Entertainment played a very important part in the lives of the people, be they the common man, aristocracy or royalty. The earliest entertainers were the oral storytellers who moved from village to village, regailing young and old with tales of valour, adventure and romance, always
interspersing them with humour and wit and usually, in a sing-song manner. These were the Malay penglipur lara, the soothers of woes. They unwittingly played a social and cultural role by keeping alive the numerous stories of the nation that were handed down from master to student and then relayed to the common man as they moved from village to village. Stories would usually be told to the accompaniment of traditional musical instruments such as the batil (overturned bowl), rebab (lute) and serunai (flute). Though the tales would be of heroes and their epic deeds, the stories would always be moral tales, carrying with them nuggets of truth and gentle admonition as to how one should live ones life. By moving from village to village and town to town, the village storytellers would adapt the stories and tales of the various districts that they passed through. Some were bound to their home states but would travel when invited to.
The northern states were famous for the storyteller known as Tok Selampit. Dressed in traditional Malay costume, he would regale listeners at weddings and the like, through song and poems using only his voice and gestures. Usually he would sit on a raised platform sometimes as high as 12 feet so that he could be visible to all. His performance would begin with the burning of incense and the saying of prayers. His stories could take a week to complete, depending on the duration of the celebrations. Every story will end with a cliffhanger and would be continued on the next night. The most famous Tok Selampit in the north was Mak Meh (real name: Ismail Hassan). He would travel from the state of Perlis to Kedah as well as to the south of Thailand. In the 1930s and 40s, he would be paid one Straits Dollar and 15 cents, and as a mark of respect, be given a gift of a plate of glutinous yellow rice tied up with a hankerchief to take home.
The Tok Selampit was followed by Awang Batil (batil = bowl) or sometimes called Awang Belanga due to the cooking pot or belanga that he used to tap on to create music. His attire was similar to the Tok Selampit except that he added a wooden mask to his face when playing the role of a warrior or medicine man. One of the functions of the mask was to
draw attention to the storytelling and characters as well as when the character was facing a sultan in the story. His performance would be in three stages: beginning with makan sireh (eating betel leaf) as a ritualistic introduction to his art; the actual storytelling, and a formal closing. He would begin by beating on the batil and move on to using the flute.
The most famous Awang Batil was Pak Mud (real name: Mahmud Wahid) who began to learn the art at the age of 16. His master was Tok Mat, who in turn learnt it from Tok Awang Kelam from Perlis who was blind. Pak Mud was very versatile, being adept at the mak yong (Malay court dance), wayang kulit (shadow play) and dike (a localized version of mak yong, pronounced: dee-kay). Many practitioners, too, were capable of making their own musical instruments. Where it could be afforded, the Awang Batil would be given a stage all to himself to perform.
Over time, the village storytellers store of stories increased and they became adept at their profession until inevitably, they were invited to perform at the palace or at the house of the aristocrats and the rich. Royal personages played an important role in the preservation of the performing arts by becoming its patrons. Important functions such as weddings, circumcision ceremonies or investitures always culminated in entertainment, both within the palace or in towns for the benefit of the populace. It is this that partly helped to keep alive the traditional arts but most importantly, it helped to refine and uplift the standards of storytelling.
As mediums of entertainment evolved, the storytellers kept pace and moved with the times. Where open spaces and street corners used to be venues, the fixed stage slowly became the norm. And so emerged various forms of drama with the most well-known being the mak yong, the puppet show and the wayang kulit. These were followed many years later by the bangsawan (Malay opera) and then in the 20th century by the sandiwara (modern Malay theatre). The performances were not only to entertain; they usually imparted something of relevance to life as well as depicting the culture of the particular community in which they were presented. They were, in fact, reflecting man, his world and his condition much as cinema would be doing in the future. And much of the manner and mode of presentation were similar to the cinematic apparatus that would be used in film storytelling. These artforms, then, were the earliest cinema of the Malays and were perfected over time.
The Mak Yong
The mak yong has stories told in a song-like manner, with acting and dance performances interspersed with humourous sequences involving jesters, props, setting, colourful costumes and a troupe providing music at appropriate moments. There are two kinds of mak yong: the village mak yong and the court mak yong. Village mak yong was entertainment for the common man and so was not as refined as court mak yong in terms of its repertoire and costumes. Court mak yong evolved from village mak yong and underwent changes due to its audience that was made up of royalty or aristocracy. The perfomers movements were more flowery
and costumes were colourful and exquisite in appearance.
