Malaysia (from arts, Southeast Asian)

At least three principal cultural influences Indonesian, Hindu, and Islāmic left their musical marks in Malaysia. The Indonesian influence is seen principally in musical forms, participants, and paraphernalia of the Malaysian shadow play (wayang kulit). It is said that the Indian epics and, especially, the Pandji tales of Java came to Malaysia via Indonesia, but there are songs in certain plays and musical instruments (e.g., the double-headed drum and oboe) that could have reached Malaysia from India through other routes. Islam races are evident in melismatic songs among the Malay groups in songs connected with religious rituals and in choral singing in the ma’yong plays. Chinese music, a more recent development, is largely practiced among the Chinese communities, principally in Singapore.

Before Malaysian independence, the nobat, an old royal instrumental ensemble dating back to about the 16th century, played exclusively for important court ceremonies in the palaces of the sultans of Perak, Kedah, Selangor, and Trengganu. Today, in Kedah, the ensemble consists of five instruments: one big goblet drum (negara), two double-headed drums (gendang), one long oboe (nafiri), one small oboe (nafiri), and one gong. The music, which consists of ten surviving pieces, is broadcast today and performed live.

Three shadow plays exist, principally in the state of Kelantan. The wayang gedek is the Thai form; wayang Djawa, a Malay form, is almost extinct; and the wayang Siam, which is a combination of Thai and Malay influences, is the most popular form of puppet shadow play. The operator of the performance is the narrator (dalang), who manipulates the leather figures, introduces important characters, and describes different scenes with the accompaniment of the orchestra. The music is led by a two-stringed lute (rehab) in the Rāmāyaṇa, or an oboe (serunai) in Mahabharata and Pandji cycles. The melodic instruments are supported by a percussion group consisting of pairs of goblet-shaped drums (gedombak), cylindrical drums (gendang), barrel drums (geduk), gongs lying on a support (chanang), suspended gongs (gong) or, sometimes, a row of gongs played by two or three men, and one pair of cymbals (kesi). The music usually begins with a prelude followed by a list of pieces the sequences of which are dictated by the narrator.

The ma’yong, a dance drama that probably dates back to more than 1,000 years, was introduced in Kelantan under the patronage of the royal courts. In the 20th century it exists as a folk theatre with an all-female cast. The music that accompanies 12 surviving stories is played by an orchestra of one bowed lute (rebab), two suspended gongs, and a pair of double-headed drums (gendang). A heterophony (simultaneous variation of the same melody) between a solo voice, a chorus, and the rebab creates a music with a Middle Eastern flavour.

A rich musical heritage in the rural sections of Malaya is shown in musical instruments used by Malay, Thai, Semang, and Sakai groups. Idiophones include shell and coconut rattles, the jew’s harp (mostly pulled by a string, rather than plucked), bull-roarers, bamboo clappers, and the bamboo slit drum. Aerophones include the buffalo horn, wooden and clay whistles, nose flutes, end-blown flutes, and the oboe. Chordophones are two- and three-stringed fiddles with coconut resonators, monochords, and tube zithers. One membranophone is a double-headed cylindrical drum.

In Borneo among the Malay, Kadazan, and Iban groups, the principal instruments are gongs in a row (gulintangan) played with suspended gongs of different types (chanang, gong, tawak-tawak). Among the Murut, Kenyah, and Iban the mouth organ with a calabash resonator (sompoton) plays a melody with a drone accompaniment. The jew’s harp (ruding), bamboo zither (tongkungon), nose flute (tuali), hourglass drum (ketubong), and vertical flute (suling) may be heard among different ethnic groups. Iban ceremonial songs are sung in connection with rice festivals and rituals to prevent sickness, while mourning songs make up a rich repertoire of solo and leader–chorus singing. The Kenyah are particularly adept at blending low voices of men singing a melody supported by a drone.