Indonesia. Antiphonal histories: Resonant pasts in the Toba Batak musical present By Julia Byl Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2014. Pp. xiii + 316. Maps, Figures, Musical Transcriptions, Notes, Glossary, Bibliography, Index.

Abstract

Antiphonal histories: Resonant pasts in the Toba Batak musical present By JULIA BYL Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2014. Pp. xiii + 316. Maps, Figures, Musical Transcriptions, Notes, Glossary, Bibliography, Index. Antiphonal histories investigates present-day interpretations of history, human relations, and customs among the Toba Batak people of Indonesia. While ancestral connections to traditional practices centre around older highland villages and areas with proximity to Lake Toba, the author incorporates as well urban cultural negotiations of Toba people residing in Medan (North Sumatra's capital) and Jakarta (Indonesia's capital). Such negotiations are vividly presented within diverse performance settings ranging from weddings, funerals, and houses of Christian worship to palm wine stands and hotels. It also identifies present Batak constructs of history and religion including Islamic, Indie, Protestant, ethnic, colonial, and national pasts. The topics are developed through a reflexive scholarship, including personal contemplations on stories and experiences while in the field as well as the author's evaluations of performances of the music itself, its context of practice, and its signifies for the Toba. The analyses include both very general and quite specific discussions concerning the fields of ethnomusicology, historiography, anthropology, and sociology. As expressed by the author, the publication presents an 'ethnographic engagement with the field of historical ethnomusicology' (pp. 4-5), that includes the author's experiences in the community and perceptions of Batak interpretations of history by examining present music performance. The presentation of information, references, and analysis of Batak music performances as representative of intertwined histories and social relations benefits from the author's numerous years of engagement with a specific community. The ethnographic accounts are highly personal, shifting from a fairly 'distanced' and 'objective' scholarly stance to one more intensely 'engaged' and 'subjective'. 'Antiphonal exhibitions' are as much reflective of a Toba history through musical performance as it is the author's autobiography through lived experience. Due to space limitations this review focuses on the three major sections of the book, namely the Bindu (introduction), Tarombo (genealogy), and Partuturan (positioning). The organisation of each section begins with a useful guiding 'Orientation' followed by its chapters. The first section acts as an introduction and conceptual overview. Its beginning 'Orientation' presents an initial positioning of the publication as an ethnography in the field of historical ethnomusicology. Chapter 1 begins with a historical description of cartographies and early mappings of Sumatra and the isles of Waq-waq, cosmological orders that maintain Indie influences among the Toba, and a presentation of the different musical expressions examined. The second chapter introduces the author's Batak family, the Sitohangs. The bapak (father), a musician, instrument maker and resource for Batak history and customary practice, is continuously referenced throughout the study. The analysis of the song 'Jamila' connects the author's ethnographic sonic experience with the bapak's original version 'Oh, This World' and interpretations by the prominent Toba pub band Vithagoras. Chapter 2 continues with an extensive introduction of tarombo and partuturan with many personal anecdotes. This initial section introduces the reader to the theoretical approach of the following two sections dealing with musical ways of treating the past (tarombo /genealogy) and observations of the past to understand the present (partuturan /positioning), respectively. The musical and human experiences of the author delineate analytical boundaries and the examination of Toba contestations in musical performance. The latter leitmotif is both useful in understanding the ethnographic experience and its resultant conclusions and, while limiting, introduces approaches of specific individuals filtered through the cultural values and lens of the author. …