Turak Dance as Local Wisdom in the Perspective of the Young

Generations in the Digital Age

Ira Miyarni Sustianingsih and Risa Marta Yati

History Education Department, STKIP PGRI Lubuklinggau, Jl Mayor Toha, Lubuklinggau, Indonesia

Keywords:

Turak Dance, Local Wisdom, The Young Generation, The Digital Age.

Abstract:

This study aims to analyse the existence of turak dance as one of the traditional dances which has become a

local wisdom in Musi Rawas Regency which has very high historical and cultural values in the perspective

of the younger generation in the digital era. The research method used is a qualitative research method with

a descriptive-analytical approach. Data was collected by combining literature studies, direct observation,

distributing questionnaires, interview and triangulation. The results showed that: 1) Turak dance is only

known by a small proportion of teenagers in Musi Rawas Regency. The results of a questionnaire observation

at three high schools in Musi Rawas Regency, showed that out of 180 people, only 14 people (7.8%) knew or

had heard of the name turak dance. 2) The lack of knowledge about turak dance is motivated by the assumption

of teenagers in Musi Rawas Regency (age range 14-18 years) that turak dance is an ancient dance, so they are

neither interested nor interested in practicing it or preserving it. 3) The lack of a sense of ownership and

preservation of the Turak dance among teenagers threatens the regeneration of the turak dance in the future,

where if this remains unchecked then it means the extinction of one of the local wisdoms of Musi Rawas

Regency which is a pillar of Indonesia’s national culture.

1 INTRODUCTION

Human civilization is inseparable from the growth

and development of cultural supporters of the civi-

lization. The Indus civilization in India, the Yellow

River civilization in China, the Mesopotamian civi-

lization, the Roman civilization and Greek civiliza-

tions that have different styles from each other. Civi-

lization will be formed by a combination of cultural

systems that include seven elements, namely: lan-

guage, knowledge systems, social organizations, sys-

tems of living and technology, livelihood systems, re-

ligious systems and arts. As one element of culture,

art has substantial manifestations, meanings and func-

tions in the lives of the people who support the cul-

ture. One form of this element of art is dance that

reveals beauty through the medium of motion. In the

cultural element which is the main content of every

culture that develops throughout the world, dance be-

longs to the element of art, namely performing arts.

The performing arts have three important func-

tions in everyday life that are adapted to the context

of events and socio-cultural societies, namely:

1. A referral for the community

2. Transmission of culture

3. Supporting local economic life (Slamet, 2012).

Therefore, the development and preservation of

dance is very necessary to do because dance is a re-

ﬂection of the cultural character and local wisdom of

the supporting community which will form a distinc-

tive ethnic identity. This cultural difference is what

causes in Indonesia there are a variety of traditional

dances that differ from one region to another. This

diversity is the richness of Indonesian culture that is

highly admired by foreign nations.

One of the traditional dances in Musi Rawas Re-

gency is turak dance. This dance is estimated to have

existed since the 18th century when Indonesia was

still colonized by the Dutch Colonial Government in

the Tanjung Sakti area (now STL Ulu Terawas Dis-

trict). Turak dance was used as a means of community

resistance to the Dutch Colonial Government want-

ing to control the Tanjung Sakti area which was one

of the coffee producing centre’s in South Sumatra.

During the independence war (1945-1949) the peo-

ple of Tanjung Sakti also used turak dance to para-

lyze the Netherlands, which at that time was repre-

sented by the NICA army (Nederlandsch Indie Civil

Administratie) who wanted to control this area (Sus-

tianingsih and Y., 2018; Fitriani, 2018). Although tu-

Sustianingsih, I. and Yati, R.

Turak Dance as Local Wisdom in the Perspective of the Young Generations in the Digital Age.

DOI: 10.5220/0009121402590264

In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Social, Economy, Education and Humanity (ICoSEEH 2019) - Sustainable Development in Developing Country for Facing Industrial

Revolution 4.0, pages 259-264

ISBN: 978-989-758-464-0

259

rak dance is rich in the historical value of the strug-

gle for independence and the original culture of Musi

Rawas, it does not guarantee that this dance is popu-

lar among teenagers for today. They are more famil-

iar with Western culture, Japanese or KPOP culture

which is synonymous with dances and songs that are

performed by beautiful, beautiful singers with clothes

that are fashionable and ”cool”. This phenomenon is

the background of the writing of this article which

aims to analyze how the existence of turak dance

among teenagers in the digital era is greatly facili-

tated in accessing foreign cultures through technolog-

ical sophistication.

