153 Sirojul Ummah: Music in Social Interaction Febbry Cipta, Sandie Gunara Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia Submitted: October 14, 2019. Revised: January 9, 2020. Accepted: November 4, 2020 Abstract This article describes music’s role in social interactions carried out by female members of the Marawis group Sirojul Ummah. The Marawis music is the medium they use in their efforts to convey Islamic knowledge and understanding, both for this group itself and for the surrounding community. The research method used is qualitative, in which data are collected from observa- tions, interviews, and literature review, while the technique in analyzing data is done through a contextual approach. Social interaction in this study is viewed from the associative and dis- sociative aspects in the form of actions that include rational instrumental action, value rational action, effective action, and traditional action. Music is present in each of these actions. Music is both a subject and an object in social interaction, both in-groups, and out-groups. The associative and dissociative aspects of in-groups can be seen from how musical ideas and performances are developed and honed through practice activities. This activity is carried out because good musi- cal performance is supported by techniques and methods of singing, playing, and presenting musical articulation, ornamentation, and harmonization. At the same time, the associative and dissociative aspects of out-groups can be seen from their activities in filling out events in society. The interaction process is built-in pleasant and informal situations which are shaped by an inter- est in music and family relationships. Since childhood, they have known each other; thus, they understand the characteristics of each person. Maturity, the maturity of thinking, and acting tend to avoid emotional conflicts that may occur. In this context, music is not only a medium for inter- action, but can be a motivation in building these interactions. Keywords: Marawis; music; women; social interaction How to Cite: Cipta, F., & Gunara, S. (2020). Sirojul Ummah: Music in Social Interaction. Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research And Education, 20(2), 153-160 Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 20 (2) (2020), 153-160 Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/harmonia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/harmonia.v20i2.21456 and the musical accompaniment that cover language texts (lyric) becomes a medium in interpreting and interacting with others. On the other hand, Umar (2017) states that music is built by taste, which through fee- ling, a person can make a more effective relationship with God and fellow humans. Thus, these views can be used as a basis for researchers to understand more deep- ly about the activities of Sirojul Ummah in social interaction to spread and develop knowledge and understanding of monot- INTRODUCTION If we pay attention to the journey of spreading Islam in Indonesia, music has long been used as a medium of preaching by the ulama (scholars), even since the days of Wali Songo (Patzold, 2011). Meanwhi- le, when referring to the opinion of Seas- hore (1967), and Pradoko (2019), it is used because music has a contextual aesthetic, namely music is not limited to the form of tones and rhythms, but melody patterns Corresponding author: E-mail: febbrycipta77@upi.edu p-ISSN 2541-1683|e-ISSN 2541-2426 Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 20 (2) (2020): 153-160154 heism and piety to the community. The study of the role of music in so- cial interaction is not new. Several articles related to this study have been written, including by Azoma and Nuqul (2017), Haris and Amalia (2018), Widiyanti, Wa- diyo, and Sunarto (2016), and Kurniawan and Djohan (2017). However, at least this article that we write gives something diffe- rent when viewed from the subject, name- ly the Marawis group consisting of house- wives who call themselves Sirojul Ummah. This study focuses on the problem of how the characteristics of social inter- action and how the actions were taken by the Marawis group Sirojul Ummah in their process of developing aspects of articula- tion, ornamentation, and musical harmo- nization. Referring to the opinion of Zinn and Hogenson (1987), aspects of music are constructed by sound attributes, which in- clude frequency, amplitude, timbre, and duration. Frequency is related to pitch, na- mely high and low tones, the amplitude is related to dynamics, namely the loudness and softness of the sound, while timbre is related to the tone color or sound color, while duration is related to time, namely fast or slow, as well as long/short sounds and mute (silent signs). Whereas when referring to Andjani (2014) it can be said that music, in addition to sound and silen- ce, tone and rhythm, or space and time, is deeper than that; music is text and context, or object and subject. Some may argue that music is a universal and abstract language, but many people can communicate with these abstract musical languages more ef- fectively. Social interaction includes aspects of purpose, emotion, and behavior (Santo- so, 2010). He expressed his opinion that a group consisting of individuals is formed because of the same goal, supported by the same emotional atmosphere, and the ef- forts made through each member’s activi- ties. On the other hand (Wulansari, 2013), apart from cooperation, social interactions can also take the form of disputes, compe- tition, and accommodation. Cooperation can occur because of the same goal, both