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Sumatra's
heavier Islamic influence is reflected in their musical instruments:
a primitive type of oboe, serunai, is almost identical to the
Persian original, the surnai. A type of drum, rebana (like a tamborine)
found here is also popular in other Islamic areas of the world.
Each region of Sumatra has its own choreography and dance forms,
performing primarily dances of the feet. Sumatran dancers are
known for their gays (grace), very smooth, soft, willowy movements.
Candledances (tari li/in or tari piring) are danced all over the
island. Girls with tassled caps carry lighted candles affixed
to saucers. As the dancer dips and rises, their open palms describe
in space semi-circles and figure eights. Music is accented by
the clicks of rings against the bottom edge of the plates which
are turned over and under very quickly, though the flame never
quite goes out. When tari /i/in is over, the girl blows the candle
out and silently leaves. In the Handkerchief Dance, men and women
hold one end of a large white square of cloth. They do a kind
of maypole dance, winding in and out and turning around, tying
the handkerchiefs in a series of knots. At the conclusion, they
can untangle it immediately and faultlessly. Sometimes they let
it drop on the floor and pick it up with their teeth. They say
there's a different dance for every one of Sumatra's 100 districts
and as many dancers as it has single girls. When a woman dances
at her wedding ceremony it's for the last time.
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