The Role of Traditional Song Lyrics in Shaping Batak Family and Cultural Identity

This study examines the Bataknese traditional song Inang Pangguruan as a repository of cultural, moral, and linguistic values that reflect maternal devotion and moral instruction. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research integrates qualitative textual and semiotic analysis with quantitative structural modeling. The qualitative phase analyzes metaphors, repetition, and symbolic expressions through the Cultural Value Theory, Semiotics, Oral Tradition, and Emotional Impact frameworks, while the quantitative phase, employing Smart Partial Least Squares (PLS) with one hundred respondents, tests the influence of six independent variables—cultural values, character education, parental love, local wisdom, emotional impact, and music as socialization—on cultural preservation, moderated by youth perception. The findings reveal that Inang Pangguruan conveys values of honesty, humility, loyalty, and filial respect, central to Bataknese ethics. Among all variables, only emotional impact shows a significant positive effect on cultural preservation (T = 4.163, p 0.001), underscoring affective engagement as the key to sustaining traditional music among youth. The study concludes that emotional resonance enhances cultural continuity, positioning traditional songs as enduring instruments of identity, empathy, and moral education in modern contexts.