Biola Aceh

For male participants. In this performance of the traditional Biola Aceh genre, the biola (violin) player made his own biola. He sits at the back playing on 2 of the instrument's 4 strings to accompany the two male actors in the foreground. One of actors plays the part of a woman and the other a man as they entertain their audience with comic sketches and acting. This kind of entertainment can last for hours at a time. The comic sketches include humorous singing of improvised verses in pantun form which can generally be described as a quatrain or 4-line stanza with an 'a b a b' rhyming pattern. The pantun was originally a Malay oral literary mode of expression with content that is usually subtle, witty and full of symbolism. The Biola Aceh genre is very rarely found in Aceh today.

Copyright 1982. Notes prepared by Bronia Kornhauser with Margaret Kartomi, School of Music-Conservatorium, Monash University. Photography by Hidris Kartomi.