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Sureq Baweng 
(Song of the Parrot)

19th
20th century

Courtesy of the National Library of Indonesia

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National Library of Indonesia
Jakarta
Indonesia

Sureq Baweng
19th–20th century

The production of the reel lontar is limited to South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The more usual lontar is made from flat strips of lontar palm strung together like venetian blinds. Only a few examples of the reel lontar still exist in museums in Indonesia and Western countries.

To make a reel lontar, strips of lontar palm are joined with palm fibre stitches into a continuous band. The strips are generally about 60 centimetres long and two centimetres wide. The strip is then rolled and notched at each end onto a reel. Alternatively, the rolls are sometimes mounted onto a wooden frame with a handle at each reel so the lontar can be rolled backwards and forwards more easily for recitation. The example on display is mounted onto two reels on a wooden rod and does not have handles. It is likely that it is read by turning the reels by hand. The National Library of Indonesia dates this reel lontar as being made in the twentieth century but it may trace its creation to the nineteenth century. It was probably made as an example of an historical object from an earlier era.

Sureq Baweng’ means ‘Song of the Parrot’, and is a long Bugis-language poem in lines of eight syllables. The Bugis are a distinctive regional group from the centre of the Indonesian archipelago on the Java Sea. They have maintained their own culture and literature, and are noted warriors and inter-island traders.

The recitation of this poem is often accompanied by a ritual involving the sacrifice of a chicken or a goat, the burning of incense and other spirit-invoking actions. When the manuscript is opened, the spirits are said to be present before the audience, and can be approached for help to solve all kinds of difficulties.