- 1 This article is the result of data collected during field missions on the island of Atauro, between (...)
1My recent research into the music of the island of Atauro (in the Republic of East Timor) reveals the vitality of a musical practice rich in hundreds of songs and repertoires of the Adadi people. One of the challenges I faced was to understand how they were categorized by the musicians.1 For a long time, several obstacles hampered my analysis: the languages spoken on the island, which I do not control; the newness of the terrain; the transformation of musical practices; the loss of knowledge; the variety of repertoires; and the absence of names for a large number of pieces. Despite these difficulties, over the course of four field missions, I discovered that certain musical pieces were associated with specific places. The importance of this discovery came belatedly to me. While my colleagues in our multi-disciplinary project, whether archaeologists or geographers, travelled the length and breadth of the island, equipped with GPS and well aware of the importance of geolocations right from the start of their research, I worked in the villages of southern Atauro, without thinking for a moment that space would become a key to understanding musical categories. This discovery proved significant. What does music do to places? Why are certain repertoires associated with, even reserved for, certain places? This article analyzes the link between music and territory in an area inhabited by seven clans whose complex settlement history has varied over time.
2In 2019, my first stay on the island of Atauro was so short (around ten days) that it was impossible for me to effectively perceive the atmosphere of the various places I visited. Then in 2022, having had to wait two years before returning to the field due to the Covid pandemic, at the end of my two-month mission, an inhabitant of the region of Makadade told me that certain songs were dangerous; his only explanation for this was that their place of origin made them risky to perform. It was only later, during two missions in 2023, that I learned more.
- 2 The author describes in detail the musical rituals that took place in particular places in Makili. (...)
- 3 In her book, two Atauro musical instruments are mentioned: the tihak drum, still found in Makili (D (...)
3It should be noted at the outset that little research has been done on the musical traditions of Atauro, with the exception of two books. The first one, Timor: Ritos e mitos Ataúros written by Father Jorge Barros Duarte (1984) in Portuguese, includes transcriptions of songs collected in the 1960s from the Humangili ethnolinguistic group, neighbors of the Adadi; it is the only surviving account of rituals that were banned in the 1970s.2 In a second book, three photos of musical instruments have been published in a bilingual book on the music of Timor, but no additional details are provided (Dunlop 2012).3
4The island’s musical situation is heterogeneous both spatially and temporally: while traditional musical practice was eradicated in the north of the island after the conversion to Pentecostal Protestantism, it persists in the southern villages of Makadade and Makili, villages brought to my attention for their musical vitality. In 2019, a large proportion of these villages’ inhabitants still knew how to sing and play instruments (the musical bow and the jew’s harp) that have fallen into disuse elsewhere in the regional Insulindian area. The fact that music was still practiced in the south of the island can be explained by the mixing of Catholics and Protestants, the Catholic religion having tolerated traditions more. Nevertheless, by my second mission, the musical vitality that caught my attention in 2019 had been replaced by a comparative decay of the musical tradition in these two villages. While the musical categories were still memorized by a few people, the practice was unravelling. Nevertheless, over the course of four missions, I was able to accumulate a substantial amount of sound and ethnomusicological documentation.4 The data in this article come from first-hand collections, music recordings, origin stories, transcriptions, and interviews that I collected in the local language.
5How is the Adadi territory conceived by its inhabitants? To understand what music does to places, we first need to present the places in question, beginning by an external description and then according to the conception of the inhabitants themselves.
Fig. 1 – Map of Makadade territory (©Laurence Billault/Dana Rappoport)
6Makadade is one of the five administrative units of Atauro, a tiny island of 140 km², inhabited in 2023 by 10,000 people divided into three ethnolinguistic groups —Adadi, Manroni, and Humangili— speaking (still) four related languages (Raklungu, Rasua, Dadu'a, and Hresuk).
- 5 The village of Maker was not surveyed in this study.
7Makadade’s topography is characterized by rugged terrain, with many uneven slopes, on a plateau that rises to 400–500 m above sea level between two volcanic massifs to the east and west. These two massifs frame the district’s four hamlets: Biti, Anartutu, Abak Tedi, and Berau (as well as Maker,5 see fig. 1). The hamlets range in altitude from the coast to the mountains towards Mount Manukoko. Berau is on the seafront at the base of a valley. High above, Abak Tedi rests on the ridges leading to the eastern massif and overlooking the plateau below Mount Manukoko. In between, Biti and Anartutu lie on the plateau between the volcanic cones. The hamlet of Biti to the west comprises around 30 houses, lined up along a stony path. The hamlet of Anartutu, which lies in the center of the plateau and was built more recently on a grid plan, was chosen as the administrative heart of the commune, and includes a small market, the health center, Protestant and Catholic churches, and a few small grocery stores selling essential products. A school has been built between Biti and Anartutu.
- 6 Unless otherwise stated, the terms used in the article will be in the Raklungu language. Otherwise, (...)
8On each massif, east and west, ancient defensive sites are still visible, albeit quite dismantled (Guillaud, this issue). On the eastern massif, Ili Hngara (ʽNest Fortressʼ) is a forest-covered limestone point, surrounded by dry-stone walls with four access points still visible from four directions. A second defensive site at Ili Timur is called Ili Lor (‘Downstream Fortressʼ) and a third, Kota Wataran (ʽRattan Citadelʼ) lies near Abak Tedi.6 On the western massif lies a small coral plateau, enclosed by a dry-stone wall, called Ili Ralam (‘Inner Fortressʼ). These places serve as evidence of ancient human groupings, formed to protect themselves from conflict (Guillaud 2023: 178). All these places are accessible only if accompanied by persons authorized by social position and by their clan to enter.