According to some practitioners, mak yong is said to have originated in the villages, and it is possible that it could have been inspired by rituals performed by the Orang Asli (aborigines) of Malaysia. The movements, singing, dance and head decorations are very similar. The most striking similarity is that of the performance that culminates in spiritual healing. In mak yong, this is called main peteri (Greeting the Princess). The princess here is the spirit that is called upon to enter the body of the medicine man who is leading the performance. He then goes into a trance and heals sick persons. Such seances are still performed in the state of Kelantan on the East Coast upon request.
The song and dance provides entertainment to the audience as well as being something that is considered pleasing to the princess. It is, therefore, appropriate that stories of kings, queens, damsels-in-waiting, heroes and jesters are told in the performances. There is drama and tragedy as well as humour. The performances go into long hours and there is no written script. Everyone memorises their lines and sometimes improvises as the situation demands it. No two nights of performances, then, would be
the same. Performances would always begin with a long sequence of the menghadap rebab (facing the lute player). Dancers sit on the floor and face a lute player who plays a long solo on his instrument while homage is made by the primadonna to the master who taught her and her masters master and also providing the prologue to the story that would be presented.
The most famous primadonna of contemporary times has been Khatijah Awang (1941-2008). In 1993, she was conferred the National Art Laureate Award for her almost 50 years of dedication to the art. Today, the National Arts and Heritage Academy (ASWARA) keeps mak yong alive by including it in a course under the Dance Faculty. Professional performances are held from time to time. One of the younger exponents who has taken the role of the primadonna is Hasnan Rahmat. In 2004, mak yong itself was recognized by UNESCO as one of the worlds Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
What the primadonna presents is similar to what the Tok Selampit and Awang Batil did at the beginning of their performances, i.e., honouring and paying homage to those who intiated the artforms as well as those who continued them. The present practitioners are just temporary guardians who would hand it over to their own students. These are the traditions in the Malay performing arts that are not practiced in the more modern forms from bangsawan to sandiwara and in film. Only one filmmaker, Yasmin Ahmad continued it, in a sense, by placing the introduction to every verse in the Quran, the Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim (In the Name of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate) at the beginning of her films. Muslims are reminded to recite it when they embark on anything and for Yasmin, it was a reminder that she was not the creator of her works but it was God himself working through her.
The Dikey
Dikey was indigenous to the northern states (sometimes called jikey in Kedah). It originated in Thailand and resembles the mak yong. It was a populist form with multiple costumes and like the Awang Batil, used masks. Unlike mak yong which is usually performed indoors or on a stage, dikey was performed on the ground. A fence of upright coconut leaves would be erected. There would be two sections with a cloth separating the sections. The performers would appear one by one to the audience from one of the hidden sections and move to the other.
The leader, as in mak yong, was always a woman. As in mak yong, the dikey performance would begin ritualistically. Stories were mostly about journeys with ships or junks on their visits to all kinds of countries. There used to be three dikey groups in Perlis. Other than the well-known Ibrahim, there was the equally well-known Pak Mud Bomoh (real name: Mahmud Mat Isa). No dikey group exists today.
The Puppet Show
The puppets were little dolls, usually carved from wood and colourfully painted and costumed. Their heads, bodies, arms and legs had strings attached to them that were manipulated by the puppeteer. A stage and a painted backdrop were all that was necessary for a show that would enthrall the ordinary villager. Stories were linear and with a happy resolution. Unlike the wayang kulit, there would be more than one voice used in the acting of the puppets.
The first director of the National Museum, Tan Sri Mubin Sheppard was of the opinion that the Puppet Show was much older than the wayang kulit and that it may have been in existence in parts of Asia more than 1,500 years ago. Wan Khazim Wan Din, an actor in the 1950s who had seen these shows, told me that they were not very popular as the puppet masters and their hands were noticeable to the audience.
Wayang Kulit
The first exhibit at the now defunct
British Museum of the Moving Image in London was that of two characters of the wayang kulit, the Malay shadow play. The puppets are also displayed in many museums in Germany today, rightly recognising the wayang kulit as the precursor of film. In fact, wayang kulit, with its articulating arms, could also be designated as the first animated cartoons because they create an
illusion of movement on the screen through the manipulation of their articulating parts.
