Instrument of peace
BY KERRY-ANN AUGUSTIN
New Straits Times Online
The gambus exhibition at the National Museum showcases the harmony of histories, writes Kerry-Ann Augustin
THE delicate symphony of sounds conjured by the plucking of gambus strings will transport you to a land foreign, the eerie whistle of winds shaving the tip of sand dunes as it slithers across the Arabian desert. The silhouettes of camels, date trees and minarets against the setting sun as the clear, crimson-coloured sky disappears into the darkest shade of blue.
The gambus emits an unmistakable melody which denotes its Middle Eastern origin yet it remains as one of our country’s most prominent traditional instruments.
“We actually have a large collection of gambus Sabah (from the Sabahan-Bruneian community), which we have exhibited before,” says Raja Suriaty Raja Ahmed, curator of the National Museum’s Malay-World Ethnology Department. “But we wanted to explore gambus on a wider scale like in Johor and the surrounding regions.”
She explains that the exhibition also coincides with the Ministry Of Tourism And Culture’s My Year of Festivals 2015 and the National Language Month.
The Regional Gambus exhibition is more than an enlightening insight into gambus or oud, the oldest string instrument in the world as it also illustrates how respect and revere for other cultures among early traders in the Golden Chersonese conceived the colourful cultural landscape we know today.
STRINGS ATTACHED
“Gambus is an instrument which stands as proof of how much cultural exchange took place between traders in the Malay Peninsula at that time,” says Raja Zulkarnain Raja Mohd Yusof, president of the Malaysian Gambus Association, in reference to the 15th century. “When the traders from all over the world converged, singing and dancing was a big part of their entertainment but at the heart of it all was music.”
He points out that gambus has its roots in the oud, a short neck lute originating in modern Yemen.
In the book, Austronesian Soundscapes: Performing Arts in Oceania and Southeast Asia, the professor of Ethnochoreology and Ethnomusicology at the Cultural Centre of University of Malaya, Mohd Anis Md Noor, explains how migration of traders conceived a distinctive culture. “One of the most significant contributions of the confluence of east-west cultures in the Straits of Malacca since the 15th century has been the geo-political recreation of its performative traditions,” he observes. “Mutual familiarities that are expressed through a shared cultural medium such as music and dance between Arab offspring and the local population, led to the formation of hybrid entities.”
He cites zapin as one of the most identifiable products of a marriage between Arab music and Malay dance movements. Calling zapin a “profoundly syncretic Malay-Arabic-Islamic music and dance tradition”, he notes in later paragraphs, that a single oud player performs in the beginning as a standard in the structure of zapin performances.
“Gambus carries a very heavy cultural significance for the Malay community till today,” Raja Zulkarnain shares. “The instrument is featured in ensembles and dance troupes at weddings and religious ceremonies.”
Raja Zulkarnain, the first Malay to study the oud at Cairo’s prestigious Beit Al-Oud Al-Arabi music school, says the oud was used to tell stories of Islamic significance. “People were attracted to the music of the oud and would gather around the oud players to listen to religious stories,” he elaborates.
MUSIC MAP THEORY
In his paper, Gambus Of The Malay World: It’s Origins And Significance In Zapin Music, Larry Hilarian of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), explores the usage of gambus as the main instrument in both zapin and ghazal. The former carries an Arab-influenced musical genre, while ghazal has distinctive Indian characteristics. While Hilarian acknowledges that the most common hypothesis is the introduction of gambus by the Arabs during the Islamisation of Malacca in the 15th century, he also suggests a few possibilities, which paint a picture of the intricacies of trade-born cultures of the time.
Hilarian, an assistant professor at the Visual and Performing Arts Academic Group at NTU, points out that the migration of gambus-type instruments could have possibly arrived in the Malay Archipelago as early as the 9th century with the arrival of Persian traders. He notes that there are undeniable similarities between the Persian style barbat instrument and the gambus Melayu, both of which use goat skin or leather soundboards instead of wood usually used for ouds.
Other possibilities, according to Hilarian, would be the emergence of the Aceh-Johor-Riau kingdom after the fall of Malacca. “The geographical closeness of Aceh-Johor-Riau axis made it almost inevitable for the Malay people to engage in trade, commerce, inter-marriage and the sharing of musical styles,” he elaborates. “The triangulation of the axis may have played a crucial role in the spread of gambus and its musical style through the sharing and adopting of each other’s cultures.
“People then were more open to embracing each other’s culture,” adds Raja Zulkarnain, while pointing out that instruments such as the Indian sitar, like many other stringed instruments throughout the trading routes could be linked back to the influencer of the barbats and ouds. “In fact, not many people know that the modern guitar evolved from the oud!” .
SCALES OF CHALLENGES
Raja Zulkarnain, who is also the author of Warisan Seni Dari Timur Tengah, admits his interest in this traditional instrument started off only after he had left Malaysia to pursue his passion for music in the United Kingdom. “There was not much of an interest in our traditional instruments. Growing up we never really knew how special this instrument was,” he confides.
“Instruments like gambus are often side-lined for cultural causes, which already have so much exposure. Yes, we need to keep traditions and heritage like gamelan, wayang kulit and mak yong alive but to be honest, it’s one-sided,” he argues. “We pay too much attention to the sensational performances and forget that the background (the music and the instruments) is just as important to highlight.”
While he explains there are only six gambus pioneers left in the country, most of whom have already reached old age, Raja Zulkarnain believes that gambus is not a dying instrument. “The culture of gambus is very much alive in countries like Turkey and Egypt where many young people play the instrument. This is why we need a platform to showcase that this instrument is relevant and an important part of our Malaysian history and heritage.”
Source: www.nst.com.my