9Within this ensemble, the landscape is laid out with small and large plots of cultivated land, fallow land, and pastures demarcated by low dry-stone walls of varying heights that can be crossed by wooden and bamboo ladders. The space is punctuated by low walls whose function is to mark the rights of a family and a clan over the plots, but also recalls their defensive aspect. Massifs, rivers, forts, and dry-stone walls structure the physical space of Makadade.
- 7 The year 2019 figures mentioned in the island’s administrative offices.
- 8 Makadade (spelt Macadade by the Portuguese settlers) refers to an administrative unit whose borders (...)
- 9 My fieldwork was conducted in Indonesian and Raklungu with the help of an interpreter. Unless other (...)
10The Makadade district is home to around 2,300 people divided into 500 families, most of whom identify themselves as Adadi (or Adadé).7 Most of the Adadi live at around 500 m above sea level, on the slopes of the Manukoko volcano, which rises to 990 m on the eastern side of the island, while a minority live on the south coast at Berau (see fig. 1).8 Their language, Raklungu, is classified in the Austronesian family (C. Grimes, pers. com., April 2, 2022). The inhabitants are almost all bilingual (Raklungu/Tetun), more rarely trilingual (Raklungu/Tetun/Indonesian), and sometimes even quadrilingual (Raklungu/Rasua/Tetun/Indonesian). The Raklungu language, in decline and undescribed until now, is gradually being replaced by Tetun, the national language spoken at school, in church, and outside the island.9
- 10 In 2018, Makadade was populated by 1,067 Catholics and 1,377 Protestants (figures from the Atauro a (...)
11In religious terms, this Christian society includes a slight majority of Pentecostal Protestants (‘Assembleia de Deusʼ), the rest being Catholic.10 The Pentecostal Protestant religion arrived in Makadade in the first half of the twentieth century through the dual influence of Indonesian missionaries from Sulawesi and the Protestant Church of Timor-Leste (Iglesia Protestante Timor-Leste [IPTL]; see Silva, this issue). At that time, Protestant proselytizers were particularly opposed to the local customs, chiefly the offerings made to ancestral deities. Such was the moral pressure that ancestral practices were abandoned and statuettes (sa’et in Hresuk language, or sa’ik in Raklungu) destroyed.
12How do the people in Makadade think about the land? A simple drawing in a notebook was the starting point for discovering the “masters of the place.”
13On May 23, 2022, at my request, a schoolteacher drew a pencil map in my notebook, under the supervision of Apolli, an ‘elderʼ of the Ruma Pas clan. Beginning by dividing the page in two, tracing an east/west division, the teacher sketched an area corresponding to a domain of around 20 km². He separated the west (Harak Opun), drawn on the left-hand side, from the east (Timur Opun), on the right-hand side, with a long line representing a river (metar, thought of as a border) (see fig. 2).
Fig. 2 – The west/east divide at Makadade, first noted by the teacher
Harak Opun
(Masters of the West)
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Timur Opun
(Masters of the East)
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14He continued on to divide the right side of the page (Timur Opun) into four sections from top to bottom (see fig. 3).
Fig. 3 – Upstream-downstream directions at Makadade
Ra Opun/Tun Opun
(Upstream Masters)
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Klan Opun
(Masters of the Middle)
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Lor Opun
(Downstream Masters)
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Tasi Opun
(Masters of the Coast)
|
15At the top of the page, Ra Opun (‘Upstream Mastersʼ) refers to a territory at altitude which rises (Tun Opun [‘Masters of the Heightsʼ], from tun [‘to riseʼ]); at the bottom of the page are Lor Opun and Tasi Opun (‘Downstream Masters’ and ‘Coastal Masters’), and in the middle, Klan Opun (‘Masters of the Middle Ground’). Let us take a look at the words recorded by the teacher. The first word in the phrase designates both a direction and a region.
16– Harak refers to the west. This term appears in related forms in the languages of the region (Harat in the Hresuk language in Atauro, Harak in Wetar among the Ili’un Erai, Wara in Alor, Barat in the Moluccas...).11
17– Timur means ‘eastʼ and ‘upʼ, ‘elevatedʼ. In many Austronesian languages, this term is associated with the southeast monsoon winds.
18– Ra means ‘upstream, high, inland, mountainʼ. The same root is used in this sense in other languages of the region (e.g.: rae ‘inlandʼ, in Lamaholot, East Flores).
19– Klan refers to the center, the middle.
20– Lor means ‘downstream, the bottom,ʼ existing in many Austronesian languages (lau’, in Toraja Saʼdan, lau in Lamaholot, lor in Wetar, elor in Babar, etc.).
21– Tasi refers to the sea.
- 12 Robert, Paul. Dictionnaire de la langue française en neuf volumes (Dictionnaire Le Robert, 1986, vo (...)
- 13 Timur Opun, Harak Opun, Klan Opun, Ra Opun, Lor Opun, Tasi Opun.
22On the map drawn by the teacher, each direction is followed by the term Opun (var. Obun), literally ʽOwnersʼ or ʽMastersʼ in the sense of a person ʽwho dominates, who has, in fact or in law, certain powers over beings or things.ʼ12 In the Adadi language, the term opun is used in various semantic fields: the earthly environment (Hatu Opun Ai Opun [‘Master of Stones, Master of Treesʼ], Er Opun [‘Master of Waterʼ]); spatial directions (Masters of the East, the West, the Upstream, the Downstream, the Sea, of the Center);13 mastery of material and immaterial skills (Toha Opun [‘Master of the Forgeʼ], Rama Opun [‘Master of the Musical Bowʼ], Hleri Opun [‘Master of Songʼ], Li Opun [‘Master of the Word, Judgeʼ]).
23Opun refers on the one hand to a status of authority, relative to the mastery of a skill (oral, musical, artisanal) or to the mastery of immaterial powers. This title can be attributed to humans as well as to non-humans. When associated with directions to places or earthly elements (such as the sea, water, stones, trees), opun designates spirits whose beneficial or malefic nature we do not know a priori. The latter are indefinite (they have no personal names) and plural (they form a group). Some, however, are classified into categories.
