Panggung Semar: Aspects of Traditional Malay Theatre

By GHULAM-SARWAR YOUSOF

Although stretching back into the unwritten and often mythic past, traditional Malay performing arts have, until recent times, been almost totally neglected. In recent years, the subject has begun to attract the serious scholarly interest it deserves. Such attention is timely, for the principal theatre genres, including Mak Yong, Wayang Kulit and the comparatively modern Bangsawan, have begun to suffer decline. Indeed, many of them are on the verge of extinction and, with time, will come the loss of an important facet of the native Malay genius. This volume by an acknowledged expert on Malaysian theatre, Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof, is a pioneering work on the subject, an invaluable contribution to Malay cultural studies. It discusses theatre from the perspectives of history, performance principles, functions and problems that have contributed to the decline of traditional performing arts in Malaysia. Also included is a chapter on Semangat, the Malay concept of soul, a seminal belief whose understanding allows for a deeper appreciation of Malay theatre and its role in traditional society.

A vital forerunner of several books on the traditional performing arts and cultural traditions of the Malays, this volume is a landmark in cultural research by a Malaysian scholar.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Feb 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482830255

GHULAM-SARWAR YOUSOF

Written by an expert on Malay traditional performing arts, One Hundred and One Things Malay will appeal to a wide range of readers, both experts and novices alike. Written in a casual, almost friendly style, and embellished with photograph as well as sketches, it will be particularly useful to those who have little or no previous understanding of Malay culture and its values.

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Copyright © 2015 by Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof.

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Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 Menghadap Rebab: Salutation To The Spirit Of Mak Yong

Chapter 2 Semangat: A Note On The Traditional Malay Concept Of Soul

Chapter 3 The Mak Yong Dance-Theatre Of Malaysia

• Introduction

• Preparations

• Research Methodology

• Special Performance

• Field Documentation

• Secret Traditions

Chapter 4 Mak Yong: The Ancient Malay Dance-Theatre

• History

• Conventions

• Repertoire

• Roles

• The Use Of Music And Dance

• Performance Structure

• Appendix

Chapter 5 Buka Panggung: Theatre Consecration Rituals In The Mak Yong Dance-Theatre

• Baca Kenduri

• The Buka Alat-Alat Muzik (Starting Off Of The Musical Instruments)

• The Buka Panggung

• The Lagu Bertabik (Salutation Song)

• The Statement Of The Tuan Kerja

• Announcements To The Makhluk-Makhluk Halus

• Memujuk Angin

• Description Of Paraphernalia And Offerings

• The Pesanan (Or Requests)

• Tolak Kenduri (Handing Over Of The Feast)

• Appendix

Chapter 6 Mak Yong In Serdang, North Sumatra

• The Panggung

• Composition

• Stage Layout

• Costumes And Properties

• Repertoire

• Orchestra And Musical Pieces

• Formal Structure

• General Observations

Chapter 7 The Kedah Wayang Gedek

• The Panggung

• The Puppets

• The Orchestra

• Repertoire

• Performance Styles

• Performance Structure

• Appendix

Chapter 8 Feasting Of The Spirits: The Berjamu Ritual Performance In The Kelantanese Wayang Siam Shadow Play

