Example 6.2 - Bangsawan Syair, Performance 2

Musical item from the bangsawan performance 'Buang Satria' (Knight in Exile), directed by Bp Sariman Adi Furiza and held on an outdoor stage in the village of Sungai Buluh on Singkep Island, in June 2014. Singkep is part of Lingga, the southern-most island group in the Riau Islands Province (known as Kepri). The bangsawan troupe, Sanggar Seni Diram Perkase, call this musical item a syair. Each scene is preceded by the syair (4-line verse form), which uses the same melody but different lyrics that describe the action about to take place on stage. The example presented here is the final syair of the village performance. The closed and brightly-lit curtain is pulled open towards the end of the lagu dua or faster concluding section of the music. For more information about the performance and the music, see Chapter 6, 'Bangsawan in Lingga: the vanished era of the Lingga-Riau sultanate' by Bronia Kornhauser, in Margaret Kartomi (ed), Performing the Arts of Indonesia: Malay Identity and Politics in the Music, Dance and Theatre of the Riau Islands, Copenhagen: Nias Press, 2019.The original audiovisual recording is held in the Music Archive of Monash University.