In 1926, the shadow play literally moved to the cinema screen. Lotte Reiniger, a German animator, was inspired by Chinese shadow play to create her animated feature, The Adventures of Prince Achmed. This was the worlds first animated feature film and not Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as is commonly known. Reiniger used the technique of silhouette animation where cutout figures were labouriously moved frame by frame on a backlit glass table set up an animation camera.
It is interesting that she chose a story from the Middle East, just as bangsawan practitioners were wont to do. In 2001, the film was screened on a tour throughout Indonesia. Wangi Indriya Taham, a woman dalang from West Java responded to the flow of the film story by narrating and orchestrating matching gamelan tunes. It was the first time a modern silhouette film had met with a contemporary traditional dalang and gamelan orchestra. The most famous Malaysian puppeteers in contemporary times have been Dollah Baju Merah and Hamzah Awang Hamat. Hamzah had travelled to many countries to perform and for his services to the artform, he was bestowed with the National Art Laureate Award in 1999. In 2003, wayang kulit itself was recognized by UNESCO as one of the worlds Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Dr. Ghulam-Sarwar Yousofs research on wayang kulit has shown that the wayang kulit was believed to have come to the Malay Archipelago from Hinduised Java during or soon after the Majapahit period between the 1400s and the 1500s rather than directly from India or Thailand, as is popularly believed. The word wayang (the Javanese word for shadow) is a variant of bayang (the Malay word for shadow). Wayang kulit (wayang = theatre, kulit = leather puppets), utilizes a white screen propped up on a stage built about 3 feet above the ground and in appearance is not unlike that of an outdoor film screening.
The dalang (puppeteer) sits behind the screen holding his puppets. An oil lamp (later to be replaced with a light bulb), is suspended behind him. As he moves the puppets, the shadows cast on the screen by the lamp to come to life. Coupled with the lilt and lift of his voice and
accompanied by eight musicians, the dalang enthralls his audience with the larger-than-life stories and characters of the Ramayana or the Mahabharatha, the ancient texts of the Hindu world. (These same stories would also appear in the stagings of bangsawan or sandiwara.) The narrative supplied through the voice of the dalang is accompanied by the musicians who play an oboe (serunai), two war drums (geduk), two barrel drums (gendang), two vase-shaped drums (gedombak), a pair of large hanging gongs (tawak-tawak), a pair of small gongs placed flat on a low wooden stand (canang) and a pair of small brass cymbals (kesi).
The wayang kulit is associated with many spiritual elements. The transfer of knowledge from master to student involves rituals privy only to them. As in mak yong, healing ceremonies are also common in wayang kulit. Upon having a request for a healing ceremony, the dalang arranges his puppets on a wall. After performing the necessary rituals, he speaks to the puppets. When one of the puppets rattles, it is a sign that the wayang kulit spirit has entered it. The dalang then takes it and uses it to perform the healing ceremony. Many dalang were Sufis and used the stories of the wayang kulit to impart spiritual truths. Sunan Kali Jaga, one of the Nine Saints of Java, used wayang kulit as a medium to spread Islam in the old days. He was reputed to have said that it represented all humanity and that it reflected the image of the Syariah. The dalang corresponds to God who created the universe. Just as the wayang figures cannot move of their own accord but are manipulated by the hands of the dalang, humanity can only live and act by the will of God.
The word wayang was adapted to describe the new medium of film as it had all the elements of the wayang kulit performance. There was no equivalent word for film in the Malay language. Initially, it was designated wayang gambar hidup - literally live shadow pictures. (In Indonesia, it was called gambar hidup live pictures.) By the 1920s, the term wayang gelap - literally dark theatre appeared to be in fashion. Finally it just became wayang gambar (shadow pictures).
The majority of those involved in films in the 1950s took to calling it filim, due to an inability to pronounce the word correctly. Today it has been simplified and is called filem through a modification of the English word. Another word that has gone into common use is the term for the movie theatre - panggung wayang gambar (literally, theatre for shadow pictures). It was reduced to pawagam by P. Ramlee, who coined the term from the first few letters of the three words. In fact, the first locallyowned theatre in Kuala Lumpur in the late 1960s was named Pawagam P. Ramlee. The word is frequently used today by the local Malay press and has gone into popular use.
