Tranformasi dan Keberlanjutan Musik Tradisi Pakpak : Konteks Sosial Budaya di Kabupaten Dairi

Abstract

This study examines the transformation and sustainability of Pakpak traditional music within the socio-cultural context of Dairi Regency, a historical region of Tanah Pakpak, which has experienced demographic, political, and cultural changes. The dominance of Batak Toba music in various Pakpak cultural events highlights an imbalanced power relation and reflects the process of cultural hegemony formed through a war of position, which is the infiltration of dominant cultural values and symbols via government structures, access to education, church institutions, entertainment market networks, and public space representation. This situation is closely related to the shrinking cultural space of the Pakpak people, where local music representations, especially the Genderang Sisibah ensemble, are increasingly marginalized in communal spaces and lose some of their symbolic authority. Using a qualitative ethnographic approach, this research explores the practice of choosing musical ensembles in family traditions, religious settings, schools, entertainment markets, and the Njuah-Njuah Cultural Festival. The findings show that the community's preference for Batak Toba music is not solely driven by aesthetic considerations, but also by social capital, availability of musicians, institutionalized symbolic legitimacy, and the entrenched power structures in social life. Meanwhile, Pakpak music continues to survive through ritual practices, musical innovations based on technology, the presence of art studios, and festival spaces that provide arenas for identity reproduction and symbolic contestation. The study concludes that the sustainability of Pakpak traditional music requires a layered strategy that includes strengthening cultural education, creative hybridization based on local identity, strengthening customary institutions as symbolic authorities, utilizing digital media for documentation and dissemination, and expanding performance spaces through annual festivals. In this context, the Njuah-Njuah Cultural Festival plays a significant role as a counter-hegemony space that enhances the visibility, legitimacy, and continuity of Pakpak traditional music amid the pressures of dominant cultures and the forces of globalization.