And so my assignment continues...ahhh, postcolonialsim. I certainly have no idea how to write but I have heard wonderfull songs from vietnam and since during the vietnam war, the french has already left...I'd say why not??? There are enough amount of resources about postcolonial vietnam music, I just cant seem to paste the puzzle toghether yet at this point.
The day before I left for johor, I went to a bangsawan performance at panggung bandaraya. It was called Tun Mamat dan Mimpi Tuanku. The story was different than the musical however no one actually really know's the real Puteri Gunung Ledang so...anything is possible. My mum was having a girls day out with her friends so I bought a book and read at Subang Parade at Manhattan's fish Market because the coffee there at 3-6pm is only 95 cents. So I left around 4.30 pm to the kommuter station and took the train all the way to Bank Negara. Little did i know that it involves a conciderable amount of walking.
After crossing the bridge you could see the dewan bandaraya complexes. There are 2 buildings. Once I approached one of them, the guards told me that the Panggung Bandaraya is actually near the court which is across the street... So I walked and found the Panggung which is actually on the other end of the court. I went in to check inside. I need to make sure that there were enough parking space, a place to have dinner and a place to pray.
So Parking?? No actuall parking. Park at your own risk and that car theft in the rempit area is quite high. Park behind the dark alley of the court...mmm, not too safe. SOGO closes at 10 and the parking fee could kill us. Food?? SOGO?? pray?? the mosque behind the court. Why do you need a surau when there is a Mosque??? So facilities whise, its not very friendly... The mosque is also not the safest place to be at night because you need to walk at the sides and the motocyclist could ram in the pedestrian. They couldn't care less about the traffic lights... Snatch thieves too is part of the risk. So in the end??? Eat at Quality hotel, park car there pray comfortably there then march to the Panggung...Good thing I had good walking shoes...Or I'll walk barefoot like after Gala Dinner at Clark Quay...
The orchestra pit performers..notice the tabla and baya??? There is a rebana and the dude there is playing the serunai?? Seruling??? I'm not too sure bout that...
The timpani is played by the conductor...I didn't know that there is a conductor in bangsawan...hehe
The performance was interesting. Rahman B the legend was there. Seats were full. There was Dato' Jalaludin Hassan. Good thing my dad wasn't around, he probably be cursing the whole performance...haha. (He thinks he's too fake) I love the extra turns. There were music and dance and comedy. The story goes that one of the Sultan's advisors Tun Mamat had plans to marry when the Sultan had a dream that he saw his beautiful fiance. When ever a Sultan likes a girl, the girl is already a property of the Sultan or a concubine. Tun Mamat explains thah he too had a dream that he saw a beautiful princess on the Ledang Mountain. Tun Mamat was lying all along. The Sultan ordered a serch to find the Princess..
Some comedy sketches in the extra turn. Extra turns are performances in between scenes...Its used to enable backdrop changes, since in the old days, stage people needed time to change the scenes from like forrest scenes to the palace scenes... It also serves as a break from the story especially if the story is very serious like Tun Fatimah. Extra turns include dance, music, comedy, circus acts and magic shows...
Dang Ayu, the former wife of Biaji being called by the Sultan to become his concubine so she has to sacrifice her love to Biaji to serve the Sultan. Tun Mamat, was being put in the same situation, and that found his way out of it...(or not...XP)
On the way up, Tun Mamat met with witches dwelling in the forrest and one of them is actually the princess. (Well sort of his dream came true, the princess could be another witch in disguise just to ease Tun Mamat's other lies to the king) The witches told him to tell the Sultan that The princess has agreed under certain conditions that is impossible to get. So the admiral Hang Tuah dissapeared in the forrests leaving Tun Mamat with Hang Tuah's Keris.
A dance number extra-turn...influenced by the movie Puteri Gunung Ledang
I think the dance routines are same in the Music Video...
The witches with very long eyelashes...in neon colours....I can't stop staring at them....
Tun Mamat meets Princess of Ledang Mountain
The Sultan singing beautiful Maria...the last extra turn
Some interesting twisting and twrling
Tun Mamat showing off his Silat martial arts scenes...
Tun Mamat explains the conditions to marry to the admiral Hang Tuah
Interesting story...I wonder who came up with the Idea...haha. It finished late and we then walked back to the hotel and the car was still safe and sound. I was thinking about our trip next day...gotta wake up early in the morning... I'm sooo not a morning person, but to know that every trip is an adventure, I was still exited.
Just for thoughts, there are week points in the production. The good thing is that its free so that our actuall cost is getting there. Friday traffic congestion was part of it. Safe parking and accesibility to ther performance too needs to be improved. Remember that bangsawan performances in the old days had people selling food at the venue. If its possible have a safer passageway from the mosque to the venue would be a plus. Publicity too is a question...If Dr. Cohen didn't tell us to go for the performance I never knew that there were bangsawan performances there regularly. Yes, Prof Tan did mention that the performances done there but there is no ads in print. If there were proper advertisements probably more people would turn up. Next time they need to think a way to reach out to the bigger audience.
Bangsawan is known for its mix culture that its supposed to be appealing to all Malaysians. Here the audiences in the hall are mostly Malay. Bangsawan too should be promoted too tourists like China is promoting Chinese Opera. Altough they might not understand the words, but the'll have the experience. I still liked Bakawali in USM 2 years ago. More Effects...haha. Probably will achieve the One Malaysia concept....I think I shall get back to my postcolonialism...*sigh*
