Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 21:27:16 -0700 To: bataknet@hotmail.com From: rcaalam@muse.sfusd.k12.ca.us (Richard Caalaman) Subject: introductions (surfin' 9/20/96)
Selamat pagi....my name is Richard, writing you from outside San Francisco.... I first visited Sumatra in 1993...spent months traveling around northern Sumatra....Bukit Lawang, Berestagi, Lake Toba, Bukit Tinggi, Lake Maninjau, and Padang.... I decided, somewhere on that 17-hour bus ride from Parapat to Bukit Tinggi that I would return, and stay for as long as possible with my adoptive Batak tribe-brothers. Let me explain:
I'm American-born Filipino, a budget-back-packer for many years....and I always travel with my guitar-- a Yamaha acoustic (dreadnought size...) along with assorted harmonicas and tambourines and and percussion instruments... at the "Jungle Inn" in Bukit Lawang, the owner (I forget his name... "Andra"?) made me feel most welcome, probably because I reminded him of one of his elders... anyway, Andra, and by extension, his workers, immediately accepted me into their family... we played guitar and sang together, taught each other new songs... "Rosita" and " Alusiyao" I like very much; "Ah Sing Sing So" is okay, too.... I would leave my guitar with the guys so they could practice and play...
Are you familiar with Bukit Lawang? Back in 1993, every Wednesday and Saturday there was live music at "The Cave", on the trail from the bus-stand to Andra's Jungle Inn... Andra introduced me to Prince, the lead singer, and to Mr. Lee, one of the guitar-players.... they invited me up on stage to play with them.... I think we did "La Bamba" for about 45 minutes... it was great...
In the summer of 1994, I went back to Bukit Lawang---Andra was off somewhere on some island off of northern Sumatra, starting up another "Jungle Inn'.... when I showed up at the Bukit Lawang Jungle Inn, the guys again welcomed me as if I were the "traveling uncle who shows up every couple of years" or something like that...then, one of them bestowed upon me what I think is a Batak family name: HUTAGALONG.
So, I know that there are five Batak "tribes", and I felt privileged to have been accepted into the "Hutagalong" branch...
With all of that introduction, I come to the purpose of this e-mail: I am a teacher of English in San Francisco (middle-school and college), and I am applying for a Fulbright Research Grant for the year Sept. 1996 - Sept. 1997.... I have a Master's Degree in Linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley, and I want to research and study Batak culture and language. Of course, this is just an excuse to be able to hang out... what I really need to know is the words to "Rosita" and "Alusiyao"....
Any thoughts? Here are some things I would like to know, from your angle....:
1) Are there lots of people researching Batak language and culture?
2) Are you aware of any Batak studies that try to differentiate among the five tribes' speech?
3) In your contacts, what do you suppose might be the next step in terms of researching the Batak language?
I"m sure there's tons of research literature here in Berkeley and there in Medan; but I'm getting more and more lazy to go to the library.... and besides, I still have to practice the Batak lyrics to "Rosita" and "Alusiyau"....
Terimah Kasi....
Looking forward to your response.....
Richard Caalaman (....."Hutagalong"...) / saya orang batak, bujur / 20 Sept 96
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