among individuals in a group, and among groups in a society. Each individual and each group try to interact to support and help each other and build ethical and effec- tive communication. Meanwhile, disputes can occur when interactions turn out to result in differences of opinion and views, while conflicting people and conflicting groups have difficulty building good com- munication, making it difficult to determi- ne solutions to problems. On the other hand, competition is a form of social activity that can take social struggle. Competition can occur because there is the same motivation to get somet- hing. Still, something is limited in number so that each individual or each group must compete in achieving these goals. Meanw- hile, accommodation is a condition when a dispute or conflict can be resolved to re- establish good interaction. Besides, capa- city can also be in the form of activity to accommodate competition through com- petition concepts, with various procedures and work systems that competing parties and accommodating parties must comply with. Gilin and Gilin (1950) in their discus- sion of the Dynamics of Social Organizati- on, distinguish forms of social interaction into two characteristics of social processes that are caused by social interactions, na- mely associative and dissociative. Refer- ring to (Soekanto, 2017), these associative characteristics are in the form of coopera- tion, accommodation, assimilation, and acculturation. Meanwhile, disputes, cont- radictions, and competition are included in the dissociative characteristic. The social process characteristics are based on ac- tions regarding the goals, work steps, and results achieved by interested individuals and groups. Social interaction is built by various relationships between individuals with one another, or it can be individual relations with groups and relationships between group and group. These relationships are carried out through actions that can affect social systems and structures. Meanwhile, according to Ritzer (2012), these actions Febbry Cipta & Sandie Gunara, Sirojul Ummah: Music in Social Interaction 155 can be distinguished in instrumental ratio- nality, value rationality, affective actions, and traditional actions. The act of instru- ment rationality is based on the expecta- tion of individual objects and behavior as a condition and means of achieving goals through rational efforts. Value rationality is a social action based on thoughts and efforts in which the condition and means of interaction are related to subjective and objective values, as well as ethical and ae- sthetic. At the same time, effective actions are social actions based on individual fee- lings and enthusiasm in responding to so- cial conditions. Traditional actions are ac- tions that interact through work steps that are considered normal because of inherent habits. METHOD This research is a type of qualitati- ve research with a design described desc- riptively. This is done by researchers to examine more deeply various phenome- na and information obtained in the field. The steps are taken and the procedures carried out during the research are more open based on the observation and inter- view guidelines that have been prepared. Referring to Alwasilah (2011) and Suban- di (2011), this method was chosen and carried out as an effort for researchers to study various phenomena that occurred in the field, so that researchers could gain in-depth understanding and knowledge about music in social interactions in the Marawis group Sirojul Ummah. During the research process, the researchers built a good relationship with the research sub- jects to get a complete and comprehensive picture of how the characteristics of social interaction occur, and the social actions carried out by the members of the Mara- wis music group Sirojul Ummah in music, both between personnel with personnel (in-group) as well as between members of the Marawis music group Sirojul Ummah and the community (out-group). The research data collected is the re- sult obtained from observation, interviews, and documentation, which was carried out in the period of late August 2019 to mid- October 2019. Observations made by rese- archers were divided into two categories, namely direct and indirect observations. Direct observations were made when the researchers observed various things that were happening in the field, which were related to various activities of the Sirojul Ummah music group personnel, such as their involvement in music, economics, education, communication, and religion. Meanwhile, indirect observations were made when the researchers observed va- rious documents obtained, such as video, audio, and photos of the activities of the Marawis music group Sirojul Ummah. The interviews conducted by researchers were unstructured, even though the rese- archer also prepared important notes as a guide in conducting interviews such as the names of personnel, the formation of the Marawis music group Sirojul Umah, practicing and performing activities, social relations among group members and with the community, education, and hobbies. To obtain data, validity, observations, and interviews were also carried out on other objects and parties that were considered relevant to this study’s purpose. The collected data were then ana- lyzed using a contextual approach. This technique is done by researchers because at first, researchers did not know for cer- tain about how the actual conditions that occur in the field. However, they already had the basics of knowledge about the to- pic of this study. The researcher’s analysis process refers to the content, narrative, and discourse aspects as an effort to un- derstand how the relationships between statements and events are. When referring to Alwasilah (2011), Budiasih (2014), and Junaid (2016), it can be said that this techni- que is carried out from field data and then analyzed using relevant theories. