Buku Ende

Buku Ende (lit. 'Book of Hymns') is a hymnal in the Toba Batak language used most prominently in the Batak Christian Protestant Church but also other Protestant Batak churches in Indonesia. Many of them are even added to Buku Ende dohot Tangiang Katolik, the Toba Batak Catholic Hymnal, and Kidung Jemaat, the Indonesian Protestant Hymnal that is used by Protestant churches affiliated in Communion of Churches in Indonesia. The book is organized and published by the Printing Press of HKBP in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Back then, there were only as many as 556 hymns in it. However in the new edition, Buku Ende has added 308 additional hymns (BE-557 to BE-864). This edition is also called as Buku Ende Sangap Di Jahowa (SDJ) or The "Praise the Lord" Hymnal. At first, all of the hymns in Buku Ende were translated only from German. Then, the hymnal expanded its numbers to include hymns from Dutch and English. But as more hymns were added to the hymnal, it started adding hymns and contemporary worship songs from other countries and ethnic groups as well. Buku Ende also adapted the energetic tone and rhythm of gospel songs and ethnic songs to be more fitted to the calm style of worship. The accompaniment to the melody of the hymns are written in the other book called Buku Logu (lit. Book of Songs). Back then, the only instruments allowed to accompany the melody in the worship services are Organs and Pianos. They had to follow the musical notes as they were written without doing too much improvisations. As time went on, more electronic musical instruments got the permission to be played alongside the traditional ones, despite some critiques and backlashes from oppositions. This on-going modernization is mostly influenced by the Youth who prefer Charismatic's...