Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 27 (S1): 35 - 44 (2019)

SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

Journal homepage: http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/

Review Article Composing Music for Puisi Melayu: Exploring the Music Composition of ‘Prosa Air Mata’

Camellia Siti Maya Mohamed Razali1* and Marzelan Salleh2 1Department of Music, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra , 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia 2Music Department, Cultural Centre, , 50603 , Malaysia

ABSTRACT The aesthetic science of human ecology constantly attempts to find the perfect balance of the current dynamic human environment. In the quest for balance, contemporary ideas have taken over traditional thoughts and identity issues arise in the community, for example in the arts. The art of music and puisi Melayu (Malay poetry) have always strived on the quest for aesthetical beauty. Therefore, the intent of composing music for ‘Prosa Air Mata’, a poetry written by Dato’ Usman Awang, is justifiably appropriate. The combination of two different art forms - music and poetry - into a single artwork embodies the creativity and emotive qualities of music and text. Responding towards the issues of identity, the prominence of a Malay theme, especially in the choice of a Malay language source of text, is juxtaposed with a contemporary music ensemble not found in Malay culture. The resulting vocal composition of ‘Prosa Air Mata’ shows the composer highlighting Malay literature into a more contemporary idiom of music and arts.

Keywords: Contemporary music, Malay poetry, music, music composition, music and text

INTRODUCTION

ARTICLE INFO Malay Theme, Western Idiom The spirit of tradition and cultural identity Article history: Received: 10 September 2018 brought about the intent of having a Malay Accepted: 18 June 2019 theme highlighted into an otherwise non- Published: 23 July 2019 traditional Malay or non-traditional eastern music idiom. A Malay source of text E-mail addresses: [email protected] (Camellia Siti Maya Mohamed Razali) was chosen, as it is the most direct way [email protected] (Marzelan Salleh) *Corresponding author of instigating the Malay identity, and

ISSN: 0128-7702 e-ISSN: 2231-8534 © Universiti Putra Malaysia Press Camellia Siti Maya Mohamed Razali and Marzelan Salleh language can be the most profound tool of Bachik wrote a number of lagu puisi and identity clarification of a culture or country. his most famous one is titled Kekasih from The contradicting elements of both text Dato’ Dr. Usman Awang’s poetry of the and music deepen and their anticipated same name. Ibrahim Bachik composed musical result becomes even more curiously Kekasih also in the pop genre. Otherwise, in attractive. intimate settings, there exists poetry clubs Puisi Melayu is a traditional Malay art in Malaysia such as Seksan Gallery, and form (Osman, 1987) and has endured the path Gaslight Café, by poetry enthusiasts wishing of modernization and still striving through to renew poetry appreciation in the society. the creative works of its poets such as the Acoustic instruments such as guitar or flute late Dato’ Dr. Usman Awang (1929-2001), sometimes accompany poetry readings Malaysia’s National Laureate. However, in with simple music in the background to a pursuit for puisi Melayu to achieve more highlight the atmospheric experience. successful acclaim internationally and to Other than music, Dato’Dr, Usman Awang’s prove its flexibility and longevity, the music poetry has also been staged in 2015 for a composition of Prosa Air Mata is put on a theatre performance called Dari Bintang different platform. This will showcase the Ke Bintang, organised together by Institut puisi Melayu in a different form of music Terjemahan dan Buku Malaysia (ITBM), composition with instrumentation not from (DBP), and the Malay culture. A juxtaposition of Malay Yayasan Usman Awang (Usman Awang text with Western contemporary music is Foundation). Besides that, obviously there also an innovative way to start expending has not been an attempt to physically bring the resources of Malay literature. on puisi Melayu to a bigger and wider In the current situation, continuous contemporary classical music scene and efforts are being done nationally to promote justify its aesthetic values. Malay literature, for example by Dewan As a closest comparison of music and Bahasa dan Pustaka’s (DBP) annual poetry in the region, the example of art song competition, Sayembara Mencipta Lagu in Indonesia is taken in view. Indonesian Puisi, which is a competition for composers composer Mochtar Embut is a prolific figure to create songs for puisi Melayu. The of music in Indonesia, composing more than singers will then perform the songs with a hundred Indonesian art songs, otherwise lyrics from the words of the puisi Melayu. known as lagu seriosa in Indonesia, during Normally 2-4 instruments, or a medium his lifetime (Syed Mohammed, 2017). He sized ensemble, or a small orchestra will composed music for texts of the Indonesian accompany the singers. Typically the genre language or Bahasa Indonesia. His texts of this competition is the popular music came from the literature of Indonesian (pop music) style. For example, local poets such as WS Rendra, Chairil Anwar, pop composers such as the late Ibrahim and Usmar Ismail. Mochtar Embut’s lagu