- 14 Keti Kmolang or Keti Kmolas, Piknutun and Ulah Tuk Ulah Maruk, more rarely mentioned in the intervi (...)
24Several types of spirits are named, including five in particular: Piknutun, Keti Kmolang, Ulah Tuk Ulah Maruk, Nusa Kla, and Takngan.14 While the first three roam the entire island, Nusa Kla and Takngan are strictly localized to the west of Adadi territory (Harak Opun). These spirits differ from humans (likmori), whose form they sometimes take. Nusa Kla and Takngan have their own places, their own songs, and their own activities which sometimes interfere with humans. Only these two types will be described briefly below.
- 15 Nusa Kla can sometimes be taken as another name for Kla Opun (Masters of the Middle).
25Nusa Kla was by far the most quoted name during my various stays in Atauro. It comes from the combination of nusa (‘world, earthʼ) and kla (‘middle, centerʼ) into a single expression that could be translated as ʽthe world in the middle.ʼ15 The Adadi classify them as spirits ( hmangar) or ghosts (manusia siluman, id.). They can appear to humans in human form, but only for a few minutes. They live both above and below ground. Their songs emerge from stones, earth, and trees. Only ʽthose who see farʼ (mata plolon), all natives of the East, were said to have the ability to see these spirits.
26During my first stays, such terms remained obscure. It was not until quite some time later that I came to appreciate their importance in everyday life. There were several reasons for this: learning the Tetun language, moving house, and people adapting to my presence. During my November 2023 mission, I decided to relocate in order to continue my ethnographic work while avoiding the Indonesian language. I moved halfway between Anartutu and Biti, to the home of Linda, who does not speak Indonesian. A young widow with four children, some of them still young, she is one of the few people in East Timor to have been allocated a permanent home by the government, something reserved for people with very limited resources.
27Having settled in, every evening I watched Linda feverishly close all the windows in the house, then turn over a mirror so that the glass faced the wall. The following morning, she returned things to their normal positions. I was intrigued and learned that Nusa Kla spirits enter the mirrors in order to torment humans: from the mirrors, they may pass into children’s bodies or reach out and snatch humans. The serious illnesses of certain children, such as handicaps, are explained in the region as the action of the Nusa Kla spirits. To repel them, mirrors are turned to the wall and the foreheads of infants are marked with a black cross.
28When humans circulate on Nusa Kla territory, they must respect a series of prohibitions: no accessories (necklaces, watches, etc.), no white clothing, no inappropriate calls from afar, no braided hair. People coming from the East must follow ʽWesternʼ customs or risk not returning to their original world. The Nusa Kla made no alliances with the humans who arrived from Mount Manukoko. However, later unions did take place; for example, one human, Atalolen, was forcibly married and had to offer a necklace as a sign of alliance with the Nusa Kla. As part of the agreement, Atalolen’s descendants were granted access to Nusa Kla territory. Since then, only certain people may enter this territory.
- 16 To the west, the name Atakngan is used.
- 17 Or black, or of Chinese type (Guillaud, pers. com., May 2024).
29The Takngan differ from the Nusa Kla in their human form, their places,16 their songs, and their water springs. The Takngan were murderous, white-skinned humans.17 Visible entities —cannibals for some but not for others— they were once organized into a dozen clans, some of whose names are still known today. All were exterminated by the Makadade inhabitants except for one pregnant woman who, after a chase, was finally accepted by those with whom she found refuge. In this episode, three Makadade clans massacred the Takngan by throwing stones and trees from a distance using a special magic (Guillaud 2023: 49). Today, one or two clans are said to be descended from the Takngan including the Ruma Nokron and Pipi Deli clan.
- 18 Apart from the names of some of the leaders who are known (D. Guillaud, pers. com., July 23, 2024).
30These ʽMasters of the Westʼ (Nusa Kla and Takngan), whether spirit or expired human, reside in an unpopulated area today, if not on its periphery. Indistinct, with no personal name,18 they are often confused with one another. They coexist with the souls of the four-eyed dead (pohe kako) and can transform into humans or animals. Nevertheless, the West cannot be reduced to pure spirits, as “Harak Opun” designates both the Masters of the West and the humans who live in the West or come from the West” (Koli Kala, pers. com., February 19, 2024, Makadade).
31Having looked at two kinds of spirits based in the west, let us see how the territory is divided between the spirit world and the human world.
32The Adadi are organized into seven clans (lisan), all originating from Mount Manukoko. Almost all designated by plant species (see fig. 4), these clans form unilineal, exogamous kinship groups sharing a name, a customary leader (laik) and a clan house (ruma lisan) —most of which were burnt down by Protestants in the 1970s.
Fig. 4 – Adadiʼs seven clans
Mangetu (Bamboo)
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Ruma Pas (Ipas tree)
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Kapitan (Captain)
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Tua Bere Doe (Wine palm, Borassus flabellifer)
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Ruma Lari (House herb, Imperata cylindrica)
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Ruma Nokron (Nor coconut leaf house)
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Pipi Deli (Born goat)
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|
- 19 The native first name, most often compound (e.g. Koli Kali), is inherited from the paternal or mate (...)
- 20 In this way, I have identified certain alliance rules that are more or less followed to this day: i (...)
33People from the same clan are not allowed to marry each other, even today. While it can be assumed that these seven clans were once matched according to rules of preferential alliance (Facal, this issue), since evangelization these rules have been blurred to such an extent that the Adadi no longer even practice bride price. As a result, from birth, children bear the patronymic of their mother’s clan but adopt their father’s Christian patronymic (of the Portuguese type) for their civil status.19 Through interviews and personal conversations, I have learned more about the persistence of alliance rules between clans, and also between humans and Nusa Kla, and Takngan spirits.20
34The feeling of clan ʽbelongingʼ remains strong. My understanding of this was reinforced when I shifted into my new house. Moving from a Ruma Pas clan house to a Mangetu clan house, I noticed that some people came to see me more easily and would discreetly whisper in my ear with a little smile “your landlady is Mangetu” —implying “she is one of us.”