Chapter 9 The Play Of Shadows: Hindu Elements In The Malay Wayang Kulit Siam

Chapter 10 Ramayana Branch Stories In The Wayang Siam Shadow Play Of Malaysia

• Repertoire

Chapter 11 Nora Chatri In Kedah

• Occasions Of Performance

• Panggung Or Bansat

• The Orchestra

• Costumes

• Kat Kru Or Wai Kru

• Trance Sessions

• Curtain-Entries

• The Manora Dance

• The Lakon

• Sip Song Bot

• Closing Wai Kru

• Manora Dance

• Appendix

Chapter 12 The Ritual Context Of Traditional Malay Theatre

• Introduction

• The Nature Of Theatre Rituals

• Theatre Opening (Buka Panggung) Rituals

• Theatre As Ritual

• Main Puteri And Main Puteri-Mak Yong

• Mak Yong And Wayang Kulit Siam

Chapter 13 Bangsawan: The Malay Opera

• Introduction

• Origins And Early Development

• Roles

• Repertoire

• Technical Aspects

Chapter 14 Traditional Malay Theatre: The Problems Of Survival

• Introduction

• Problems Faced By Traditional Theatre

• Some Possible Remedies

• Closing Remarks

Selected Bibliography

Glossary

PREFACE

DESPITE the vast amount of traditional theatre activity in the Malay peninsula, particularly amongst rural Malay and Thai communities in the states bordering Thailand as well as in Johor where Javanese traditional performing arts are still active, research in the subject is at a relatively infantile stage.

Apart from a few Masters or Doctoral theses on the performing arts, including theatre submitted locally and at universities abroad, materials on the subject based upon reliable research are relatively hard to come by. More readily available information, aimed specifically at the general reader, is seldom written by experts in the field, and its accuracy is thus doubtful.

The present collection of research papers on traditional Malay theatre, the first of its kind, will, it is hoped, serve to fill a serious gap in our knowledge of Malaysian culture in general and the performing arts in particular. The essays brought together in this collection discuss, from various angles, the three principal genres of Malay theatre: Mak Yong, Wayang Kulit and Bangsawan. Others examine lesser known forms such as Nora Chatri and Wayang Gedek, two styles betraying strong Thai influence. Also included is an essay on Semangat, the Malay concept of the soul, something which in the worldview of the rural Malay is quite inseparable from theatre, and another on some problems faced by the traditional theatre in contemporary Malaysia.

While providing detailed information on a range of theatre genres, however, the present collection does not claim to be exhaustive. Indeed by its very definition a collection, such as is here presented, is bound to have limitations which can only be remedied by comprehensive studies in each of the genres represented. For such a limitation, the author claims total responsibility.

As research progresses, further collections such as these as well as more specialised studies on individual genres will hopefully become available to provide a more comprehensive picture of the traditional Malay theatre as a whole, an aspect of culture that, despite its importance to Malay life, has been sadly neglected and is today inevitably on the decline.

Some of the papers included in the present collection first appeared in the pages of the following journals: Journal of the Malaysian Branch, Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS), Kajian Malaysia: Journal of Malaysian Studies, Tenggara, Asian Studies and yet others. To the editors of these journals, the author’s acknowledgements and thanks are due. The author would also like to record here his thanks to all who have inspired these essays, encouraged their compilation into a single volume so as to make them readily available.

Dr Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof

CHAPTER 1

MENGHADAP REBAB: SALUTATION TO THE SPIRIT OF MAK YONG

MENGHADAP REBAB (salutation to the rebab) constitutes one of the most important and impressive elements in the Kelantanese Mak Yong dance-theatre performances. It takes place immediately upon the completion of the ritual consecration of the theatre (buka panggung) and a musical interlude consisting of several Mak Yong tunes. The actresses enter the acting area (gelanggang) to the accompaniment of the Lagu Sang Pak Yong Turun, and take their positions, sitting cross-legged, facing the rebab player towards the east. The leading actress sits directly in front of the rebab player and the others slightly behind her in one or more rows. In the event of two or more male lead roles (Pak Yong) within the same play, (the Pak Yong who is first to make her appearance as a character from the evening’s story sits directly in front of the rebab, the others slightly to her right or left. The Menghadap Rebab dance begins with the actresses making a salutation gesture (sembah) in the direction of the rebab. Following this, the elaborate Menghadap Rebab dance takes place to the accompaniment of the musical piece of the same name.

The original significance of Menghadap Rebab is no longer clear although much of the spiritual aura surrounding both it and the rebab remains. This ritual can be regarded as serving the dual function of allowing the actresses to salute the instrument or the spirits therein and also to complete their spiritual and psychological preparation for the assumption of specific roles in a given play. The wider significance of ritual purification of person and environment is also possibly enshrined in this dance.