36 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum.27 (S1): 35 - 44 (2019) Composing Music for Puisi Melayu seriosa compositions include Diwajahmu music, as music can be a place for reflection Kulihat Bulan, Di Sudut Bibirmu, Tiada and contemplation. Therefore, music does Bulan di Wajah Rawan, Irama Desa, Malam suggest an extra-musical meaning beyond Menara, Setitik Embun, Senyum dalam itself. derita, Aku Ingin, and Kasih dan Pelukis just to name a few. Art Song, Lied, Vocal Chamber Music. Art songs, often considered a genre of Music and Text music, flourished during the European th Mode of Expression. Music is a natural Romantic period of the 19 century, are outlet for expressive communication. commonly performed by solo voice and However, text or words, as we know is one piano accompaniment. These through- of the most direct forms of communication composed songs are usually set to a poem as it uses human language. As long as with interdependant vocal and piano parts. humans understand a common spoken Art songs have been composed in many language, survival and sustainability of languages, and are known by several names. an individual or a community is feasible. While in France it is sometimes known Poetry on the other hand is an art form as Melodie, in Germany in particular, art th manipulating the aesthetic qualities of songs developed in the 19 century and are the human language in addition with its known as Lied or Lieder in its plural form. semantically charged meaning. Well-known composers of the Lied are There are many considerable mainly Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, considerations and compositional issues to Robert Schumann, and Hugo Wolf. Franz negotiate before actually turning text into Schubert is considered the greatest Lied music. In music especially in the case of composer as he wrote over 600 songs such vocal music, the correlation between text as, Death and the Maiden, Gretchen at the and music is strongest and inseparable. Spinning Wheel, Little Heath Rose, The Unavoidably and quite naturally, composers Erlkönig and The Trout. High literary and will at most times associate the intended artistic qualities in written verses of love, music with meanings of the words. beauty, and nature by notable German poets Poetry and music are two forms of art that such as Goethe, Schiller, and Heine, ignited have lasted over the centuries much to their composers to transform these poetic images aesthetic and expressive qualities, very much into creations of songs and the use of piano inclined towards the emotional and soulful enabled them to enhance and intensify the needs of humans. Their emotive capabilities literary meaning. have an outstanding communicative power Vocal chamber music on the other hand that has transcended human civilizations. is songs composed for solo voice with the Music’s enduring power may be because accompaniment of other solo instruments humans have constantly found solace in in various combinations of a chamber

Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 27 (S1): 35 - 44 (2019) 37 Camellia Siti Maya Mohamed Razali and Marzelan Salleh ensemble and not restricting to standard Later in the 20th century, other composers ensembles such as a string quartet. The such as Gyorgy Kurtag (Kafka’s Fragments accompanying instruments in vocal chamber for soprano and violin, and Scenes from music are manually and decidedly chosen a Novel for soprano, violin, double bass by the composer hence the unconventional and cimbalom) and Charles Ives (Sunrise mix of instruments. These songs composed for baritone, violin and piano) continue to for voice and instruments (e.g. clarinet and compose vocal chamber works. violin) are referred to as vocal chamber music, and are usually not considered as Malay Vocal Chamber Music - Puisi art songs. This speaks the same for songs Melayu. Therefore, this paper intends to originally written for voice and orchestra show that puisi Melayu could be brought where they are called as orchestral songs on to another degree of performance and and not considered art songs as well unless artistic value. Puisi Melayu compositions their original version was for solo voice and can be performed in international concert piano. The characteristic of a vocal chamber halls to an international audience, and even music work involves musicians keeping be performed by international musicians, the balance between separate and secure which fortunately has been done recently. instrumental parts but in the meantime not This paper then describes the compositional being isolated from others in terms of non- methods and considerations employed verbal communication and moving focusing by the composer in composing Prosa Air attention in the same rhythmic impulse, Mata. Prosa Air Mata, a composition by colour, dynamics, and articulation especially Camellia Mohamed Razali is determined on dramatic or intimate moments. The by the composer to be written as vocal interplay between vocal and instruments chamber music, which means will include a is on many levels. The instrumentalists vocalist and a chamber ensemble of various actually provide the harmonic significance instruments. A specially commissioned of the sung melody both horizontally and work, Prosa Air Mata received its world vertically, and are not merely acting as the premiere performance at Bristol, United background to support the vocalist. Some Kingdom by Ensemble Variances (France) examples of vocal chamber music works and baritone Tom Niesser (United Kingdom). by Romantic composers include Johannes Prosa Air Mata’s composition is scored for Brahms’s Opus 91 for voice, viola and baritone, flute, clarinet in B flat, piano, piano; Franz Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem violin, violoncello and double bass. The Felsen for soprano, clarinet and piano & musicians are French, the baritone is from Auf Dem Strom for tenor, horn and piano; United Kingdom including the conductor, Camille Saint-Saens’s Violons dans le soir Dr. Neal Farwell also from United Kingdom. for voice, violin and piano; and Alexander Borodin’s Songs for voice, cello and piano.

38 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum.27 (S1): 35 - 44 (2019) Composing Music for Puisi Melayu

Influences of two different types of communication A number of influences from Eastern and and languages of English and Chinese. Western composers or artists encouraged By fusing written English with Chinese the initial idea of writing music for text, calligraphy technique, he has created which includes composers Gyory Kurtag a hybrid calligraphy merging art from (Hungary), Kaija Saariaho (Finland), and two different cultures. Similar to what is visual artist Xu Bing (China). Kurtag’s vocal happening in the composition of Prosa Air compositions such as Kafka-Fragments Mata, a controlled and directed method (1985-1987) for soprano and violin, and of composition according to Western Scenes from a Novel (1982) for soprano, compositional techniques is worked out to violin, double bass and cimbalom; were very produce a balanced relationship between much influenced by 19th and 20th century voice (Malay) and instruments (Western). Hungarian and Russian poetry and literature Xu Bing sought to create a work that would (Williams, 2002). Saariaho’s opera, L’amour expose Chinese calligraphy in a new light de loin (Love from Afar) (2000) is a five-act and also delightfully reward audiences when opera with a French libretto (Anderson & they discover they can decode the text, and Saariaho, 1992); (Anderson, 2003). These so does Prosa Air Mata intend to reward two works displays two contrasting styles audiences by revealing Malay text in a new of vocal compositions from two different setting and new sounds foreign to the origin language text sources, but nevertheless of text. successfully aesthetically creative and innovative art for its time. Composing Music for Prosa Air Mata Another non-musical influence for the Rhythm. Compared to other verbal composition of Prosa Air Mata is a visual communication, poetry has the ability artist from China, Xu Bing, who is well to transfer powerful notions across to its known for his artwork and installations listeners and readers, whether it is directly revolving around language, words, and text. or figuratively. Likewise in music, poetry Xu Bing’s famously known ‘Square Word possesses a certain rhythmic quality. Poets Calligraphy’ technique is a camouflage of consider poetry as literature with a metric Chinese characters, hanzi, ‘Square Word structure, whereby words written out has a Calligraphy’ simply uses normal English rhythmic rhyme or pattern as each and every words written into the style of Chinese poem holds a degree of calculative flow characters known as hanzi. Therefore, what within its structural entity. For example, a appear to resemble Chinese characters poem’s rhythm can be regular or irregular. are actually just English words. By doing When it has regular rhythmical sound so, Xu Bing has brought together two patterns, we say the poem has a certain separate cultures, which are Western and metre. The type of metre is based on the Eastern into one through his manipulation number of syllables per line and how many

Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 27 (S1): 35 - 44 (2019) 39 Camellia Siti Maya Mohamed Razali and Marzelan Salleh unstressed or stressed syllables there are sound and speech rhythms of the Malay text, (Lotman, 1976). particularly used in Usman Awang’s Prosa Air Mata highly influenced the resonance Form and Phrasing: Predisposition of of the composed music. With its open Text. Before achieving the aesthetical vowels and strong consonances, along with goal of the final musical composition of its flexible range of colours and tessitura, Prosa Air Mata, the pursuance of balance the Malay language is naturally good for between two different elements of music singing. As was observed in preparation for and text, is ensuring and defining ways in the performance, after an explanation and a which the poetic text may possibly move guiding list of pronunciations of the Malay and interlace through the music (Lotman, vowels and consonants during rehearsals, 1976). Composing music for an already the baritone singer was able to deliver the pre-determined text also means studying and words correctly. reading the poetry out loud to familiarize There actually is the combination of the the rhythmic pattern and the rhythmic intellectual and intuitive in creating both pace of the words, thus determining the music and poetry. Even when music and cadential points in the music. Language poetry are two different elements, systems is another important factor of composing and forms of art, both are created within a according to text. Human language is made pre-determined shape or form (Lentsner, up of thousands of spoken language in the 2002). The layout of Usman Awang’s world. Various and contrasting accents, Prosa Air Mata for instance, is a division rhythms, patterns, gesture, flow and tone, of phrases and lines, which are formed different languages may call for a different semantically according to its text pattern compositional style and musical result. The (Table 1).

Table 1 Original poetry, Prosa Air Mata, by Dato’ Dr. Usman Awang; text translation by Camellia Mohamed Razali Original text Text translation Bahawasanya air mata Tears tiadalah ia memilih tempat untuk jatuh… neither do they choose a place to fall… tidak pula memilih waktu untuk menitis… nor will they choose a time to drop…

Air mata adalah kepunyaan bersyarikat… Tears are owned by corporations dipunyai oleh orang-orang melarat yang tinggal di owned by the impoverished dangau-dangau yang buruk living in small broken down huts oleh tukang sabit yang masuk (Tears) are owned by the man with the sickle ke padang yang luas dan ke tebing yang curam, who enters the wide field and goes on to the steep edge,

dan juga oleh penghuni-penghuni gedung-gedung and also (tears are owned) by occupants of yang permai lovely buildings dan istana-istana yang indah. and beautiful palaces.

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Table 1 (Continued)

Original text Text translation Bahkan di situ lebih banyak orang menelan ratap dan Even there, more people swallow their laments memulas tangis. and wring their tears.