- 21 The Kapitan and Ruma Pas clans are concentrated to the east and upstream. The Tua Bere Doe and Ruma (...)
- 22 One of the aims of our participatory project (Popei-Coll) was to identify these ancient habitat mar (...)
35The spatial distribution of clans within the Adadi territory is imperceptible at first glance. The contemporary concentration of settlement in four hamlets (Abak Tede, Anartutu, Biti, and Berau) has disrupted the distribution of clans once scattered throughout the area,21 but the memory of former places of occupation persists (see fig. 1). To this day, the territory encompasses ancient marks of clan occupation in their original respective spaces, from their descent from Mount Manukoko.22 The island’s origin myth states that, in the beginning, humans lived in a single place, on Mount Manukoko, in the eastern massif. Over time, after forming various clans, they spread out. First, some clans would send others to massacre enemies on the western massif. Then, the Tua Bere Doe, Ruma Lari, Kapitan, and Ruma Pas clans sent the Mangetu, Ruma Nokron and Pipi Deli clans to colonize the west. Today, the seven clans are spread from east to west across the entire Adadi territory (see fig. 5) (Guillaud, this issue).
36My understanding of the distribution of clans on the territory gradually became clearer, thanks to several forays I made to the west. I had been warned that once we reached the west, a potential danger could make us ʽdisappearʼ and that for this reason, we should not raise our voices —it was even preferable to remain silent. Going to survey the Ili Ralam (‘Inner Fortress’), located to the west, an offering had to be made to the ancient inhabitants of the place: the Takngan. Despite the Takngan’s physical extinction, they are respected to this day as the spirits of the place (rid hmangar lalod [shadow spirits souls]).
37In summary, the east of Makadade is occupied by the Tua Bere Doe, Ruma Lari, Kapitan, and Ruma Pas clans while the west of Makadade (represented by the hamlet of Biti) is occupied by three majority clans, Ruma Nokron, Pipi Deli, and Mangetu.
Fig. 5 – Distribution of the seven Adadi clans to the west and east
Harak Opun
Masters of the West
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Timur Opun
Masters of the East
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Ruma Nokron
Pipi Deli
Mangetu
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Tua Bere Doe
Ruma Lari
Kapitan
Ruma Pas
|
38Singer Koli Kala distinguishes two categories of song: spirit songs (Hleri Nusa Kla, Takngan, or Piknutun), and human songs (Hleri likmori) —the first category belonging to the West. He adds that in the past, music was strictly territorialized: music from the West did not mix with music from the East. Each territory had its own distinct musical practice. In this section, we will see how the territorialization of music is reflected in myth, in emotions, in the values attached to musical instruments, in songs, and in rhythms themselves.
- 23 The vine linking heaven to Mount Manukoko was cut by the two brothers who lived on the mountain wit (...)
39It is rare to find myths about the origins of music, and the Adadi have only one. In this narrative, humans received 350 songs from various sources: 150 were collected by Lauʼ Mutus, a man living on Mount Manukoko who ascended into the clouds at the request of the demiurge Ada Lea Hulan (Sun Moon God) to acquire the songs and also the nails to anchor the piece of land that had been drifting in the sea following the breaking of the celestial vine.23 Another man, Kera Kia Moto of Makili, ascended to heaven to learn songs bringing back an additional 150 upon his return to earth, and then 50 or so were learned from the beings of a different people to the west. The last fifty songs come from “another world,” described as such by Koli Kala (pers. com., November 2019):
Hleri oi-oin, oi-oin mna, pale pa oin hia teran arahi pa maloke nirea, Harak Opun nid liam.
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Various types of song appeared from different origins, some coming from the Masters of the West, from another world.
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Foin mai dadauk iha linan 30 (tolunulo) ou 40 (haat nulo) kotuk.
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There were maybe thirty or forty of them.
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Neʼe hay, ita tarik husi fali ema seluk
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We took these songs from a different people.
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But neʼebé mak balori husi neeba-neʼe mak ninia hananu sira neʼe ketak nraik murin.
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These songs belong to them, they are different beings.
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Ita likmori duʼa hali la de: “Hleri mundu”: klungu hahan mundu.
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In our time, humans call these songs “the songs of the world, the voices of the world.”
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- 24 The myth of Kera Kia Moto, from Makili, is also known to the Adadi (cf. Guillaud et al. 2023).
40In the above extract, humans learned certain songs called ʽworld songsʼ (hleri mundu or hleri nusa) from ʽa different peopleʼ in the west. Through this narrative and its commentary, the Adadi go on to distinguish between songs of three origins: the ʽsongs of the skyʼ (hleri langir) that Lauʼ Mutus went to collect in the sky, those that were borrowed from Makili’s neighbors thanks to the mythical hero Kera Kia Moto,24 and the ʽsongs of the worldʼ (hleri nusa) that were obtained from a different, mysterious people. Despite these varied origins, the Adadi believe that the songs can be traced back to a common matrix:
- 25 Transcription in Raklungu: Hleri haira - hairia, hleri mna muri halim á Timur ka harak ka, mna muri (...)
“All songs, whether they come from the east or the west, from across the sea, or the ocean, or whether we’ve taken them from the Piknutun, the Takngan, or the Nusa Kla, all songs have owners (opun) who bring them to us. Each person chooses them one by one; some hear them from a tree, others from a stone, then collect them. But there’s only one origin: Bere Mutus — La’u Mutus (mythical hero) went up to heaven to bring back the songs and the statuettes for us to dance together, to feast together — in the Hngara forest until today.”25 (Koli Kala, Anartutu, November 11, 2023)
- 26 He is often referred to by two names, Bere Mutus–Lauʼ Mutus, but they are one and the same person.
