Bongai in Tanjung Ipoh, Negeri Sembilan
Megan Collins’s 2002 article in the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Vol. 75, No. 282) presents an ethnomusicological comparison of bongai music in Tanjung Ipoh, Negri Sembilan, with the rabab Pasisia tradition of West Sumatra, arguing that the ornamental violin style of bongai draws on a shared older Minangkabau source of melodic embellishment (gelitik) rather than being a direct derivative of the rabab Pasisia itself.
Summary
Collins, a researcher and performer of Minangkabau music with a particular interest in the rabab Pasisia, undertook fieldwork in the villages around Tanjung Ipoh and Kuala Pilah to document the bongai tradition and compare it with its Sumatran counterpart. The article addresses a specific musicological question: whether the striking resemblance between the bioloh (violin) playing in bongai and the rabab Pasisia style reflects a direct transmission from one tradition to the other, or whether both draw on a deeper common root. Through close analysis of recorded performances by Encik Mat Sil and the ‘Seri Purun’ group, Collins identifies specific ornamental motifs—particularly the gelitik figure she terms the “blip,” in which an interpolated note is approached by leap, bypassing the expected intermediate tone—that appear in both traditions but in different degrees of frequency and elaboration.
The article situates bongai within the broader history of Minangkabau migration to Negri Sembilan, tracing the cultural continuum from the thirteenth century through the formal installation of Minangkabau princes as rulers in the late eighteenth century to ongoing marantau migration in the present day. Collins documents the instrument-by-instrument parallels: the bansi bamboo flute, the small gong, the rebana frame drum, and the caklempong (derived from Minangkabau talempong), while also noting important divergences in tonality, playing position, and ensemble structure. The bongai bioloh follows a hijaz (Arabic) scale and is played under the chin, whereas the rabab Pasisia uses a near-diatonic scale with local microtonal inflections and is held vertically with its base on the floor.
Collins’s central analytical move is to propose that the shared gelitik motifs likely originate in the saluang bamboo flute tradition of the Minangkabau highlands (darek), which predates both the rabab Pasisia and the bongai violin. She supports this by noting that the same “blip” figure appears in saluang Darek playing, and by citing Ismail Hadi’s suggestion that bongai and the saluang Kampar share a common ancestry. The article also documents the current state of the tradition, noting a significant decline in the number of competent village performers and the increasing displacement of authentic village-style bongai by showcase performances and adaptation to caklempong ensembles.
Key Findings
- The bongai bioloh employs a standard factory-made violin played under the chin in the Western classical position, following a hijaz (Arabic) scale with the 6th note generally sharpened and the 7th lowered on descent; the rabab Pasisia is a handcrafted, locally modified violin held vertically, using a near-diatonic major scale with the 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 8th notes slightly lowered (less than a semitone) to match local tonalities (pp. 101–102).
- The critical gelitik motif shared by both traditions is an oscillation between two adjacent notes (e.g., F#–E) interrupted by an interpolated G approached by leap from E, bypassing the intermediary F#; at speed this produces a “blip” effect. Encik Mat Sil uses this figure but with less frequency than rabab Pasisia players (pp. 102–103).
- Pak Udin estimated that in the late 1930s, approximately 95 per cent of people in Kuala Pilah and surrounding villages could sing bongai songs; by 2000 this figure had fallen to roughly 25 per cent, with performances shortened from the traditional all-night duration (9 pm to 5 am) to approximately 2 am due to the absence of stand-in (pelapis) players (pp. 108–109).
- The caklempong ensembles found in Tanjung Ipoh village weddings consist of a row of five pots played by one musician, closely matching the old-style talempong duduak ensembles at Unggan (Sumpur River) and Sialang (Kampar River) in West Sumatra, both located in the ‘Rantau nan Tiga Jurai’ migration corridor (pp. 104–105).
- The diatonic talempong/caklempong ensemble, now promoted as the symbol of Negri Sembilan’s ‘authentic’ traditional music, was invented in 1967/68 by Pak Yusaf Rahman and Pak Boestanoel Arifin Adam at ASKI Padangpanjang, with up to 55 bonang (pots) in a full set (p. 104).
- The ‘Seri Purun’ bongai group, led by Pak Udin bin Hussein from Kampung Purun, consists of five members: Encik Mat Sil (bioloh), Puan Esah (gong), Sofian (rebana), Puan Zaleha Abu Kassim (vocals), and Encik Daud (vocals and rebana); Encik Mat Sil and Pak Udin have performed together since the 1960s (pp. 106, 110).
Conclusion
Collins concludes that a perceptible musical connection exists between the accompaniment styles of bongai and rabab Pasisia, but that neither is the direct antecedent of the other; both draw on an older Minangkabau source of gelitik ornamentation, most likely the saluang bamboo flute tradition of the darek highlands. She urges that the speed and direction of change in bongai—particularly its adaptation to caklempong and its reduction to showcase performances—must remain under the control of experienced village performers rather than urban administrators, if the art form is to retain its cultural integrity.
Context
- Collins’s fieldwork was conducted in May 2000 in Kampung Talang and Kampung Purun, Tanjung Ipoh, and at the Pesta Persukaun Adat Perpatih festival in Sri Menanti (5–7 April 2000); her comparative material on rabab Pasisia derives from performances in Pesisir Selatan, West Sumatra, and her broader knowledge of Minangkabau music from doctoral research at Victoria University of Wellington.
- The article contributes to the historiography of Minangkabau cultural influence in Peninsular Malaysia by providing the first detailed musical analysis linking bongai and rabab Pasisia playing styles, and by identifying the saluang flute as a probable common source for shared ornamental motifs—a claim that opens a new line of inquiry into the saluang repertoire of West Sumatra.