In pre-colonial times, political organization above the village level hardly existed. Nicholas Tariing. In Laguboti, I attended a Parmalim religious ceremony which has never taken place in a town or a city such as Medan. Likewise, through this approach I was able to observe participants, including myself, and become involved in each part of every gondang-tortor performance I attended. Not until the early s has detailed ethnomusicological research into the music of Sumatra including gondang sabangunan begun to attract the attention of local and foreign scholars.
nest...