41These words, spoken in the Raklungu language during a rehearsal, reiterate the importance of the east/west opposition and the place of spirits (such as those of the trees and stones) within the song repertoire. Songs have opun, literally ʽowners.ʼ Some were collected by Lauʼ Mutus who ascended to the sky26 and others were appropriated by humans from their owners —a different people, the Nusa Kla and Takngan— in mysterious places like caves.
42According to Koli Kala, most of the songs and all the musical instruments originated in the east, corresponding to the Manukoko massif. It was only once the western massif was secured through the decimation of the Takngan, that all the songs and instruments were disseminated to the west along with the humans. However, despite their common origins, east and west are strictly distinct to this day. They are separated not only by a natural boundary (the river), but more significantly by clans, varied musical practices (calls, rhythms, songs), and all musical elements including instruments that characterize these spaces.
- 27 Makadade is also home to instruments assimilated from the Portuguese, such as the violin (arabeka), (...)
43Before continuing our exploration of the Adadi sound world, it is important to clarify the place of musical instruments, whose spatial origin was debated to the point of creating conflict between the clans during our project. At Makadade, most instruments have disappeared except for the jew’s harp, the musical bow, and the ensemble combining four gongs with a double-membrane drum. The census below details the eight instruments still named, even if most of them have disappeared.27
Fig. 6 – Adadi musical instruments according to Sachs and Hornbostel classification
- 28 Klehar means ʽfan.ʼ The combination of gong and drums is called diktama or talor.
Aerophones
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Kinur (flute)—bamboo flute, with external air duct and three- or four-hole
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Chordophones
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Rama (musical bow)
Aklamu (jew’s harp)
Kerik (tube zither)
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Membranophones
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Tama (two-skin drum)
Tihar (goblet drum)
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Idiophones
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Dir Inan (44 cm), Ouʼ-Ouʼ (32 cm), Seu-Klehar (21 cm)—bossed gongs28
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44Originally, according to Koli Kala, musical instruments (musical bow, jew’s harp, gong, drums) could not be performed in the west; however, following the occupation of the western massif, the musical bow and jew’s harp were spatially separated: the bow used in the east and the jew’s harp in the west.
45The jew’s harp (aklamu) and the musical bow (rama) (see figs. 7 and 8) are two emblematic Adadi instruments which, with the exception of Makadade, have disappeared from the island of Atauro. They are complementary: although dissimilar in form, they resonate using the same acoustic technique which consists of selectively resonating the harmonics of a tone (by varying the size and shape of the oral cavity) to create a melody (Rappoport 2023). Furthermore, by representing two different genders, they form a pair: while the bow is the preserve of men, the jew’s harp is that of women. In the past, flirting between young people was done to music: when the moon was full, boys played the musical bow while girls played the jew’s harp.
46There is also a spatial complementarity: while the jew’s harp is typical of the western massif, the musical bow is typical of the eastern massif. To find out what values this opposition referred to, I went in search of the two instruments’ origins.
Fig. 7 – The jew’s harp (aklamu) played by Kili Kosé, 2022. (© D. Rappoport)
Fig. 8 – The musical bow (rama) played by Tari Sosé, 2022. (© D. Rappoport)
- 29 Koli Kala distinguishes ten different patterns. Pattern designates a rhythmic or melodic-rhythmic f (...)
- 30 The others are called kleli roi harua (second rhythm), kleli diktama (gong-drum rhythm), and kleli (...)
47The musical bow (rama), formerly played by the three linguistic groups on Atauro Island (Manroni, Humangili, Adadi), has disappeared among the first two, but persists among the Adadi. The Adadi distinguish various rhythmic patterns (titir) of the musical bow accompanying male or female songs.29 Seven of these are named after places (see fig. 9):30
Fig. 9 – Names of the seven bow rhythms according to cardinal directions
Titir Manroni
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Manroni pattern
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Titir Nusa Kla
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Pattern of the Nusa Kla
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Titir Makili
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Humangili pattern
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Titir Timur Opun
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Pattern of the Eastern Masters
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Titir Lor Opun
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Pattern of Downstream Masters
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Titir Harak Opun
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Pattern of the Western Masters
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Titir Ra Opun
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Pattern of Upstream Masters
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48These seven melodic-rhythmic patterns, differentiating seven different spaces, serve to mark territories involving both humans and non-humans. The human groups are the Manroni and Humangili, while the non-human groups are the Nusa Kla —the masters of the east, downstream, west and upstream.
- 31 The musical bow consists of a very thin string (diameter 0.44 mm, length 50 cm) stretched between t (...)
49How can we distinguish the seven patterns? In this initial study—given that no prior research exists on this particular musical bow—we aim to provide a preliminary framework. With our current level of understanding, based on a preliminary analysis that will require further refinement, we can offer a tentative comparison of the seven motifs. Our comparative study of the seven patterns (see fig. 10) shows that they differ from one another, depending on the place of the partials in the pattern, the resonance of the strike (long or muffled) and the strike of the stick (struck against the string).31
50After an initial pick-up of two sixteenth notes, each motif consists of four binary beats divided into four sixteenth notes. A motif is repeated four times, if not many more. At first listen, it is difficult to perceive the differences, yet one can hear a melody of partials, remarkable for the exceptional mastery of harmonic resonance from extremely limited material. Fig. 10 reveals a number of differences between the motifs: the change of partial placement from one motif to another results in a difference in rhythmic balance. The Titir Nusa Kla is the most surprising and subtle, as the player manages to bring out the partial on the second sixteenth note of the second and fourth beats, revealing the mastery of great rhythmic finesse. The differences in the motifs testify to a differentiation of territory through the musical bow, a crudely made rudimentary instrument consisting of a single string stretched over a curved stick.
