Batak Music

Batak music is the umbrella for the traditions of the Batak peoples of North Sumatra, Indonesia, principally the Toba, Karo, Simalungun, Pakpak and Mandailing groups. Its ceremonial core is the gondang ensemble, in which tuned drums carry melody alongside gongs and the sarune oboe, joined by hasapi lute groups, uning-uningan song and the nine-drum gordang sambilan of the Mandailing. Around that ritual core grew a substantial popular repertory of Batak-language song, from the guitar-led singing immortalised by *Gordon Tobing* to modern studio productions carrying clan, migration and homeland themes across the Indonesian diaspora.