ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a closer look at the composition process and interrelated concepts and opinions expressed by several educators and composers of tradition-inspired church songs in Flores. It examines the ways in which the inculturational agenda affects regional songs, music, and rituals. In the church context, the mata golo ritual is treated as synonymous with the ceremony of burying Jesus. Through its performance during the Good Friday celebration, the ritual is contextualized within Christian beliefs. In general, western and traditional music are blended together through use of compositional and arrangement techniques, broadened notion of musical accompaniment, and performance practice. Through music experiments, guided by aesthetic principles, composers approach inculturational composition in various ways. The development of the inculturational repertoire progressed from simple to more sophisticated adaptation and re-composition. As Pater Eman confirms, at the very beginning of the inculturation process, many traditional songs were used unaltered in church worship.
