Gamad music and digital transformation: cultural negotiation in contemporary Minangkabau, Indonesia

This dissertation examines the transformation of Gamad music in Padang, West Sumatra, from a communal musical tradition to a digitally mediated cultural practice. Based on ethnographic field research conducted among Gamad musicians, cultural practitioners, and communities between 2022 and 2025, this study explores how aesthetic values, performance practices, and systems of cultural transmission are being renegotiated amid urbanization, technological changes, and shifting audience preferences. The findings indicate that Gamad has evolved through three main phases: traditional, creative, and digital, while preserving the core musical principles and cultural identity of the Minangkabau people. This study argues that digitization should not be viewed as a cultural decline, but rather as a process of cultural negotiation in which local musicians reinterpret their heritage within new technological and social contexts.