While the days when rajas ruled and spirits were called have long since past, the royal descendants still hold an important symbolic role in Mandailing society, and it is largely through these families that gordang sambilan has descended through the generations. It was in this context that the booming drums and gongs were played, the thunderous sound calling the spirits from other planes. Before Islam was forcefully brought to the area from the Minangkabau south in the 1820s, the Mandailing people largely followed pele begu, a system of animist beliefs.
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In those days gordang sambilan was only to be played in the context of royalty, at royal funerals and other occasions, and its immense sound was likely intended as a symbol of kingly strength. It was under this royal system that gordang sambilan took the elaborate form it holds to this day. Nonetheless, in the 18th and 19th centuries when gordang sambilan originally prospered, the raja was extremely powerful in his own way, owning the whole village’s land and even slaves. The remarkable rhythm machine of gordang sambilan was likely only able to blossom from its humble bamboo roots in the powerful hands of the raja. A remarkable thing one notices when traveling through the Mandailing homeland is that nearly every village has a raja, a figurehead who, despite the lofty name, is more of a local chieftain than a ruler of a vast kingdom. Finally, if you make it to Aceh in Sumatra's far north, the drums have shrunk down to nothing, and the Acehnese have nothing to hit but their own bodies. Continue farther north to the Karo highlands, and you'll find only a handful of tiny gendang karo, torpedo-shaped drums almost small enough to wrap your fingers around. Head north to the Batak lands of Lake Toba, the joke goes, and the drums have shrunk - the taganing drums used in gondang sabangunan ensembles there are significantly smaller, with only five tuned drums being used. Sound: Gordang sambilan (literally "Nine gordang")ĭrums, Mandailing people like to joke, are grandest in their neck of the woods - the nine massive drums used in their gordang sambilan ensembles are an impressive sight, with thick barrels constructed from whole tree trunks. Location: Ulu Pungkut, Mandailing Natal, North Sumatra The recording starts outside the performance space and slowly draws closer until it is in the thick of the action (for this reason, be careful with your volume settings - it becomes much louder as the track progresses.) Once inside the belly of the percussive beast, the aural perspective moves freely amidst the space, highlighting various instrumental elements for the listener.
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(Dari Jauh) begins with an experimental demonstration of the Mandailing belief that "music is perceived as being loveliest when it is heard from afar ( onak nidege siandao), when its conflicting parts meld into a unified whole." (Kartomi 2012).