Sape’ Songstress Alena Murang has released ‘Pemung Jae (Trio Version)’ in conjunction with Earth Day. Pemung Jae is a song in indigenous Kenyah language about being together with true friends under the moonlight, by the river, the river that gives us so much life. Alena Murang’s songs are thoroughly intentional, drawing from the Kelabit stories of her community.

Alena Murang

“We are known as Orang Ulu people, because we come from the ulu sungai, or headwaters, in my case, ulu Sungai Baram. Rivers are so important for us not just for resources and connectivity but also as part of our identity. Even when we meet other Orang Ulu people, we will oftentime identify ourselves by the names of our rivers”, says Alena.

For release on 22 April 2024

Originally released in 2016, as part of her debut EP ‘Flight’, Alena decided to produce a new arrangement of this folk song. On the release of the trio version, Alena shares “This is a song that I’ve been playing for over 20 years. And I feel that it has grown with me. This Trio version has been developed over the past two years, with the female musicians in my band, Simmy on keyboard and Yi Mann on Guzheng.”

Yi Mann – Guzheng

The trio first performed this song when they were on tour in Taiwan, as one of the universities requested for a trio set up. They have since maintained this harmonious trio resonance for different performances in Malaysia and Canada. Additionally, the lyric video, now available on Alena Murang’s YouTube page, showcases home footage capturing the beauty of her kampung river in Long Peluan, filmed by Alena herself.

Watch the lyric video here: https://youtu.be/KFY1fUGgb_o and stream the song on all major digital platforms.

Listen to Pemung Jae (Trio Version): https://bfan.link/pemung-jae

For more updates on Alena Murang, please follow these social media platforms:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alenamurang/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alenamurang
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AlenaMurang
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fxEcgl9ozJhSXTQf0Y9vq
Alena Murang Telegram Channel: https://t.me/+y9rR5Oi_X9c2NzJl

WEBSITE: www.alenamurang.com 

The post ALENA MURANG RELEASES PEMUNG JAE appeared first on Asian Itinerary.

Personally, I appreciate traditions in an almost exaggerated way. The phrases, the actions, the events; in one word, a culture that characterises the roots of a people and which, in oral or written form, is handed down from generation to generation. I think it is important to know where we come from and to whom or to what we owe for being who we are today.

Asian Itinerary author with Batuan Ethnic Fusion

Sure enough, the world is shrinking, peoples are mingling with each other generating new cultures. These new cultures are the natural result of a mix of original cultures, and we are rapidly moving towards a world in which the new password is globalisation. This is a nice word, an end in itself, were it not for the fact that the meaning attributed to it almost universally does not appear as exclusive. On the contrary, it tends to exclude individual cultures to the advantage of a “non-culture” that must include everyone but that does not represent anyone.

We can clearly see this in the controversies surrounding the definition of World Music. This term was coined by the American ethnomusicologist Robert Edward “Bob” Brown to describe music influenced by traditional cultures. World Music has nowadays taken on an almost derogatory meaning for the use of it by the music industry and record labels of the Western world in the 1980s to describe non-English recordings. Multi-instrumentalist and music producer Brian Clark believes that this term classifies “most non-Western music into an outcast group destined to the fringes of music festivals and lonely corner music shops”.

Sape Workshop

Asia is the cradle of ancient civilisations, and in the specific case here in Sarawak, progress in its various forms cannot ignore the past. Today the Dayak people are called Iban, and though they have obviously modernised, they still adopt the principles of a past to which they have always been related. This can be seen in those Iban who still live by choice in the Longhouses, a kind of wooden one-storey “condominiums” often built on stilts. These longhouses give shelter to several families and were originally created with the aim of keeping groups united so to defend oneself from the frequent incursions of other tribes. It can also be seen in those original tattoos that almost every local has, and that reflect symbols of bygone times. Last but not least, it can definitely be seen in the evolution of local music which, while moving forward, always maintains a certain attention to what is produced by its fathers.