Fig. 10 – Comparison of seven motifs played on the musical bow (transcription–notation Kolia Chabanier, April 2024). Legend — Solid diamond: partial; hollow diamond: melodic line; X: muffled sound.32
51To know more about the jew’s harp, I was sent to the west to meet the Ruma Nokron clan in Biti, the only one who has the legitimacy to discuss the instrument. While there, I asked about the origin of the musical bow and was told to go east and ask the Tua Bere Doe clan, the only one authorized to speak about the musical bow’s origin.
- 33 The myth seems inaccurate as it does not really match the geography: the jew’s harp stone is locate (...)
52Members of the Ruma Nokron clan indicate that the jew’s harp comes from the Takngan people who occupied the western territory, which consisted of three parts: Atakngan, downstream on the coast (Tasi Opun), the middle (Klan Opun), and Tun Opun at the top of the massif. The jew’s harp, discovered by three brothers, was found among the Takngan of the middle (Takngan Klan Opun), near Asame Leʼen (present-day Berau). It was used by shepherds to herd their goats. Played in moments of solitude, it awakened a kind of nostalgia for isolation. Moreover, endowed with a magical power, at the mere sound of the jew’s harp, goats were drawn back to their pen. Today, this place is known as the jew’s Harp Stone (Hatu Aklamu)33 although some information I received indicated that the jew’s harp was originally of gold. The harp’s extraordinary powers are also mentioned in other stories, in which the three rulers of Makadade pursue a woman, Kilikmau Klingapa, using a magic harp that only sounds when they are on the right path. They are thus using the Takngan instrument to track down a Takngan (Guillaud, pers. com., May 2024).
53That the jew’s harp originated in the west is not unanimously validated. Koli Kala (of the Tua Bere Doe clan, in the east) maintains that the jew’s harp and musical bow first descended from Mount Manukoko and only arrived in the western domain once the Takngan had been decimated. This contestation of the jew’s harp’s western origins reveals a rivalry between the Ruma Nokron and Tua Bere Doe clans for supremacy in the field of instrumental and vocal music. The Tua Bere Doe clan claims to be descended from Lauʼ Mutus, the hero of the original myth who went to heaven to learn the songs.
54In modern times, several elements converge to associate the jew’s harp with the western massif: the presence of the best jew’s harp players in Biti, the jew’s Harp Stone (Hatu Aklamu) and the sad feelings associated with the instrument. In the village of Biti, I was particularly intrigued by the renowned musician Kili Kia’s charisma. Kili Kia, who descends in paternal line from the Ruma Nokron clan, is both a jew’s harp player and a singer. Her dual skill is revealed by a number of examples. In one performance, Kili Kia, small and aged though she was, accompanied a mixed chorus on her jew’s harp for over 10 minutes.34 During recording sessions, when she sang, although the volume of her voice was low, her singing was nonetheless intense, demonstrating a style not possessed by other jew’s harp players. The emotional intensity of Kili Kia’s voice gives her a particular ability to express sadness.
55The jew’s harp repertoire, which is not extensive, consists of a series of five rhythmic motifs,35 one of the best known of which is entitled “The jew’s Harp Cries, The Song Cries (Hleri Raur, Aklamu Raur).”36 With this instrumental motif, the song is performed with melancholy.37 The lyrics reveal a dark, dysphoric world of abandonment, emptiness, the passage of time, old age, the end of the world and tears:
1
|
Tukru teri kulu manu kulu
Kulu lete ulun
|
The birds are singing
Singing in the mountains
|
2
|
U inang ngetai doʼik
U amang ngetai doʼik
|
I donʼt have a mother
I donʼt have a father
|
3
|
O nge hlerih koa leʼe
U ba ala ene
|
You sing like a lie
I already understand
|
4
|
U ma hoʼik
turun a rare
|
My youth is collapsing
Iʼm going to the grave
|
5
|
U kekaduk te aʼik nahun
A tu ina heri
|
My white hair is showing
Iʼm still sitting with mother by my side
|
6
|
Bestidu sala lode
Saia sala lode
|
We wear modern clothes
We forget the custom
|
7
|
U sari muri ruma oin
Ntura taka hruk ma
|
I pass in front of the house
All closed
|
8
|
Nusa ngmaten teku lera
Suʼi rangno noro
|
The world is dying
Sad lament
|
9
|
Me eroʼo liku noro
Ora ndali noro
|
Youʼre crying
Time moves forward together
|
10
|
Ma turun noro ekna
Saʼa noro ekna
|
I come down crying
I come up crying
|
56The emotions of this song, accompanied on the jew’s harp, are reminiscent of death, which appears to be a recurrent theme in the western massif through the presence of the Nusa Kla and Takngan. This observation is further validated by the fact that black is the color of the west: it is forbidden to enter the west dressed in white, lest you run a mortal risk. The western domain is therefore characterized by the use of the jew’s harp and the wearing of black. In addition to sounds, colors are also associated with places.
57In addition to musical instruments that differentiate territories, there is another type of space differentiation through sound. On the island of Atauro, men and women use melodic calls to signal to each other as they move through the mountains. These vocal signals are intended to neutralize danger— indeed, all places are potentially dangerous, although none are off-limits to those who know how to respect the required sound world. Depending on the place being entered, you may have to be silent or make a certain type of call to signal your presence.
58In Makadade, these calls are called rauʼ-rakais. In this two-word expression, each term refers to a distinct call, composed of a melodic formula, limited either to the vowel [u] in the raʼu call, or to a succession of four vowels [a u a é] in the rakais call.38 In the case of rakais, the succession of vowels is combined with pitches that follow one another in ascending then descending movements, creating the effect known as raknei (yodeling).39
59In Makadade, while the rakais call is proper to the east, the raʼu call is proper to the west. Issuing a rakais call in the west would have harmful consequences— the Nusa Kla, I have been told, do not like this call and by making it, one could disappear. From east to west, different calls are required. Furthermore, each ethnolinguistic group on the island has its own distinctive calls, veritable vocal signatures of origin, differing not only in vocal technique but also in usage. These markers of territory are used to signal to both friendly and enemy groups.
