Space and Time in Indonesian Polymusic

In: Archipel, Band 86, Heft 1, S. 9-42

Abstract

In Indonesia, polymusic – juxtaposed music – is performed during major ceremonies. Several groups play simultaneously, in the same space, but different tunes. If many tunes are performed at the same time in the same space, who can listen to them ? Seven cases of Indonesian polymusic, from South Sulawesi, West Kalimantan, and Bali, recorded between 1991 and 2001 are described : a Sa'dan Toraja funeral (pasonglo), house ceremony (bua' sangrapu), and trance ritual (maro pabalikan), a Dayak Taman ritual for the ancestors (gawai mamandung), a Balinese temple ceremony (odalan). The seven examples are compared through an analysis of space and time, in order to disclose their common aspects and relevant meanings. Polymusic presents the musicologist with a paradox of temporal and spatial perception. While assembling groups of singers at the same time and in the same space, these rituals prescribe their separation and individualization. The analysis of space and time points to a double perception : that of a differentiated and an undifferentiated world. This is translated on the acoustic level by the simultaneous juxtaposition and synthesis of different repertoires and different groups, which reveals – both sensorily and intellectually – either the groups' differences or the achievement of a macro-unity expressing the ritual expenditure.