Wayang Kulit on the Screen
No one could have predicted that film, a medium of mechanical means, would sound the death knell for the traditional performing arts in the Nusantara in less than three decades after the making of the first local film. However, today, the medium that caused the death of wayang kulit has instead become its saviour.
Film resurrects wayang kulit on the silver screen in various ways. One method has been the use of shadows. The shadow has also been significant in Western literature as can be seen in its various manifestations, among them, in Edgar Allen Poes Shadows, Hans Christian Andersens The Shadow, Oscar Wildes The Fisherman and his Soul, and Johann Wolfgang Goethes Theory of Colour with the image of the shadow also frequenting many of Goethes literary works. Carl Jung, the Swiss psychoanalyst, introduced the shadow as a psychological term - an archetype - one that exists in all of us that must be confronted in order to attain selfawareness. The shadow is the dark side that if not controlled, would lead one to physical, emotional or spiritual destruction. The applications of this theory can be seen in the setting, cinematography and lighting of Hollywood gangster movies and film noir of the 1940s and 50s. Most significantly, it can be seen in the way the faces of the characters are lit.
In these films, either their faces are seen in shadow or we see their body shadows on walls or on the ground which are meant to be grim signifiers of their negative or evil nature. Beginning with the first film in the Star Wars series (George Lucas, 1977), the portrayal of Darth Vader personified his character as one that had completely crossed over to the dark side. The Star Wars series is probably the best example of how the archetypal characters and story of the Ramayana prevalent in
wayang kulit have crossed over into film: Sri Rama (the Hero) becomes Luke Skywalker; Sita Dewi (the Heroine) becomes Princess Leia; Rawana (the Villain) becomes Darth Vader and Wak Dogol (the Jester) becomes C3PO.
The universal themes and ideals of righteous behavior, loyalty, selfsacrifice for the betterment of society, morality, family, relationships between father and son, brother to brother, friend to friend and wife to husband in the Ramayana have long appealed to the peoples of Southeast Asia. Such characters and stories are found in almost all of the worlds myths and legends. Hollywood and Bollywood have successfully appropriated them and made them relevant to the modern age.
Chinese filmmaker, Zhang Yimou has also included a segment of Chinese shadow play in his film, To Live (1994). A shadow play performance points to the hidden hands at work to cause mischief in the film The Year of Living Dangerously (Peter Weir, 1982). The story was based on the 1965 incident of the purported killings of army generals by members of the communist party in Indonesia. Traditional approaches and digital technology came together to create an amazing silhouette animation sequence in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (David Yates, 2010).
In Malaysia, wayang kulit began to resurface in television and films in the late 1990s. In one television episode of the animation series, Kampong Boy (Village Boy - Frank Saperstein,
1997), a puppet master arrives in the village and helps the children Legenda. to solve a problem involving two adults. In the cinema feature, Perempuan Melayu Terakhir (The Last Malay Woman, 1999) directed by Erma Fatima, wayang kulit was part of the opening title sequence symbolizing the confusion and search for identity of the films protagonist. Silat Legenda (Legendary Silat Warriors, 1998), Malaysias first animated feature directed by Hassan Abd. Muthalib, paid homage to wayang kulit as the precursor of animation in one scene. Javanese shadow puppets appear as props in an old antique shop in modern Malacca and are then foregrounded in another scene in the same sequence.
Alan Aziz Shamsuddin who studied animation in Poland, made use of wayang kulit-like characters for his final year short animation project, Singapura Dilanggar Todak (2000). The film is perhaps the best example of the use of traditional elements with excellent narrative and visual storytelling.
The characters were designed like
wayang kulit puppets with the backgrounds in the style of batik paintings. Music was from gamelan instruments. In Johnny Bikin Filem (Johnny Directs a Movie, 2007), director Anuar Nor Arai makes reference to wayang kulit by using white screens that had shadows cast on them as negative indexes of the hidden hands at work that were attempting to disrupt the heros efforts to uplift standards of film storytelling.
