Yanger in Tosoa, Kec. Ibu Selatan, Halmahera Barat

Yanger is a kind of string band popular on the island of Halmahera in Maluku, an area of Indonesia once famous as “the Spice Islands.“ Its Western sound should come as no surprise, as Portuguese and Dutch traders and colonialists dominated the area and its spice trade for around 500 years . Yanger mixes standard guitar with Portuguese-inspired lutes called juk, a tea chest bass called kaste, and church-trained harmonies. Recent additions are the fiol (from the Dutch “viool“), a local fiddle, and a mini drumkit. The song, “Masida Moju Mi Ahu Sangi’sara“ or “We Once Lived in Sorrow“ in the Wayoli language, is about how the Wayoli’s past as nomadic people “living in the forest.“ More about this beautiful, enigmatic music at the Aural Archipelago post: