"Gondang Porang"

"Gondang" and "Porang" 

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By Edi Nasution 

CULTURE, for some reason, this is now  a few people who looked just as "art" of course, the term "seni budaya", they said. Yet according to the experts that anthropologists, culture is related to all aspects of human life (language, art, religion, subsistence systems, science, and so on), the form can be the idea (ideal form), activity (action), and physical culture. 

The elements of the culture, the other mutual fused (integrated) in total. It may occur because of cultural elements that have the same part that is something that can be integrated functionally intact among cultural elements. If in Mandailaing, all aspects of their lives based on the customary "Dalian Na Tolu" (the three main pedestal of "mora", "kahanggi", and "anak boru"), not MARGA (clans), be it in the "markobar" (deliberation), "marsaba-markobun" (agriculture), "margondang-marogung" (music and dance), "marbagas" (ceremonial wedding), "mambulungi" (ceremonial death), and so on. 

In simple terms "culture" that is roughly similar to the "car" that has wheels, tub, engine, brakes, persineling, driver, and so on. If for example the wheels or the driver does not exist, of course, "car" that can not move forward or backward. Approximately so too does "culture", it does not function optimally in the absence of the functional elements. 

In the development of a civilization that has lasted hundreds even reaching thousands of years, it could be an element of tribal culture (nation) another "entry" into the civilization/culture them, where "foreign culture" which makes it further experience with cultural acculturation who have been there before. 

It could happen "foreign culture" which makes it actually is not fully integrated with the "old culture" due to various factors, but the tribe/nation supporting it with a variety of cultural reasons, while recognizing and utilizing the "foreign culture" as their culture. Perhaps, in a relatively long period of time (a long process), they hope "foreign culture" that will eventually be established culture, which will be the same quality as the old cultures (native) them, so "absolutely" already seen an their culture intact (integrated) fully with others. 

It could be "yes", but it could be "no". Because there may be anthropologists/sociologists who find "foreign culture" which makes it look not so when integrated (merging) with the cultures of their others. As with percussion instruments such as the "drum" almost possessed by all tribes/nations in the world both in the West and in the East, where the terms of the shape is very varied. The question is whether the basic idea of making "drum" that comes from the West and then spread to the East, or otherwise from the East which then spread to the West, or in both the East and West have both been there "drum", but the tribes that use it as a percussion instrument tends to change the shape of "drum" and play rhythm patterns based on the uniqueness of their own culture, or perhaps copied from the tribe/other nations, is a "field research" is quite interesting in the disciplines of ethnomusicology (the study of music ethnic). 

Clearly, the existence of "drum" is once again proving that the various tribes/nations have been in contact with each other since thousands of years ago, either individually or in groups, such as the important events such as "war" in which "drum" played to give the spirit warriors to war, so in Mandailaing there is a special repertoire called "gondang porang". 

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