But it was only in Wayang (Shadows, 2008) that filmmaker and academic, Hatta Azad Khan brought wayang kulit back to its original, pristine form. For the first time in Malaysian cinema, a Malay traditional art form became the subject for a narrative film. Set
in the east coast state of Kelantan
(that had banned the wayang kulit
performances as being unIslamic), Wayang was about a puppet master who takes on a blind boy as an apprentice. The boy begins to bring innovations to the wayang kulit performance, incurring the wrath of the traditionalminded puppet master. This leads to a conflict situation between them. Included are scenes of the puppet master being invited by a university to teach young performing arts students. Through this, the director poses a profound question as to how a traditional art form like the wayang kulit can continue to survive amidst popular culture. Does it need to make changes to its mode of presentation and can academia be the answer for
its continued existence
Dain Iskandar Said, however, had a different take on wayang kulit in his film, Bunohan (Return to Murder, 2011). He depicted it as a dying art and one that finally died with the killing of the dalang by his own son. The son also hires some villagers to kill his two half brothers so that he could get his hands on his fathers land and
sell it to capitalists from the city. With the death of the father, the community is robbed of its once-proud artform and spiritual legacy. This play of shadows within the story is depicted not only through the shadowy images of the wayang kulit, it is also evoked through the shadows of the antagonist standing at the same window where the wayang kulits shadow is. He is, however, separated from its reality. These images are contrasted with the image of a young boy framed by a door that makes him akin to a wayang figure. He is the next generation of dalang but, alas, it is not meant to be. His teacher dies at the hands of his own son.
It is interesting to see that what playwright (Dato) Syed Alwi Syed Hassan was saying in his play Tok Perak in the 1970s about the degrading elements of popular culture and how the modern Malay had lost his roots was again being evoked by Dain Said almost 40 years later. Syed Alwi had recurring images of a television screen and Malay youths dancing to Western music. Dain Said similarly had television screens prominently at the beginning of his film and showed Malay boys playing a guitar under a street lamp while other Malay boys lounged on their motorbikes. Both Syed Alwi and Dain Said were lamenting the state of affairs where Malay youths were languishing in a noirish world in which they had engulfed themselves in.
Bangsawan
Bangsawan was a form of Malay opera that had stylised acting, colourful costumes and the essential song-and-dance sequences. Initially, song and dance had a practical function. They served as a transition for sets and props to be prepared for the following scene. This was called the extra turn. These same elements began to be adapted and were carried over to films as they had become an integral part of Malay entertainment culture.
The origins of bangsawan are said to have begun with the Wayang Parsi that was brought in by traders from India to Penang in the 1870s. The audience was initially the Indian labourers but then it began to become popular with the locals and so it spread as far as Singapore in the south. For the bangsawan players, life revolved around the bangsawan shows. It was their livelihood and they did not have any other profession. Just like a circus, the bangsawan troupe would go on tour from town to town. Their arrival would cause excitement wherever they came to perform. A stage would be built with the name of the troupe prominently displayed. They went under such names as the Sri Argandan Opera, Indera Seri Permata Opera, Cahaya Star Opera, Sri Rose Opera, Bintang Timor Opera, Nooran Opera, Booty Suria Negara and Sri Zainap Opera.
Every troupe would have a Sri Panggung (primadonna) and an Orang Muda (hero) who would behave even offstage, with the decorum that befitted their stage roles. The primadonna would attain a kind of mystique and she would be eagerly awaited especially by the male audience as would be the hero by the female audience. Another attraction for the males was the extra turn, the song and dance performed by a bevy of grils in skirts and flashy costumes, in front of the closed curtains while the sets were being changed for the next scene. The dancers would be singing and throwing flowers all the while to catcalls from the audience. This undoubtedly, was a way of enticing the males in the audience to return to subsequent shows. Music was provided by an orchestra seated in front of the stage. Bangsawan was pure entertainment. After the usual performances, male dancers would be invited on stage to dance with the female performers. The end result would be tips of money for the performers. Tan Sooi Beng in her book Bangsawan: A Social & Stylistic History of Popular Malay Opera notes that bangsawan was heterogeneous, innovative and constantly adapting to new situations and new audiences.
Among the popular stories that were performed were Indera Bangsawan, Terong Pipit, Mas Merah, Raden Harimau Berantai, Bawang Puteh Bawang Merah, Panji Asmarah, Gul Bakawali, Celorong Celoreng, Jula Juli Bintang Tujuh and Chin Tabuhan (also known as Ken Tambuhan in Indonesia).
