Foreign language faculty research assigment

Malaysian art

Descendants of bounty hunters keep their ancient traditions

The most important components of the traditional culture of Malaysia are music and dance. Initially, they had a purely practical role and were part of everyday, religious and magical rituals. Thus, the rhythms of the giant drum “reban kill” carried news of important events or threats for many kilometers, and the smooth but deadly movements of the “silat” martial dance helped the Malay fighters win during the attacks of militant neighbors with little or no weapons.

Over time, Malay music has evolved into a refined and highly artistic phenomenon, represented by the hypnotic rhythms of the gongs and strings of the gamelan orchestra, as well as the solemn melodies of the nobat court brass band.
Malay dance art has been strongly influenced by India and China, resulting in a dance synthesis of cultures, including elements of Malay court dances, South Indian temple performances and ceremonial dances of Chinese street festivals.
The most popular types of folk dances in Malaysia are:
"Joget" - a fast pair dance that has Portuguese roots;
"Tarian lilin" - a smooth female dance with candles;
"Datun jalud" - a dance from Sarawak, illustrating the ancient tradition of storytellers;
"Dragon Dance" or "Lion Dance" - costumed dances dedicated to the celebration of the Chinese New Year;
"Dance with bamboo poles" - jumping between rhythmically converging bamboo poles resembles a mixture of dance and agility competition;
“Mak Yong” is a theatrical and musical performance of Thai origin, which tells about the heroic and romantic pages of the history of the Malay principalities;
"Ngajat" - a war dance of the Iban tribes from Borneo, which was traditionally honored by the best bounty hunters;
"Orang Asli" is a trance dance of the natives of the Malay Peninsula, which is performed by shamans to get into the world of spirits.
One of the most recognizable forms of traditional Malaysian art in the world is the wayang kulit shadow theater, the actors of which are two-dimensional puppets made with the highest craftsmanship. The plots of the shadow theater performances go back to the mists of time, to the works of the ancient Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, supplemented by local legends of the Javanese and Malay tribes. The performances usually go on for many hours.