Rapa'i Pasè : AV 13.1

AV13.1: Audiovisual Example 1 in Chapter 13 of book: Margaret Kartomi, ‘Musical Journeys in Sumatra’, Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012.For male participants, at the Official Opening Ceremony of the Festival of Acehnese Dance and Oboes. Suspended from frames, these large, very heavy frame drums are named after the first sultanate in Southeast Asia, Pasè, dating from the 1290s CE. The frame drums are revered as heirlooms and were traditionally played in competitions, with say 20 instruments on each side. In 2003, Aceh was still experiencing a decades-long conflict between the Free Aceh movement and the Indonesian military; thus the police car and sirens sounding in the clip. The performers were drawn from several villages near Lhokseumawe, organised under the direction of Bp Rizal.These recordings of traditional Acehnese music and dance were made during Margaret Kartomi’s Australia Research Council-funded field trip to the Festival Tari dan Seuruné Kalée (Festival of Dance and Oboes) in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, Indonesia, 28 February- 2 March 2003. Margaret Kartomi was invited to record at the Festival by the Bupati (district head) of North Aceh, Bp Tarmizi Karim and Bp Noerdin Daood, lecturer in Acehnese dance in the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ), who was a member of the jury. She was accompanied by her husband, Mas Kartomi, and Monash PhD ethnomusicology alumnus, Iwan Dzulvan Amir. Camera by Iwan Dzulvan Amir. Recorded by permission of the Bupati of North Aceh, Bp Tarmizi Karim, and his appointed artist and 2003 festival organiser - Bp Rizal, on behalf of the troupes who performed in the Festival