60As we have already seen, east and west are distinguished by the history of their settlement, and by different representations and worlds of sound made up of a series of oppositions between instruments, rhythms, and calls. To this series of distinctions, we can add a few songs, although it was difficult, during the course of the survey, to understand which songs belonged to the west and which to the east. In order to verify the origin of a particular song, I played a number of them to several musicians. Only five were considered by all to belong to the west (see fig. 11), which is very few compared with the entire repertoire.
61To this day, the songs from the west territory are feared. One example offers insight into how these songs affect people even today. One Sunday in April 2022, I set off to record and film three musicians at Koli Kala’s home in Abak Tedi, in the east (Timur Opun). The great master of Makadade music brought together two musicians, a singer and a musical bow player. At the end of the session, I asked the singer, Joao, if he could sing a piece which I identified by singing the melody. However, Joao refused, claiming that it would be risky to sing it here, because the melody belongs to the songs of the Masters of the Middle (hleri Klan Opun), learned from the Nusa Kla and Takngan of the western massif. This melody, he said, could summon the spirits of nature— the ‘Masters of the Stonesʼ (the Hatu Opun) and the ‘masters of the treesʼ (Ai Opun)— and make them appear in the form of women singing with Joao and his companion musicians.
62Interestingly, while Joao refused to sing the Hleri Klan Opun melody (the song of the masters in the middle) when he was in the east, I was able to record it when I was in the west, and twice, in 2019. What was so special about this melody? A particular pentatonic mode (C# D E G A), an ambitus extended over two octaves, a particularly impressive descending movement difficult to execute,40 and a modal structure not found in other songs. Furthermore, after several field missions, I finally learned that this song refers to the Ruma Nokron clan, originally from the west.
63I would later learn that the songs of the masters of the middle (Hleri Klan Opun) and others were condemned by the Church: a Protestant Adadi pastor told me how local music was banned by Christian missionaries who objected to the nocturnal rituals, accusing the inhabitants of consorting with departed souls (kako) and spirits (pohe). In these rituals, clan members met in defensive sites— to the east, in Ili (Hngara) and to the west, in the Ili Ralam (‟Inner Fortress”)— to learn the songs of the spirits and to dance with them. Some clan members reported learning songs in their dreams and feasting with the departed souls and spirits under the night sky, the souls disappearing in the early hours of the morning.
64The east and west are distinguished by a series of features that should now be summarized. Figure 11 brings the oppositions together, presenting the sound worlds of the eastern and western massifs in terms of spirits, sites, clans, places, ornaments, headdresses, instruments, rhythms, calls, and songs. In this table, I have added other elements than sound detailed by Makadade’s inhabitants, such as appearance: people from the east who arrived dressed in white or bright colors (orange, red), with their hair in a bun, necklaces of orange coral beads, and swords could not enter the west at the risk of losing their lives.
Fig. 11 – Table of sound worlds between east and west
|
Harak Opun
|
Timur Opun
|
Spirits
|
Nusa kla
Taknan
|
|
Defensive site
|
Ili ralam
|
Ili Hngara
|
Clans
|
Ruma Nokron
Pipideli
Mangetu
|
Tua Bere Doe
Kapitan
Ruma Pas
Ruma Lari
|
Location
|
On the Biti side
|
On the Manukoko side
|
Color
|
Black
|
White
|
Dress code
|
No bracelet
Shell necklace
No metal
|
Bracelet
Orange pearl coral necklace
Sabers
|
Headdress
|
Braid
|
Bun
|
Instruments
|
jew’s harp (Aklamu)
Flute (Kinur)
|
Musical bow (Rama)
Gong (Dir)
Drum (Tama)
|
Rhythms
|
Western pattern
(Titir Harak Opun)
Nusa Kla pattern
|
Eastern patterns
|
Call
|
Ra’u
|
Rakais
|
Songs
|
- The jew’s Harp Cries, The Song Cries (Hleri Raur, Aklamu Raur)
- Song of the Tides
(Hleri Hru’a)
- Song of the Masters of the Middle
(Hleri Klan Opun, Hleri Nusa Kla)
- Boys’ and girls’ song
(Hleri Tato Aklara)
|
- Rakais dance song
- Set of seated songs Hleri Rasei Rasama
- Song Hari Kata Hari Kia
- Solo vocals Hleri Mek Mesa
- Traction songs for dugout (Raho)
- Song at water spring (Sour)
|
65One thing is clear from this picture, these oppositions describe a fault line between east and west. While the inhabitants name six main orientations, two are more important than all others: the east/west opposition predominates both in speech and in sung poetry, of which the following is an example of the possibility of a blend:
- 41 Hleri Rasei Rasama (Adadi song).
- 42 Hleri Raur Aklamu Raur (The Song Cries, The jew’s Harp Cries).
Timur Opun Harak Opun
Barahngo-rahngali
|
Eastern masters, Western masters
Already mixed41
|
O mai timur u ai harak
Ti rasoru tasi
|
You’re from the east, I’m from the west
We meet on the coast42
|
66Within this east/west pairing, the east appears to be the most valued. It is seen as a place of origin, and the peaks of Mount Manukoko and Maras Inan, where the first humans resided, are thought of as primordial reference points. All the values associated with the east are positive. Unlike the western kingdoms of the Insulindian archipelago, the Adadi center (Klan Opun) holds no particular power or value. It is the east that appears to dominate both in terms of value, altitude, and a form of authority, stemming from the Adadi victory over the Takngan. On the eastern massif, at a place called Ili Hngara, great rituals bringing together all the clans took place every year before evangelization.