Both in terms of dance patterns and music, Menghadap Rebab is the most elaborate single event in a Mak Yong performance, apart from the spiritual business that forms a part of ritual (berjamu) Mak Yong performances. The style of Mak Yong introduction and scene-opening in Menghadap Rebab finds parallels in the Malay Penglipur Lara cycle of folk-tales.¹ Similar techniques of character presentation are also used in the Wayang Siam ritual opening. The opening stock-phrases in both Menghadap Rebab and Lagu Seri Rama Keluar (Seri Rama makes his Entry) in the Malay shadow play are extremely close.²

Before a detailed examination of the contents of the Menghadap Rebab lyrics is made, let us look at the lyrics themselves³:

The Menghadap Rebab

The saga is about to begin

Of a Raja and a country

Of a Raja and a minister

The Raja, he has an appellation

The country, it has a designation

The Raja, he prepares, wearing

The complete regalia of office

His royal trousers, his royal shirt

Fitting tightly to his skin

The Raja he wears his selendang (shawl)

Wears it about his waist

The selendang, it is named

Kain Cinda Jantan

The Raja he gathers his sash

Wraps it around his waist

At the seventh wrap he encounters the end

The sash it has a name

The sash it is called Pelangi Silang⁴

The Raja, he secures his keris

Slips it into his waist

The short keris of government

The short staff of sakti

The keris, it has a name

The keris, it is Called Sa-Panah Berang⁵

The curve at the hilt is death in the war

The curve in the centre it is the well of blood

The curve at the tip it is the hungry crow

The Raja he takes his setangan iseh⁶

Perches it on his forehead

Perched to the right he rules the country

Perched to the left he braves the war

Slanting to the left, slanting to the right

We sway to the left, We sway to the right

Slanting to the centre we return lissome to place

Like the jungle fowl eager to fight

Like the shoots dallying in the wind

Like an elephant swaying its trunk

The betel-leaves we bear on our heads

They swoon in the carrying

The sheaths they are pushed open

By the bursting palm-blossoms

Our solicitudes they are destroyed in the bud

A yong dei… a dei… dei… wef⁷

Bom wei ... returning to our position

Our yams they shed off their blemishes

The padi-sawahs unwind their curves

We stand on three points

We end the stand on three points

We salute the awakening east.

Witnessed by the all-important rebab which is first of all greeted with a sembah gesture, the Pak Yong actress begins her ceremonial preparation for the assumption of the role of god or king, a process already initiated off-stage in secret rituals prior to her entry. Here, in Menghadap Rebab (in the first five stanzas), the ritualised legitimization of this transformation takes place. The preparation, as described in the lyrics, involves wearing the royal regalia of office, royal garments, and the sacred weapons such as the keris. It ends with the assumption of the dual role of ruler and warrior with the placing of the head-gear (setangan iseh) upon her head. The sacredness or divine demerit of kingship (daulat), of the institution of monarchy and the ruler’s person is fully realised in these lines of Menghadap Rebab. From this point on, the Pak Yong actress has lost her natural identity. She is the god-king, or the divinely ordained king as the case may be in a play. Most of the leading characters are divine beings.

The weapons of state such as the keris provide the Raja with considerable spiritual power (sakti). In the Malay worldview and in terms of the concept of soul (semangat), the keris provides the Raja with both spiritual and physical strength and authority. This is reflected in the symbolic functions given to the three curves on the royal keris.

Up to this point in the Menghadap Rebab, the actresses remain seated, weaving an arabesque of movements with their arms and fingers. Physical movement of the torso begins now and so also does the next part of Menghadap Rebab. The second movement is a glorification of nature, the imagery derived from such objects as the swaying shoots, the jungle wild fowl and the elephant, constantly recurring images in Mak Yong. The images demonstrate abundance and richness in the natural world, and the whole spirit of this section of Menghadap Rebab is one which celebrates nature’s bounty.

