“Baco Aso Curah Raso” features the recorded sounds of nature, social activities, and text recitation to reimagine the soundscape of Minangkabau in the manuscript age. Referring to the mentions of traditional music instruments in the manuscript, Hario plays instruments like sarunai, saluang, and talempong at the live performance, combined with recorded singing of certain passages deemed to be essential in Minang culture. In a certain distinct melody, for example, Hario sings “Kaba urang kami kaba kan oi; Doso urang kami dak tau” (I tell you other people’s news, oh; Their sins I do not know). In the combination of recorded and live, traditional instruments and modern electronic devices, the piece represents the tensions between the local customs of Minangkabau and Islam. 

The whole sequence of 18 minutes performance consists of three phases. The first phase illustrates the lives of people in the Minangkabau highlands, with the local customs (adat) prior to the introduction of Islam. The slow musical tempo evokes the natural scenery and village environment, with sounds of water and animals, combined with melodious and rhythmic instruments like the saluang and the small gongs talempong. Then, with the introduction of Islam in the second phase of the piece, tensions appear as represented by the beat of the membrane instrument, rebana, in a higher tempo with the recitation of dhikr. The last phase featuring the rebana and the recitation of basic principles in Minangkabau social life illustrate the acculturation and accommodation of adat and Islam. As Hario sings: customs are based on the sharia and the sharia relies on the holy book, “adat basandi sarak, sarak basandi kitabullah.”