The shows and venue would be advertised in the Malay and English papers. Just like in film, the Sri Panggung and Orang Muda would be highlighted. If they were popular and had a following, the shows would go on for many nights. In the 1930s, newspaper reports suggest that Nooran Opera of Malacca was one of the more popular operas around. There were many positive reviews in the press that mentioned it as being one of the finest and biggest in Malaya. When in Kuala Lumpur, they played at the Sultan Street Theatre Hall. They appeared to have an outstanding cast, among them the primadonna, Che Norlia, who was an HMV Gramophone record artist. The Orang Muda was Yen, reputedly the best hero in the country. Then there was Sootan, also reputedly the leading Malay clown in Malaya at the time. Mr. Nani of the once famous
Nani Opera was stage director.
Some of the well-known bangsawan players were M. Suki, Pak Yem, Khairuddin, Miss Tijah,
Syed Ali Al-Attas, Ahmad C.B.,
Momo Latiff, Hafsah, Shariff
Medan, Fatimah Jasmin, Tina,
Chek Norlia, Miss Marina, Miss Menah, Hassan Temberang,
Aman Belon, Mohamad Aspu,
Mat Locheng, Mustarjo, Dara, Adi Taruna, Habsah, Normadiah, Mahmud Jun, Wan Hussain, Salmah Ibrahim, Annie Jasmin,
Harun Omar, Malek Sutan Muda,
M. Yusof Banjar, Puteh Lawak, Udo Omar and Kadarisman. Among the primadonnas were Siput Sarawak, Rosnani, Kasma Booty, Mariam, Eloni Hayat and (Datuk) Maria Menado. Most of these bangsawan performers were to become accomplished actors in film. Many of them were either known by stage names or only by their first names or were affectionately called pak (meaning uncle or father) or mak (meaning auntie or mother). This method of using first names became extended to the movie that they acted in. Perhaps the audience was able to accept this because it made them more familiar and closer to the actors. Even in the Bujang Lapok series by P. Ramlee, most if not all the actors used their real names on screen, sometimes in a shortened version.
In 1934, a three-month old baby made his appearance in a bangsawan play in a Klang theatre. This was Rahman B. who would make a name for himself as a popular Orang Muda in bangsawan plays and eventually take over the Rahman Star Opera from his father. During the Japanese Occupation, Rahman Star Opera became Ohaiyo Gozaimas Opera and was forced to perform stories celebrating the might of Japan. In 1974, Rahman B. and his brother, Rahim B., formed Pertubuhan Seni Bangsawan Negara, in a bid to keep the artform alive as well as being an umbrella group for veteran performers to keep on performing. For his half century involvement in over 200 plays and his subsequent efforts for bangsawan, Rahman B. received the Anugerah Seniman Negara (National Art Laureate) in 2004.
In contemporary times, bangsawan has made it to the silver screen in Malaysia, being used variously as homage, index or parody. Anuar Nor Arais Johnny Bikin Filem depicted the struggle and trauma of bangsawan actors with their foray into film acting. He showed how they were eking out a living and were not able to make it in film even when given the opportunity. This was because many of them were either illiterate or did not understand acting for the film medium.
As part of their contribution to nationalist struggles, some bangsawan troupes gave performances in support of the agitation against the Malayan Union in 1948. The practitioners livelihoods were, however, badly affected during the Emergency due to the communist insurrection between the years 1946 and 1960. The curfews curtailed the schedules of the performances. By the 1950s, many troupes disbanded. In the early 1970s, the government, seeing that bangsawan could help its efforts in educating the public, sponsored some bangsawan troupes to perform in the FELDA settlements (Felda Land Development Authority) that had just been intiated. These were remote settlements where land had been allocated for poor families to build a new life. In a sense, this was an extension of the role played by the films of the Malayan Film Unit that explained the policies of the government as well as teaching the settlers on how to improve their lives.
Some of the bangsawan troupes toured Indonesia and became popular there. It soon became adapted and of course, took on local colour and new forms. It became known as Komedi Stambul or Opera Stambul in Indonesia. The term Stambul came from the Turkish cap worn by one of the performers. The first bangsawan was staged in Surabaya in 1891. Its success brought about many more troupes with names such as
Komedi Opera Stambul, Opera Sri Permata, Opera Bangsawan and Indra Bangsawan. An interesting fact is that in the 1920s, some of the performers were also from Singapore, Melaka and Penang. Komedi Stambul troupes in turn, toured Malaya between the 1890s and the 1900s. Among the famous troupes were Miss Ribut, Dardanella and Bolero.
