Choon Rui Xiang
Hailing from the city of Bengkulu on the west coast of Sumatra, the 10-men-strong tribal band presented the audience with the loud, pulsating but yet rustic beats of Doi Buai and Enggano music from their hometown on their gigantic drums which can go up to almost a metre across. They lived up to promises of a highly energetic performance which lasted for a solid half hour.
Turning The Beat Around
It all began at 6.30pm with a soloist chanting in the group’s native dialect, while simultaneously setting fire to a small plate of charcoal. Several others joined his chant by playing on musical horns fashioned out of large seashells while seated cross-legged on the floor.
The charcoal flame extinguished by itself rather miraculously just a few minutes into the chant.
Just as the haunting introduction died down, the energetic drumming began.
You’d have expected a traditional Indonesian performance, but it proved to be a fusion act of sorts. Besides the traditional musical instruments, 2 electric guitars joined the refrain in a surprise combination.
As the performance drew to a close, the group even threw in 1 final surprise for the unsuspecting audience. 6 of the drummers suddenly stood up and came to the front, getting into a V-shaped formation and began drumming in the audience’s faces, bending backwards and dancing with gusto while balancing the huge drums strapped to their necks.
Audience Reactions
Israeli expatriate Lau Peles, 50, an engineer, was at the performance with his wife after reading about it in the Singapore Arts Festival programme booklet.
“We expected something authentic but we were surprised. There was an infusion with modern elements,” he told UrbanWire.
“I thought that it was a very good mixture of music, rhythm and it being modern,” his wife, 40-year-old Billing Sales Director, Dana interjected.
Want To Catch Mayang Sari In Action?
The Mayang Sari group will stage 4 more performances on June 7 and 8 at the Toa Payoh HDB Hub at 1pm and 6pm.
For the full schedule of Arts on the Move, please visit the Singapore Arts Festival 2008.
This article is part of UrbanWire’s 9-week Singapore Arts Festival 2008 special. Get all the latest Arts Fest updates and reviews on UrbanWire.
Choon Rui Xiang is a contributor who is currently studying in the Mass Communication Diploma Programme at the School of Film & Media Studies of Ngee Ann Polytechnic . This article is based on his assignment piece for his Newswriting Module.
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