July 1, 2014 edition
Robert Eli Sipayo showed Tempo a timeworn paper which he had written some time before. The customary figure from Kalumpang-a customary region of Mamuju regency, West Sulawesi-opened the stash of folded sheets. On the unlined paper were a flurry of handwritten notes and sketches. There was a drawing of the construction of a customary house jumbled up with doodles on looms and techniques for traditional healing. "This work is still incomplete. I want to add some more material to it," said the 73-year-old in his conversation with Tempo last month.
The paper of 40 pages was entitled Tracing back the Kalumpang Culture from the Neolithic Era. An Experiment. This is the only document for the present time in Indonesia-even in the world-that records the customs of Kalumpang in a holistic manner. The writer-known by his nickname Eli-plans to publish it soon.
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More Outreach articles in other editions
January 1, 1970 edition
Green Grunge from Bali
Rock band Navicula sings about the environment. They have toured with Greeenpeace and sell organic soap as merchandise.
Sumatra skies colored in red
Guns to fangs fury takes today
People cheer as angels cry
By this bullet I have learned to fly
Those lyrics are from Tiger! Tiger!, a song by the Balinese band Navicula. It is a favorite of Muhammad Ikhwan, a social worker from Jakarta. "The lyrics have a clear message that we have to save the Sumatran tiger," Ikhwan told Tempo.
Rock band Navicula sings about the environment. They have toured with Greeenpeace and sell organic soap as merchandise.
Guns to fangs fury takes today
People cheer as angels cry
By this bullet I have learned to fly
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June 17, 2014 edition
January 1, 1970 edition
Gamolan Promoter from Unila
Hasyimkan managed to revive the popularity of gamolanan xylophone instrument made from bambooin Lampung. He forged new teachers, made corrections to the history of gamolan and created the instruments.
As the Nusantara Bamboo Festival in Pringsewu, West Lampung regency, became imminent last month, Hasyimkan came up against an emergency: 200 players of gamolan, a traditional musical instrument, from Lampung University (Unila) could not perform in the finale performance. These were students from Unila's department of dance and elementary school teacher training, where Hasyimkan is a lecturer. "In our plan, there would be 400 people performing in the gamolan festival," he said. "It turned out that 700 elementary school pupils also wanted to participate. Therefore I had to cancel out some of my own students." The event, said Hasyimkan, 43, proved that "people have become more enthusiastic about the gamolan."
The gamolan is a percussion instrument from Lampung now estimated to go back at least as far as the 8th century. The lower part of the instrument resembles a kentongan (a hollowed-out log of wood hung in every village center, ready to be banged on to signal emergency or to call for an assembly). The upper part consists of bamboo laths tied with rattan straps. The gamolan can be played individually or in groups, and is sounded by tapping a pair of wooden sticks on the bamboo laths.
Hasyimkan managed to revive the popularity of gamolanan xylophone instrument made from bambooin Lampung. He forged new teachers, made corrections to the history of gamolan and created the instruments.
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January 1, 1970 edition
January 1, 1970 edition