Culture
Penang button Performing Modernity in Penang


by Tan Sooi Beng


Cultural Hybrids

A central aspect of contemporary globalization is the emergence of hybrid global cultures resulting from advances in telecommunications and information technology, increased travel and international flow of capital and labour. However, globalization and cultural hybridity are not new to the pre-colonial and colonial port cities of Southeast Asia such as Penang. By analysing specific syncretic forms such as Bangsawan and popular music, I intend to show that Penang was exceptionally open to hybridity and cultural diversity in the 1920s and 1930s. Performers were articulating the changes taking place in society through the new cultural forms and what it meant to be ‘modern' in cosmopolitan Penang.

The multi-ethnic nature of early Penang can be seen in the population census of Georgetown in 1835 which included Europeans, Armenians, Malays, Acehnese, Batak, Chinese, Chuliahs, Bengalese, Siamese, Burmese, Arabs, Parsees, Native Christians and Caffrees (Africans). Beginning in the late nineteenth century, big numbers of Chinese and Indian immigrants were attracted to the island and the Straits Settlements by the tin and rubber industries.  Consequently, the population of Georgetown grew from 44,565 in 1881 to 149,408 in 1931. By the early twentieth century 1 , Penang had become the second largest city in Malaya after Singapore.   

With the development of an urban multi-ethnic population, new cultural forms and urban entertainment were introduced in Penang. Foreign theatrical troupes such as the European and American operetta and vaudeville, Chinese opera, Parsi theatre, and Javanese tonil entertained the various ethnic groups. Special entertainment venues such as the Drury Lane Theatre and amusement parks like Wembley and New World were set up. Local social and cultural clubs which promoted interaction among the members through music, theatre, dance, and sports were established.
     
Amidst the rapid transformations, new local hybrid cultural forms of theatre such as bangsawan and popular music, which were commercial and attracted multi-ethnic audiences, emerged in Penang.  This paper shows that these new local genres of entertainment articulated the changes taking place in Penang society:  they were eclectic, innovative, and constantly adapting to the times.  Apart from ‘traditional' themes, musicians and actors were performing about a new society. They advocated their own sense of being ‘modern' (moden)2  in a changing society and encouraged the audience to think ‘modern'.

 
Bangsawan and being modern

Bangsawan (meaning ‘nobility') was the first popular urban commercial theatre which originated in Penang3. It is believed that the Parsi troupes from Bombay which travelled widely in Southeast Asia provided the model for the development of bangsawan in the 1880s. The first troupe to call itself bangsawan was the Pushi Indera Bangsawan of Penang which was set up by a rich Parsi known as Mamak Pushi.  The Malays used to call Aboo Siti Lane ‘Lorong Pushi' as it was the residence of Mamak Pushi. Kuala Kangsar Road was known as ‘Bangsawan Street' as performances were held there. As commercial theatre, bangsawan was performed solely for entertainment and promoted through advertisements in the press  and handbills.  For the first time, a proscenium stage was used and audiences had to pay to watch the show.
   
Bangsawan gained popularity across a wide spectrum of society which derived from various ethnic and class backgrounds in the early twentieth century. Known also as Malay opera, it became the local popular theatre not only of Penang but of British Malaya. Troupes set up in Penang, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and other urban centres of Malaya toured the peninsula, Sumatera, Java and Borneo. As a port, Penang remained an important stop for troupes traveling to and from Medan. As shown in the newspaper advertisements and reports, there were bangsawan performances almost every day of the year.
   
By the 1920s and 1930s, bangsawan had become so popular in Penang that its ‘culture' was widespread. In particular, songs performed in bangsawan stories and extra turns (interludes between acts) became the ‘hits' of the day and formed the basis of new popular music which emerged. Popular music was also performed live in pentas joget (joget stage), dance halls (cabarets) in amusement parks such as Wembley and New World, and at amateur theatre and music clubs. They were recorded by gramophone companies such as HMV, Odeon, Columbia, Beka, Pathe, Chap Kuching, and Chap Singa.  Recording engineers from these companies relied on local agents to identify the artists and the repertoire to be recorded.  Wax matrices were shipped to India to be processed.  The products were then sent back to local agents (such as Eng Huat & Co. and the Penang Music Store) to be sold 4. 
   