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The Dual Role of Sirojul Ummah Person- nel Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 20 (2) (2020): 153-160156 Sirojul Ummah is a Marawis music group domiciled in Wado District, Su- medang Regency, West Java Province. This group consists of personnel who are mothers around the ages of 47 to 70 yea- rs. Apart from being housewives, these women work as sellers of home-processed food and work in the fields in their daily lives. They do this work, apart from hel- ping their husbands increase their income for household needs, as well as an activity to spend their spare time. Likewise with musical activities, through Marawis, they can earn a little income from invitations to fill the event, and especially these acti- vities become a medium of their interacti- on on religious values, namely gratitude to Allah SWT., and prayer to the Prophet Muhammad SAW., and social interaction in building good relationships with fellow humans. This group was officially establis- hed on February 1, 2010, found to develop knowledge and practice understanding of sholawat through Marawis music. In lan- guage terms, sirojul means charisma or role model, while ummah means people who adhere to the Prophet Muhammad SAW’s teachings. So, it can be said thatt the word Sirojul Ummah is a name that has meaning and hope. The meaning is the na- ture that describes the Prophet’s charism for the people, and the hope is that this group can always convey the charism of the Prophet to the community, especially in Cilengkrang Village, Wado District, Su- medang Regency. Sirojul Ummah is sup- ported by 10 personnel, one of which is a 57-year-old man who plays drums. At the same time, the other nine people are mot- hers with an average age of 60 years. One of the nine mothers is a mother whose age is the youngest among the others; 47 years old, and she is the vocalist of this group. What will be discussed in this section is the dual roles of women personnel of Sirojul Ummah. This attracted researchers’ atten- tion because they saw the interest and po- tential of these mothers in their efforts to develop creativity and musical skills. Wibowo (2011), Dewi (2012), Patna- ni (2012), and Intan (2014) argue that the dual role of women concerns the role of tradition and transition. The role of tradi- tion is the roles of Sirojul Ummah person- nel as a wife, mother, and household ma- nager. Meanwhile, the transitional role is women’s role as members of society who have rights and obligations in social in- teraction and demonstrate their abilities in their respective fields. Both the role of tradition and the role of transition, for the- se mothers, do not become obstacles that affect each other’s roles with other roles. According to them, the key to undergoing all of this is patience, awareness, and sin- cerity. However, the inevitable choice for them is the role of tradition, which means that the position in this role is higher than the role of transitional. On the other hand, the support of husbands and children to the mothers of Sirojul Ummah personnel is one aspect that fosters the spirit to per- form and participate in spreading know- ledge and understanding of Islam to the surrounding community through fun and entertaining ways. Activities carried out by Sirojul Um- mah personnel in carrying out their tradi- tional roles can be seen from how mothers’ roles in general. Namely, an example whe- re a mother prepares meals for her hus- band and children, washes clothes, and the biological needs of husband and wife. Even these things are commonly done by Sirojul Ummah women and are not at all a burden on the roles of transition, especial- ly in the activities of Marawis. One of the factors is, from the researcher’s observa- tions, it was obtained a description of the age of the children of the Sirojul Ummah personnel. We found that some of their children are in adolescence who have the maturity to think and act. And some of them are adults, some even have families and have children. So, at least this factor is one of the factors that alleviate traditional roles, where the opportunity to carry out the transition roles is quite a lot. Interpreting Associative and Dissociative Processes through Music Process Febbry Cipta & Sandie Gunara, Sirojul Ummah: Music in Social Interaction 157 The associative and dissociative processes in Sirojul Ummah’s social in- teractions are present as a result of the motivation to develop self-competence, which is based on creativity and musical skills. Both creativity development and skills development are carried out through practice routines. These activities become an associative medium, in which there are cooperative, accommodating, and assimi- lating behaviors to improve the ability to create music, improve techniques for sin- ging lyrics and melodies, as well as techni- ques and patterns of playing instruments. Meanwhile, in terms of dissociation, both in-group and out-group, researchers tend not to find this, this is due to the factors of age and maturity, as well as the life ex- perience of each personnel, which has an impact on self-maturity, as well as ways of thinking and acting to avoid conflict. Referring to Soekanto’s opinion (2017), this associative behavior