Indonesian RandaiEducation Resource Packet

Sponsored in part by

Dear Educators,

Welcome to the world of randai! The Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is delighted to introduce Indonesian randai to you and your students.

Randai is the traditional folk dance-drama of the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, Indonesia. Randai plays are based on well-known folk tales, local musical traditions, and martial arts. Randai features dancing, acting, martial arts, music and singing; and its signature pants-slapping percussion called tapuak galembong.

This Education Resource Packet includes materials and resources to introduce you and your students to randai, including a list of discussion topics (page 8) and glossary of randai terms (page 9). This resource guide, videos links, and a PowerPoint Presentation are available online at http://thegenteelsabai.wordpress.com/. If you have any questions, please contact the Theatre for Young Audiences Office in the Department of Theatre and Dance.

Mahalo,

Jasmine Yep, CoordinatorTheatre for Young Audiences, Kennedy Theatre

! TABLE OF CONTENTS

# Introduction to Randai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . # 3# Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . # 4# Basic Elements of Contemporary Randai . . . . . . . . . . . . # 5 # Randai Musical Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . # 7# Discussion Topics and Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . # 8# Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . # 9# Making Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .# 10# Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .# 11# Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .# 11

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Theatre for Young AudiencesUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Kennedy TheatreDepartment of Theatre and Dance1770 East-West RoadHonolulu, Hawaii 96822

E-mail: ktyouth@hawaii.eduPhone: (808) 956-2591FAX: (808) 956-4234www.hawaii.edu/kennedy

RandaiAbout RandaiRandai is the traditional folk dance-drama of the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, Indonesia. Randai plays are based on well-known folk tales, local musical traditions, and martial arts. Trained in the traditional martial arts of silat (silek), students and teachers practice in a circular formation to allow maximum observation and learning. Special pants are worn by randai performers which-when stretched-create a drum-like surface, and when slapped appropriately create booming percussion. This exciting type of pants-slapping is called tapuak galembong.

Origins and DevelopmentThe origins and development of randai are from three performing arts traditions in West Sumatra. The first is silat (silek), the indigenous martial arts style in Minangkabau culture. The second is bakaba, a traditional form of storytelling. Last, is the music, both vocal and instrumental. Dendang (folk songs) were sung by two singers, accompanied by a musician playing a saluang, a bamboo flute that uses circular breathing to produce a steady flow of sound.

HistoryOriginally implying a circle or circular formation, randai is a folk dance/theater tradition of the Minangkabau ethnic group from Western Sumatra. “A complete performance of randai consists of songs, dance, and drama based on a chosen story. Movements in randai were derived from a form of Malay martial art known as pencak silat.” Traditionally performed by an all-male cast, the perpetuation of randai reflected the close relationship between men in Minangkabau society. At the age of seven, boys leave their homes and sleep in the surau, a prayer house. It is in the surau that pencak silat, musical instruction, and randai are taught. The knowledge of pencak silat is vital to recognition as an adult man in traditional society. Thus the practice of randai facilitates the learning of pencak silat.

Randai is performed for various occasions including traditional ceremonies, marriages, circumcisions, installation of headmen, and festivals. They may also be performed for non-traditional occasions, such as the successful completion of a new road or school building. Performers were members of the village – farmers, carpenters, or fishermen – and performed voluntarily. Their compensation came in the form of adulation and the “excitement of performing in randai.”

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Indonesia

Indonesia is an archipelago nation in Southeast Asia. Over seventeen thousand islands make up the archipelago, yet only around six thousand are inhabited. The majority of the Indonesian performing arts traditions that are known in America are from Java and Bali. This includes gamelan music, wayang kulit shadow puppet theatre, topeng masked dance-drama. Randai is from Sumatra.

Sumatra is Java’s western neighbor. Home to the Minangkabau ethnic group, one of 140 ethnic groups in Indonesia, Sumatra boasts a rich heritage of music, dance, theater, and storytelling. Kennedy Theatre will present The Genteel Sabai, a randai play from West Sumatra, in February 2012.

Java is home to Jakarta, the capital city, and boasts a population of over 130 million people (about half of the total population of Indonesia). Two other cities on Java – Yogyakarta and Surakarta – also play a role in traditional music making. Yogyakarta is the home of the sultan, who historically maintained various gamelan ensembles. Surakarta was also a center of culture where traditional court gamelan music flourished in its most refined forms.

Bali is Java’s immediate neighbor to the east. With the influx of Islam to Java, the Hindu kings fled to Bali; as such, this island retains a strong connection to its Hindu past. The gamelan ensembles on Bali blossomed in the villages. Gamelan Gong Kebyar, a genre of gamelan music created in 1915 in villages in northern Bali, is perhaps the most famous.