Over the next two decades, interesting things began to happen. One was that Komedi Stambul began to introduce more modern and realistic stories that were grounded in everyday life and situations. These were obviously due to the changing times as well as to Western influences. Another reason, perhaps, was of the exposure through films of the outside world. The leanings towards realism resulted in a new form of drama and so Komedi Stambul soon became known as sandiwara. Between the 1920s and 1930s, sandiwara was introduced into Malaya bringing with it something that had not been seen before in the Malay performing arts. This was the written script and the role of the director in defining the production. Obviously, this was to be an introduction to the world of film and its ordered world of production.
Bangsawans Influences on Early Malay Cinema
The first actors in Malaysian cinema were mainly from bangsawan and sandiwara (as had been the case for Indonesian cinema). Obviously they were the first choice as only they could memorise lines of dialogue. There were no methods of acting at the time simply because there was no framework nor did anyone note down any rules for acting. The 1950s actor Wan Khazim Wan Din recalled that acting methods were simple and based on the characters that were played. For example, if the character was an ogre, the actor would utter lines in a booming voice and so on.
Scripts in the accepted sense were non-existent. Scripts would not have helped anyway as many were illiterate. They therefore developed the remarkable ability to memorise and improvise. This actually came from their culture. For centuries, many Malays were capable of composing poems, quatrains and song lyrics and committing them to memory. And this ability stood them in great stead when they took to film. Initially, they brought with them the same stilted and stagey performances of bangsawan. Dr. Anuar Nor Arai, writer and film critic, told me that the early Malay films had gestures that were overdone. The films were mostly melodrama. It was a cinema of sorrow and tears. The actors simply overflowed the audience with their tears. The Indian directors also encouraged this type of acting as this was the norm in the films that they had been involved with in India.
These early actors adapted easily to the new medium of film and were totally enamoured with it and so they were not loath to be involved in all stages of production. The experience gained was to be of great help when some of them later became directors.
Wayang kulit performances would be more grounded in dialogue and supported by music, but bangsawan and later sandiwara, would not be complete without the actors breaking into songs accompanied at times by a dance. The British were aware of this predilection for song by the Malays. An entry in Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya written in 1908 notes that the Malays were a songful race.Every year sees a new crop of topical songs. Every native operatic troupe has its own versifier to write words to well-known tunes.
(Tan Sri) L. Krishnan, a veteran director of the 1950s remarked that when the Malays became involved in film, they enjoyed it immensely. They liked singing scenes and were very good at them. He concluded that perhaps it was in their culture. Unfortunately, this early love affair with film failed to make them look to the future. They lived for the day. By providing living quarters for them, the producers made them forget about investing in houses. Not so L Krishnan who bought a house in Singapore with his savings.
The Malay love for song extended itself into the earliest films where the hero and heroine would suddenly burst into song without any proper motivation. But a change came with the entry of P. Ramlee as a writer and director. In his very first film, Penarek Becha (The Trishaw Peddler, 1955), the songs expressed what the characters were feeling. In his second film, Semerah Padi (The Village of Semerah Padi, 1956), there is a song and dance sequence based on silat, the Malay martial arts that were performed by female dancers. The lyrics are very meaningful and provide support and spirit to warriors who are about to leave for battle. And in Pendekar Bujang Lapok (The Raggedy Bachelor Warriors, 1959), a song duet signifies the heroines acceptance of the hero.
The acting styles of bangsawan can be seen in all the early films but it was P. Ramlee who used it as a parody. In Pendekar Bujang Lapok (PBL), the character of the ferry boss is played by Ahmad Nesfu who was a former bangsawan player. In the film, he was cast as a (lovable) villain. His dialogue, mannerisms and movements were a reflection of
the bangsawan style. A marvelous example is the scene where Ahmad Nesfu comes to the silat masters house. The way he walks to confront the master is typical bangsawan and one that parallels his retreat when the master strides confidently towards him. P. Ramlee himself was in admiration of Ahmad Nesfu who could play many different kinds of roles effortlessly.
Another element of bangsawan is the way the actors sometimes react to shouted comments and remarks from the audience. Veteran actors would react to these situations with a suitable repartee that would tickle the audience to no end. This method too made its way into film. Suddenly, the actors would turn to look at the camera and address the audience. In PBL, there are numerous instances of this involving the characters of Ramli, Sudin, Ani and the silat masters wife. By breaking the fourth wall of film, Ramlee delighted audiences and brought them into his storytelling.
