Cultural Survival, Continuance and the Oral Tradition: Mendu Theatre of the Riau Islands Province, Indonesia

This article seeks to describe Mendu theatre that is performed in Sedanau, Natuna regency (kabupaten) of one of Indonesia’s newest provinces, the Riau Island. 1 Once popular at the turn of the 20 th century and in the 1970s and 1980s, there were local Mendu groups in every village of Natuna in parts of northern and eastern Bunguran island, and other smaller islands such as Sedanau, Pulau Tiga, Karempak, Midai, Siantan, and Anambas (K.S. Kartomi 1986; Illyassabli, 2013; Akib 2014). The oral tradition keeps a people’s culture alive across generations by performing episodes from memory. Mendu theatre episodes express and reinstate the cultural values of the Natuna people. Language, culture, customary laws and how the people think are transmitted orally through the arts and through the embodied knowledge of theatre performance practices

The Indigenous Performing Arts in a Sumatran Province: Revival of Sakura Mask Theater, 1990–2012

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'Main Alu' audiovisual example recorded 2013 in Natuna Archipelago, Kepri

<h2>Example KKT1-FR-2013a-KEP-00331 was recorded by Karen Kartomi Thomas in Sebala village during her field trip with Margaret Kartomi in the Kepulauan Riau (Riau Islands Province) region in January 2013.</h2

Field trip Natuna 1984 - AV - Lagu nasib

Video recording made in Ranai, Natuna, Indonesia.<br>Recorded by Karen Kartomi Thomas.<br>Performance of "lagu nasib" or the Elephant Song, an integral legend in the Mendu Theatre tradition.<br><br

Example 6.1 - Bangsawan Syair, Performance 1

Opening musical item from the bangsawan performance 'Sultan Mahmud Riayat Syah' at the Festival of Malay Civilisation (Tamadun Festival Melayu) held in September 2013 in Tanjungpinang, the capital of Riau Islands Province (known as Kepri). The bangsawan troupe, Sanggar Seni Diram Perkase, call this musical item a syair. Each scene is preceded by the syair (4-line verse form), which uses the same melody but different lyrics that describe the action about to take place on stage. During the rendition of the syair, the theatre hall is in darkness until the final strains of the lagu dua or faster closing section cues the opening of the curtain and lighting up of the stage. <div><br></div><div>For more information about the performance and the music, see Chapter 6, 'Bangsawan in Lingga: the vanished era of the Lingga-Riau sultanate' by Bronia Kornhauser, in Margaret Kartomi (ed), <i>Performing the Arts of Indonesia: Malay Identity and Politics in the Music, Dance and Theatre of the Riau Islands</i>, Copenhagen: Nias Press, 2019. <br><br>The original audiovisual recording is held in the Music Archive of Monash University <br></div