What were the characteristics of the new bangsawan and popular music which attracted multi-ethnic audiences in Penang?  Opera troupes and popular singers competed with one another by claiming that they were more ‘up-to-date' and 'moden' (modern) in newspaper advertisements.  What did the performers mean by 'moden' and how did they communicate this to their audiences?
   

Songs from all over the world

To cater to as wide an audience as possible, stories of different nationalities, ethnic origins, and adaptations of literary classics of the Europe, America, Asia, and the Middle East were performed in bangsawan.  Some of the popular stories included Laksamana Bentan (cerita Melayu), Sam Pek Eng Tai (cerita Cina), Puteri Bakawali (cerita Hindustan), Hamlet (cerita klasik) and Laila Majnun (cerita Arab).
   
Diversity was evident in the songs and dances which filled in the time between acts (extra turns). As shown in the City Opera's advertisement (Straits Echo, 17 January 1929) below, exotic and new songs from other parts of the world were adapted:
   
Latest English songs and dances
The Spectacular classic toe dance
Grand Russian songs and dances
Spanish songs and dances
Hawaiian-Hulla-Hullah songs and dances
Oriental songs and dances
Genuine Egyptian songs and dances
Enchanting Hindustani songs and dances
Tamil Comical songs – the "Kopi Tani"
Varied Malayan songs and dances
Javanese songs and dances
The Paris Underworld – "The Apache"
The Malayan Underworld – "The Samseng".

Gramophone companies also emphasized variety in the songs they recorded to attract multi-ethnic audiences.  For instance, the HMV Malay record catalogues of the 1930s included various categories of songs such as Lagu Melayu or Malay Songs (such as asli, inang, joget, dondang sayang), Lagu Arab or Arab Songs (gambos, masri), Nasihat Agama or Religious Advice, Kronchong/ stambul (Jawa), Lagu Hawaiian, tango, march, waltz, and foxtrot.
   
Bangsawan and popular music attracted multi-ethnic participation at all levels.  Proprietors (or towkays) of opera troupes included Chinese, Malays, and Indians. The performers were also ‘generally mixed', comprising ‘Malays, Eurasians and sometimes Chinese players' (Straits Echo, 20 October 1928). Tan Tjeng Bok (a well-known Chinese actor from Java) and Sheikh Omar (an Arab singer) were said to have joined the Moonlight Opera of Penang in 1933 and captivated audiences with their singing (Straits Echo, 1 May 1933).  Minah Alias, the late prima donna of Penang bangsawan who had recorded more than thirty songs for the HMV label in the 1930s, was born of Javanese and European parentage.

Traditional and modern

As commercial theatre, bangsawan was innovative and constantly adapting to new trends. It was reported that troupes adapted to the latest English, Hollywood, and Broadway dances that were moden (Saudara, 11 April 1936, 21 Dec. 1934) and "modelled to suit the modern taste" (Straits Echo, 12 Oct. 1932). By the 1920s and 1930s, chorus girls  known as the Crystal Follies, Salomme Revue, and Eddie's High Steppers performing the latest Broadway dances had become a regular feature in bangsawan (Straits Echo, 10 June 1923, 20 October 1928).

Orchestras known as orkes Melayu (Malay orchestra) organized along the lines of bands from Europe, America and India which brought theatrical plays and vaudeville to Malaya were incorporated into bangsawan and popular music in the early twentieth century.  Instruments of the band included violins, piano, trumpets, trombones, clarinet, saxophone, double bass, drums, maracas, claves, and woodblock.
   
The orkes Melayu played popular music based on Anglo-American and Latin American dance music at live concerts, bangsawan shows, and the various dance halls.  The new popular songs often had catchy melodies superimposed on the waltz, foxtrot, tango, and rumba rhythms which were popular in Europe and America and introduced into Malaya via the gramophone, radio, film, and touring theatre troupes.  Often, Anglo-American popular songs such as La Paloma were recycled in Malay. In the local Paloma Merpati (Miss Maimoon, Chap Kuching), Western instruments such as piano, trumpet, plucked bass and castanets played the Latin American tango and Western harmony.
   
