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About the Project
Surveying Audiovisual Recordings of the Oral Traditions Association (ATL), Indonesia
Planning Grant
This project focused on a comprehensive survey of the audiovisual recordings produced by researchers affiliated with the Oral Traditions Association, known as Asosiasi Tradisi Lisan (ATL) in Indonesia. Established in 1993, ATL is a non-governmental organization accredited by UNESCO with the primary mission of safeguarding and studying Indonesia's rich oral traditions. Over the past three decades, ATL has been providing training and supporting research on oral traditions in Indonesia. As a result of these activities, ATL has assembled a substantial collection of approximately one thousand audiovisual recordings, encompassing folktales, songs, traditional theater performances, rituals, dialects, and interviews, from diverse regions of the country, spanning from Sumatra to Java, from Kalimantan to Sulawesi. These recordings bear immense significance in preserving Indonesian oral traditions, particularly for local communities, as they function as records of their cultures and languages.
Project Leads
Hao Phan, Northern Illinois University
Host Institution
Northern Illinois University (U.S.)
More Information
Ringkasan Tujuan dan Capaian Proyek
Tujuan dari proyek ini adalah untuk mendokumentasikan, menginventarisasi, dan juga melestarikan tradisi lisan Indonesia melalui koleksi rekaman audio dan audiovisual. Fokus utama dari program ini adalah menyusun inventaris yang cukup detail hingga tingkat satuan atau item yang komprehensif untuk mendukung penelitian akademik, pelestarian budaya, dan akses publik di masa depan.
Adapun capaian proyek ini meliputi:
- Inventarisasi komprehensif: Proyek ini mengerjakan inventarisasi yang detail hingga tingkat satuan (item) yang mencakup 1.080 rekaman audio dan audiovisual tradisi lisan yang tersebar di Indonesia. Secara keseluruhan, rekaman ini merepresentasikan (I will fill this out) durasi atau jam rekaman yang dikumpulkan dari [I will fill this out] lokasi di berbagai wilayah Indonesia, termasuk Jawa, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, dan Sumatra.
- Keragaman format: Koleksi dari proyek ini mencakup berbagai format audiovisual, termasuk audio (kaset, CD, file digital) dan video (VHS, VCD, DVD, file digital).
- Kondisi fisik material: Sebagian besar material berada dalam kondisi baik atau cukup baik dan layak untuk didigitalkan pada tahap berikutnya. Namun, format lama seperti kaset audio memerlukan persiapan khusus. Diperkirakan setidaknya 80% dari 1.080 rekaman dapat didigitalkan.
- Cakupan konten: Koleksi ini mendokumentasikan spektrum luas tradisi lisan Indonesia, termasuk musik, tarian, nyanyian, teater, pertunjukan seni dan budaya, upacara adat, upacara keagamaan, permainan anak-anak, dan sastra.
Koleksi ini merupakan sumber primer yang penting untuk Kajian Indonesia serta menjadi fondasi bagi digitalisasi, penelitian akademik, dan pelibatan masyarakat dalam melestarikan warisan budaya takbenda Indonesia.
Explore 14 Collection Inventories
This project included survey work across the network of the Oral Traditions Association of Indonesia (Asosiasi Tradisi Lisan – ATL), resulting in 14 item level inventories that document 1080 audiovisual recordings of Indonesian oral traditions. The recordings were created by students, scholars, and people who are associated with ATL, a non-governmental organization accredited by UNESCO with the primary mission of safeguarding and studying Indonesia's rich oral traditions.
Collectively, the recordings amount to 589 hours, with an average duration of about 32 minutes each recording. They cover vast regions of Indonesia, including Java, Sulawesi, Riau, and Sumatra, and were collected from more than one hundred locations across provinces and villages.
The participating ATL offices/branches cover the following regions:
- Gorontalo
- Jawa Barat (West Java – Bandung)
- Jawa Timur (East Java)
- Kalimantan Barat (West Kalimantan)
- Maluku
- Pusat (Jakarta)
- Riau - Kepulauan (Riau Archipelago)
- Riau (Mainland)
- Sulawesi Barat (West Sulawesi)
- Sulawesi Selatan (South Sulawesi)
- Sulawesi Tenggara (Southeast Sulawesi - Kendari)
- Sulawesi Utara (North Sulawesi - Manado)
- Sumatera Barat (West Sumatra)
- Sumatera Utara (North Sumatra)
Mak Yong
All the recordings of oral traditions in this survey are valuable resources for cultural preservation and research. However, if we were to highlight one particularly meaningful set, it would be the recordings of the oral tradition of Mak Yong.
Mak Yong is a traditional performance art that weaves together dance, music, song, and dialogue. It originated in Patani (Southern Thailand), spread to Kelantan (Malaysia), and reached Bintan in Indonesia through Singapore more than a century ago. Mak Yong experienced a golden age in the 1990s but later declined. Recognizing its cultural significance, revitalization efforts over recent years have enabled Mak Yong to reemerge, with performances taking place across Indonesia and internationally, including in Singapore, Bangkok, Naples, and Australia. This year, Mak Yong has even been proposed to UNESCO as an extension of Malaysia’s 2008 recognition.
In this inventory, recordings on Mak Yong can be found in the listing of the file MEAP-6-0135 – PUSAT (Jakarta):
- Row 43 — Mak Yong — Creator: Lontar — Duration: 00:57:18
- Row 88 — The Stage Performance of Mak Yong Play 1 — Creator: Pudentia MPPS — Duration: 00:45:00
- Row 89 — The Stage Performance of Mak Yong Play 2 — Creator: Pudentia MPPS — Duration: 01:20:00
- Row 283 — Mak Yong Performance — Creator: Pudentia MPSS — Duration: 00:04:24
- Row 284 — Mak Yong Performance — Creator: Pudentia MPSS — Duration: 00:04:23
- Row 285 — Mak Yong Performance — Creator: Pudentia MPSS — Duration: 00:04:24
- Row 286 — Mak Yong Performance — Creator: Pudentia MPSS — Duration: 00:04:24
- Row 287 — Mak Yong Performance — Creator: Pudentia MPSS — Duration: 00:01:30