2 RESEARCH METHODS

The research method used in this study is a qualita-

tive method with a descriptive-analytical approach.

Qualitative research methods are research methods

used to examine the conditions of scientiﬁc objects,

in which researchers act as key instruments. Quali-

tative research seeks to uncover the daily living envi-

ronment of informants who are the research subjects.

Researchers are encouraged to adapt in depth with in-

formants to recognize, observe and follow the infor-

mant’s life path as is (natural). Therefore, the data

obtained by this qualitative method is in-depth data

that contains many meanings (Idrus, 2009). Quali-

tative research methods are often called naturalistic

research methods and ethnographic methods (Sugiy-

ono, 2008). Stages in qualitative research include:

• Identiﬁcation and formulation of problems;

• Develop a framework of thought;

• Formulating a hypothesis;

• Empirically test hypotheses;

• Conduct a discussion;

• Draw conclusions (Suryana, 2010).

Data collection techniques used include through

library studies, observations (direct observation and

questionnaire), interviews and triangulation (com-

bined). Literature study is intended to ﬁnd initial data

sources from research to be conducted. The library

study was conducted in the library of STKIP PGRI

Lubuklinggau, Laboratory of History Study Program,

Lubuklinggau City Library, Musi Rawas Regency Li-

brary and open access journal by online.

Observation is a technique that is then used to ob-

tain data. Some of the advantages of observation tech-

niques, namely:

• This observation technique is based on direct ex-

perience;

• Observation techniques also make it possible to

see and observe themselves, then record behaviors

and events as they occur in real life;

• Observation allows researchers to record all

knowledge related to data;

• The researcher will have difﬁculty getting out of

his ”personal bias”;

• Allows researchers to understand difﬁcult situa-

tions during the study;

• Observation techniques become very important

when other communication tools are not available

(Idrus, 2009).

To strengthen the research hypothesis, during di-

rect observation, researchers distributed 180 question-

naires for three junior high schools (SMP) from ﬁrst

class to third class randomly, namely Xaverius Tugu-

mulyo Middle School (60 questionnaire sheets), SMP

N 1 Beliti (60 questionnaire sheets) and SMP N 2 Be-

liti (60 sheets of questionnaire). This questionnaire

sheet is a closed questionnaire consisting of ﬁve ques-

tions whose answers have been provided by the re-

searcher.

The next research technique used is interviews,

where the interview model conducted in this study

is structured and focused interviews in accordance

with the guidelines that have been prepared. Before

conducting structured interviews, researchers must

prepare material questions that will be asked. Re-

searchers are also required to be able to develop the

ability to gather information from informants (Idrus,

2009). In this study, interviews will be conducted

with people who have knowledge of the Turak dance,

among others: Hamam Santoso (art activist in Musi

Rawas Regency), Liliana (Serumpun studio owner),

Husni Tamrin (Cultural ﬁgure in STL Ulu Terawas

District), Suwandi Syam (Cultural ﬁgure in Musi

Rawas Regency), Muhammad Asman (Lubuklinggau

dance activist).

Meanwhile in triangulation, researchers will usu-

ally use different data collection techniques at one

time to get data from the same source. Researchers

can use participation observation, in-depth interviews

and documentation for the same data source simulta-

neously (Sugiyono, 2008).

The data analysis technique that will be used in

this study is an interactive data analysis model pro-

posed by Miles and Huberman’s Model consisting of:

• Data Reduction

Data reduction can be interpreted by summariz-

ing, choosing the main points, focusing on the

things that are important, looking for themes and

patterns and removing unnecessary. This data re-

duction can be done by means of abstractions that

ICoSEEH 2019 - The Second International Conference on Social, Economy, Education, and Humanity

260

aim to make a core summary while maintaining

the process and statement so that it does not come

out of the research objectives. This data reduc-

tion process is carried out on an on going basis so

that it can capture the core notes of the research

conducted.

• Data Display

Data display is a collection of information that is

arranged which gives the possibility of drawing

conclusions. This is done because the data ob-

tained during the qualitative research process is in

the form of narrative so that it requires simpliﬁca-

tion without reducing its contents.

• Conclusion/veriﬁcation

Conclusions are the ﬁnal stages in the process of

analysing data that includes researchers’ conclu-

sions on data that has been obtained while in the

ﬁeld. The conclusion can be done by compar-

ing the suitability of the statement of the research

subject with the meaning contained with the basic

concepts of the research. After the conclusion is

obtained the researcher then makes a written re-

port (Sugiyono, 2008).

