Music became a part of the culture. Indonesia, which is very rich in culture, also has a variety of traditional musical instruments. One of them is a typical musical instrument from Papua, namely the Tifa. To make you understand your culture better, let’s delve deeper into Sacred Tifa’s Musical Instruments.
About Sacred Tifa’s Musical Instruments
Tifa is one of the traditional musical instruments typical of Papua. Tifa is passed down from generation to generation along with the story of belief according to several tribes in Papua.
This traditional Papuan musical instrument is, at first glance, similar to the tifa from Maluku. The difference between the two lies in the model and shape. The typical Moluccan tifa does not have a handle on the side, while the Papuan tifa has it.
The tifa is a typical Papuan musical instrument that looks like a kendang (Javanese traditional musical instrument). It is made of wood with a blank in the middle. It makes a loud and beautiful sound and is sealed with dried deer hide at one end.
One of the interesting things about Tifa is the carvings on this instrument. The carvings contain individual features from each locale.
Tifa has varying sizes, ranging from 60 centimeters, and some even reach a height of more than one meter. Uniquely, the size of the tifa greatly affects the type of sound produced. If the size gets smaller, the tifa sound will be higher. The sound produced gets lower or larger if the size is long and large.
Tifa other names are Titir on the island of Aru and Tahito or Tihal in Central Maluku.
The Function of Tifa
The Papuan uses this musical instrument in various traditional ceremonies. This musical composition acts as a background for singing and dancing. The Papuan people see tifa as a cultural invention that acts as a social-bonding tool and an identity marker.
Moreover, Tifa is a quality that contributes to Ondoafi’s excellence (tribal chief). It also serves as a channel for interaction with God, ancestors, and other supernatural beings.
How to Make Tifa
Making tifa is not easy, but the people of Papua make it according to the ingredients that exist in their nature.
Materials
Tifa is made from local Papuan wood, namely milk wood. This type of wood is only found in the wilderness and then made into tifa through a special manufacturing process.
Besides being made of wood, the tifa on the membrane is made from animal skins, namely, monitor lizards or soa soa and deer skin. The Serui, Kamoro, and Kasib Biak people use monitor lizard skins to make Tifa, while the Marind people use deer skins.
The tools used in making tifa are axes, machetes, chisels, and crowbars.
How to Make Sacred Tifa’s Musical Instruments
Making tifa takes a maximum of 1 week, starting from logging, punching holes, trimming, carving, and attaching animal skins.
- To glue the skin on tifa’s mouth, they use blood and lime, some use mangrove tree sap.
- The carvings displayed are interpretations of past lives which were the beliefs of their ancestors. The Kamoro people often feature motifs of maleo bird eggs, fish fins, crowns, and forest fruits. The Biak people feature the whole human motif, and boats are depicted abstractly. Meanwhile, the Serui and Marind people feature spiral circles that symbolize their lives.
- Color is one of the most important parts of making tifa. For Papuans, the basic colors are white, red, and black. Red colors are made from clay, and seeds, white colors are made from kapu, and black colors are made from seeds and charcoal. Yet, as time went on, they colored it using paint colors.
How to Play Sacred Tifa’s Musical Instruments
The way to play tifa is to hold this tool using the left hand and hit it using the four fingers of the right hand. However, some hit him with five fingers of the hand.
Although it appears relatively simple, playing this tifa instrument is not as simple as it may seem. Players need to have strong instincts and a deep understanding of music to produce sounds that sound sweet and melodious on the tifa instrument.
Also, it’s important to beat tifa consistently. According to the Papuans, anyone wanting to participate in tifa must first get the tribe chief’s permission.
Tifa’s sacred musical instruments are present at various moments in the life of the Papuan people. Therefore it is a musical instrument that is still frequently played today.
