The Traditional Silk Brocade of Palembang “Songket”

Abstract

Songket is a woven cloth decorated with motifs interwoven using supplementary gold thread. Palembang songket is characterised by a red background on which various motifs, such as flowers, stars and rhomboids, are interwoven with gold thread. The figures are categorised into three groups, i. e. flora, fauna and others, and these are combined to create certain patterns and designs. According to one artisan, all figures and patterns are traditional ones which have been woven for a long time.It is likely that songket was already woven in Palembang by noblewomen in 1670. Since the gold thread was previously made of real gold of 14 carats, this cloth was very expensive and restricted to noblewomen before the Palembang sultanate period was abolished by the Dutch in 1824. The regulation of wearing songket seems to have been strict; the design and colour which a noblewoman could wear was regulated according to her social status; songket was an important status marker of noblewomen. During the Dutch colonial period (1824-1942), the use of songket expanded to noblemen and the wealthy Chinese and Arabs. In the 1930s, songket weaving started to decline due to the Great World Depression and shortage of materials, and it was driven to the verge of extinction in the 1950s.In the mid-1960s, however, songket weaving was successfully revived, recruiting young people as new weavers and introducing new materials and technologies. Cheap versions of songket woven with artificial gold thread started to be sold in the market. The cheap versions of songket, the eclipse of the concept of ‘nobility’ after the Second World War and adat (customary law) protocols which stipulated that people should use songket in rites of passage encouraged the ordinary, less wealthy people of Palembang to wear and use songket in ceremonies. Songket has indeed been democratised and popularised, and its use has become a ‘new’ tradition for ordinary people. Nevertheless, it is also true that differences in the quality of songket still tend to differentiate the wearers in terms of wealth and status. Nowadays the regulations of wearing songket are no longer strict. People can wear whatever colours and designs they like. People try to follow adat as closely as they can when they use and wear songket, and songket has become an identity marker of people of Palembang.New styles of songket fashion are produced to attract younger female customers. These activities to expand the market are necessary for the development of the songket industry of Palembang. New designs and colour combinations are important factors which would attract new customers inside and outside Palembang. On the other hand, old people of Palembang tend to prefer traditional colours and designs; Palembang songket culture seems to maintain an appropriate balance between commercial-based culture and the local, relatively conservative one so far. No matter whether the design is a traditional or modified one, people of Palembang realise their identity when they wear Palembang songket.