3 TURAK DANCE AS LOCAL

WISDOM

The research turak dance is one of the traditional

dances developed by the people of Musi Rawas Re-

gency, precisely in the Suku Tengah Lakitan (STL)

Ulu Terawas South Sumatra Province. The STL Ulu

community is supervised to recognize this dance as

a dance that has a characteristic lack of motion. Tu-

rak dance a welcoming dance to trick the enemy by

relying on weapons called “turak”. That’s why this

dance is called turak dance (Santoso, interview on De-

cember 21, 2018 and Lilian, interview on February 2,

2019).

Turak dance has been around since the 18th cen-

tury when Indonesia was still colonized by the Dutch

Colonial Government, in the area of Tanjung Sakti

which is now called STL Ulu Terawas District. At

that time the Tanjung Sakti area was still led by Mon-

eng Sedayu, The King of the Tanjung Sakti area who

was part of the Palembang Darussalam Sultanate. Be-

cause this area is produce of coffee, the Dutch Colo-

nial Government then came to control the Tanjung

Sakti area. The attempt to conquer the Dutch army

will be carried out by the people of Tanjung Sakti.

Tanjung Sakti leaders and people then devised a plan

to derail the efforts of the Dutch Colonial Government

to control the nature and people of Tanjung Sakti.

The leader and community of Tanjung Sakti

agreed to welcome the arrival of the Dutch Colonial

Government through a dance played by six of the

most beautiful women in Tanjung Sakti. These six

beautiful dancers are equipped with bamboo weapons

named turak. Inside the turak is ﬁlled with sand, salt,

chilies and kitchen spices which can be removed from

the turak by rotating it. Sand, salt, chilies and kitchen

spices will hit the eyes of the audience (Dutch sol-

diers) around the dancers. When the Dutch army was

in pain because their eyes were exposed to sand, salt,

chilies and spices, the Tanjung Sakti youth would roll

out and attack and incapacitate the Dutch army with

weapons such as spears and keris weapon. With a

strategy to show turak dance as a welcome dance for

Dutch soldiers, the people of Tanjung Sakti succeeded

in thwarting their intention to control Tanjung Sakti

(Sustianingsih and Y., 2018; Fitriani, 2018).

During the Physical Revolution of Indonesia or In-

donesian Independence War (1945-1949) the people

of Tanjung Sakti also used turak dance to cripple the

Dutch who were then represented by the NICA army

(Nederlandsch Indie Civil Administratie) who wanted

to regain control of the South Sumatra area includ-

ing Musi Rawas and Tanjung Sakti. Turak dance is

not just an ordinary traditional dance. This dance is

a dance of the struggle for independence war and be-

comes a symbol of the struggle of the Musi Rawas

community against colonial rule. Unyielding, self-

esteem, unyielding, sincere and willing to sacriﬁce

and the spirit of patriotism are ﬁghting values that ex-

ist in turak dance (Sustianingsih and Y., 2018).

Even though it was created in the Tanjung Sakti

area, turak dance is currently not only known by the

people of Tanjung Sakti, but also has developed in

various other areas in Musi Rawas Regency. The

Tourism and Culture Ofﬁce of Musi Rawas Regency

even made turak dance as one of the riches of the arts

and culture of Musi Rawas Regency in the form of tra-

ditional dances. In the present, the turak dance func-

tion which was initially used as a welcoming dance

for guests (usually government ofﬁcials) who came to

Tanjung Sakti has undergone a change now to become

an ordinary dance performance.

For each performance of turak dance there is a se-

ries of moves that begin and end this traditional dance.

The various movements include: back and forth mo-

tion, scarf contortion, worship sitting, ngalui, raising

turak, lifting rotary turtle, turtle turak, contortion tu-

rak, shaking turak, shoulder turak, shaking straight tu-

rak, turning turak, worshiping the end, and ﬂying that

ends this dance. The turak movement becomes a cli-

max, where when the turtle is rotated, sand, chilies,

kitchen spices and salt in the turtle will come out to-

Turak Dance as Local Wisdom in the Perspective of the Young Generations in the Digital Age

261

gether following the turtle rotating movements per-

formed by dancers (Fitriani, 2018). In the past when

this dance was used as a means of struggle, when the

turtle was played and the contents inside it would be

about the eyes of the Dutch soldiers and immediately

the Tanjung Sakti youth would attack together with

the Dutch soldiers who were in pain. In the present,

kitchen spices, salt, sand and chilies are replaced with

yellow rice which will be scattered around dancers af-

ter the turtles are played.