This is something we noticed straight away at the Rainforest World Music Festival, right from the usual meetings with the artists, where on more than one occasion the thin and not so invisible thread that inextricably binds various generations was remarked.

Pinanak Sentah

Pinanak Sentah are six kids with clean faces and reading glasses, something that denounces a lot of time spent on books. They are Malaysians, from Siburan, less than 50km from Kuching, and they are somehow making their musical dream come true. They are a family: brothers and cousins accompanied by their father/uncle, who is also a musician, but who is not active part of the group. Well, not physically at least. But in terms of idea, he is the inspirer model for his children and grandchildren that range from the 15 years of drummer Emmanuel to the 26 years of guitarist Akinson and keyboardist Rick. They play a mix of tribal and modern music accompanied by both traditional and modern instruments. They are able to switch, with the ease of consummate musicians, from a Sape to a bass and an electric guitar, and from wooden xylophones to drums.

We chatted with them off the stage, where they sported a certain confidence. The smile that lit up on their faces was not ostentatious or flaunted; it was genuine, spontaneous and typical of that age in which one looks at the world with confidence, aware that the world is in their hands.

Pinanak Sentah drummer

Then you see them on stage and, assuming there is still room for a transformation, this  transformation takes place there. Emmanuel skilfully strikes his instrument by sliding his sticks on the drums with the exuberance of his 15 years of age; Natalina, 17, who seemed almost intimidated by our questions during the press meeting, replaces her top-of-the-class student glasses with colourful beaded hair clips, immerses herself in a private world of her own, and produces harmonic sounds from her jatung utang, a kind of wooden xylophone, focusing seriously only on her instrument. She smiles little on stage: perhaps the large audience that listens in religious silence intimidates her. In the end, she is still little more than a child; nevertheless, she does not show it and she manages to deliver a feeling of mastery for each instrument that she plays. And only when at the end of each piece the silence is interrupted by thunderous applause, she lets herself go to a satisfied, not so imperceptible smile. What a beauty.

Natalina in a workshop

Then there is 20 years old Ethania, a little secluded in the background. She plays the bass with delicacy, elegance and confidence. In front of her stand the two front-men, who together represent the ideological synthesis of the group: Ethaniel, 22 years old, a neat haircut, traditional clothing and a Sape in his arms, instrument that he masters without hesitation; and the aforementioned Akinson on the electric guitar: a red ribbon in his hair and an attitude that is somewhat reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix. Pinanak Sentah are there, on stage, with their father/uncle who, after passing the baton of tradition to them, observes from behind the scenes this Malaysian musical fable that continues its path towards a future that does not give space to amnesia on the past.

These are second generations: groups that grew up with the tribal music of their fathers in the ears, together with rock, jazz and pop.

Batuan Ethnic Fusion

Wayan Balawan is a Balinese musician on the threshold of his fifties, and he is considered one of the fastest guitarists in World Music, to the point of being nicknamed the “guitarist with the magic finger” in Indonesian musical circles. Balawan grew up listening to rock music, and he talks to me about his passion for the Beatles and the Deep Purple, something we share. He also tells me how he went from gamelan – a kind of traditional Indonesian orchestra – through rock to jazz, which he studied at the Australian Institute of Music in Sidney. Balawan has always maintained a connection with the music of his fathers through the instruments his band employ.

At the Rainforest World Music Festival, Balawan played with the line-up he founded on his return from Australia, the Batuan Ethnic Fusion, which combine the Balinese style of gamelan with a form of fusion jazz. On stage, they gave life to a brilliant and exciting show.

Sape Workshop

These are just two of several examples of generational transitions that we witnessed during the festival. The mentality and the firm will of not wanting to see the extinction of the ancient arts of the folk people starts to spread also on an educational level in Sarawak. Persatuan Anak Seni Sape Kuching is an NGO that caters to children, teaching them how to play the Sape, the most traditional of traditional instruments, and after less than a year of activity they have already reached thirty registrations. This clearly suggests that tribal music will have its own continuity and future. And the best support we can give them is to attend to World Music festivals! Thanks again to Rainforest World Music Festival for the amazing experience. Not to be missed.

