Ritual music and christianization in the Toraja's Highlands, Sulawesi

Dana Rappoport (1)

1 CASE - Centre Asie du Sud-Est

The religion and music culture of the Toraja of southern Sulawesi (Indonesia) have undergone dramatic changes in the last century. Most of these involve the way that a formalized traditional belief system and an accompanying set of ritual musics were challenged by the advent of Christianity and pressures from the Indonesian government. In the Torajan ancestral religion, traditional music was strictly organized : balance of musical repertoires participated in the building of ritual morphology. Since the early twentieth century, several interrelated factors have contributed to changes in musical performances. As some rituals were prohibited, some of the old songs have been forbidden, others have been absorbed in Christian rituals and new songs have been introduced. The decontextualization of rising sun ritual songs has lead to artistic changes. External musical features were brought inside the traditional culture and also, native musical features were thrown inside the Christian ritual (inculturation). These two movements gives birth to a new musical identity in the context of monotheistic Indonesia.

Mots clés: christianisation; musique; Indonésie; Toraja; protestant

Domaines: Musique, musicologie et arts de la scène

Dana Rappoport. Ritual music and christianization in the Toraja's Highlands, Sulawesi. Ethnomusicology, 2004, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Fall, 2004), pp.378-404. ⟨hal-00476146⟩