Gandang Sarunai South Solok Has Been Designated As Indonesian WBTB

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

The art of performances from South Solok Regency, West Sumatra, namely Gandang Sarunai, was designated as Indonesia's intangible cultural heritage in 2022, thus increasing the number of traditional arts typical of the area which were recorded nationally after Batombe and Rabab.

"We really want Gandang Sarunai to be able to appear at the national level because it has attractive and attractive, not monotonous. Usually, traditional works are monotonous," said Head of Cultural and Minangkabau Language Heritage Division of the West Sumatra Culture Service, Aprilas, quoted from Antara, Sunday, December 25.

He said traditional arts must have an element of attraction so that people can survive watching even though it is in the form of a ritual. "It's like Gandang Sarunai who is attractive," he said.

Gandang Sarunai is a traditional musical performance that is played jointly using two two-faced' drums and an inflatable musical instrument called Sarunai.

Before Gandang Sarunai, South Solok had two performing arts that had been designated as Indonesian intangible cultural heritage (WBTB), namely Batombe and Rabab.

According to Aprimas, the proposal is a cultural heritage of Indonesian objects, Rabab or traditional friction instruments, carried by three districts, namely Pesisir Selatan, South Solok, and Padang Pariaman.

However, he said, the South Coast currently has Babiola which has been designated as an unobjected cultural heritage nationally, while Padang Pariaman has a Galuak Rabab. "So Rabab is specifically South Solok for its development," he said.

South Solok, he said, has many cultural relics, both in the form of objects and cultural heritage.

According to him, cultural heritage is made of objects, including the Saribu Rumah Gadang which has been designated as a national cultural heritage.

After being designated as a cultural heritage and cultural heritage without objects, he said, apart from receiving protection, the community can also use it as an effort to preserve it, such as making Gadang House a place to stay.

"However, if you want to carry out rehabilitation or restoration, you must follow the rules of the law and it is known by the cultural heritage team," he said.

With the addition of Gandang Sarunai which was set on December 9, 2022, West Sumatra now has 75 cultural works that are designated as non-body cultural heritages nationally.