The post Fathers and sons in World Music appeared first on Asian Itinerary.

Great performance at the Rainforest festival

The 20th Rainforest World Music Festival, which started July 14, successfully brought several people of different background, culture, language, religion and tradition together with the aim to make them enjoy and help them stir towards the preservation of nature and environment. In fact, according to the festival organizers, nature is the main root and music starts from nature. Who better to represent nature than At Adau.

At Adau is a local group from Sarawak, one of the performers at Rainforest World Music Festival, whom I had the fortune to interview after the Press Conference held at the Media Centre of Damai Beach Resort. Representative Meldrick Udos told me: “We really appreciate the jungle. As boys, jungle was our playground, we played hide and seek in it. It is for this reason we came to appreciate it so much”.

Rhythm and dance for At Adau

In tribal Bidayuh ethnic language, ‘At’ means ‘root’, while in Orang Ulu ethnic language, ‘Adau’ is an old tree used to make the Sape instrument. At Adau simply means the ‘Root of the Adau tree’. Meldrick told me the name was chosen because of their love to nature, and as a symbol to tell people how much nature helps you to be who you are.

The At Adau performing at the Rainforest World Music Festival was a group of 7 young men – the new generation of Sarawak musicians – who define themselves a “experimental world music band”, as they will play a mix of traditional and contemporary music.

A funny way to convey peace and love

At Adau was put together in Sarawak in 2014, and their main music instrument will be, guess, the famous Sape, which is real music coming from nature. The Sape can only be found in Sarawak and its music is played for healing the body and soothing the mind. For a taste of their tribal music, listen to their studio album entitled ‘Journey’.

At Adau presented an amazing performance where the Sape sounds mixed well with other ethnic instruments from tribes like the Iban, the Bidayuh and the Orang Ulu. It was especially for this festival in the land of the hornbill that they created a happy atmosphere that reflects the bond Sarawak people have with nature. Their experimental songs was driven by ancient tunes played with Sape and Perutong, and mixed with contemporary rhythms played by tribal drums, electric and bass guitar as well as an interesting mix of traditional instruments from other parts of the world.

Praying the gods of nature

Members of the audience described their music as healing and rejuvinating. At Adau has managed to use the power of roots music to overcome cultural, gender, age, language and ideological barriers, and to represent and reflect feelings of peace, serenity and appreciation for people from all over the world and for nature, the leitmotiv at the Rainforest World Music Festival.

We thank At Adau for these amazing feelings.

At Adau album ‘Journey’

Check them out at http://www.atadau.com/about.html

Listen to their music here: http://www.atadau.com/ourmusic.html

Or follow them on fb: https://www.facebook.com/loveatadau

The post At Adau appeared first on Asian Itinerary.

This month’s Rainforest World Music Festival had the honour of having as guests Ilu Leto, a band of six female sape players from Sarawak, Borneo.

Ilu Leto banner

Ilu Leto literally means ‘We, the Ladies’ in the language of the Kenyah people, an Austronesian language and the name of one of the tribes in Sarawak. Ilu Leto girls are indeed paving the road and creating a difference in the world of music from Borneo. The band members are native to Borneo and are dedicated to exploring and sharing the musical traditions of the land.

In fact, heritage plays a very large role in their performances. All the band members come from different tribes – in Sarawak there are over 50 tribes. Within the band they have Iban, Kelabit, Malay and Kenyah. They also have different upbringings, but they also have common things. Though they mostly sing Kenyah songs, they are also integrating songs from the other tribes, from their own individual heritage and sharing them with each other.

Tasneem

The band is quite new, as it has just formed this year. Apparently there are only a few professional female sape players around. Some band members are based in Kuala Lumpur and some in Borneo, and since they occasionally happen to play together, they finally decided to put together this band of six.