The clothes used by turak dance dancers in every

present performance are:

• The upper part: baju kurung, Musi Rawas

crown/banyan tree crown/pilis, earrings, sanggul

malang and bungo cempako.

• Middle section: Musi Rawas tongue/Musi

Rawas lotus/tongue lotus, Musi Rawas necklace,

bracelet, rainbow cloth or rainbow shawl, and tu-

rak.

• The bottom: songket cloth or sewet songket (As-

man, interview on January 18, 2019).

Figure 1: Dancer of Turak Dance Source: Personal docu-

mentation

4 LOCAL WISDOM IN THE

DIGITAL AREA

In the order of people’s lives, local wisdom is a sys-

tem in social, political, cultural, economic, and en-

vironmental life that lives in the midst of local com-

munities. This local wisdom is dynamic, sustainable,

and acceptable to the community. Local wisdom is

the root of national culture which becomes a national

identity. Local wisdom has a very substantial function

as:

• conservation and preservation of natural re-

sources;

• developing human resources;

• cultural and scientiﬁc development

The substance of local wisdom itself consists of:

• thoughts, attitudes and actions in language, art

and literature;

• thoughts, attitudes and actions in various cultural

artifacts;

• social ideas, attitudes and actions (Wagiran,

2012).

Local wisdom is also the root of the formation of

the values of the supporting cultural character of the

community. This character value is closely related to

the formation of the personality of each individual,

especially the younger generation as the holder of the

nation-building relay in the midst of the current era of

globalization.

Globalization which collapses the dividing walls

between a country to other countries and that it brings

them to unity (universality) raises pop culture that

dominates today’s culture. The era of globalization

was also marked by the development of informa-

tion and communication technology that experienced

rapid and drastic changes, especially in the develop-

ment of mass communication media. The high growth

of local media, the development of online media, and

the popularity of social media in various communities

is a symbol of globalization (Watie, 2015).

Various brands of cheap android-based mobile

phones that ﬂood the electronic market also contribute

to the increasing accessibility of the internet in the

midst of today’s society. The ease of ownership of

this Android hand phone is also increasingly popu-

larizing global pop culture that threatens continuity,

existence and can damage the local cultural order. In

addition, global pop culture can eliminate identity, es-

pecially the diverse regional identity of ethnic groups

in Indonesia. Meanwhile, if the local culture is not

preserved, this culture will be claimed by outsiders

for economic and global capitalist interests (Piliang,

2005).

Globalization and the digital era have unwittingly

brought changes in people’s lives, which are seen in

the system of cultural values and cultural orientation

changes which have led to the death of local wisdom

(105). Therefore, local wisdom is very necessary to

be developed and preserved because the local culture

contains noble values that were the generations’ in-

tellectual property. In this era of globalization and

digitalization all Indonesian people are required to

be wise in ﬁltering out foreign cultures so as not to

turn off indigenous culture. This effort will eventu-

ally form a resilient cultural resilience, so that the lo-

ICoSEEH 2019 - The Second International Conference on Social, Economy, Education, and Humanity

262

cal identity of the region does not become lost and

remains sustainable until the next negotiation.

5 TURAK DANCE AS LOCAL

WISDOM IN THE

PERSPECTIVE OF THE YOUNG

GENERATION IN DIGITAL ERA

The young generation or adolescence is a phase of

human growth that lasts between the ages of 10 and

19 years. This growth stage is the most important

period, where this phase is the transition from child-

hood to adulthood which is characterized by a process

of rapid growth. In addition, this period is also very

vulnerable to various disorders of both emotions and

thoughts that will appear in negative daily behavior

(Asif, 2017).

The period of development of information and

communication technology in the era of globaliza-

tion and digitalization has encouraged an increase in

foreign cultures entering Indonesia. One of them is

the phenomenon of Korean Wave or Korean fever

that has hit Indonesian teenagers since 2000. On

popular social media such as Facebook, Instagram

and YouTube Indonesian teens freely access Korean

movie (k-drama), music and songs Hallyu cultures

which became a cultural commodity that South Ko-

rea developed throughout the world. Besides Korea,

Western and Japanese cultures also export much pop-

ular cultural content for Indonesian teenagers.

