Flute summons listeners, cures the ill

Flute summons listeners, cures the ill

By Suparman

PALU, Central Sulawesi (Antara): Every ethnic community has a
distinctive culture. So do the Kaili, who comprise 45 percent of
the province's two million population.

The Kaili have lalove, a flute-like musical instrument which
is believed to have healing power. In the local dialect, love
means a fading sound from a far away place.

Ramlan Sumbalangga, 57, a maker and player of lalove from Lolu
village in Sigi Biromaru subdistrict says love also means to
whistle or to wheeze, with the intention of attracting someone's
attention.

In traditional rituals, lalove is also played to summon the
spirits of ancestors to heal the sick. Texts are yet to be
written which scientifically describe the meaning of lalove.

Ramlan says lalove music is believed to have been created in
ancient times by members of the Kaili community who generally
lived in bamboo forests. That explains why the bamboo musical
instrument is popular.

"The creator must have been inspired by the sound of a
perforated bamboo blown by the wind," he theorized.

Syarifuddin, 48, a community leader in Lolu village says that
lalove has magic power to attract people, even sick people, when
it is played.

Ramlan says lalove is made only for customary ritual purposes.
The process begins with reading a mantra, or magic formula, to
ask for the ancestors' and God's blessing.

"The mantra is like a prayer for the lalove to be blessed,
with the power of healing for the sick who listen to it. The
lalovemaker prays for the piece of bamboo to be made into a
musical instrument which can become a tool for the divine power
to heal the sick."

The bamboo is carefully selected from the forest. When the
proper pieces are obtained, they are placed in the river and the
lalovemaker follows the pieces as they drift downstream.

The piece selected is the one which drifts the fastest.
Masrudin, 54, a lalovemaker, says the selected bamboo is then cut
to a certain length. The lalovemaker stretches his arm and the
bamboo's length is the distance between the middle finger tip and
the center of his chest.

This length is considered ideal. The chest symbolizes the
center of life. While a bamboo with defects is not acceptable for
use because of a belief that it has lost its healing power.

The next process is to find the bamboo's center point with a
rattan cord cut the same length as the bamboo. The cord is folded
into two and the half-way point is the bamboo's center point.

The next step is to determine the distance between the
lalove's holes, which involves complicated arithmetical and
mystical calculations. To make the holes, the bamboo is pierced
with a burning iron bore. In ancient times, they were made with a
sharpened bamboo bar.

Lalove is performed by a player who sits cross-legged. "It is
the standard pose," said Amaluddin, a 40-year-old lalove player
from Lolu village.

The musical instrument is played like a flute.