhich dancers corporately circular formation puta taloe, lit., "swirling rope", move like a swirling rope ranub lampuan, a dance in which young girls welcome honoured guests by offering them betel nut and accessories from a tray rapa 7, frame drum frame drum used in dab?h (also sp. dab?ih in rapa'i dab?h, (i) medium-large a devotional genre practised in different styles in many parts of Aceh); (ii) Indonesia and Malaysia under the name of dabus, debus, or gedebus, from the Arabic dabbus ("an iron awl") frame drum with (usually) copper disc rapa 7 geurimpheng, (i) a medium-sized jingles attached; (ii) a genre in which a group of frame drum players (often in competitive and body sing and perform body movement groups) percussion with a pair of solo singers rapa 7 Pas?, (i) the largest kind of frame drum in Aceh, played in a suspended position; possibly a transitional form between a waisted double-headed drum and a single-headed frame drum; (ii) a genre in which a group of musicians play the rapa 7 Pas?, often, until recently, in competition with other groups frame drum; (ii) a genre which partly resembles rapa 7 pulot, (i) medium-sized rapa 7 geurimpheng, but usually includes acrobats in various rat?b (ratib, Ar.), religious song with body movement occurring
genres, for example, saman
rat?b meuseukat, a devotional performance featuring body movement by a line of singers of mainly religious songs led by a soloist (originally a female dance believed to have originated inMeulaboh, latterly a male dance too; Ibu Cut
Asia, pers. com.)
rat?b sadati, an early twentieth century spelling of the seudati dance, with its religious origin emphasising a in circle rheng, turning
rat?b
KARTOMI
sadati, (i) young boy seudati dancers; used throughout Snouck Hurgronje safbineh, the front row
safdua, two rows

(ii) seudati 1906) dance (sadati
49
is the spelling
safrueng,
safsa, one
the back row

row
sago, lit., "edge", dancer on the edge (of a formation) saleum, greeting, the initial greeting section of a dance saman, (i) a poetic song-movement performing section of a seudati performance; (ii) song of "advice" in a seudati performance; (iii) a rat?b (group body movement with singing of songs of praise to Allah and the Prophet), with or in central without rapa'i accompaniment, reputed to have been developed Aceh by Muhamad Saman centuries ago (Noerdin Daood, pers. com.) song' verse structure with internal rhyme sanjak, the most distinctively Acehnese within and between lines (spelled sanja throughout Snouck Hurgronje 1906)
seudati, seudati agam, lit., male seudati dance
seumbah, dancer's respectful gesture at the beginning and the end of a dance sy?h, dance designer and leader who may also dance with a group
tampong, lit., "roof-top line", a linear dance formation
thum b?d?k, lit., "cannon shot" tren dar? baro, lit., "go down to bathe the bride"
u u kreueng, kreueng, downstream u pucok kreueng, upstream upstream-downstream downstream
u kuala ulu-ilir,
kreueng, (B.M.)
DEDICATION POSTSCRIPT
Just as this article was going to press, I learned that many of my friends and in Aceh and their families and countrymen and women were horribly colleagues affected by the series of earthquakes and massive incursions of giant waves of the sea that hit the whole coast of Aceh on 26 December 2004. The tsunamis wreaked devastation right around the Indian Ocean, but Aceh was closest to the in store for epicentre, and suffered an enormous loss of life, with utter misery those who survived. This article is dedicated to the people of all walks of life in Aceh in their great suffering, including the artists about whom I have had the
honour to write.

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Some Implications of Local Concepts of Space in the Dance, Music, and Visual Arts of Aceh Author(s): Margaret Kartomi

dating back to the pre-D?ng-son

in various expressed the central-point-in-a-circle

accompaniment, frame drum, drum,

2004 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

ideas about the nature of space and its human organisation,

is it intended movement, Structural found

(1993:132-56). body percussion

ACEH CONCEPTSOF SPACE

2004 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

discussions etc, see

cosmologies Christie otherwise to Arabic). mainly

and "Ar." culture

in 1982-83 and 2003 and unpublished booklets on music

ACEH CONCEPTSOF SPACE

to be ruled by his son Ahmad. Then he founded and built a mosque

2004 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

pointed concept mountain look down

the ulu-ilir (upstream typically

as people), on "primitive" in the interior. Western penetrating upstream the belief

the mysterious forests retaining that spirits inhabit

ACEH CONCEPTSOF SPACE

2004 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

their height provides protection (Goldsworthy

1978:1). If they contain hives, they are

of ?leum?e, for " sih? black

Pas?'s rapa'i their mystical

ACEH CONCEPTSOF SPACE

They are also dominant

and social meaning (Kartomi 2004). spiritual 16

Boer 1981:32-33). 17 A Balinese m?ndala days, and ritual

2004 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

r/Pu tih/p erak

South/Red/Suasa (Mixture of gold & copper)

Due object appear (pers.

pederasty, ulama-Xz? increasing in some performances, and others in the

ACEH CONCEPTSOF SPACE

2004 YEARBOOK FORTRADITIONAL MUSIC

ACEH CONCEPTSOF SPACE

MUSIC 2004 YEARBOOK FORTRADITIONAL

Although geometric for their use in Muslim that Islam, strictly

ACEH CONCEPTSOF SPACE

hypothesis the longitudinal

the seventeenth designs.

MUSIC 2004 YEARBOOK FORTRADITIONAL

ACEH CONCEPTSOF SPACE

a term meaning a thus kasab bantai thread is used as

background to as kasab blayat, of degree west and geometric,

2004). that features

2004 YEARBOOK FORTRADITIONAL MUSIC

ACEH CONCEPTSOF SPACE

2004 YEARBOOK FORTRADITIONAL MUSIC

(Concise Oxford Dictionary, OUP, 1964).

ACEH CONCEPTSOF SPACE

Jak ku - ti -mang hai a neukmeu - jak ku - ti -mang, jak ku - ti -mang Bung

ong keu mang hai a -neuk_mu

Bung ong keu mang hai a-neuk_mu

oh sa -yangjwhha-te Jak ku-do - dohai a-neukdodo - da i - di a-neuk si-bang Si kum

- noe hai a - neuk bak bi - neh. pa

2004 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

of lowest rank (as shown in diagram 2).

ACEH CONCEPTSOF SPACE

30 A recording of this excerpt may be found on Kartomi (1998:track 1). 31