The Korpslied van de Marechaussee — the corps song of the Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen — was the more formal song of the corps (as distinct from the soldiers’ own Marechausseelied), narrating the daden (deeds) of the corps vanaf de oprichting (from its founding). Its refrein — “Hai marsosé, hai marsosé… memboeroeh moesoeh, memboeroeh moesoeh th’ tjapé-é, / naik-toeroen goenoeng, / masoek-kaloear rimba, / memtjari bekas dani anak marsosé!” (Hunting the enemy relentlessly, mountain up and down, in and out of the bush, seeking traces of the marechaussee-son!) — was led by a voorzanger who sang new couplets, after which all fell in on the refrein.
The refrein
The refrein of the korpslied — “Hai marsosé, hai marsosé… memboeroeh moesoeh, memboeroeh moesoeh th’ tjapé-é, / naik-toeroen goenoeng, / masoek-kaloear rimba, / memtjari bekas dani anak marsosé!” — narrated the work of the corps: hunting the enemy relentlessly (memboeroeh moesoeh, memboeroeh moesoeh th’ tjapé-é), mountain up and down (naik-toeroen goenoeng), in and out of the bush (masoek-kaloear rimba), seeking traces of the marechaussee-son (memtjari bekas dani anak marsosé). The refrein was therefore a compressed narrative of the colonne method: the bekas (spoor), the rimboe (jungle), the goenoeng (mountain), the moesoeh (enemy).
The voorzanger and the couplets
A voorzanger — the lead singer — sang new couplets, after which all fell in on the refrein. The voorzanger was a recognised role at feestjes; Tanamal — the Marechaussee 1e klas at Bakongan — was voorzanger at the post’s feestjes. Sometimes a 13-14 year old anak-kolong would lead the voorzanger role — a child of the tangsi who had grown up with the song. The korpslied was therefore a living composition: new couplets were added as the corps’s daden accumulated.
The distinction from the Marechausseelied
The korpslied is to be distinguished from the more informal Marechausseelied — the soldiers’ own song. The Marechausseelied — with its refrein “Manisee-Manisee! ‘t Is terlaloe Manisee!” — was the soldiers’ affectionate self-identification; the korpslied — with its refrein “Hai marsosé, hai marsosé…” — was the corps’s own narrative of its daden. Both were composed in their first couplets by Dominee Thenu, but the korpslied was the more formal, the more historical, and the more narratively ambitious of the two.
Significance
The korpslied is significant in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. as the corps’s own narrative of its daden. The book’s argument is that the korpslied — composed by the Soldaten-Dominee and grown by the soldiers — was the cultural production of the Marechaussee’s collective memory: the daden of the corps vanaf de oprichting were narrated in the korpslied, and the refrein was the corps’s compressed narrative of its own method. The korpslied is therefore the book’s marker of the corps’s historical self-consciousness: the corps knew what it had done, and it sang what it knew.
See Also
- Marechausseelied
- Dominee Thenu
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- Manisee (Manisé)
- Tanamal
- Anak-kolong
- Bekas
- Rimboe
- Tangsi
Source
Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L., by G. W. T. Dames, Maj. Inf. K.N.I.L. b.d. (‘s-Gravenhage: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1954), chapter “Van recruut tot pensioen” (where the korpslied is quoted).