Saluang
Encyclopedia
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
of the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra
West Sumatra
West Sumatra is a province of Indonesia. It lies on the west coast of the island Sumatra. It borders the provinces of North Sumatra to the north, Riau and Jambi to the east, and Bengkulu to the southeast. It includes the Mentawai Islands off the coast...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
It is similar to the flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
in general and made of bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
. It is related to the suling
Suling
A suling or Seruling is an Indonesian bamboo ring flute. It is used in gamelan ensembles.Depending on the regional genre, a suling can be tuned into different scales...
of other parts of Indonesia.
It is made of thin bamboo or "talang" (Schizostachyum brachycladum Kurz), with 4 hole. Saluang more simple than other kind of flute because it is made just adding 4 holes and finish. The dimension of saluang is 3-4 cm in diameter and 40-60 cm in length. It is related to the suling of other parts of Indonesia.
Saluang player can play that music instrument without interrupting for taking breath from start to end of song. They have developed special breath technique in blowing that instrument without stopping for breathtaking.
Minangkabau people believe that talang which is collected from rack of clothes dryer or found drifting in the river is a good material for making saluang. Traditionally Minangkabau people also use talang as a container for sticky rice food (lamang, lemang
Lemang
Lemang is a traditional Malay food made of glutinous rice and coconut milk and cooked in a hollowed bamboo stick lined with banana leaves in order to prevent the rice from sticking to the bamboo. The cooking method using bamboo container is popular in Iban Dayak tribe of Borneo...
) and as horizontal rack for drying clothes (jemuran kain) under sunlight .
One famous saluang player is Idris Sutan Sati with saluang female singer Syamsimar. Today, it is not so easy to find classic saluang cassette even in original place of saluang (Minangkabau).
Style of saluang tune for example : Singgalang, Pariaman, Koto Tuo, Ratok Solok, Cupak, Salayo and Pauah. Singgalang style is quite difficult for the beginners. High skilled saluang player can play many styles and audience can request any style to them.
In the past, Minangkabau people believed that saluang player have pitunang (mantra) or magic power for hypnotizing the audience. That mantra called as Pitunang Nabi Daud