Advances In Natural And Applied Sciences 2018 January; 12(1): pages 11-14 DOI: 10.22587/anas.2018.12.1.3 Research Article AENSI Publications The Origins of Kelantanese Mak Yong 1 2 Mohammad Affiq Kamarul Azlan and Lee Suan Chong 1University Malaysia Kelantan, Center for Language Studies & Generic Development, 16300, Bachok, Malaysia. 2University Malaysia Kelantan, Heritage Department, Faculty of Creative Technology & Heritage, 16300, Bachok, Malaysia. Correspondence Author: Mohammad Affiq Kamarul Azlan, University Malaysia Kelantan; E-mail: [email protected] Copyright: © 2018 Mohammad Affiq Kamarul Azlan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Background: Mak Yong is an ancient form of Malay traditional dance theatre combining the elements of ritual, stylised dance and acting, vocal and instrumental music, romance and comedy in a single presentation and is claimed to be of pure Malay heritage and has been passed down for more than 100 years though the traditional art is today upheld by less than ten veteran performers in Malaysia. Objective: The research emphasizes on inter-textual analysis, ethnographic interviews and observation-participation of Mak Yong performances by considering the viewpoints of both the scholars and the Mak Yong practitioners as well as classical texts that have possible records of Mak Yong performance in the past. Results: This paper delves in depth to analyse further the historical origins of Mak Yong with a special focus on the sources of written records as well as oral tales told from generation to generation. The paper suggests that Mak Yong place of origin as well as how long it has been existing remain disputable due to limited reliable records on the performance although intellectual assumptions can be academically drawn. Conclusion: Although the origins of Mak Yong are very much debatable, with neither scholars nor traditional performers able to validate the place of its actual origin and the precise period of time in which it was established, this paper has provided some possibilities through thorough analysis of the limited written accounts available as well as from traditional sources of its history and origins that have been handed down orally from generation to generation. Key words: History of Mak Yong, Origin of Mak Yong INTRODUCTION Mak Yong is claimed to be of pure Malay heritage and has been passed down for more than 100 years. Today, the traditional art is upheld by less than ten performers who are veterans of over 50 years old surviving in the Malaysian states of Kelantan and Terengganu. Mak yong is considered the most authentic and representative of Malay performing arts because it is mostly untouched by external sources as cited from UNESCO [7] and although most traditional Malay dances were influenced by India, Java and other parts of Southeast Asia, Mak Yong's singing and musical repertoire are unique. Of the major stories performed in Mak Yong, most are derived from Kelantan-Patani mythology. Fig. 1: Mak Yong Performance in Kampung Gabus, Pasir Mas, Kelantan. Photo: Research Team The traditional form of Mak Yong (Fig. 1) is declining and a more recent form has been striving to array its young sprouts on the stage of the cities and the world. While the future of Mak Yong is unpredictable, its past is given less attention Scholars such as Andries Teeuw, David K. Wyatt, Mubin Sheppard and Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof have tried in vain to trace the origin of Mak Yong, since different genres of performing arts in the old Patani and Kelantan are quite similar. For example, both Asyik and Mak Yong are graceful female dances found in the royal court. Different versions of legendary stories compiled from the Mak Yong practitioners have been transmitted orally from their old teachers. While scholars were enthusiastic in searching for the answers, the practitioners are more focused on holding performances. The practitioners of the art turn to their living Mak Yong as an art form they need to safeguard for the younger generations as Nasuruddin [4] suggested, it adapted itself to the new environment by changing its dramatic and structural elements to be in consonant with the rustic sentiments of the folk audience. These factors make the past a mystery that is difficult to unveil. This paper strives to look into the past of Mak Yong from the viewpoints of both the scholars and the Mak Yong practitioners. Mak Yong‟s origin circles around the royal court-folk traditions, and Patani-Kelantan. It is equally possible for Mak Yong to have originated from either the royal court or villages, and from either Patani or Kelantan. This paper attempts to present the stories collected from the surviving Mak Yong performers with the hope that the preservation of these materials may be useful in the future for study and discovery of new knowledge. Scholars’ Views of Mak Yong Origins: Geographical: The first documented account of Mak Yong is the Hikayat Patani or the Story of Patani, although this fact is disputed by some despite being supported by many scholars. As a primary and the most reliable record of the complete history of the Kingdom of Patani (Fig. 2), a state that is now located in southern th th th Thailand, Hikayat Patani is highly regarded as a historical reference of the political and sociocultural climate of the 15 , 16 and 17 century Patani. Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences ISSN-1995-0772 EISSN-1998-1090 12 Citation: Mohammad Affiq Kamarul Azlan and Chong Lee Suan, 2018. The Origins of Kelantanese Mak Yong. Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences., 12(1): 11-14. In 1970, Andries Teeuw and David K. Wyatt collected what are known to be the six surviving manuscripts of the Hikayat Patani, which is believed to have been written by different authors from the 15th to the 17th century. Teeuw and Wyatt [6] reorganized the manuscripts into six parts that narrate the dynasties that ruled the kingdom, the people in the royal circle, wars that took place as well as the laws of the kingdom. The collection as understood by Sheppard [5] also provided details of performances in the royal court, including Mak Yong and Wayang Kulit. If Hikayat Patani was completed in the 17th century, then this suggests that Mak Yong has existed for more than 200 years since its first mention. Sheppard [5] also proclaimed that Mak Yong was originally from Patani, and was introduced to Kelantan later. However, Sheppard‟s [5] belief that Mak Yong is cited in Hikayat Patani is disputed by Yousof [8], who asserts that there is no absolute evidence that the Hikayat Patani talked about Mak Yong. According to Yousof [8], Mak Yong is not mentioned specifically by name anywhere in the Hikayat Patani. Thus, Sheppard‟s [5] account of the origin of Mak Yong from Patani can be disputed. Fig. 2: A Map of the Sultanate of Patani that covers modern day Kelantan and Patani. Photo source: Taken with the consent of Creative Commons Attributions- Share Alike 4.0 International License Yousof [8] further explained that Sheppard‟s [5] opinion regarding the origin of Mak Yong from Patani was partly based on the journals written by a 15th century Dutch voyager, Peter Floris. He cited Peter Floris‟ journal of his voyage to the East Indies in the 15th century, in which there is a description of a dance performance that Sheppard assumed to be Mak Yong. Sheppard [5] concluded that, based on both Hikayat Patani and the accounts of Peter Floris, Mak Yong was first mentioned and played in the court of Patani. Against this, Yousof [8] argues that Peter Floris did not mention Mak Yong by name, rather just a description of what Sheppard [5] believed to be a Mak Yong performance in the court of Patani. Peter Floris‟ description of “commedye played all by women, to the manner of Java, which were apparelled very antickly, very pleasount to behold” as according to Yousof [8] is vague and could apply to other possible dance performance with female performers and not only to Mak Yong. While Sheppard‟s [5] belief that this is a Mak Yong performance could be correct, it is too unclear to be accepted as fact. Yousof [8] later suggested that Sheppard‟s [5] account of the origins of Mak Yong from Patani that are based on Hikayat Patani and on Peter Floris‟ journals should be rejected. Yousof [8] later discusses the Hikayat Kelantan (the Story of Kelantan) that cites Mak Yong as being performed in the 18th century in a royal ceremony in the Kelantanese palace. For instance, Mak Yong was performed during the circumcision ceremony of the son of Long Yunus, the Kelantanese sultan from 1765 to 1795. Therefore, academically, the origin of Mak Yong is hard to validate, as there is no proper and reliable written source that mentioned Mak Yong by name and records its performance in detail. If one is to assume, based on Peter Floris‟ account, that Mak Yong was originally established in Patani in the 15th century, it cannot be academically confirmed whether Mak Yong was introduced in the court of Patani by Mak Yong troupes from Kelantan prior to that time. A similar issue arises if Mak Yong is said to be from Kelantan and later spread to Patani. Regardless of this, the Chempaka Willis Mak Yong group that is currently based in Besut, in the Malaysian state of Terengganu believes that Mak Yong was originally established in Kelantan and later spread to Patani. Though this belief cannot be backed by academic facts, as it was told orally from generation to generation, it reveals that Mak Yong itself is an oral tradition that has survived this way for centuries.