Tanjidor is a traditional Betawi musical orchestra largely composed of brass and wind instruments and drums. This modest ensemble was played by the slaves during the Dutch colonial era.
From its name, the most common theory says that tanjidor derived from the Portuguese words, tanger (to play music) and tangedor (playing music outdoors). In Portugal, the tanjidor player is called tangedor (read: tanjedor) and it’s always played in an open space during a military parade or religious ceremony. It would subsequently become a loanword in the Betawi language as tanji, meaning to beat and because the instrument (drums) make dor… dor… dor… sounds, then it’s called tanjidor.
Despite being considered traditional Betawi music, the instruments of the tanjidor are western, consisting of a clarinet, piston, trumpet, trombone and the typical French horn. Then there are the drums (membranophones), symbols, and side drums. There is no fixed number of performers to a tanjidor group, an ensemble can vary ranging from a duo to a group of seven or even ten — a complete orchestra! The tanjidor is brought in to liven up events such as wedding parties, circumcision processions, and parades on big days.
A Dutch music expert Ernst Heinz (1975) who conducted research on folk music in the suburbs of Jakarta in 1974, said that tanjidor originated from the slaves who were assigned to entertain their masters during the Dutch colonial era. In the 18th century, Batavia was surrounded by high forts and there wasn’t much open land. The VOC officials built villas outside of Batavia, such as in Cililitan Besar, Pondok Gede, Tanjung Timur, Ciseeng, and Cimanggis. In those villas, there were slaves and soldiers who had the skills to play the clarinet, piston, trombone, tenor, trumpet, bass drum, side drum, and cymbal. They were asked to play musical instruments for their masters at parties and banquets. In 1860, slavery was abolished and the free slaves who could play music took the initiative to form a tanjidor music group.
Another source states that the tanjidor has been around in Batavia since the 19th century, pioneered by Augustijn Michiels who was locally referred to as Major Jaantje in the Tjitrap area (now known as Citeureup). This was confirmed by the 10th descendant of the Michiels family, Augustijn Michiels was a fourth-generation Portuguese descendant who settled in Kampung Tugu, North Jakarta. «Tanjidor is actually a music corps and Augustijn Michiels formed his own music corps to entertain guests when visiting Wisma Tjitrap. At the end of Augustijn Michiels› life, his music corps was free to play outside the Wisma Tjitrap,” shares Lisa Michiels.
Tanjidor has expanded to the outskirts of Jakarta, such as Depok, Cibinong, Citeureup, Cileungsi, Jonggol, Bogor, Bekasi, and Tangerang. And, in the past, the songs performed were Dutch songs, but now tanjidor is much more popular, performing typical Betawi songs, such as Jali-Jali, Surilang, Sirih Kuning, and Kicir-Kicir. The players always wear Betawi traditional clothing.