has been instilled since childhood in the family en- vironment and kinship groups, as Sirojul Ummah personnel still have kinship ties with one another. In addition to the exis- tence of these family ties, the pleasant at- mosphere during the practice and perfor- mances, as well as mutual respect for the skills of each personnel, develop into a ha- bit which is a factor that supports associa- tion interaction. During almost 10 years of journey in Marawis art activities, efforts to regenerate the Sirojul Ummah group were carried out in a flow, following the flow of time and the development of community interests. No invitation is forcing the next generation to join this group. Nevertheless, the atten- tion and appreciation of the next generati- on towards this group, especially women, is shown through an interest in learning in an unstructured pattern. For example, once there was a community member, she was a woman who was still in school at the senior high school level, who participated in practice activities with Sirojul Ummah several times. Then because of her obliga- tions at school that could not be abando- ned, it made her not train with Sirojul Um- mah for a long time, so that she could focus more on his school activities. After a while, because there was free time, she wanted to take part in the practice again and would be accepted by Sirojul Ummah to return to her activities together again. Similar op- portunities are also given to other young women who are interested in developing, not only in Islamic values but also in terms of playing Marawis music skills. The motivations shown by external parties as above are the impact of consis- tency by carrying out routine practice, par- ticipating in recitation activities together, and performing at community thanksgi- ving events, to build learning in the sur- rounding community, especially children and young girls, both learning about the deepening of the verses and the aspects of the music, including learning about adab (proper behavior) in socializing. The form of cooperation among Siro- jul Ummah personnel in developing mu- sical skills and creativity is built through practice processes. In the process, each person can exchange ideas and provide input to other personnel about developing techniques for playing musical instru- ments, developing playing patterns, and musical forms and structures. These de- velopments are intended to provide varia- tions on a song. This is done because, along with the development of a public apprecia- tion for music, it requires Sirojul Ummah personnel to study and develop patterns, forms, and structures of Islamic songs that are popular or are currently popular, apart from songs with salawatan lyrics in Arabic. The practice routine becomes an ac- tivity that accommodates each personnel in building solidarity in playing music. Although there is no individual conflict among personnel, conflicts can occur when learning new songs. That is the con- flict when, for example, one of the Mara- wis instrument players does not yet un- derstand the play of percussion patterns resulting from the development of arran- gements, which of her lack of understan- ding can annoy other players. Usually one of the personnel will appear to accommo- Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 20 (2) (2020): 153-160158 date these obstacles. One way to do this is to do independent practice according to the tools being played. After being under- stood by the conflicted players, the practi- ce was then continued at the joint practi- ce stage. Soekanto (2017) believes that the accommodative process generates adap- tive spirits, namely adjustment efforts in overcoming obstacles. Adjustment of the above case can be seen from each person’s willingness to learn the complexities of se- veral musical techniques with solutions, among others, through routine practice, or reducing musical complexity according to the ability of the players. Figure 1. Routine practice activities of the Marawis music group Sirojul Ummah When doing combined practices, accommodative methods are also app- lied. For example, to practice songs with a fast tempo, it is usually done in stages, from slow tempo first, then developed at fast tempo according to the original song’s tempo. These accommodative methods are carried out to accommodate the differen- ces in skills possessed by personnel. Even though this group has been founded for a long time, it does not mean that every time learning new material can be completed with just one practice. Because of the con- flicts caused by musical aspects, the effort to accommodate them is by practicing re- peatedly learning songs at other designa- ted times. In addition to the habit of working together and being accommodating in developing musical competences, the as- similation process in social interactions can be seen from personnel’s efforts to identify themselves with the interests and goals of the group. This assimilation is a behavior in adapting to the circumstances that occur. So that the situation in questi- on becomes self-awareness when person- nel tries to improve their creativity and musical skills, thus, it can be said that the assimilation process is a space where each person understands each other about the work steps of developing and maintaining their musicality. However, it is undeniable that sometimes personal conflicts become an obstacle to the formation of assimilati- on, especially problems outside of musical activities. Social Actions in Musical Activities According to Ritzer (2012), social ac- tion is an individual action that has a mea- ning