A Seudati performance

For male participants. Seudati is the main Acehnese dance performed in standing position, including concentric square and circular formations. It is accompanied only by solo singing of the aneuk syahe (’child of poetry’) and the dancers’ group response singing and body percussion (peh badan). The dancers beat their bodies in rhythmic episodes of interlocking sounds made by beating their breasts (actually on the lower ribs), thigh beating, finger snapping, hand clapping and other body percussion sounds/movements and steps. The soloist enters singing Assalamū’ ‘alaikum (God be with you, greetings) after the dancers perform in various formations. The group was named Seudati Agam Meuligo Timur, led by Syeh Lah Geunta from Aceh Timur. These recordings of traditional Acehnese music and dance were made during Margaret Kartomi’s Australia Research Council-funded field trip to the Festival Tari dan Seuruné Kalée (Festival of Dance and Shawm) in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, Indonesia, 28 February- 2 March 2003. Margaret Kartomi was invited to record at the Festival by the Bupati (district head) of North Aceh, Bp Tarmizi Karim and Bp Noerdin Daood, lecturer in Acehnese dance in the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ), who was a member of the jury. She was accompanied by her husband, Mas Kartomi, and Monash PhD ethnomusicology alumnus, Iwan Dzulvan Amir. Camera by Iwan Dzulvan Amir. Recorded by permission of the Bupati of North Aceh, Bp Tarmizi Karim, and his appointed artist and 2003 festival organiser - Bp Rizal, on behalf of the troupes who performed in the Festival. Copyright 2003. Margaret J. Kartomi. Camera by Iwan Dzulvan Amir