ORANG ASLI RITUALS, DANCES AND MUSIC
By Yeoh Jun Lin | Artistic Director - Rainforest World Music Festival

The Orang Asli are the original inhabitants in Peninsular Malaysia.

They are believed to have descended from the Paleolithic and Neolithic people who lived in the South-East Asian region almost 10 000 years ago.

There are very few Orang Asli left in Malaysia now. One particular tribe still inhabits Carey Island which lies to the south of the state of Selangor.

These are the Mah Meri – one of the eighteen Senoi tribes left. There are no more than about a thousand of them living on Carey Island.

Here, they still keep their old ways and rituals.

They believe in ancestral spirits and animism. Because they are right next to the sea, they also have strong respect for the mysteries of the deep and the beings that live there. This is clearest shown in their wood carvings.

Not only do they carve sculptures with graceful lines, they also carve the wooden masks that they wear at ritual dances. These masks are carved to represent the faces of the spirits of their ancestors known as moyang. At celebrations, they dance to lively music in praise of their ancestors for hours on end.

The masks have to come from wood of a particular tree – the Nyireh, which is a hardwood that comes from the swamp, and the sculptor holds the onus of looking for the tree himself. However, nowadays, this tree is very hard to find. So are the mempelas leaves that are needed to polish the mask to a high sheen.

When carving the wood, the sculptor goes into a trance and visions of many moyangs will come to him, and he will translate one of them into his mask. By carving, he communicates with the spirits.

The shamans also use the woodcarvings as a method to cure illnesses.
Some of these carvings have won the UNESCO seals of excellence.

The deforestation of trees are making it harder now for the Mah Meri to continue their art. Other options of trees sometimes do not work as they believe that some of them have spirits residing in them.

The women also do weavings of baskets (sentung), mats (tikar) and decorative items. This art must be cultivated to a high degree of skill before the woman is considered eligible for marriage.

The Mah Meri have made an appearance at the Rainforest World Music Festival in the past. They return again for the 10th Anniversary to celebrate a kind of reunion festival where only bands who have performed in the last 9 years will be back again in Sarawak.

The festival is organized by the Sarawak Tourism Board. Tickets are already on sale and can be bought online at http://www.ticketcharge.com.my/  as well as at all Visitor Information Centres in Kuching, Miri and Sibu.

Tickets are priced at RM80 for a one day Adult Pass, and RM200 for a 3-day Adult Pass. Children aged 3 – 12 years of age can purchase half priced tickets.

More information on the festival can also be found on the website www.rainforestmusic-borneo.com

The Rainforest World Music Festival not only looks for bands that have a strong ethnic edge to their music, but is also very strongly supportive of those that are trying to preserve a culture and an identity that, if not tendered to with care, can so easily die out.

Yeoh Jun Lin
Artistic Director
Rainforest World Music Festival