or subjective meaning for himself and is directed to others’ actions. Individual ac- tions directed at inanimate objects are not social acts. An action can be said to be a so- cial action if the action is directed at anot- her individual. Social actions are based on instrumental rationality, value rationality, effective action, and traditional action. Ac- tion can be an individual subjectivity beha- vior, influenced by situations, and directed at other people or other groups. The instrument’s rationality is a so- cial action based on the goal in which the goal has a role as a means (instrument) that leads the actions taken. This action is carried out consciously by the individual in response to the conditions of space and time and can use supporting facilities. It can be said that, in the case of the musi- cal process, musical instruments are used as a means of conveying musical ideas and thoughts to other people or other groups. However, these ideas and thoughts requi- re processes in processing and developing musical aspects. Thus, if Sirojul Ummah aims to convey knowledge and understan- ding of Islamic values to the community, they use Marawis music to interact with other people or other groups (out-group). Meanwhile, it can be found from the in- group side in practicing activities to deve- lop and cultivate musical aspects. In terms of value rationality, the me- Febbry Cipta & Sandie Gunara, Sirojul Ummah: Music in Social Interaction 159 ans used are conscious considerations in interacting, but interaction goals cannot be separated from individual values. When related to the activities of Sirojul Ummah, it can be said that religious values and mu- sical values are in each of its personnel. Based on religious values, Sirojul Ummah strives to convey Allah’s oneness (SWT) and stories of the example of the Prophet Muhammad SAW. to the community so that interaction is established, both in- groups and out-groups. Figure 2. One of the activities of the Marawis music group Sirojul Ummah In the activity of interacting with re- ligious values to the community, one of the efforts made by Sirojul Ummah is to use Marawis music as a medium that ac- companies their activities. As the opinion of Umar (2017), this is based on the view that the use of musical aspects is seen as ef- fective in conveying religious messages to people because, in music, there is a process of processing taste. According to Dewan- tara (1967), the impressions that arise on feelings and temperament are deeper than knowledge because these impressions give satisfaction while knowledge does not. The understanding of musical as- pects possessed by Sirojul Ummah per- sonnel is the result of a series of musical activities, both through practice activities and performance activities. The conditions in which each personnel help each other in increasing their abilities can be said as an act of affection. Referring to the defini- tion, affection is a psychological category that exists because of feelings, enthusiasm, mentality, and emotions. Having affection in a person encourages him to take actions to achieve expectations by relying on the values they believe in. Thus, it can be said that the effective actions shown by Sirojul Ummah in social interaction are princi- pally based on their hopes by relying on religious values and musical values. The hopes of Sirojul Ummah from relying on religious values are that they can interact with the public about Islamic values as Rahmatan Lil Alamin, whose foundati- on is Allah SWT’s oneness the role model of Muhammad SAW., as the best human being. Meanwhile, musical values’ hopes are sharpening of taste through creative efforts, supported by musical skills. Regarding traditional actions, it can be said that the behaviors shown by the personnel of the Marawis music group Sirojul Ummah in social interactions are formed by their habits that have been em- bedded since they were young. They have gained an understanding of religion since childhood. However, the understanding of musicals was only obtained from the inte- raction among Sirojul Ummah personnel; then it developed over time due to the in- teractions of the personnel with the com- munity outside the Sirojul Ummah group. CONCLUSION Age does not become a barrier for Si- rojul Ummah personnel to develop creati- vity and skills in expressing musical ideas. Music’s role is seen as necessary in inter- acting with the community so that this be- comes the basis for them to routinely learn and practice to hone their musical taste, performance cohesiveness, and techniques for playing instruments and singing Isla- mic lyrics with harmonious melodies. Mu- sic is a medium in social interaction, but the music becomes a motivation for social interaction. The social interactions carried out by members of the Sirojul Ummah music group are based on the act of instrument rationality, namely actions that are based Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 20 (2) (2020): 153-160160 on the goal of imparting knowledge of Is- lamic values, with the hope of developing an understanding of the rights and obli- gations as Muslims to society. As an ef- fort to achieve goals and hopes, music is used as the medium. Therefore, it cannot be denied that musical values are both the subject and the object of interaction, both in-groups and out-groups in terms of asso- ciative and dissociative aspects. The enthusiasm in achieving the group’s goals and expectations and in in- teracting to develop musical aspects is a tangible manifestation of affective actions. 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