MusicRepublic - World Traditional Music from LPs and Cassettes: MALAYSIA The Music of Malaysia – Ma'Yong Theatrical Music from Kelantan

Thursday, April 23, 2020

MALAYSIA The Music of Malaysia – Ma'Yong Theatrical Music from Kelantan – Anthology AST 4006

MALAYSIA – MALAISIE
The Music of Malaysia – Ma'Yong Theatrical Music from Kelantan – Anthology AST 4006, recorded by William P. Malm, 1968 (LP)

#Malaysia #Malaisie #Mak Yong #rebab #gong #theatre #dance drama #Shamanism #possession #trance #healing ritual #Vinyl #traditional music #world music

This forgotten recording of music performed during Ma’Yong (or Mak Yong), a traditional dance-drama from Kelantan in northern Malaysia that is fast disappearing, offers a fascinating glimpse into a “mixture of indigenous and Islamic traditions that form one part of Malaysia's rich musical heritage.”* Performed as a royal theatre under the direct patronage of the Kelantan Sultanate until the 1920s, Mak Yong is also associated with healing rituals through song, trance-dance and spirit possession formerly conducted in rural areas.

“A typical Mak Yong performance opens with an offering followed by dances, acting and music, as well as improvised monologues and dialogues. A single story can be presented over several consecutive nights in a series of three-hour performances.”**

The Mak Yong orchestra’s stark three-stringed rebab bowed lute (replaced with a double reed serunai on track B5), a pair of gendang double-headed barrel drums, tetawak hanging gongs, voices and wailing chorus, weave delicate, otherworldly, abstract sonorities. The last track (B6), with an unidentified accompanying ensemble and a shaman, takes us back to the ceremonial-shamanistic roots of this multifaceted art. “The basic form of the music is a dialogue between the shaman-dancer and the rebab player who sings and plays intermittently, when the "possessed" shaman carries on a conversation with the spirit transferred from the ill person to the puteri [shaman].”*

*Liner notes by William P. Malm

**https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/mak-yong-theatre-00167

Cet enregistrement oublié de musique Ma'Yong (ou Mak Yong), qui associe danse et art dramatique traditionnels du Kelantan au nord de la Malaisie, offre un aperçu fascinant du « mélange de traditions autochtones et islamiques, qui font partie intégrante du riche patrimoine musical malaisien ».* Jouissant du statut de théâtre royal grâce au mécénat du sultanat du Kelantan jusque dans les années 1920, le Mak Yong est également associé à des rituels de guérison à travers le chant, la danse de transe et la possession autrefois pratiqués dans les zones rurales.

« Une représentation de Mak Yong commence par des offrandes, suivies de danses, de théâtre, de musique, de monologues et de dialogues improvisés. Les séances durent trois heures et peuvent se répéter plusieurs soirées de suite selon l’histoire choisie. »**

L’orchestre Mak Yong comprend un luth rebab à trois cordes (remplacé par un serunai à double-anche sur la piste B5), une paire de tambours gendang, des gongs suspendus tetawak, des voix et des chœurs, qui tissent des sonorités délicates, abstraites, et éthérées. Le dernier morceau (B6), avec un orchestre non identifié et un chaman, nous ramène aux sources cérémoniales-chamaniques de cet art aux multiples facettes. « La forme de base de la musique est un dialogue entre le danseur-chaman et le joueur de rebab qui chante et joue par intermittence, au moment où le chaman possédé engage un dialogue avec l'entité invisible transférée de la personne malade au chaman puteri. »
*Notes de la pochette de disque par William P. Malm

**https://ich.unesco.org/fr/RL/le-theatre-mak-yong-00167?RL=00167

A1 – Instrumental Overture / Sedayong Tongget and Barat Anjor

A2 – Instrumental Overture / To'wak and Barat Patak

A3 – Introductory Dance Music / Mengadap Rebab

A4 – Journey Song / Kijang Emas

A5 – Circle Dance Song / Sedayong Ma'yong

B1 – Lyrical Song / Charnpak Bunga

B2 – To'wak Song / sung by male vocalist

B3 – Clown Song / Yur

B4 – Instrumental version / Yur

B5 – Dance piece / Tani Ragam

B6 – Sedayong Pa'yong sung by a puteri / A shamanic version of Ma’Yong music

PERFORMING ARTISTS

Actresses and Singers: Halimah bind Abu Bakar; Fatimah binti Abu Bakar; Mainunah binti Umat; Minah binti Ma'Hassan; Emas bind Awang; Minah binti Yusuf; and Kelsom binti Lembet.

Comedians and drum and gong players: Abdullah bin Awang; Osman bin Harum; and Yusoh bin Awang.

Musicians: Ahmad bin Awang, rebab bowed lute; Ahmad bin Senik and Daud bin Sallah, gendang double-headed barrel drums.

Puteri shaman: Anak Gajah from Kampong Kadok. Unidentified accompanying ensemble (B6).

Recordings and photographs by musicologist William P. Malm (b. 1928) – renowned for his publications on Japanese traditional music – in Kok Pasir and Jalawat, July 1968.