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Basic Elements of Contemporary Randai

Performance StructureRandai performances include introductory and concluding processionals. Because the story is performed in a circle, the audience may view the performance from any side. This means, however, that the performance space must be delineated by the dancers. The dancers are led into the performing area by the musicians, who later leave the area and sit among the audience. When the performance is finished, the musicians enter again to lead the dancers out of the space. A randai performance will include the following:1. opening parade / invocation / opening song2. alternating scenes / dances with songs3. closing song / exit parade

ActingActors perform scenes in the middle of the circle, and scenes are interspersed between dances and songs. Lines are spoken in verse. The plot or story of a randai play is usually based on local legends, folk tales, and Arabic tales. Unlike many of the performing arts traditions in Bali and Java, randai does not include tales from the two Indian epics the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

DanceGolombang dancers perform sequences of unison movements in a circle. The dance movements include martial arts movements and tapuak pants-slapping technique. Dances may be named after the movements of animals, ocean waves, cutting firewood, sewing, or carrying loads on one’s head.

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Basic Elements of Contemporary Randai

Silat Martial Arts (Silek)Silat is the traditional Minangkabau martial arts style from West Sumatra. The indigenous style of silek tuo is the foundation of Randai theatre, dance movements, and fighting scenes. There are 12 distinct forms of silat in the Minangkabau culture. Some styles are named after animals. The two specific styles are featured in The Genteel Sabai are Silek Tuo (old style) and Silek Harimau (Tiger style). All Randai performers must learn silat.

Tapuak The pants-slapping percussion performed by the dancers in the circle is called tapuak. Tapuak is the distinct characteristic of randai. Patterns of hand clapping and percussive pants-slapping fit rhythmically into the dances and the songs. To create drum-like sounds, the fabric is slapped from both the front and back at the same time.

SongsSongs accompany the dances as well as introduce and explain the action in the scenes. The songs and melodies are dendang songs (folk songs). Songs are classified as being either for “pleasant or elated moods” or for “melancholy sentiments.” Dance movements and sequences are vocally cued and coordinated by the head dancer (goreh). Other vocal sounds may be employed to accentuate a particular gesture. The songs are sung by multiple vocalists, alternating lines throughout the play.

StoriesStories are based on legends and folktales but may also utilize historical events or contemporary literature. Generally only excerpts of long stories are performed in randai, and “the length of each scene would depend on the response from the audience rather than on a fixed time span for the scenario.” In contemporary performances, however, this is no longer the case. While traditional performances were originally transmitted orally, nowadays typed scripts with director’s notes are utilized.

Photo by Edy Utama

Photo by Edy Utama

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Randai Musical Instruments Various instruments are used to accompany Randai. These include the taklempung pacik (a percussion instrument consisting of five knobbed gongs); the katindiek or adok (a double- or single-headed drum); the pupuik or serunai (a double-reed instrument); the kecapi (a keyed, plucked-stringed instrument); talempong (hand-held pairs of bronze kettle gongs); and the saluang (a bamboo end-blown flute that uses circular breathing to produce a steady flow of sound). Before a performance begins, the musicians lead a procession playing talempong, drums, and flutes. This musical parade announces that a performance is about to start, and invites people to gather to see the show.

In the randai performance of The Genteel Sabai at Kennedy Theatre, the following instruments are used: talempong, saluang, kecapi, horns, and drums of various sizes. As well as a lot of tapuak.

talempong: bronze kettles or gongs drums of various sizes

kecapi: keyed, plucked-stringed instrument saluang: bamboo flute

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Pre-Performance & Post-Performance

Discussion Topics General Discussion Topics• What is randai? Where is randai from? • What are the main elements of randai? • What makes randai different from other forms of theatre, dance, and

music?• How is a live performances similar to or different from a movie or TV show?

Music and Dance• Discuss the elements of dance, music, acting, and martial arts, and how they all work together

to create a story on stage. • What is tapuak? Can you think of any other styles of movement that uses the body or

costumes to produce musical patterns? o Dances of many countries include the use of body percussion. Examples include: Haka

from the Maori people of New Zealand; palmas clapping in flamenco from Spain; and stepping or step-dancing made popular by African-American fraternities and sororities.

• What instruments do you hear? Are there instruments that you have never seen before? • What is the mood of the music? Does this sound like dancing music to you?• What types of movements do you think the dancers perform to this randai music (fast, slow,

smooth, sharp, etc)?• There are many forms of circle dances in different countries and cultures. What are some of the

themes the circle might represent?o Examples include: Bon odori dances from Japan; Hora circle dances from Israel; Gahu

from Ghana; many traditional and contemporary Native American pow wow dances.

Post-Performance Discussion Questions• Describe in detail one specific dance or scene from The Genteel Sabai. Pretend you are

describing it to someone who has not seen it. • What was your favorite part, dance, scene, song, instrument, or character? Why?• What special type of costumes do you need for randai? • What are some of the different ways the performers used the space on stage?• Imagine you are a designer: describe or draw your own randai costumes and scenic design.