The link between the first part of the MenghadapRebab and the second is not clear from the lyrics themselves. Is it conceivable, perhaps, that in the luxurious natural imagery lies hidden a mystery related to the origins of the Mak Yong?

The Menghadap Rebab dance is certainly the most complicated and the most beautiful of all Mak Yong dance pieces. This is also true of the lyrics. In both, the sophistication is far beyond anything found in the other dances and lyrical pieces of the genre. This raises some interesting questions related to the origin of Menghadap Rebab and its connection with the rest of a Mak Yong performance. At this point of our knowledge of Mak Yong, however, no answers to these questions are forthcoming.

APPENDIX

Lagu Menghadap Rebab

Royat hilang berita nak timbal

Timbul nak royat

Seorang Raja sebuah negeri

Seorang Raja sebuah menteri

Raja ada dertgan menama

Negeri ada dehgan bergelar

Seorang Raja siap memakai

Alat kelengkapan

memangku negeri Amblt

seluar sarok ka kaki

Ambil baju timang ka badan

Baju melenkit di kulit manis

Ambii selindang pakai ka

pinggang Selindang

menoma Kain Cinda Jantan

Ambii pekong lilit ka pinggang

Tujuh lilit bertemu punca

Pekong menoma Peìangi Sìiang

A mbil keris selip ka

pinggang

Keris kecik kerajaan

Tongkat kecik kesaktian

Keris ada dengan menama

Keris menoma Sepanah

Berang

Rentak di pangkal

membunuh lawan Rentak di

tengah telaga darah

Rentak di hujung gagak lapar

Ambit setangan iseh

tenggek di dahi Tenggek

kanan memangku negeri

Tenggek kiri mengadap

perang

Liuk ka kiri liuk ka kanan

Amba lunglai kiri lunglai

ka kanan

Liuk lintuk gemulai balai

Seperti denak menanti

lawan

Seperti sulur bennain angin

Seperti gajah melambung

belalai

Sirih kami luyah dijunjung

Seludang kami menolak

mayang

Bembang kami gugur di tapok

A yong dei… dei… dei… wei

Bom wei… membalik tipus

Dagan kami membuang cela

Sawah mengorak lingkaran

Amba berdiri tapak tiga

Amba nak pecah tapak tiga

Mengadap kami ka tinnir jaga.

NOTES

¹ See Amin Sweeney, Professional Malay Story-Telling: Some Questions of Style and Presentation, in Studies in Malaysian Ora! and Musical Traditions, 1974, pp. 71-72.

² See Amin Sweeney, The Ramayana and the Malay Shadow Play, p. 349.

³ The Malay text of the Lagu Menghadap Rebab is provided in the Appendix.

⁴ The rainbow coloured bandanna-cloth. Here used as a proper name.

⁵ Literally, the angry arrow or shaft. The name, however, could be interpreted to mean the ever-furious one.

⁶ Cloth head-gear.

⁷ The meanings of these words remain obscure.

CHAPTER 2

SEMANGAT: A NOTE ON THE TRADITIONAL MALAY CONCEPT OF SOUL

THE concept of semangat is central to the Malay belief system that, founded upon ancient faiths, still continues to play an important role in everyday life. It is central too, to the healing processes in Malay shamanism and the operation of magic closely linked with traditional performing arts such as Main Puteri, Mak Yong, Ulik Mayang and Wayang Kulit Siam.¹

Various definitions of semangat have been advanced by, among others, Cuisinier, Annandale and Robinson, Skeat, Winstedt, Wilkinson, Endicott and Firth.² In their studies taken as a whole, however, there still persists a measure of confusion regarding the meaning of semangat and its relationship with a host of other concepts such as nyawa, jiwa and roh all generally translated as soul. This chapter will attempt to clarify some of these concepts so as to provide a better understanding of semangat and explore briefly some of the processes through which, according to the traditional Malay worldview, semangat may be weakened or strengthened, stolen or recovered.

