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Kemayoran

Grup Bamba Puang
Audio
Kemayoran
This genre of singing with guitar accompaniment by the Mandar of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, is called sayang-sayang, and performed at weddings and domestic celebrations. Sayang-sayang has texts made up of independent verses: a singer spontaneously strings together verses of the same stanza form, chosen from the singer’s stock of memorized verses, or sometimes composed on the spot. The verses are "independent" because the order in which they are sung is not determined in advance, and the verses are not tied to a fixed narrative line; each verse is complete in itself. The verses here lament the singer’s misfortune and outcast state, a common theme for independent-verse songs.