- 43 Er hleri ʽsongs for water.ʼ
- 44 There is also the Nusa Lau Turuk site at the foot of Ili Hngara, which was the clans’ place of resi (...)
- 45 During our stay in 2022, the people of Makadade offered to film a re-enactment of the dugout descen (...)
67The water cycle ritual took place at the Erane spring, where the original song for water43 was performed. While there were many other springs in Makadade territory (Erair, Erapak, Eralo, Esuan, etc.), the Erane spring on the eastern massif was favored. Similarly, it was here that the Tolan ritual was performed to ask for prosperity from the pair of deities represented by two wooden statuettes (saik). These rituals came to an end in the 1970s with the arrival of the Christians; however, this ritual site, belonging to the Tua Bere Doe clan, is still considered a powerful site. Is this true only for the Tua Bere Doe clan, or also for other clans? While the Mangetu, Ruma Pas, Pipideli, and Ruma Lari clans refer to other places as being important, the fact remains that the great collective rituals uniting all the clans took place at Ili Hngara, which was a gathering point for the clans (Guillaud, pers. com., May 2024).44 To this day, the eastern massif is considered to be the source of artistic practices (induk kesenian, id.) in Makadade, as we were able to observe when we documented an ancient dugout-pulling ritual.45
68Thus, as Lévi-Strauss (1958) pointed out, we do not find ourselves in a concentric dualism, nor in a Southeast Asian model with a powerful center diffusing its power to a periphery (Waterson 1990: 95). While the east is synonymous with security and protection, the west, associated with strangeness, is full of danger from spirits, Nusa Kla, cannibalistic humans, Takngan, and even foreign invasions in recent times. An elder recalls a war against evangelization, which they resisted with gongs:
- 46 In Raklungu language: Hamosu hali murin perang harak. Luli, Kolikia aran ten simu piar Maromak riar (...)
69“Decades ago, there was a war in the west (perang harak [the war in the west]) in a vulnerable region. Kolikia Aran refused to convert. He didn’t believe there was a God or that the proposed religion was right. So, he decided to go to war. You must go to war in the west with the gongs, encircling them there as far as Hakpere. This means that we believe you have a religion, and that God will command. If religion or if God didn’t exist, then you wouldn’t come back. In the middle of the day, the voice of the gong rang out in Hakpere.” (Koli Reti, pers. com., Makadade, April 2022)46
- 47 Koli Reti also points out that the Garden Master (Hnia Opun), the Gong Master (Dir Opun), and the S (...)
70The quotation, translated from Raklungu into Indonesian, lacks clarity, however, we note the violence of evangelization, which the Adadi resisted with their gongs. The gong-drum ensemble, traditionally used to go to war, executes a rhythm known as the killing rhythm, also vocalized in a loop by the motif terik tete/tarik tete; terik tete/tarik tete, a motif that preceded and protected warriors. The gong-drum ensemble also accompanied the construction of dry-stone walls, another means of protection. The killing rhythm thus protected not only the warriors, but also the entire field. According to Koli Reti, if the gongs were not played the territory was not secure47.
71The mental map of Adadi territory is structured by six main orientations, each of which is dominated by Masters (Opun). This map reveals a world in which spirits cohabit with humans. Initially sketched out for me in a notebook by a teacher, this map was deepened in the course of this study through the exploration of speech and music, which reflects forms of polarization along the cardinal directions. While the east is considered as a matrix, the west represents an ʽotherʼ space: risky and dangerous.
72In music, polarizations are represented by musical structures, at the heart of the musical system itself. Certain rhythms and melodies are named by a cardinal direction, and elements enunciated on the musical bow, jew’s harp, or by voice enable humans to refer to these polarities. In this way, music has contributed to the construction of a system of complementary oppositions relating to places. The musical bow, associated with the east and masculine gender, can be seen as complementary to the jew’s harp, associated with the west and feminine gender. These two instruments thus form an inseparable pair, whose union lies not only in an acoustic principle, or in a gender opposition, but also in a universe of territorial signifiers.
73In addition, this study shows that the east/west pair dominates the other cardinal directions. Does this hierarchical representation of the Adadi space reflect a dynamic of territorial occupation by rival groups? While we cannot answer this question, we can hypothesize that it generates a series of peculiarities and prohibitions specific to each of the two spaces, with emotions associated with them that endure to this day. Knowledge of places and music has been fading rapidly since the banning of rituals— a disappearance that has devitalized the power of places and music, to which humans no longer attribute the same power to influence their lives. Further investigation is urgently needed to understand how these places are fundamental to the history of settlement in Atauro island before the complete extinction of their languages and knowledge.
Aklamu
|
jew’s harp
|
Diktama
|
set of four gongs of various sizes and double-headed tama (drum)
|
Harak
|
west
|
Hatu
|
stone
|
Hleri
|
singing
|
Hmangar
|
minds
|
Kako
|
recently deceased
|
Klan Opun
|
Masters of the center, Masters of the Middle
|
Lalod
|
shadow
|
Lor
|
downstream
|
Mata plolon
|
a ʻman who sees far,ʼ capable of seeing the invisible
|
Nusa kla
|
middle people
|
Opun
|
master
|
Piknutun
|
cannibal spirits, with horn and pig’s teeth
|
Pohe kako
|
deceased spirits who can metamorphose into human or animal form, with four eyes.
|
Ra
|
upstream
|
Rakais
|
yodelled melodic call
|
Rama
|
musical bow
|
Ra’u
|
melodic call
|
Rid
|
soul
|
Rid hmangar lalod
|
soul spirit shadow
|
Takngan
|
people of cannibalistic humans, to the west
|
Tasik
|
sea, shore
|
Titir
|
rhythm; gongs
|
Timur
|
east
|