Semua upaya Ritha telah menjaga regenerasi pemain musik tradisional. Usaha yang panjang tentunya tetap dituntut untuk menjaga keberlangsungannya. Pada titik inilah Ritha membutuhkan banyak dukungan.
By
MOHAMMAD HILMI FAIQ
·6 minutes read
KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO
Rithaony Hutajulu
The number of Batak traditional music players is decreasing due to slow regeneration. Many of these players have prevented their children from continuing the tradition for having no economic prospects. Amid such a situation, Rithaony Hutajulu, 57, has been reinvigorating the regeneration. She has sought the stage for traditional music players as far as Europalia in Spain.
It was previously very hard to find young players of Batak traditional music. At custom ceremonies like Sipaha Lima (sacrificial offerings) or Mardebata (thanksgiving for blessings) as part of the old religious ritual of the ethnic Batak community, Ugamo Malim, for instance, almost no youths played Batak musical instruments to accompany the ritual.
As an academic born and brought up in the Batak region, Ritha, who Rithaony Hutajulu is better known as, feared that someday no more Batak people would play traditional musical instruments. She realized that playing Batak traditional music like taganing (drum-chime), sarune (flute) and hasapi (zither) would require more than technical capacity. “It also demands cultural knowledge, the relevant ceremonies. Players should know what they play and for what events. This makes it difficult to find young people. Meanwhile, it takes a long time to learn traditional music, especially gondang (drum playing), in Batak practice,” said Ritha.
In the Batak tradition, youths learning to become traditional music players have to stay with senior Batak musicians for years. Even so, they are not yet readily entrusted to handle musical instruments. They also have to help with farm work or carry the instruments to be played. This process is needed to inculcate the tradition and knowledge system. Besides, “Teachers and students should have strong adherence and bonds, with a different method of learning. Merely observing amounts to a learning process,” added Ritha.
KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO
Rithaony Hutajulu
The other problem is that the traditional music players, such as pargonsi (gondang or drum players), have often prevented their children from following in their footsteps. The reason is that becoming pargonsi promises no fixed income for only relying on spectators’ pita-pita or saweran (money given to performers).
The above factors have reduced the number of traditional music maestros as a result of the missing regeneration link. “There have also been prohibitions by religious institutions,” said Ritha, explaining that some modern religious establishments described traditional music as part of satanic worship or polytheist faith.
Awareness of tradition
Ritha has long been imbued with the love of music. In the 1980s she was a pop singer in the RIS Trio group, which was very famous in Medan through its frequent appearance on TVRI, presenting the songs of ABBA and others of the same class. She studies ethnomusicology in 1982 at North Sumatra University. She was sent to Bali and Java to enhance her understanding of local tradition, particularly gamelan. It was there that Ritha comprehended the wealth of traditional music and began to love it.
This background made Ritha feel encouraged and at the same time obligated to safeguard the continuity of Batak traditional music.
Batak traditional music may vanish as many of its players die before handing down their skills and knowledge. In anticipation of this, Ritha filed a proposal for traditional music research and documentation from 2001 to 2003 with The Ford Foundation. She delved into all elements of the music, for instance, for Batak Toba they covered gondang hasapi, gondang Batak Toba, uning-uningan (wind, string and percussion instruments), Batak operas and their songs.
Starting from 2007 Ritha designed a program for Batak traditional music revitalization with funding aid from The Ford Foundation. She was searching and found seven senior traditional music players to serve as teachers. Each of them was asked to find three students to be taught to play different instruments like gondang, serune, taganing and garantung (wooden xylophone). Both teachers and students received honorariums and transportation allowances and were provided with the instruments. They trained once a week in class sessions. Once a month they had a gathering. This lasted for two years. “They trained to play in an ensemble as the core substance. So, they had to meet. I monitored and recorded their technical developments monthly,” said Ritha.
Kompas
Rithaony Hutajulu and her husband Irwansyah Harahap
The regeneration link was thus restored by Ritha. Nearly all the students eventually emerged as players of traditional musical instruments. Most of them were even capable of playing on ritual occasions, the most difficult phase in traditional music performances because they were required to figure out the meaning of every tone.
Two of the students in 2017 were even taken by Ritha along with her Mataniari musical group, under the sponsorship of the Education and Culture Ministry and the Tourism Ministry, to the Europalia Arts Festival, a prestigious arena. They appeared in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. Europalia was one of the forums to prove that the regeneration of Batak traditional music players has been going on.
Ritha has also undertaken traditional music revitalization, especially Batak music, by promoting it through Mataniari musical shows at several musical festival like those of the 2018 Cultural Congress and the 2020 National Cultural Week. She initiated the Toba Caldera World Music Festival in 2019, which among others featured Batak music. Apart from these, she also writes books on Batak traditional music.
All Ritha’s efforts have safeguarded the regeneration of traditional music players. A long endeavor is certainly still demanded to maintain its continuity. It is at this point that Ritha needs a great deal of support.
Rithaony Hutajulu
Born: Laras, Simalungun, 16 November 1963
Child: Niesya Ridhania Harahap, 25
Husband: Irwansyah Harahap, 58
Education:
- First degree in Ethnomusicology, North Sumatra University (1988)
- Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology, Washington University, Seattle, USA (1994)
Occupation:
- Since 1990, lecturer of Ethnomusicology, Cultural Science Faculty, North Sumatra University
- 1995, cofounder of Suarasama world music group with his husband, Irwansyah Harahap
- 2008, founder of Suarasama Music House community
- 2015, founder of Mataniari musical and traditional (roots) dance group of Batak Toba
Award: Pustaka Nusantara Award from the Indonesian National Library (2018) as an individual who has revitalized North Sumatra, particularly Batak, music.
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