By emphasizing cultural diversity and incorporating music, songs, dances, and stories from different parts of the world, bangsawan performers and pop musicians were able to present themselves as moden and so attract multi-ethnic audiences. Besides cosmopolitanism, performers also articulated modernity by adapting to the latest trends in dance, music, and instrumentation in America and Europe. The Western orchestra, dances, and popular tunes signified ‘modern' tastes. 
   
Although bangsawan emphasized variety and novelty, it also depended for its impact on conventions which were known to and accepted by both performers and audiences, conventions with which they were familiar. In this sense, bangsawan had roots in folk theatre. Scene types (babak) were used in plot building; stock characters (watak) with their stereotyped behaviour, costumes, facial expressions, and gestures were also featured; and even foreign plays were adapted using these prescribed patterns. Other characteristics of folk theatre prevalent in bangsawan included comedy and farce, the staging of fantasy stories about kings and queens in kayangan (heavens), and the use of specific songs (lagu) for given dramatic situations.  These conventions helped the audience to follow the play and the performer to organize materials for recollection.
   
Yet, bangsawan incorporated new and foreign elements in its use of the proscenium stage and Western instruments.  Costume and dance styles were determined by the location of the play and often adapted from foreign countries. Backdrops were painted to simulate the scenery of foreign countries.  During the performances of Sam Pek Eng Tye and Raden Mas, for instance, two different types of tirai hall (hall backdrops) would be used: one resembling the interior of a Chinese home and the other depicting the interior of a Malay palace.
   
     

From Folk to Popular Music

Likewise, many of the popular songs of the pre-War period were derived from Malay folk social dance and entertainment music such as asli, inang, joget, dondang sayang, zapin (gambos), masri, and kroncong which were performed at social occasions such as weddings and at amusement parks in various parts of Malaya. Folk asli, inang, joget, and dondang sayang were accompanied by a violin or accordion, one or two Malay frame drums called rebana, and a Malay gong. Musical instruments used in early recordings of zapin and masri included the ud or gambos (originating from the Middle East), a violin, three or four marwas hand-drums, and a dok (cylindrical drum). Each dance song was associated with a specific local or foreign-derived rhythmic pattern. Syncretism made the music accessible and helped to attract multi-ethnic audiences5.
    
Beginning in the 1920s, these folk dance songs were transformed into modern popular genres by bangsawan musicians. They adapted to the dance band which became the standard combination in mainstream recorded repertoire of Anglo-American music. The musicians substituted the accordion with the piano and the frame drum with the Western drum kit. The ensemble was enlarged with a plucked bass, extra violins, and other instruments of the Western dance band. However, the newly arranged songs retained their local folk character by using the rhythmic patterns associated with each dance-song, topical texts, alternating witty exchange of Malay pantun verses, fairly independent vocal and instrumental lines, and a singing style with a narrow and tense vocal width (Tan, 1993: Chapter 6).  Famous singers such as Temah, Tijah, and Dean often incorporated Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Indian elements as in Mas Merah (lagu asli, Temah, HMV), Aladom (lagu masri, City Opera, Beka), and Tandi-Tandi (lagu Hindustan, Tijah, HMV) respectively.

Dondang Sayang (Tijah and Dean, Pt. 2, Chap Kuching) exemplifies this new style incorporating Malay, Chinese and Western elements.  It is accompanied by a violin, a piano, and a plucked bass. Although new instruments are used, the asli sound is maintained. The violin and treble part of the piano still play in heterophony with the voice, while the bass part of the piano and plucked bass produce the characteristic rhythmic pattern of asli songs and replace the gong. Melodic and rhythmic lines remain fairly independent.  The singer still uses a fairly narrow and tense vocal width. Some Chinese characteristics prevail particularly in the use of the minor third intervals of the typical Chinese pentatonic scale (between notes 3 and 5 and 6 and i).
   
Other changes occurred in the recorded dondang sayang as a result of the nature of the 78 RPM gramophone plate. As each side is only three minutes long, much of the debate in folk dondang sayang by different singers (over subjects such as love, advice, good deeds, the sea, fruit and so on) which could take many hours, had to be cut down to two sides of a record.  Two singers usually played fixed roles throughout the recorded song.
   
