Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine December 2017 | Page 120

118
Travel | Rinding Allo
reading to me a line from the Rongkong
Oath. “If there are issues, they are to be
settled in a civil manner.”
From the west, fog fell like a blanket over
the rice fields. I was wrapped in Manganan’s
fresh morning air. From out in the fields,
I could make out the sounds of malombu,
a wind instrument made of pandan leaves.
I felt like I was witnessing an orchestral
symphony. “The oldest form of musical
performances in the history of mankind are
out in the fields, plantations, the beaches,
and in the centre of town to put the little
ones to sleep,” Hokky Situngkir wrote
in his book Kode-Kode Nusantara.
“When you hear the malombu, that means
harvest has arrived,” said Daniel Sule, a local
farmer. Harvest season is a joyous moment
for the people of Rinding Allo. While the
men sound their malombu in the fields, the
women play their magenton, knocking their
lesung – the sticks used to pound rice – with
a pestle in the villages.
After harvest, farmers would hold what
is known as ma