In Kala Malam Bulan Mengambang (When the Moon Waxes Full, 2008), Mamat Khalid showed the same kind of stylised acting that was reminiscent of the bangsawan actors who had moved to the silver screen. The film was ostensibly a homage to the Malay films of the 1950s. It was in fact, a parody of the present film industry and a lamentation of the low depths that Malay cinema had fallen to, churning out films that were totally lacking in substance. One of the characters in the film (played by a veteran actor of the 1950s) even appears in a bangsawan-style costume blissfully unaware (in the film) that he was totally out of touch with the reality of the situation. Parody had always been the forte of Mamat Khalid and in Kala Malam, he satirised all those involved in the film industry today who were making films that were not much different from the melodramas of the 1950s.
Sandiwara
It was during the time of transition of Komedi Stambul into sandiwara that another important thing happened. Plays were already being staged in schools but it was at the Sultan Idris Training College in Tanjong Malim, north of Kuala Lumpur that sandiwara really took off in the 1920s. This was because there was a Malay Translation Bureau in the College. Plays such as Macbeth, Faust and Julius Caesar were translated and performed by the trainee teachers at the College.
These plays introduced themes and approaches that were different from the Malay repertoire of stories. One of the stories that ws also adapted for the screen was Faust by Goethe. Malay Film Productions produced it as Iman (Faith - K.R.S. Shastry, 1954), and had Haji Mahadi playing the lead role. Zaba (Zainal Abidin Ahmad), the head translator of the Bureau played a significant role in the translation of plays both Western and from the Middle East. As a result, Zaba, aside from being known as a scholar is also considered the pioneer in the development of sandiwara in Malaya. Sandiwara unwittingly played an important role in the development of modern Malay theatre.
Writers like Shahrom Hussain, a teacher and Syed Alwi Al-Hady wrote sandiwara plays beginning in the 1930s. Shahroms Pembelot (Traitor) is seen as the first sandiwara play. It was performed near Batu Pahat in 1930 but on a bangsawan stage and acted in by mostly bangsawan actors. Due to. the overwhelming response, he staged another play Anak Setia
(Loyal Son) in the same year, then followed it up with Nasib Si Buta (Fate of the Blind Hero). Shaharom directed plays from the 1930s and right up to the Japanese Occupation between 1941 and 1945 where they were used to put across anti-British propaganda. It was only after the war that sandiwara began to mature and it soon became a community activity contributing to the rise of Malay nationalism. With the disbanding of bangsawan troupes and many of the players moving into the film industry, sandiwara became a popular draw with school teachers being the catalyst in promoting it. Others were youth groups who used it to collect donations for their community activities.
It was at a sandiwara performance that P. Ramlee discovered (Tan Sri) Jins Shamsuddin, one of the heroes of Malay cinema. It was Jins height, good looks and presence that caught Ramlees eye but a screen test initially proved that he couldnt act in front of the camera. His screen test lasted almost a whole day, something that had never happened with any other actor! But it had to go on as Ramlee was adamant at Jins being one of the actors for Malay Film Productions. Another actor who began with sandiwara was Mokhtaruddin and who was also a silat exponent. He was part of the group, Teater Seri Indera in Perlis and appeared in some of Merdeka Film Productions films in the 1970s.
Those involved with sandiwara were people who held steady jobs and
so it was just a pasttime for them. Not so for the bangsawan people where it was their whole life as well as livelihood. And unlike bangsawan that moved from town to town, sandiwara was performed on a fixed stage. The acting styles of sandiwara (and bangsawan) were carried on in films for many years before new styles of acting began to emerge due to influences from Hollywood films and other films screened in Singapore in the 1950s. As Malay cinema gained popularity, audiences for the remaining bangsawan shows (and later, sandiwara) waned until the curtain finally fell on the artform in the 1960s.
For a while, bangsawan and sandiwara plays were broadcast on radio in the 1960s but finally faded completely. The government television station, RTM, did recordings and televised some of Rahman B.s bangsawan plays for some time in the 1970s. Today, wayang kulit, bangsawan and sandiwara performances can only be seen at certain universities where they are taught under the theatre programme. Sandiwara has since moved to a professional stage at the prestigious Istana Budaya (National Theatre) where its old Malacca sultanate architecture is a homage to royalty and their role in the preservation of the performing arts.