It is pertinent to point out here that the Malay conception of soul, like much of the traditional Malay culture and mythology, reflects an amalgam of several folk belief systems and religions experienced by the race during its long history - animism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. All of these have left their indelible mark, something which makes a study of semangat both fascinating and highly complicated.

Winstedt’s discussion of semangat appears in the following terms:

A comparison with the mana of the Melanesians suggests a very primitive Malay idea or belief in a vital or effective force (semangat) in widest commonality spread, present in placenta, in clippings of the hair and parings of the nails, in a person’s shadow, in his name, in the water in which man or beast has washed and the earth marked by his footprints, so that through any of these a person may be injured by sorcery. This impersonal force also vitalizes the leaves and branches of plants, stones, beads and tin and iron. In hard things like teeth and nuts, stone and iron, it is abundant beyond the ordinary ... Two very primitive and lasting functions of the Malay medicine-man or pawang have been to conserve the vital spark of man and rice.³

This is a fairly direct statement of the concept of semangat. In general terms, on at least one basic level, it parallels the Polynesian concept of mana. What Winstedt’s explanation does not underscore, however, is the association between the concept of semangat and various other terms applied by the Malay to describe what has been termed, for want of a better word, the ‘soul’, a term usually offered as a translation also of semangat as in semangat padi, the soul of the rice.

Wilkinson mentions seven words used to define the soul. These are nyawa, jiwa, roh, arwah, malaikat, sokma and semangat.⁴ As indicated earlier on, these terms represent the total sum of the words meaning soul from, the various levels of religious experience between primitive animism and Islam. I believe it is possible to discard some of these terms, obviously used as equivalents of soul due to ignorance or confusion. Roh (more appropriately ruh, as in Arabic, Persian and Urdu) and arwah denote the same concept, the latter being the plural form of ruh in the Arabic language whence the word originates. It is generally translated as spirit, soul or life. In Islam, which bequeathed this concept to the Malays, various kinds of ruh are encountered, including ar-ruhu’l insani, the human soul, ar-ruhu’l haiwani, the animal soul, ar-ruhu’l azam, the exalted spirit, and also the human soul or spirit believed to be connected with the Being of God, but the essence of which is unknown to all save the Almight. Ar-ruhu’l azam represents the spiritual faculty in man. It is also known as al-aqlu’l awal, the first intelligence, al-haqiqatul Muhammadiyah, the essence of Muhammad, and al-haqiqatui samdwiyah, the original spirit of man first created by God.⁵ Other types of ruh include ar-ruhu’n nabati, the vegetable spirit, ar-ruhu’t tabi’i, the animal spirit and ar-ruhu’l jari, the travelling spirit which leaves the body in sleep and gives rise to dreams. Needless to say, some of these concepts found their way into Islam from pre-Islamic Arabian beliefs.

Not all of these differentiations of ruh are identifiable in Malaysian Islam. Ruh is principally conceived of as the soul bequeathed to Adam at the time of Genesis, and through Adam to all Muslims and other Peoples of the Books (that is, Jews and Christians, who, like the Muslims, were recipients of revealed scriptures). Ruh then is the essence of life lost when a person dies, and which finds its way into heaven or hell, there to await the Day of Judgement, al-qiamat. Detailed and highly graphic accounts of what awaits the human soul immediately upon the death of a person have been provided in the Quran, the Hadith and in the writings of numerous Muslim saints and scholars. Arwah, as already indicated, is the plural of ruh. The Malay language, however, also uses ruh as an adjective which refers to the dead in expressions like kenduri arwah, the feast for a departed person held on the fortieth day after death and thereafter annually.

