The Galombang Wave and the Silek Body 359

Chapter 12 The Galombang Wave and the Silek Body1

Indija Mahjoeddin

Introduction

The sense of body, personal space and performance values employed in the Indonesian folk opera called ,2 have been uniquely patterned by the culture from which randai originates, setting them apart from Western styles of corporeality. Randai has been described in an ethnographic context whether by scholars from inside or outside its culture and practice (Kartomi 1981, Nor 1986, Harun 1975 and 1992, Zulkifli 1993, Pauka 1996, 1998a, 1998b and 2003, Latrell 1999, 2000a and 2000b and Cohen 2004). Field observa- tions combined with explications by insider informants, and in some cases participation by the researcher have largely provided the data used in these studies. However, transcultural performances of randai such as those con- ducted in Hawaii (Askovic, Pauka & Polk, 2003; see further Pauka’s chapter in the present book) and (Cohen, 2004, p. 226, Leonard & Mahjoeddin, 2004) provide opportunities to examine factors that may only come to light when confronted by the outsider practitioner. Whether as audience, observer or performer, approaching randai from a Western vantage point and body culture may be facilitated by a better under- standing of how these differences shape the overall dynamics of a randai performance. This chapter discusses some of the ways in which practices of (the Malay-Indonesian martial art, referred to subsequently in the Minang language as silek3) have generated the forms and value hierarchies in a cluster of choreographed elements within randai called tari galombang (“wave dance”). The discussion will survey ways in which a body that is innately

1 This chapter is adapted from Chapter 5 – The Physical Language: Negotiating ‘Silek’ in Mahjoeddin, I.N., Randai as a Contemporary Dramaturgy: Obstacles and Insights from an Intercultural Transposition. Unpublished Thesis, N. U., 2011. 2 In this chapter foreign words are given in Baso Minang (= BMin) unless otherwise stated. 3 In the pancak and silek are used alone and interchangeably to refer to two distinct usages – that of the fighting form silat and its aesthetic derivatives also referred to as pamenan (BI., permainan) (see Utama, 2012, 66–166). Following this practice I will use silek to refer to the broad silek field of practice including those derivatives more usually referred to in Indonesian by the compound .

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2016 | doi 10.1163/9789004308756_014 360 Mahjoeddin conscious of the silek logic of movement, the silek body, negotiates tari galombang differently from a body entrenched in a Western performance intelligence. My reflections are drawn from my experience observing, training and per- forming with randai troupes in West , initially as a Western-trained performer exploring my own cultural roots, and subsequently through teach- ing a variety of non-Minangkabau participants in the context of rehearsals, training processes and community workshops in Australia. In a series of inter- cultural randai performances, which I undertook in Australia between 1998 and 2006,4 the encounter between the silek vocabulary and the Western body provided fertile ground for insights into the unique qualities of movement in randai. The Western perspectives are not meant to be representative of any particular theory but are derived from actual body responses among a hundred participants over five separate randai production processes that included mixed levels of professionalism, ages, performance disciplines and positions in relation to Malay-Indonesian culture.

Randai

Randai, a hybrid theatre form, was described as an arena theatre by Minang cultural commentators workshopping a definition and cultural strategy for randai in the 1975 round table discussion known as the first Sarasehan Randai (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1975). The term ‘arena theatre’ indicates the circular staging configuration of randai, a populist performance art typically performed in the late evening in a village plaza. Randai is founded on three core Minangkabau art forms of older prove- nance. One of these is the story form, kaba, specifically traditional oral narratives chanted solo by an epic singer in a practice called seni bakaba. A song form called dendang typically sung in pairs with flute accompaniment, and the third is a martial art form pencak silat known in the Minangkabau language as silek. A story told in randai form is usually from an original kaba for delivery through two alternating modalities, adegan and legaran. When using adegan (‘scenes’) the story is declaimed in character dialogues within a circle described by seated players. When using legaran (‘revolutions’) the story is sung while the players move in a circular dance about the singer. Between each legaran and its adjacent scenes, and similarly between each verse within songs,

4 Three of these were discussed in Mahjoeddin, 2011. On similar observations on intercultural randai performances see also the chapter by Pauka in the present book.