Tandi Tandi (Che Tijah, HMV) exemplifies Indian influence.  It is accompanied by a harmonium, a tabla and a piano which plays an oom-pah-pah beat reminiscent of a waltz. The inclusion of a short unmetered introduction (alap) by the harmonium and voice and vocal ornamentations (such as slides between notes and vibrato at melismatic phrases) link the song to Indian folk and light classical singing.


Breaking with tradition

Although bangsawan women played demure, duty-bound heroines on stage, the stories of their lives show that they broke with tradition 6 . It can be claimed that bangsawan women (and popular singers) had careers as we would understand it today. Women stars were professionals who worked solely as entertainers; were known for the specific roles in which they specialized; and were sensitive to the changing tastes of employers and audiences.
      
Bangsawan women and popular singers created an alternative lifestyle.  They were no longer associated with daily life in the kampung. They had a different routine: household chores in the morning, dancing and singing practices in the afternoon and performances at night.  Although they were looked upon with suspicion by some, they were licensed to act in ways normally prohibited for women such as parading on stage and allowing men to cast amorous glances and whistle at them.  The women actresses and singers traveled constantly, and learnt from and mixed with performers of different ethnic origins. They were always learning new songs, new languages, and improvising new dances. Through exposure to foreign cultures, they gained knowledge of a wider world and promoted the interaction of various cultures in bangsawan.

The women performers were competitive and entrepreneurial. From small, they strove to become stars (bintang) as star actresses and singers commanded adulous audience attention and high performance fees. They tried to learn as much as they could and worked hard as apprentices. Miss Nani (the late Minah Alias, prima donna of Penang) started singing when she was four years old in her father's troupe, Genani Star Opera. She observed the more experienced performers at night and learnt Malay dance and kuntau (Chinese art of self defence) during the day. Later she was sent to learn dance, music and acting with the famous Miss Riboet in Java 7 .

Bangsawan and popular music of the 1920s and 1930s were both ‘traditional' and ‘modern'.  They employed conventions of folk theatre, rhythmic patterns of folk social dances, and pantun topics and debate which audiences were familiar with. At the same time, they incorporated ‘modern' Western instruments, harmony and Latin American dance rhythms popularized through talkies and gramophones from Europe and America. Women performers played ‘traditional' roles in bangsawan plays but their lives were ‘radical' in those times. The ‘modern' in bangsawan and popular music involved a sense of  ‘traditional'.

Performances of bangsawan were in line with contemporary interests and debates about how to adapt to the rapid changes taking place in society and how to create a better and more advanced society.  Troupes began to introduce stories which were similar to the themes of hikayat baru  (new hikayat) and novels written at the time. The new literature portrayed a concern for ‘moral guidance' and ‘anxieties about the Malay race'.  ‘Ordinary' people instead of the aristocracy were the main characters8. Examples of these new writings included Syed Syekh al-Hadi's series called The Moral Trainer and his Hikayat Faridah Hanom (1925).   It was not surprising that in 1929, Dean's Union Opera advertised that it was performing a series of "educational" and "moral" plays at the Drury Lane Theatre Hall, Penang (Straits Echo, 29 Oct. 1929).
   
In the 1920s and 1930s, bangsawan troupes also started to perform Malay historical tales such as Laksamana Bentan and Laksamana Hang Tuah which they borrowed from the hikayat. These plays focused on the exploits of legendary Malay heroes, sultans, and aristocrats who were no longer shown along with mythical gods.  Besides historical tales, stories with contemporary settings were also introduced. In these, common people rather than kings, princes and heavenly beings were depicted as heroes. Additionally, bangsawan troupes began to publicize their plays as ‘real-life dramas' and ‘modern stories' which they adapted from local and foreign literature of the times. The play, Faridah Hanom, was adapted from Syed Syekh's new hikayat of the same name (Saudara, 25 Jan. 1929). The audience was becoming more educated and increasingly preferred reality to fantasy.
   
