But solemnity is not an appropriate term for all aspects of performance. According to Turino (2008), terebang sejak can be classified as a participatory performance, i.e. a performance in which the audience and the performer can interact closely and sing together. There is no physical distance between the audience and the artists. Most viewers already know the songs through repeated listening and can contribute to the singing. The music also has simple rhythms that allow people to join. This participatory ethic is one of the characteristics that allow “village sentimentality”, a type of participation specific to the performance of the village terebang. The peculiarity lies in the combination of various elements of village life in performance, including work, kinship relationships, ritual and daily socialization. It`s not like the genres of post-industrial societies, where many kinds of contemporary performance take place in spaces detached from other everyday businesses. For example, a concert takes place in a separate hall from other companies as a concert space. But a Terebang Sejak performance is both a musical performance, a ritual practice, and an opportunity to express feelings of spirituality, happiness, jokes, and other emotions. It is not detached from these elements, but is determined by them. Moreover, its performers do not consider themselves to be part of a different creative class from the village population: no artist is distinguished by his creativity; On the contrary, many people are involved.

A performance by Terebang Sejak is an example of “voices and places as a connected social experience” (Stokes 1997: 673). At every show, we always give priority to Candralijaya. We also recommend other cultural events in Bandung and Tasikmalaya within our networks to include Candralijaya in their cultural and performance activities.11 Another information about the Terebang Gebes that circulates from person to person concerns the Terebang Sered, which is played back to back. Abah Odor (80), an experienced player from Terebang, told me that players sit this way if they want to demonstrate magical powers and compete with magical abilities. Two artists sat back to back on the floor. Between their backs, they placed a wooden board made of local wood called Leg Wood. Each performer recited spells to make his hands very strong. They played the Terebang as long and loud as they could until the wood broke between their backs.

The strongest player was the one who could play the longest, and this man was hailed as the “winner”. People told me exotic stories about these competitions. Sometimes players` hands were bloodied; Sometimes a Terebang made no sound because the player`s rival was directing magic at him. People described these performances as attractive and lively events. These stories partly explain Cikeusal`s ancient reputation as a kampung baragajul, meaning “village of hardliners.” The Sundanese are Indonesia`s second largest ethnic group after their neighbors, the Javanese, and occupy the Indonesian province of West Java, which is Indonesia`s most populous and densely populated province. 97.29% of the province`s population are Muslim (Suryadinata, Ananta and Arifin 2003:103). Of these, about 27 million people speak Sundanese (Sobarna 2007: 13). Shia depictions of qawwali usually follow the naat with a lack of praise for Ali and sometimes a marsiya, a lament over the death of much of Ali`s family at the battle of Karbala. Circumcision rituals in West Java are important. Mustapa (1985) explains that the circumcision ritual was accompanied by a number of other ritual practices that took place before, during, and after the circumcision itself. People believed that evil spirits could come and disturb the boy who had to be circumcised. Thus, the Terebang Sejak was played to accompany parents as they tried to stay awake at night.

It is also thought to cause the boy to feel less pain when circumcised in the morning. Not surprisingly, spectators often fall asleep during the performance. Sometimes it happens that the interpreters are the only ones who are still awake, because their listeners have all fallen asleep around them. According to scholar Jacob M. Landau, in Islamic music, “melodies are organized in terms of maqāmāt (singular maqām) or `modes`, characteristic melodic patterns with prescribed scales, preferred notes, typical melodic and rhythmic formulas, a variety of intonations, and other conventional devices.” [1] Terebang Sejak is performed by ten people, all men: five musicians, two singers and three reserve artists. They sit in a circular formation. While the musicians play the Terebang, the singers sing one of the 32 songs from the book to the text of the Kitab Mulud. They sing the four-line verses with melodies that have become common in the village. Nowadays, time restrictions don`t allow you to sing all 32 songs in one sitting. Instead, the singers decide which parts of the text they read. The music is initially played at a slow tempo, but accelerates after four to five songs and becomes more dynamic. “Modern” folk music was for a time called “novokomponovana narodna muzika” (“newly composed folk music”), although the term was no longer used in favor of simply “narodna” or “folkloric”.