Malaikat, another Arabic word, is the plural for malaik or malak meaning angel. The pious Muslim believes in the existence of a host of angels and genii (jin) whose numbers are known only to God. Certain malaikat have important functions as far as the human being is concerned. These include Jibrail, the Angel of Revelations who brought the Holy Quran to the Prophet Muhammad; Mikail or Mikal who provides rain and sustenance; Israfil, who is assigned to sound the trumpet heralding the end of the. world and awakening the dead for the Day of Judgement; Izrail, the Angel of Death; Raqib and Atid, who are the kiramul katibiin, the recorders of both good and bad deeds made by every individual; Munkar and Nakir, who examine the dead in their graves as to their faith in the Prophet Muhammad and in the religion of Islam as revealed by Muhammad; and, finally, Malik and Ridhwan, the guardian angels of the gates of heaven and hell, respectively. To some extent, malaikat are seen as intercessors between Man and God, and more particularly, between Man and the Prophets. The application of the word malaikat to the human soul is therefore incorrect, a probable result of misconception.

Nyawa and jiwa, both Sanskrit in origin, represent the Hindu-Buddhist phase in the many-tiered Malay belief system as well as the contribution made by Indian linguistics to the Malay language. Both terms have the same connotation - breath, life, or the breath of life. The word y/vu in Hinduism and Buddhism is sometimes confused with the word atman, also translated soul and applied to mind, consciousness, ego and finally soul. It is regarded as the vitalising principle in all living things. In a sense therefore, everything, including the so-called inanimate objects, have jiwa. Sometimes it is regarded as the soul of an individual living entity as distinguished from paramatman, the Supreme Soul or Brahma. The Malays, however, have not retained the lofty metaphysical dimension inherent in the Hindu-Buddhist concept of soul defined in jiwa or atman and the relationship between these, on the one hand, and paramatman on the other, from their Hindu-Buddhist past. The lesser meanings of the terms nyawa and jiwa, that is, life or breath or soul are retained; the two terms are freely interchangeable, their meanings identical. Sokma as Wilkinson has indicated, is the Malay term for the Hindu-Buddhist soul in metempsychosis. Although known in the Malay language, its usage is rare. The word is thus seldom encountered.

This has effectively narrowed down the various terms for soul among the Malays to two basic concepts: first, the concept of ruh as the individual personal soul placed in Man through divine creation; and second, that of semangat identifiable with the universal life force or vital principle which permeates all nature, including apparently inanimate objects such as stones, metals and trees, and the keris, a short Malay dagger which plays an important role in Malay magic as well as ceremonial practice. In hard objects, as Winstedt has pointed out, it is abundant beyond the ordinary. Thus, it becomes imperative for humans to be wary as to where they throw clippings of hair or parings of nails, for through the abuse of these erstwhile personal possessions of a living human being, his semangat can be drawn away or harmed by enemy or malicious bomoh, the native medicine-man, thus perpetrating illness, or worse still insanity and even death. One point to be remembered is that when present in certain objects of the environment—in trees, sacred places, graveyards and so on—semangat is not to be confused with penunggu, attendant spirits or penggawa, guardian spirits, also lodged in these same places. These belong to an altogether different category of invisible beings (makhluk-makhluk halus).

For one further interpretation of semangat, we should turn to Endicott who clearly distinguishes material entities from non-bodies by virtue of their possession of semangat, nyawa or roh.

Possession of semangat groups together all things including man, that are set off as significant material entities from the Malay point of view. These are distinguished from non-bodies on the one hand-the grain of rice or cup of water, and from non-material things on the other-spirits, for example. The nyawa involves man in a class with most animals, set off from the lower animals, plants and minerals as well as the non-bodies and non-material things. The roh distinguishes man still further from the rest of the world, even separating him from the higher animals; it expresses the uniqueness of man despite his involvement with the rest of creation. The semangat, nyawa and roh represent successive stages in the differentiation of the soul material of man; these permit an orderly view of the universe despite the participation in an all-pervading vital principle or even in a culte de la vie as Cuisinier says.⁶

Endicott has expressed in this differentiation the essential idea that the Malays, as he says, "are able to express the differences among men and the unity