  

Moralistic Texts

There was also considerable increase in moralistic texts in recorded popular music of the 1930s. Artistes began to sing songs with ‘poems that were meaningful and beneficial' (pantun-pantun yang berarti dan berfaedah) (HMV catalogue, July 1937) with references to morals and responsibilities to society. For instance, Che Aminah advised audiences to pity and help the poor in her rendition of:

Kesian [Pity] (Che Aminah, HMV)

Orang kaya bersuka-suka        Rich people like to enjoy themselves
Membuang wang tiada berhingga    Waste their money without limits
Kesian miskin apakah daya        Pity the poor who do not have the means
Tiada makan tiada blanja.        With no money to spend.

 A number of songs had topical texts and identified with the common people such as the taxi driver and the trishaw man who had to work hard to earn a living. These topical songs had elements of humor added, incorporated different dialects, and portrayed the sentiments of the people:

Apik Tukang Becha (Tarminah and Piet S, HMV)

Diwaktu hari panas        On a hot day
Apik tukang becha        The old trishaw puller
Berlari tarik nafas        Runs breathing hard
Apik tukang becha        The old trishaw puller

Apik lari cari wang        The old man runs to earn money
Buat beli makan        To buy food
Apik kalau dapat no-kak         If the old man gets twenty cents
Pergi chyak kopi        [He] goes to drink coffee.

As the trishaw man is Chinese, the singer mixes Malay with Hokkien words such as chyak kopi (drink coffee), no kak (twenty cents) and apik (old man). These comical songs formed a tradition which prevailed in the songs of P Ramlee (1950s) and Hang Mokhtar (1990s).
   
Other songs promoted individual advancement through education. Bangun Anakku [Wake up My Child] by Ahmad CB stirred youths to wake up from their sleep and to study hard for the future.  According to Ahmad CB9, this song had a deeper meaning – it advised Malays to acquire education so that they could progress and prepare for Independence:

Bangun Anakku [Wake up My Child] (Ahmad CB, Chap Singa)

Bangun anakku dari tidurmu,
semua kawan-kawanmu sudah menunggu
jikalaunya sudah, segera berpakaian
menuntut ilmu, jangan-jangan dilupakan,
ini semua demi masa depan.

    Wake up my child from your sleep
    All your friends are waiting
    If you have woken up, quickly get dressed
    Pursue knowledge, do not forget
    All this is for the future.   

Bangsawan and popular music engaged audiences in social transition and advocated ‘modern' ideas about creating a more progressive society. New plays and song texts in the 1920s and 1930s advised audiences about their moral responsibilities to society and individual progress through education.  They focused on ordinary people such as the trishaw man as autonomous human beings.

Agents of Change

Bangsawan and popular music were the non-Europeans' versions of Western theatre and music modified and adapted to suit local tastes. As in other parts of Malaya, it was thought to be prestigious to imitate facets of Western culture.  At the same time, however, Western cultural activities were not within the reach of many Penangites as they were exclusive and too expensive. Locals therefore created their own theatrical and musical entertainment which were open to all and sundry – rich, poor, women, men, Malay, Chinese, Indian, Arab, and even European. In bangsawan and popular music, Penang audiences from all socio-economic classes sought what was ‘modern', new and imported but had continuities with their own traditions.  They articulated the changes taking place in society in the 1920s and 1930s.  Emerging at a time when rich cultural resources, new technology and new social relations were made available in Penang, bangsawan and popular music were eclectic, flexible and adaptable.
   
Through bangsawan and popular music, performers in Penang were expressing their own sense of being ‘modern' in a changing society.  Their modernity was articulated through eclectism, cosmopolitanism, adaptability to change, various combinations of folk and new foreign elements, women foregrounding themselves, and texts which advocated concern for a better and more advanced society.  This sense of modernity was different from the European's.  It was not surprising that the Europeans criticized bangsawan as "incongruous with their theatre" (Straits Echo, 20 Oct. 1928).  By communicating their own sense of being ‘modern', Penang performers of the 1920s and 1930s became agents of change.
   
