Ulek Mayang ( Jawi: ) is a classical Malay dance from the state of

Terengganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', Jawi: ), formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu, is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l- Īmān'' ("Abode of Faith") ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

. It is a ritualistic dance performed to appease or invoke the spirits of the sea and is always accompanied by a unique song also called Ulek Mayang. An orchestra comprising

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

accompanies the dance.

History

The Ulek Mayang is said to have its origin in an ancient tale about a sea-princess who fell in love with a fisherman. The princess abducted the fisherman's soul, leaving his body unconscious. His friends entreated a

bomoh A ''bomoh'' ( sou, โต๊ะบอมอ; ) is a Malay shaman and traditional medicine practitioner. The term is used mainly in Malaysia and parts of Sumatra, whereas most Indonesians use the word '' dukun''. It is often mistranslated into Eng ...

(shaman) to heal him. When the bomoh conducted the healing ritual to bring the fisherman's soul back, the princess appeared and responded by calling on five of her sisters to her aid. The battle between the bomoh and the six princesses continued until seventh and the eldest princess appeared and put an end to it. "I know your origins,” says the eldest princess, and she commands everyone, "Let those from the sea return to the sea, and those from the land return to the land." The grateful bomoh and the fisherman's friends present the princess with coloured rice as an offering to the spirits of the sea. This practice, along with the Ulek Mayang dance, continued until the Islamization movement of recent decades. (ulekmayangterengganu2019)

Costume

The costume of Ulek Mayang dancers has two type of clothes, six of the seven female dancers will normally wear a traditional dress such as a long sleeve

songket ''Songket'' is a '' Tenun'' fabric that belongs to the brocade family of textiles of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. It is hand-woven in silk or cotton, and intricately patterned with gold or silver threads. It is hand-woven in ...

(a silk material blouse), selendang (a long scarf) that wore in the waist and finger, sanggol (a hairknot), '' subang'' (an earring) and long songket skirt in the lower body with others accessories. The main character of the dancer that played as a Tuan Puteri (Madam Princess) or Puteri Tujuh (7th Princess) will used the same dress and accessories like the six others dancers but the different thing is she will wear the short sleeve

blouse and the color of her dress also are different. Usually she will wear the yellow dress. This is to illustrate that she is the main princess of the dancer. While the male dancers they will wear the traditional Malay male shirt like Baju Melayu (a Malay male shirt).

Lyrics

The Ulek Mayang song which accompanies the dance narrates the story. Tradition holds that the song is supernatural in nature because it gives chills, especially when performed at sunset by the beach. However, the song remains popular and there are numerous contemporary renditions of it. Malaysian rock diva,

Ella Ella may refer to: * Ella (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Places United States * Ella, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Ella, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Ella, Pennsylvania, an unincorpora ...

recorded a rock version, while the

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band Cromok produced several

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

versions of the song. The song maintains some of the traditional

pronunciation. Note that ''mayang'' is a coconut-palm blossom used to chase away spirits.

External links

Ulek Mayang (full song)

Ella - Ulek Mayang

D'Cromok - Metallurgical III

D'Cromok - Another Metallurgical Suite

Chakrasonic - Ulek Mayang (Tamil)

References

{{reflist Malay dances Malay culture Malaysian culture Dances of Malaysia