Luka di jiwa yang mereka hidapkan, dilingkung oleh The wounded soul that is suffering, tembok dinding is circled by yang tebal dan tinggi, sehingga yang kelihatan oleh the thick and high walls until, orang luar atau yang mereka ketahui hanya senyuman what is seen and known by the outsiders are saja, only their smiles. padahal senyum itu penuh dengan kepahitan whereas that smile is full of bitterness

Figure 1. Beginning of Prosa Air Mata, imitating the pentatonic scale

Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 27 (S1): 35 - 44 (2019) 41 Camellia Siti Maya Mohamed Razali and Marzelan Salleh

Pitch and Melodic Materials Mata with diverse stylistic and technical The melody for Prosa Air Mata derives devices. Timbre or sound colour plays an mostly from the pentatonic scale, which important role of expression here in this develops or dissolves between the piece. The harmonic texture of Prosa Air instruments and voice through arpeggiated Mata is colourfully dense by the built up of harmonies. Pentatonic scale is a 5-note scale polychords, intervallic layers (Figure 2), and possessing a distinctive Eastern-Oriental transpositions of chord structures (Figure 3). sound much associated with traditional The music and the voice depend upon Chinese music. Also, the melody of Prosa one another, and the more it becomes Air Mata derives nuances from Malay asli to be heard in terms of ideal sound and music using major scales, which are then expression. Prosa Air Mata discovers the intertwined with pentatonic scales and voiceless language of music at the same ornamentations. In Prosa Air Mata, the time as the voice expresses the meanings airy pentatonic quality is then sometimes of the words. The essence of its music assimilated into upwards or downwards lies in its voice and music relationship. movements of diminished scale qualities However, to gain interpolations between to produce vast expression, intensity and calmness and outbursts, parallelism and drama (Figure 1). dovetailing, a disturbance in the relationship is emphasized through the nature of the Harmonic Colours and Textures baritone, who is mostly calm and subdued but interrupted by the instruments, who are There is expressive intensity and abundance more aggressive. of surface detail happening in Prosa Air

Figure 2. Intervallic layers

Figure 3. Transposed chords

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CONCLUSION writing of the music, the composer depicted Puisi Melayu and its authors can have an possible meanings that were not obvious in international platform to highlight their the text at certain parts for ambiguity and existence and to promote its longevity in drama. the literary, music and arts world. Malay The reception before and after the inspired or a Malay sound world identity is performance by musicians and audience less represented in the contemporary music were very well received and very world and an abundance of traditional and encouraging as the musicians were engaged local sources and materials are actually into executing new ideas and open towards available for artists to create from. The entering new territories especially for the Malay identity idea could be put forward vocalist. The performance of Prosa Air and its lifespan could be extended as long Mata in Bristol by international musicians as there are creative efforts to present them for a foreign audience shows the relevance, in a developed form or which have a degree success, acceptability and a promising of relevance in the society. future of the Malay art if put in accord with In terms of artistic value, as discovered other contemporary art forms, while still through the effort of composing for maintaining its integrity and aesthetics. poetry, the arising relationship from the In this post-modern era, contemporary combination of music and text is so effective meaning current, strives on a different artistically and the expressive content note, which in one way can be heard and becomes even more descriptive, engaging observed in the contemporary music art and discernable, compared to just one of the scene, whereby instead of avoiding cultural art form functioning, as the voice (text) and context, composers are looking into ways music now depend on one another. The text of asserting tradition and at times personal of the poetry has become more expressively cultural identity into contemporary music engaging than the text itself, although the compositions. text was originally the source for musical exploration and compositional possibilities. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The composition of Prosa Air Mata reflects This work was supported by a grant the mutual influences of music and literature, from Geran Penyelidikan Fakulti (GPF) whereby the music composition of Prosa Air Universiti Malaya GPF005G-2018. Mata is the musical representation of the REFERENCES poem. In the music composition of Prosa Air Mata, the composer, Camellia, shows Anderson, J., & Saariaho, K. (1992). Seductive solitary. Julian Anderson introduces the work of sensitivity to the individual words, to the Kaija Saariaho. The Musical Times, 133(1798), prosody, and to the overall character of the 616-619. text, thus reflecting the original nature of the Anderson, M. (2003). London, Barbican: Saariaho’s poem. But nevertheless, even through the ‘L’amour de loin’. Tempo, 57(224), 42-43.

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