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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 122 ( 2014 ) 473 – 476

2nd World Conference on Design, Arts and Education DAE-2013 The Growing Phenomenon of Malaysian Musical Theatre Productions with a Buddhist Theme

Loo Fung Yinga*, Loo Fung Chiatb, Tee Xiao Haoc

a c Cultural Centre, University of Malaya,50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia bDepartment of Music, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, research in shows development and change from liturgical chant to commercial Buddhist music. The present study examines the global wave in by looking into the growing phenomenon of “Buddhist” musical theatre in an Islamic country – Malaysia. This paper highlights the binary between the rhetoric of Buddhism manifested in the nature of commercialized musical theatre, and the influence of popular music, a commercialized and globalized phenomenon in the transmission of Buddhism. Methods include observation, analysis and semi-structured interview. Selected musicals for analysis are Jewel of Tibet the Musical, Above the Full Moon, Prince Siddhartha the Musical and Magic Mirror the Musical. Analysis includes text, music, setting, costume, and an ethnographic account of the life experience of the audience. The findings reveal a phenomenological experience of a two-fold participation in the transmission of Buddhism between the production team and audience, and the continual global wave that changes the transmission of religion.

© 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Prof.Dr.Ayşe Çakır İlhan,Ankara University,Turkey ©Selection 2013 Published and peer-review by Elsevier under Ltd. responsibility of Academic World Education and Research Center. Keywords:Buddhism, Musical Theatre, Globalization, Transmission;

1. Introduction

The philosophical study of Buddhism was founded in India by the enlightened Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. The religion is now practised around the world and with its practitioners being able to adapt it the local culture where it is transmitted, Buddhist practice is divided to three main categories within its main-spread location: (Sri Langka and Southeast Asia), (East Asia) and (Tibet and Mongolia). The different robe worn by the monks and nuns is an example of localization. Along with the global wave and transformation of other religious music, Buddhist music sees various changes too. However, the term “music” (yinyue) was originally a Western term and may be contentious ifapplied to all culturally specific organized sound (Dissanayake, 2006). Buddhist liturgical chant or fanbai was not regarded as music while music was strictly prohibited according to the ten precepts (Chen, 2004).

*Corresponding author: Loo Fung Ying. Tel.: +6-03-7967-7722 E-mail address: [email protected]

1877-0428 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Education and Research Center. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.1377 474 Loo Fung Ying et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 122 ( 2014 ) 473 – 476

Past literature reveals the development of religious and music study where changes including how the term “music” is now used, and categorization of religious music and its genres were studied, showing a deep impact and influence of globalization and popular culture. Music was used as a term more seriously in present day: Music is a fascinating topic for scholars of religion for many reasons…The Gregorian chant, the Protestant hymn, the Muslim Madih nabawi, the Hindu kirtan: all offer expressive forms of individual or corporate worship and devotion. Music is evocative and affective, something deeply personal and emotionally connective (Clark, 2006, p. 475). Due to changes of culture and manipulative nature of musical use, the function of music in religion practice sees continuous transformation. This article focuses on music and its relation to the growing phenomenon of musical theatre on a Buddhist theme. Therefore, the proceeding section first investigates the past literature, and then going on to examine the phenomenon of the growing “Buddhist” musical theatre.

2. Literature review

The globalized effect caused many changes to religious practice. The study of music and change in religion receives attention from scholars and is growing rapidly (see Warner, 1997; Brown, 2004and Clark, 2006). In Buddhism, scholars have looked into the development of the term ‘music’ and how it grew from the ‘non-music’ labelling of liturgical chanting, political episodes for example the Cultural Revolution in China to the modern age of technology, commercial recording and live performances (Tian & Tan, 1994; Chen, 2004 and Chen, 2005). Besides, Buddhist song singing competitions have become a regular event to foster the teaching of Buddha through the love of singing (see Loo, Loo,& Lee, 2011). Generally, according to Chen (2005), Buddhist music is categorized as: 1) (fanbai); 2) Buddhist Devotional songs (Fojiao gequ) and 3) Commercial Buddhist Music (Shangpin Fojiao Yinyue). Although a recent article delineated the development of Malaysian musical theatre (Loo, 2012), the relation between the practice of Buddhism and its entangled interrelation with the use of music in its transmission and at the same time, factors that contributes to the success of patronage are some of the issues that is absent in the current literature. Therefore, this article aims to fill the gap in this area.

3. Methods

Methods used in this research include literature-based study, observation, analysis and interview. Four selected performances such as the following were observed: a) Jewel of Tibet the Musical, b) Above the Full Moon, c) Prince Siddhartha the Musical and d) Magic Mirror the Musical. The core method in this research is observation, while semi-structured interviews supplied further supporting data. Interviews were carried out to informants ranging from the composer, stage manager, performer and supporting staff of the selected musicals and from local and major societies.

