Malay singing in Pahang villages: identity and practice

This study deals with the cultural meanings of singing and musical practices by Malays that in this case, in Pahang, Malaysia. This study looks at the ways in which legacies from the past can still be heard in the present and considers the extent to which musical practices in the present are shaped by ideals, beliefs and feelings about the past. There are six chapters in this thesis. Chapter 1 elaborates the background of this study. Chapter 2 deals with the past musical identity and social environment of the Malay work, of which Pahang is a part. Chapter 3 considers two music genres: traditional and regional pop. Through the music genres, I look at the formation of community. Kugiran and punk rock are discussed in Chapter 4. In this chapter, I also look how the music genres form the community. Chapter 5 deals with social contexts and community formation through two Islamic-oriented songs. In the second part of this chapter the participation of young women in music is reviewed. In Chapter 6, I consider four topics that are crucial to answering the main research question: social status of musicians, continuity and discontinuity in genres, gender-specific songs and community formation in genres. I conclude my present work by reflecting on Benjamin's works (2019a and 2019b) in light of my research findings. Creating a sense of Malayness in music as discussed in Benjamin's works, I argue, is an achievement. Some Malay performers acknowledge that a higher degree of melismatic ornamentation corresponds to increased Malayness. This association between ornamentation and Malayness, however, is insufficient without adjusting for the performer's competence (singing technique).