Konstruksi Identitas Kesenian Rudat pada Masyarakat Sakra Timur Lombok Timur, 1999-2020

Abstract

Rudat is a Sasak performing art in which religious expression, movement aesthetics, and communal solidarity converge. This study reconstructs the development of Rudat in Sakra Timur District from 1999 to 2020, explains identity construction through safeguarding practices, and interprets the philosophical values embedded in lyrics, movements, and costumes. A qualitative historical approach was employed through heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and historiography. Data were collected through observations of rehearsals and performances in Gelanggang, Gereneng, and North Surabaya villages; semi-structured interviews with eight informants comprising senior performers, community figures, youth, and a local government representative; and the examination of documents, photographs, group notes, and lyric texts. Source and method triangulation strengthened the credibility of the findings. The results indicate that the local Rudat group can be traced to 1979, while the 1999-2020 period developed through five phases: transition, consolidation, creativity, professionalization, and early regeneration amid new challenges. Changes from rebana to kelentang, reong, and gamelan, along with improved costumes and wider performance spaces, did not eliminate core elements; instead, they enabled the community to negotiate continuity and change. Rudat identity was sustained primarily through community self-help, while school and government involvement increased but remained uneven. Religious lyrics, five foundational movements, and costumes functioned as a symbolic system affirming monotheism, civility, unity, courage, simplicity, and an Islamic-Sasak identity. The study concludes that safeguarding Rudat is an adaptive cultural process rather than an attempt to freeze tradition in a single form.