Photo by Edy Utama

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Glossary of Randai Terms

bakaba: a traditional form of poetic storytelling. The origins and development of randai are from three Minangkabau performing arts traditions: bakaba, dendang and silat.

dendang: folk songs that accompany the dances and introduce or explain the action in the scenes in a randai play. Songs are classified as being either for “pleasant or elated moods” or for “melancholy sentiments.” The songs are sung by multiple vocalists, alternating lines throughout the play. katindiek or adok: double- or single-headed drums of various sizes.

kecapi: a keyed, plucked-stringed instrument.

Minangkabau: the Minangkabau ethnic group, also known as Minang, is indigenous to the highlands of West Sumatra, Indonesia. The community is traditionally matrilineal and yet holds strong Islamic religious beliefs. This ethnic group has many distinctive customs and rituals, including the performing arts form of randai.

pupuik or serunai: a double-reed instrument.

randai: randai theatre is the traditional folk dance-drama of the Minangkabau people, a composite art from combining well-known folk tales, localmusical traditions, acting, dance movement, and martial arts. It features martial arts-based circular dances, interspersed with short scenes in which actors speak in verse.

saluang: a bamboo end-blown flute that uses circular breathing to produce a steady flow of sound

Silat (silek): the traditional martial arts style of the Minangkabau. The indigenous style of silek tuo is the foundation of Randai theatre, dance movements, and fighting scenes. There twelve distinct regional styles and many sub-styles.

taklempung pacik: a percussion instrument consisting of five knobbed gongs.

talempong: multiple sets of paired hand-held bronze kettles or gongs played with a stick.

tapuak: the pants-slapping percussion performed by the dancers in the circle. Patterns of hand clapping and percussive pants-slapping fit rhythmically into the dances and the songs. To create drum-like sounds, the fabric is slapped from both the front and back at the same time. Performers wear special costumes to create these sounds. Tapuak is the distinct characteristic of randai.

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Making Connections

Be an advocate for the arts at your school and in your community!

Ø Attend a live performance and experience music, dance, and theatre as a member of the audience.

Ø Visit a museum or gallery exhibition.

Ø Attend a local festival or celebration.

Ø Try it. Don’t be afraid to join a drum circle, paint a mural, participate in improv theatre, or create your own randai dance circle.

Ø Invite a teaching artist or local professional artist to talk to your students about theatre arts.

Ø See a play! Join us at Kennedy Theatre for K-12 school shows.

CONTACT US

Theatre for Young AudiencesUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Dept. of Theatre and Dance1770 East-West RoadHonolulu, Hawaii 96822

Phone: (808) 956-2591E-mail: ktyouth@hawaii.eduweb:www.hawaii.edu/kennedy

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Kennedy TheatreDepartment of Theatre and Dance 1770 East-West Road Honolulu, HI 96822 Box Office: 808-956-7655 http://www.hawaii.edu/kennedy/

TYA: Theatre for Young AudienceMark Branner, TYA Program Director Jasmine Yep, TYA Coordinator Department of Theatre and Dance 1770 East-West Road Honolulu, HI 96822 TYA Office: 808-956-2591 ktyouth@hawaii.edu

Education PacketBy Jasmine Yep Contributions from Dr. Kirstin Pauka, Heather Strohschein, and the East-West Center Gallery exhibition guide. Photos by Edy Utama. The Genteel Sabai production photos by Reese Moriyama.

The Genteel Sabai Adapted by Musra DahrizalDirected by Kirstin PaukaKennedy Theatre, 2012

A special “mahalo nui” to Pak Musra Dahrizal and Pak Jasrial Jamaluddin, our guest teachers from Indonesia. “Terima kasih” to Kirstin Pauka, Annie Reynolds, I Made Widana, Kristina Tannenbaum, and the East-West Center Arts Program. Sponsored in part by the UH Mānoa Center for Southeast Asian Studies and the Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities.

CreditsResources

The Genteel Sabai Education Resource Packet (pdf)Dramaturgical Website for the Randai Production at UHMhttp://thegenteelsabai.wordpress.com/

Kennedy TheatreUniversity of Hawai‘i at MānoaDepartment of Theatre and Dancehttp://www.hawaii.edu/kennedy/The Genteel SabaiFebruary 3-12, 2012Directed by Kirstin PaukaBy Musra Dahrizal Katik jo Mangkuto Translated by Neli Iswari and Kirstin Pauka

East-West Center Gallery Exhibithttp://www.eastwestcenter.org/Procession: Matrilineal Minangkabau in IndonesiaJanuary 29 - April 29, 2012

Randai Videos and Photos from UH MānoaThe Center for Southeast Asian StudiesUniversity of Hawai‘i at Mānoahttp://www.cseashawaii.org/wordpress/tag/randai/

Suggested Reading

Pauka, Kirstin. Theater and Martial Arts in West Sumatra: Randai and Silek of the Minangkabau. Ohio University Center for International Studies. 1998.

Pauka, Kirstin. "A Flower of Martial Arts: The Randai Folk Theatre of Minangkabau in West Sumatra". Asian Theatre Journal 13 (2). University of Hawaii Press. 1996.