The sape used to be taboo for women, it could not even be touched by the gentle gender, but this is not the case any longer ans the contect has changed. Ilu Leto members are contemporary girls who listen to modern music, wear modern clothes and watch mainstream TV. But they have chosen to stick to theur heritage and to experience and share the beauty of sape playing.

Alena Murang at the sape

The band members are Alena Murang, Elizabeth Bungan Peter, Munirih Jebeni, Rosemary Colony Anak Joel Dunstan, Nurul Syafiqah (Iqa) and Tasneem Bolhassan. They are all dedicated to exploring and sharing the musical traditions of the land, combining song, dance and music of Kenyah, Kelabit and Iban tribes.

Ilu Leto message seeks to convey through music and dance their heritage to a wide group of people, sharing something that is still common in tribal communities that have gone through a lot of changes in the past 50 years.

Ilu Leto after a training

Ilu Leto performance at the Rainforest World Music Festival was graceful and powerful, a great show of young female voices incorporating dance, rhythm and a bit of nostalgia.

Follow Ilu Leto on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iluleto/

The post Ilu Leto (we, the ladies) appeared first on Asian Itinerary.

The Sape (in Kenyah dialect means ‘scratching’) is a traditional plucked lute chordophone family of  instruments used by many of the Orang Ulu (Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit), or ‘upriver people’, who live in the longhouses that line the rivers of Central Borneo and Kalimantan. Sape originated from the Long Nawang, Kabupaten Bulungan at the border of Sarawak, Malaysia, and East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Ancient use of Sape

The story wants the idea of the Sape to come through a dream of a farmer who fell asleep in the hut of his paddy field after returning from seeking a witch-doctor to cure his wife’s sickness. In his dream, the farmer was directed to look for Adau wood, from the trees that the Hill Myna birds used to perch. The shape of Sape appeared in his dream and whenever the Sape was played, he dreamt the spirit would come and cure his wife’s sickness.

Sapes are carved from a single bole of selected fine grain wood, with many modern instruments reaching over a metre in length. Initially, the Sape was a fairly limited instrument with no design. It had two strings and only three frets (the three frets only appearing around the second decade of the 19th Century). Its use was restricted to a form of ritualistic music to induce trance. Still today, the Orang Ulu people believe that when there is any death in the longhouse, the Sape should not be played since it would cause the musician to become deaf, a condition only possible to cure with the sound of gongs called Tawak.

Lan E Tuyang and his Sape

In the last century, as time passed the Sape gradually became a social instrument to accompany dances or as a form of entertainment. Today, three, four or five-string instruments are used, with a range of more than three octaves. Most of them are still hand-made.

Technically, the Sape is a relatively simple instrument, with one string carrying the melody and the accompanying strings as rhythmic drones. In practice, the music is quite complex, with many ornamentations and thematic variations. There are two common modes, one for the men’s longhouse dance and the other for the woman’s longhouse dance. There also is a third rarely used mode. Sape music is usually inspired by dreams and there are over 35 traditional pieces with many variations. The overall repertoire is slowly increasing.

TYPES OF SAPE

There are two types of Sape:

The Sape Bali is used to cure sickness by the witch-doctor (Bali Dayong); during the ceremony, the player sits on the floor and later stands up to drive away the evil spirits (Udo).

Modern electric Sape

The Sape Kanjet is used to accompany dances and it is double the size of the Sape Bali. These were first produced when the British first came to Sarawak and brought along the telephone cables, which were the first to be used as modern Sape’s strings.

Sapes are still being made in Borneo, and modern innovations like electric Sapes are common.

Lan E Tuyang is the head of traditional ethnic group Orang Ulu-Kenyah (the Orang Ulu) trio band performing exotic native Kenyah tunes, comprising two Sapes, a percussionist and a warrior dancer. To read more about them, go to http://asianitinerary.com/lan-e-tuyang-orang-ulu-music-from-borneo/

To enjoy the sape played live, do not miss the yearly Rainforest World Music Festival in Kuching, Borneo (www.rwmf.net)

The post The Sape appeared first on Asian Itinerary.