4. Results and discussion

According to Kenrick (2008), the term ‘musical’ covers the meaning of “a stage, television, or film production utilizing popular style songs to either tell a story or to showcase the talents of writers and/or performers, with dialogue optional” (p.14). Two main organizations that produce musical theatre on a Buddhist theme in Malaysia are Asia Musical Productions (previously known as Musical on Stage Production (MOSP) and Yayasan . Asia Musical Productions is led by its producer Ho Lin Huey and Imee Ooi, a local renowned Buddhist music composer. They first produced Siddharta – The Musical in 1999 at Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, then going on to other productions: Above the Full Moon (2004), The Perfect Circle (2006) and Jewel of Tibet (2008) (see Loo & Loo 2012). Unaffected by the costly expenditure of producing a musical theatre, Asia Musical Productions’ success is driven with generous patronage and support of local philanthropists and politicians where its productions of Siddharta (2009) and Jewel of Tibet (2012) were restaged locally in the capital’s largest concert hall Istana Budaya and were also invited and fully sponsored for performances in Singapore, South Africa and China. Loo Fung Ying et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 122 ( 2014 ) 473 – 476 475

Yayasan Guanyin, on the other hand, is led by Datin Tan Swee Lai who highlights the quest of bringing the enlightenment of Buddhism through dance, music and theatre. Past productions include Qian Shou Qian Yan (Thousand Hands and Thousand Eyes, 1999 and 2011) and Awakening Encounter (2008) and Magic Mirror – the Musical (2008 and 2012). The musicals Prince Siddhartha the Musical, Above the Full Moon, Jewel of Tibet the Musical, and Magic Mirror the Musical all based on stories with underlying teaching of Buddhism. Prince Siddhartha reveals the Prince of Kapilavatthu in achieving enlightenment on his journey to become the Buddha. While Above the Full Moon is a story of Master Hong Yi in modernizing Buddhist music, set in the time of Boxer Rebellion in the late 1890’s in China. Jewel of Tibet showcase the journey of the Chinese Princess Wen Cheng bringing Chinese culture and Buddhism to Tibet and lastly, Magic Mirror the Musical tells the story of Guanyin () and teaching of karma. Our observation carried out to these musical production sites in both rehearsals and performances resulted in an investigation of the new function of musical theatre on a Buddhist theme. These musicals are now commonly labelled by various local production teams and viewers as “Buddhist Musical” where the teaching of Buddha is engraved in the performer’s act, song-text, script and music. From our observation, these Buddhist musicals presents a new platform for: i) production team and performers in displaying their skills in performing arts; ii) transmission of Buddhism; and iii) philanthropists, donors, and organizations as ticket sales of a production take on a charitable purpose that is different from a commercial production. In addition, a Buddhist musical theatre sees a new approach in the transmission of the Buddha’s teaching. To elaborate, the teaching of Buddha is transmitted on four different levels, as the book, music and song-text with the embedded teaching of Buddhism was: i) written by the bookwriter, composer and lyricist and studied by the rest of the production team; ii) practised and memorized in numerous rehearsals by the performers, led closely by the production team; iii) further promoted to society via media including family and friends of the members involved in the production; and iv) lastly, performed by the performers and viewed by the audience for approximately two hours in a hall with a capacity of around 1413 seats, where philanthropists, charitable organizations and individual donors take part in the success of the production, and at the same time, local daily newspaper provide reports of the musical to its readers. In our interview with various members of the selected productions some of the performers and production team were not Buddhist (Lim, Interview, 15 July 2012, Kuala Lumpur; Lee, Interview, 14 July 2012, Kuala Lumpur). Intertwined between different groups of the society including Buddhist and non-Buddhist performers, audience and production teams, musical theatre thus gains a new function as a means of transmitting the teaching of Buddha, and the difference lies in that it can reach out to different groups in society. According to Ooi (Interview, 26 October 2009, Kuala Lumpur), the composer aims to write music to the where the teaching of Buddha is accompanied and composed alongside beautiful melody and harmony. On the other hand, in an interview with Reverend Juecheng of Fo Guang Shan Society in Malaysia (Interview, 3 August 2011, Selangor), she explained that a distinct character of the adaptive nature of Buddhism reveals its flexibility to reach out and become localized with the local culture, thus, enabling easier transmission. Therefore, she added that commercial Buddhist music and musical theatre shows the adaptive nature of Buddhism practice in which the music is adapted to the current popular style that suits the mass taste helping to pass on the teaching of Buddha.

5. Conclusion

In this article, the adaptive and globalized nature of Buddhism is seen merging into the boundary of musical theatre where music and act are given a new function in transmitting the teaching of Buddha. In addition, the participation of Buddhists and non-Buddhists in the production team, performers, and audience in these musical form a circumstance where Buddhism is transmitted through both the conscious and the sub-conscious mind. Due to the religious nature of the musical, sufficient patronage is evident compared to other commercial musicals in Kuala Lumpur. In summary, the phenomenon of musical theatre with a Buddhist theme, more commonly called “Buddhist Musical” among local production groups, reveals a new way of transmitting Buddhism via song, music, act and 476 Loo Fung Ying et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 122 ( 2014 ) 473 – 476

dance. The audience of over fourteen hundred quietly seated in a theatre might be said to resemble a quasi-mediated mode of a modern spiritual experience.

Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge the financial support of University of Malaya Research Grant (RP008A-13HNE) for this project.

References

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