One last point is worth consideration. A central aspect of contemporary globalization is the emergence of hybrid global cultures resulting from advances in telecommunications and information technology, increased travel, and the international flow of capital and labour 10 . However, globalization and cultural hybridity were not new to the pre-colonial and colonial port cities of Southeast Asia such as Penang. As this paper shows, Penang was exceptionally open to hybridity and cultural diversity prior to the formation of the nation state in the 1950s.  By blending Malay, Chinese, European, Middle Eastern, Javanese and Indian elements in bangsawan and popular music, Penangites were creating their own ‘modern global cultures' almost a century ago, indeed before today's notion of global culture was formulated.

From a paper Cultural Diversity and Change:  Performing Modernity in Penang in the 1920s and 1930s by Tan Siew Beng,  School of Arts, Universiti Sains Malaysia read at the The Penang Story – International Conference 2002 18-21 April 2002, The City Bayview Hotel, Penang, Malaysia
Organisers: The Penang Heritage Trust & STAR Publications
The discussion of songs is based on 78 RPM records of opera and popular songs which belonged to Naina Merican of Penang. They were donated to Universiti Malaya and are now kept at the National Archives in Kuala Lumpur.  References to performances by bangsawan troupes are mainly from advertisements and short articles in Penang newspapers such as the Straits Echo and Saudara.


1  See Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz, "Ordering of Housing and the Urbanisation Process: Shophouses in Colonial Penang", JMBRAS LXXI (2), 1998, p. 131, for the population of Georgetown from 1881-1931 and the increase of population by percentage.

2   There has been an ongoing dialogue in Malaysia on what it means to be ‘modern' among writers, teachers, intellectuals, cultural practitioners, and political activists of different ethnic groups from the early twentieth century till today.  To be ‘modern' is generally linked to progress and advancing one's social status. Different visions of how to create a new, progressive and ‘modern' society were advocated through novels, newspaper articles, editorials, and other writings in the early twentieth century. These visions were different from the European discourse on modernity which emphasized the spread of European ideas and practices of the Enlightenment.  Penang was, in fact, a center of reformist thought and literature in the early twentieth century. Syed Syekh al-Hadi formed the Jelutong Press which published novels, books, journals, and newspapers devoted to the discussion about Islamic reformism including education and greater social freedom for women. See Roff , ibid.

3   See Tan Sooi Beng , Bangsawan, A Social and Stylistic History of Malay Opera, Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1993, for a detailed history of bangsawan and analyses of its orchestra, music, scene types, characters, stories and sets.

4   See Tan Sooi Beng, "The 78 RPM Record Industry in Malaya Prior to World War II", Asian Music, XXVIII (1), Fall/Winter 1996/97, for a discussion of the history of the record industry and the recording companies, engineers and labels which operated in Malaya in the early twentieth century.

5   See Patricia Matusky and Tan Sooi Beng, Muzik Malaysia: Tradisi Klasik, Rakyat dan Sinkretik, Kuala Lumpur and Penang, The Asian Centre in conjunction with Akademi Seni Kebangsaan, 1997, for analyses of the musical properties of folk social dance music.

6   I have written about this in greater detail in Tan Sooi Beng, "Moving Centrestage: Women in Malay Opera in Early Twentieth Century Malaya", Kajian Malaysia, XII (1 & 2), Jun/Dis 1994). This article looks at the life histories of several women bangsawan stars in Malaya.

7  Interview with Minah Alias, 27 July, 1986. She passed away in 2001. Another famous actress and singer of Penang of the 1950s was Zaharah Agos. She recorded songs like Cemburu and Lodeh Mak Lodeh and acted in the film Madu Tiga.

8  See Virginia Matheson Hooker, Writing a New Society, Social Change Through the Novel in Malay, Sydney: ASAA in association with Allen and Unwin and University of Hawaii Press, 2000. Hooker discusses the relationship between social change and literature.  In Chapter 1, she analyzes Syed Syekh's new hikayat which advocates new concepts about the interpretation of Islam, the relationship between men and women and the contribution of individuals to ‘people, race and country'

9  Interview with Ahmad CB, 17 April, 1986.

10      See Anthony Smith, "Towards a Global Culture?", in Mike Featherstone (ed), Global Cultures, Nationalism, Globalization and Modernity, London: Sage Publications, 1990, for a discussion of global cultures of the post-industrial era.
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