Music Reviews : Sumatran Troupe Makes U.S. Debut

If there was a common denominator to the varied styles of Batak music heard at the Wilshire-Ebell Theatre Monday evening, it was a distinctive, integrated mix of earthy friendliness and instrumental virtuosity. No dour technicians or flossy over-production here.

Presented by the Festival of Indonesia and UCLA World Arts and Cultures, a 15-member troupe called Batak of North Sumatra made its U.S. debut with a consistently engaging survey of music and dance from the Toba, Karo and Mandailing peoples. The focus proved narrow enough to give at least an illusion of depth to the experience, which though obviously abstracted from a village context justified the subtitle: “Art in Life--Life in Art.”

A set of Toba uning-uningan entertainment music and theater excerpts provided a locus for this rooted, communal spirit; manifested in ensembles were the soloists are simply one among many. The introductory instrumental song was deceptively complex, its polyphonic melodic layers treated as cheerful interplay.

The ensuing dialogue scenes featured Kalabius Simbolon and Zulkaidah boru Harahap, whose comic interaction mingled gesture, movement and song in organic expression.

Other Toba sections included the opening group of short instrumental songs for the gondang hasapi ensemble--in this case three small lutes, xylophone, transverse flute, a reed instrument and wood blocks--all bright and brisk except for a moody shift to elegy before the upbeat finale.

The post-intermission group offered ceremonial music from the Parmalin sect, Sarikawan Sitohang creating a vividly realized ritual through supple, dancing fingers, before collapsing in on himself. The ceremony expanded with Zulkaidah boru Harahap carrying a bowl of water on her head, while hopping and balancing in extreme torso twists.

The Karo portion of the program began with instrumental solos for the kulcapi , another small, two-string lute, but played in a very different style and repertory than the Toba hasapi . It ended with a narrative song leading to a masked dance, the striking confrontation of the legendary gurda-gurdi bird and various court figures looking cramped on the Ebell stage, circumscribed as it was with drums and platforms.

The largest of those drums, the nine pieces of the gordang sambilan , were reserved for the thunderous finale. The Mandailing set had begun with quiet instrumental songs from the rice fields, but ended in an urgent, rhythmic roar, Ridwan Aman Nasution courting the imposing instruments like a shamanistic torero.