THE ART OF DYING: SOUNDS FROM THE MOUNTAINS OF SULAWESI

Funeral, healing, and wedding sounds from Sulawesi; Toraja ritual music recorded by Dana Rappoport in the early 1990s; Kajang basing and Mongondow kulintang from Philip Yampolsky’s Smithsonian Folkways survey; Sa’dan Toraja gesok-gesok from Eric and Catherine Crystal’s 1973 Folkways LP; and a Duri flute duo recorded by Palmer Keen for Aural Archipelago in Enrekang. The through-line is music made at the edge of death and social healing. Rappoport’s tracks come from the CNRS–Musée de l’Homme disc Indonesie, Toraja. Funerailles et fetes de fecondite (CNR 2741004, 1995) and from unpublished CREM deposits of the same fieldwork: purification fiddles and deity flutes, Mamasa healing flutes, the overlapping noise of a Rantepao funeral, and the atmosphere of a bua’ kasalle rite. Crystal’s gesok-gesok pieces sit beside them as an earlier published cut of the same bowed-lute world. Yampolsky’s Vol. 18 supplies Kajang funeral song (Rikong) and a Mongondow wedding gong set (Toki Hajat Perkawinan). The mix closes with Sundi Ambe Usi and Surafi in Bentang Alla Utara.Sources: Le Chant du Monde / CNRS–Musée de l’Homme; CREM-CNRS, Fonds Dana Rappoport; Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40445; Ethnic Folkways FE 4351; Aural Archipelago. Not RIAFC field recordings. Funeral and ritual excerpts remain the work of the named recordists and holding institutions.

1. Geso-geso (vièles). Musiques de purification: vièles (geso-geso). Toraja Sa’dan, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Recorded by Dana Rappoport, 1993–94. Indonésie, Toraja. Funérailles et fêtes de fécondité. Le Chant du Monde / CNRS–Musée de l’Homme, CNR 2741004 (LDX 2741004), 1995, track 19.

2. Rituel Bua’ Kasalle — Ambiance (Célèbes). Toraja Sa’dan, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Recorded by Dana Rappoport, 1993. Unpublished. CREM-CNRS, Fonds Dana Rappoport, collection CNRSMH_I_2005_013. Related items: CNRSMH_I_2005_013_002_58; CNRSMH_I_2005_013_001_57.

3. Flûtes de divinité 1. Musiques de purification: flûtes de divinité (suling deata). Toraja Sa’dan, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Recorded by Dana Rappoport, 1993–94. Indonésie, Toraja. Funérailles et fêtes de fécondité. Le Chant du Monde / CNRS–Musée de l’Homme, CNR 2741004, 1995, track 20.

4. Rikong. Basing Ensemble (Kajang). Recorded by Philip Yampolsky. Music of Indonesia, Vol. 18: Sulawesi: Festivals, Funerals and Work. Smithsonian Folkways, SFW CD 40445, 1999, track 3.

5. Flûtes de guérison (suling bonde), Toraja Mamasa. Musiques de purification: flûtes de guérison. Recorded by Dana Rappoport, 1993–94. Indonésie, Toraja. Funérailles et fêtes de fécondité. Le Chant du Monde / CNRS–Musée de l’Homme, CNR 2741004, 1995, tracks 17–18.

6. Flûtes de divinité 2. Musiques de purification: flûtes de divinité (suling deata). Toraja Sa’dan, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Recorded by Dana Rappoport, 1993–94. Indonésie, Toraja. Funérailles et fêtes de fécondité. Le Chant du Monde / CNRS–Musée de l’Homme, CNR 2741004, 1995, track 21.

7. Toki Hajat Perkawinan. Musik Kulintang Molosing, dir. I.A. Dilapanga (Mongondow). Recorded by Philip Yampolsky. Music of Indonesia, Vol. 18: Sulawesi: Festivals, Funerals and Work. Smithsonian Folkways, SFW CD 40445, 1999, track 7.

8. Pa’kau kau (gesok-gesok). Duma, Pandang, Dundung. Sa’dan Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Recorded by Eric Crystal and Catherine Crystal. Music of Sulawesi: Celebes, Indonesia. Ethnic Folkways Library, FE 4351, 1973, side B / track B2.

9. Pa’daun lemo (gesok-gesok). Duma, Pandang, Dundung. Sa’dan Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Recorded by Eric Crystal and Catherine Crystal. Music of Sulawesi: Celebes, Indonesia. Ethnic Folkways Library, FE 4351, 1973, side B / track B3.

10. Pa’messina (gesok-gesok). Paulus Jusuf. Sa’dan Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Recorded by Eric Crystal and Catherine Crystal. Music of Sulawesi: Celebes, Indonesia. Ethnic Folkways Library, FE 4351, 1973, side B / track B5.

11. Untitled (gesok-gesok). Paulus Jusuf. Sa’dan Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Recorded by Eric Crystal and Catherine Crystal. Music of Sulawesi: Celebes, Indonesia. Ethnic Folkways Library, FE 4351, 1973, side B / track B4.

12. Polymusique funéraire, région Rantepao. Toraja Sa’dan, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Recorded by Dana Rappoport, 1993. Unpublished. CREM-CNRS, Fonds Dana Rappoport, collection CNRSMH_I_2005_013. Related items: CNRSMH_I_2005_013_001_88; CNRSMH_I_2005_013_001_73.

13. Suling dendang dendang / Sengo Mapalamban Bombo. Sundi Ambe Usi and Surafi. Duri people, Bentang Alla Utara, Enrekang, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Recorded by Palmer Keen, 2014. Aural Archipelago. https://www.auralarchipelago.com/auralarchipelago/tag/South+Sulawesi