Capturing musical heritage for future generations
In the Moluccan Protestant community in the Netherlands, it has been customary for five generations to sing religious songs together. Yet little is known about this custom brought from the Moluccas. Religion scholar Jip Lensink, with support from the Public Engagement Seed Fund, organized a singing event to capture this musical heritage for future generations.
Why did you organize this event?
鈥淚 am doing doctoral research on the role of song lyrics in the identity formation of Moluccan Protestants in the Netherlands. From the beginning, I had a strong urge to do something for this community. During my fieldwork, it emerged that they wanted to preserve these songs and singing practices for future generations. The singing event was a great way to fulfill that wish and thank everyone for their warm welcome and personal contact.鈥
We felt connected to each other through singing
What exactly did you do?
鈥淎t the singing event, we sang religious songs both a cappella and accompanied by traditional Moluccan instruments. These are popular songs that were often mentioned during my fieldwork. Also included are songs that are sung during special occasions and evoke specific feelings and memories. Each song has been professionally recorded and placed in the digital archive 'Moluccan Songs' that I have established together with the HDC Centre for Religious History of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. This publicly accessible archive also contains songs composed by first generation Moluccans. These songs have been recorded on a separate choral day.鈥
What has stayed with you the most?
鈥淭hat we all felt connected to each other through singing. It's not often that all the organizations, denominations and generations of the Moluccan Protestant community come together and share these singing practices. From the many thank you emails I received afterwards, it is also clear that everyone really enjoyed themselves and felt at home. For example, my Moluccan respondent Tineke emailed, 鈥淚 was completely moved to sing at the top of my voice with so many like-minded people. I sang the stars from heaven as an alto!'鈥
More information: Digital archive of Moluccan songs
Jip Lensink is an anthropologist and religion scholar. Her doctoral research studies the role of song lyrics for the identity formation of Moluccan Protestants in the Netherlands.
Text: Sabine Waasdorp