Abstract
Much of the current body of literature that deals with music in Indonesia has focussed mainly on Java and Bali, and gamelan, with fewer scholarly works examining musical traditions from further afield, such as Sunda, or Lombok. This book takes a long-overdue look at the instrumental genre of talempong, a Sumatran musical genre that, during any serious conversation regarding Indonesian instrumental arts, is too often overlooked in favour of its Javanese and Balinese (and even Sundanese) counterparts. Jennifer A Fraser’s book provides a detailed study of talempong, analysing not only its various styles and musical construction, but also providing valid reasons for changes to ensemble makeup and instrumental layout.
The book contains six chapters, with the first serving to explain who the Minangkabau are, and to situate them within a wider Indonesian context, giving us recent history of this particular social group. It also introduces us to various Minangkabau cultural and social practices, and briefly explains talempong and its instrumentation.
In the second chapter, Fraser analyses talempong further (both the instrumentation and the music), discussing the several types of ensemble in depth, and providing local context for its performance. She demonstrates how various villages and districts identify with different characteristics of talempong music. However, she also provides social background alongside the musical analyses, giving valuable ethnographic insight into local Minangkabau culture, showing how the music is used in various events in local life, and how important it is in said events.
In Chapter 3, we see how talempong (and other Minangkabau musical genres) is transmitted, both locally and nationally. This in turn raises an issue that is quite well-known to any student or scholar of Indonesian music (of any kind) – namely, the standardisation of musical repertoire in the arts academies, something that has already been noted many times in studies of Javanese and Balinese music, but less so with regard to Sumatran music. In this chapter, we are given background, not only of how the arts academies were introduced, but also why local (and national) governments thought such institutions were necessary, and how they now operate with an almost contradictory mission statement.
Fraser continues her examination of talempong in the next two chapters, demonstrating how it evolved into newer styles of music, and the social and economic factors that necessitated its evolution. She also provides detailed analyses of several of these newer styles, showing how they relate to their musical ancestors, how they led to even newer musical forms and how proponents of the older styles feel about the new musical genres. In addition, we are shown how talempong was, and is, paramount in the creation and continuation of the sense of Minangkabau identity, and how the newer styles have eliminated particular markers of local identity within the music, in favour of a music that serves to create a pan-Minangkabau identity. Finally, Chapter 6 provides a fairly concise summary of the issues raised in the previous five chapters.
Fraser’s provision of audiovisual material is very informative, particularly the videos, which serve to help the reader understand talempong in its local context, and also serve to help any listener to separate the various musical strands that make up this style of music. Yet, if there is one criticism that I could make of this book, it would be in relation to these same audiovisual examples and photos. At the beginning of the book we are told that all audio and visual materials, as well as additional photos, can be found on the Ohio University Press website. However, this is not so helpful if a reader has to keep running to their computer/tablet, etc. to listen to audio examples, or to watch videos that are referenced during explanations of talempong and its uses in various performance contexts. I would definitely have preferred a CD at the back of the book (as with many other ethnomusicological works), with the website being saved for video materials only. This odd separation of text and accompanying material is particularly telling when it comes to photos of various instruments, events and ensembles, since there are relatively few photos contained in the book itself, yet Fraser refers to more than a few photos that are only on the website, thus forcing the reader to interrupt the flow of the book’s narrative to go and hunt down a photo.
Additionally, I would like to add a personal opinion, namely that I could not find any instances of Fraser’s enjoyment of this music. While others might argue that relating such a personal, emotionally-laden opinion would be wrong, especially given the academic nature of the work, I find that when an ethnomusicologist demonstrates a passion for the music they are studying (and about which they are writing), this enjoyment of the subject material becomes infectious, which in turn makes the reader that much more inclined to learn more about said subject material.
However, despite this, Fraser’s book is still a hugely interesting work, shining a light on a magnificent genre of Indonesian music, serving to clarify it for those of us who might have heard of talempong, and maybe even heard some recordings, but knew little else.