Foreign cultural fever greatly marginalizes the ex-

istence of local culture, including in areas that are still

thick with various traditions and cultures. Like tu-

rak dance which become one of the local wisdoms

in Musi Rawas Regency which is increasingly forgot-

ten by the community and its young generation. Tu-

rak Dance is very rarely displayed at various events

and activities in Musi Rawas. Since 2010 to 2018,

there have been only two turak dance performances

performed, namely in the Panen Raya at STL Ulu Ter-

awas in 2010 and sedekah rame in Batu Urip Village

in 2016. The regeneration of turak dance is currently

threatened with no regeneration because of its young

people less interested in practicing this dance (San-

toso, interviewed on Saturday, August 3, 2018).

The low interest of teenagers in the curiosity of

turak dance was also conveyed by Asnan (interview

18 Janiari 2019). He stated that because of the small

number of interested people who want to learn tu-

rak Dance, this dance is increasingly displayed to the

public. Turak dance is listed as one of the Cultural

Heritage Tak Benda (WBTB) of the Indonesian Min-

istry of Education and Culture (heritage). Kemendik-

bud.go.id). If we associate dance, it is also an edu-

cational medium that can educate children to be ma-

ture and avoid deviant behavior so that characters will

form in accordance with Indonesian cultural values

(https://googleweblight.com). This phenomenon will

of course be very unfortunate in the development of

the local culture of Musi Rawas Regency which is

also part of national culture.

The lack of knowledge of teenagers in turak dance

in Musi Rawas Regency is also evidenced by the re-

sults of questionnaires to three schools in Musi Rawas

District, namely Xaverius Tugumulyo Junior High

School, Beliti 1 Junior High School, and Beliti 2 Ju-

nior High School. The observation sheet contains ﬁve

questions:

• Have you ever heard of the term turak dance? (yes

or no)

• Have you ever watched turak dance? (yes or no)

• Do you have any desire to ﬁnd out more about this

dance? (yes or no)

• Have you ever watched Doraemon or Iron Man

movie? (yes or no)

• If you choose between a BTS concert or turak

dance performance, which will you choose? (BTS

concert or turak dance perfomance)

From 180 questionnaire sheets distributed ran-

domly in the four schools in class VI and VIII,

only 14 people (7.78%) knew or had heard of tu-

rak dance. Meanwhile for questions about K-Pop

singers, Japanese comics and some Western ﬁlms and

songs they all know and have watched them. Turak

dance is considered unattractive compared to K-pop,

Japanese comics, Western music and ﬁlms (interview

with Rama, May 16, 2019). The lack of recognition

of turak dance in schools, the family environment and

society is also the main cause of the unknown youth

of turak dance.

This data is proof of how turak dance as a wealth

of local culture is no longer known by its young gen-

eration. Teenagers act as the main pillar in the effort

to develop and preserve Indonesian culture. If this

condition continues to be left to a variety of local wis-

dom inherited from our ancestors, it will certainly dis-

appear, replaced by a foreign culture that does not at

all characterize local and national identity.

6 CONCLUSION

Turak dance is one of the traditional dances in Musi

Rawas Regency whose conditions are currently be-

ing abandoned and lacking in regeneration. Turak

Turak Dance as Local Wisdom in the Perspective of the Young Generations in the Digital Age

263

dance is estimated to have existed since the 18th cen-

tury when Indonesia was still colonized by the Dutch

Colonial Government. During the Physical Revolu-

tion (1945-1949) turak Dance was also used to cripple

the Netherlands, which at that time was represented

by the NICA army (Nederlandsch Indie Civil Admin-

istratie) who wanted to control the area. This histori-

cal fact makes Turak Dance a dance of independence

struggle that has very high historical value.

But unfortunately at this time turak dance began

to be abandoned by the younger generation. This is

evidenced by the results of interviews with several in-

formants as well as the results of questionnaire obser-

vations distributed to the three schools in Musi Rawas

District, showing that only 7.8% (14 of 180 students)

class VII and VIII were junior high school students

who knew and have known this dance. Various fac-

tors are the causes, including:

• This dance is a traditional dance that is considered

less attractive to teenagers;

• The digital era which currently makes it easier for

teenagers to download various content on the in-

ternet, social media and youtube foreign cultures

such as Korea, Japan and the West culture which

are considered more modern and follow the times

compared to regional culture;

• Lack of effort in the school environment or the

community to popularize local culture to the

younger generation of Musi Rawas Regency.

If this condition is left unchecked, of course it will

lead to the extinction of this dance because there is no

regeneration among the younger generation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

On this occasion the authors wish to release thanks

to RISTEKDIKTI who have funded this research for

Beginner lecturer research Grant 2019.

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