Aceh’s Indigenous Performance:A case of Adnan’s Hikayat Story Performance

Seminar Pendekatan Berbagai Disiplin dalam Bidang Penciptaan dan Pengkajian Seni

Fakultas Ilmu Budaya USU, 28 Oktober 2019

Ari J. PalawiKampus Kreatif Inong BaleeJurusan Pendidikan Seni, Universitas Syiah Kuala

The Aceh Indigenous Art Forms

• Kartomi suggested that Acehnese dance, music and visual art were guided by four general concepts of

space, namely upstream-downstream concept associated with the Animist-Hindu-Buddhist mysticism and

commercial success respectively; cardinal directional concept of space; geometric concept dating back to the

pre-Dong-son era (before c.300 B.C.E.); and central-point-in-a-circle concept which is believed to have

associations with Perso-Arabic thinking and to have pointed to Aceh’s international relations with Persian,

Mongolian, Turkish, and Arabic cultures over the past millennium.

• These four main Acehnese concepts of space in dance, music, and visual arts reflected the specific

ways by which people from a particular culture conceive space and experience the daily life. The

contemporary society of Aceh is believed to have originated from “adat”, i.e. local complexes of norms

and traditions. Apart from providing cosmological order, this “adat” operates as the primary

explanation in order to make the world intelligible and to inform one how to act in it.

“Hikayat”, a term derived from an Arabic word “hikâyat” or “hakâ” is used to refer to Aceh’s or Malay’s literature works. This word means “imitating.” In the course of time, this original meaning has gradually developed to become more specific, namely mimicry, tale, narrative, story, or legend.

Earlier, hikayat was applied for the action of telling story accompanied by some physical movements in order to attract the audience. In its later development, hikayat has changed to become a prose type work chanted by the “hâkiyah” [imitator] during performance. In Malay tradition, hikayat took after “dâstân”, a Persian word used to refer to a long prose. When this long prose was changed to be a short prose, it was called “hekâye.” Since the fifteenth century, Malay hikayat had developed to incorporate epos[the epic manuscripts from India], cerita panji [transcript of the nobility stories], manuscript in the alteration era of Hindi to Islam, religious texts from Arab-Persia, cerita bingkai [a kind of fiction], and historical texts

Hikayat

“Hikayat Bumi Aceh”

A. D. Pirous merangkai persoalan konflik,

kekerasan, kisah kepahlawanan, kedahsyatan

tsunami, hingga keindahan alam Aceh

The Aceh Hikayat

• Robson argued that the narratives in Malay’s hikayat were not realistic. This argument does not apply to Aceh’s hikayat because it, in contrast to Malay’s hikayat, contains historical epics documenting the origins of regions, rulers, or kingdoms, or glorifying special Sultans or dynasties. Fantasies, opinions, and legends that were found in it were based on real events. Even though it sometimes consisted of romantic descriptions, such descriptions were in fact intended to incite people to act politically.

• Amir described, based on Abdullah’s idea, Aceh’s hikayat categories as follows: 1) Folk stories, which included humorous story, origin myths, and fables; 2) Romances, which were based on Malay, Islamic origins, or true stories; 3) Stories of epoch, which derived from Islamic origin, or true stories; 4) Tambeh or stories containing advices or commentaries based on religious teachings and social critiques; 5) and Carah, the interpretations of the religious texts as a transitional or contemporary stories. The forms of Aceh’s hikayat are poems called sajak or several phrases of pantôn [quatrain]. The quatrain often appeared in the opening part of hikayat called khuteubah, or in each new introduction of the hikayat’s episodes, or in dialogs.

• Smith argued that hikayat was the most important type of Aceh literature, such as “Hikayat Raja Raja Pasai” [hikayat of Pasai’s kings], “Hikayat Perang Sabi” [hikayat of the holy war], Hikayat Prang Gompeni” [hikayat of the colonial war], and “Hikayat Achi” [hikayat of Aceh]. This hikayat did not only, “provide historians with clues to the sites”, but also “provide incitement to action”, including “stories pertaining to the culture and to the era in which it was written.” Until in the twentieth century, hikayat has been still the most preferred show and favorite edutainment for public in Aceh.

Teungku Haji Adnan (well known as Adnan PMTOH)

The persona of Adnan PMTOH as a pioneer of the new model of Aceh’s story-performer is phenomenal in the tradition of hikayat in Malay and Aceh.

He was a drug salesman before he became a progressive Aceh’s storyteller.

As an Islamic scholar and teacher in a

Muslim society of Aceh, Adnan was

certainly aware that he might be a

model of Aceh’s Islamic scholar charisma

that people have expected.

He introduced a relatively new method of mimicry by

being able to imitate the voices of people, objects and

animals in a way that attracted the audience. He,

according to Amir account, was the first story-

performer who used such a mimicry to engage people

viewing his performance. He also developed a number

of stage properties employing a wooden sword, a

pillow, kupiah meukutob (decorated fez hat), a toy

weapon, a plastic doll, or costumes on the stage to

ensure that his cultural and educational messages

reaching the public.

It is worth noting that Islamic teaching is the main basis of Aceh’s adat, norms and values, in which Aceh’s

indigenous art form is included. “Adat” originally came from an Arabic word referring to past statutes that

were observed and honored by a society. Some have argued that Aceh’s adat was based on local animism,

augmented later by Hindu-Buddhist ideas, and eventually adapted to Islamic influences. Afterward, Islam

and adat became mutually constitutive of the Acehnese life and thought.

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