SAMAN GAYO 👉

Indonesia is a large country known for its ethnic and cultural diversity. This is the background behind the emergence of differences in traditional arts between one tribe and another. Of the many arts that exist in Indonesia, the Saman dance is one of the dance arts that still exists today.

The Saman dance is a dance from Aceh that is the pride of the Indonesian people. Previously, the Saman dance could only be performed by male dancers with vigorous and vigorous movements. In its development, Saman dance has involved male and female dancers in dancing simultaneously and side by side. This dance, which is usually performed to commemorate the birth of the prophet Muhammad, was created by a great scholar named Sheikh Muhammad Saman. Not only in the form of movement, the Saman dance is also often inserted with verses that have deep meaning.

It is not known exactly when the Saman dance began to appear. However, this dance created by Sheikh Muhammad Saman, allegedly has existed since the 1700s or is more than 300 years old. The great interest of the Gayo community in this folk game fostered the desire of Sheikh Saman to insert poems as a compliment to Allah SWT.

Along with the times, this dance is increasingly popular and worldwide. Even today, the saman dance is used as entertainment in state events such as welcoming important state guests or in opening festivals and other important events.

During the Dutch colonial period, the performance of this saman dance was prohibited because it contained magical elements that could be misleading. But this prohibition is ignored by the people of Aceh. Saman dance is growing rapidly until now. In addition, the saman dance is not only performed in Aceh, but also in several big cities in Indonesia.

The saman dance has even been performed abroad such as European countries and countries in the middle east. When viewed with body movements, the saman dance can be said to be very simple. But the movements are very diverse, including shaking, lingang, kirep, surang-filter, and lengek movements.