MALAYSIA: MUSIC AND DANCE

In Malaysia, as you might have guessed, there are three main types of traditional music (plus a few other influences): Malay music, Chinese music, and Indian music. 

Malay music is teeming with theatrical and dance music. Many of their songs are tied to religious purposes, ceremonies for royalty, story telling, and martial arts. Although there are a variety of instruments such as the seruling (type of flute), the rebab (type of stringed instrument), the serunai (like a double-reed oboe), Malay music is very much based on percussion instruments. And like neighboring Indonesia, the gong also plays an important part of Malay music as well. 

Percussion ensembles are common. There’s a type of ensemble called kertok that is made of a group of xylophones playing fast rhythmic music. The government has actually promoted this type of music as a national style of music. 

Chinese music has certainly has made its way into Malaysian music. Chinese orchestras and Chinese melodies infiltrate their music, and these orchestras regularly perform Malaysian folk songs. 

Indian music has also made its impact on Malaysian music; it’s mostly tied in with religious music. In comparison to Chinese music, Indian music has not changed as much in Malaysia – it remains closer to its original forms. Punjabi music like the bhangra and the instrument called the dhol has been incorporated into Malay music. 

Many times, the arts of dance and drama are so intertwined in Malaysia. One of these dance-drama forms is called mak yong. Silat is a type of music that is tied in with martial arts. Immigrants from Java who moved to Malaysia introduced a dance style called Kuda Kupang; this dance style is centered around the dancers pretending they’re sitting on fake horses and telling stories from the Islamic wars. However, there are a number of other dances spread across the country with a various influences and origins. 

I came across several bands and singers in my search. There were far more listed than what was available on Spotify. The problem with some of the listings were that some of the people had their names written in Chinese characters, so it was harder for me to figure out who was who. The first person I listened to was Fish Leong. She was definitely pop but would incorporate periods of acoustic piano and/or guitar. It was pretty catchy. Eric Moo is another pop artist known for his ballads. He’s also an award-winning singer-songwriter and producer. Penny Tai also falls into this category. I was actually impressed she used quite a bit of style variety in her songs. 

As far as Indian-inspired pop music goes, there is basically one group that dominates this category. Goldkartz merges bhangra with dance music and hip-hop music. I think it’s super catchy. 

Malay pop music was influenced by a myriad of musical styles. Western and European rock were among the early influences along with other Asian styles. Siti Nurhaliza has a fairly typical pop sound and is pretty famous in this area.

Hip-hop certainly has its presence. Kru has a rock hip-hop sound. They’re probably the most famous hip-hop group coming out of Malaysia. 

Love Me Butch is a metal band and actually kind of reminds me of Alesana or Anti-flag at times. (And they sing in English!) Iklim definitely has a 1980s metal sound to them and almost reminds me of a cross between Yngwie Malmsteen and Megadeth. Estranged is another metal band out of Malaysia. I thought they were pretty good. And they sung in English. 

Bunkface has more of an alternative rock sound. Meet Uncle Hussain is another alternative rock band, although there are a couple of songs that make me think they borrowed some elements of the 1970s rock bands.

Up next: the food

LIBERIA: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

Liberia has made the news over the past couple of years, mostly due to the 2014 Ebola epidemic that dominated Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Liberia has by far suffered the most casualties and deaths from the disease. As of a few days ago, only Liberia and Guinea are still listed as having an active outbreak. Borders were closed, schools and universities closed their doors, and businesses suffered as cities and towns fell under quarantine. Even before the outbreak, the country only had 50 physicians—a deplorable number by any standard. If you’ve ever thought you had a tough workload at your job, consider that at those numbers, Liberia essentially had one doctor for every 70,000 people. It was a crisis before it was a crisis. 

 

Liberia, meaning “land of the free” in Latin, is located in West Africa, surrounded by Sierra Leone on the northwest side, Guinea to the north, and Côte d’Ivoire to the east. It also has a long coast on the Atlantic Ocean. Lowlands, rolling hills, and swamps toward the coast give way to rainforests and low mountainous regions farther inland.

Once known as the Pepper Coast and the Grain Coast, Mende-speaking groups who migrated here from areas near modern-day Sudan were among the original inhabitants of this area. The Dei, Kissi, Gola, Kru, and the Bassa people were the largest groups of peoples here. After the falls of the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empires and people started moving toward the coasts, they brought with them skills like iron smelting, cloth weaving, and cultivation of rice and sorghum as well as the socio-political remnants of these former empires. There were clashes with this merging of cultures and ideologies, especially when Arab traders started to establish the slave trade in this area. Between the 15^th and 17^th centuries, the Portuguese, British, and Dutch moved in and established their own trading posts. Initially, the transactions with the Kru were mostly in commodities, but eventually the Europeans began to use their trading partners as part of the slave trade. In the early 1800s, both the US and Great Britain agreed to end their active involvement in the slave trade (I say active because there were certainly profits being made in roundabout ways for decades to come in the US), even though Spain continued to do so. The British set up a settlement colony called Freetown (in current Sierra Leone) as a way to resettle freed blacks, and the US, through the American Colonization Society (ACS), set up the freed-black colony of Liberia. Many of these freed slaves resettled in Liberia were mixed race and many weren’t even originally from that part of Africa. Many states who supported ACS had their own colony name within Liberia: New Georgia, Maryland Colony, Pennsylvania Colony, Mississippi Colony, Louisiana Colony. And although they declared themselves independent in 1847, the US officially didn’t even recognize their independence until 1862. During the 20^th century, Liberia began to move away from the US as a protectorate, and in turn the US helped build some of its infrastructure to aid in its modernization. The mid- to late-1980s brought a period of political instability, which led to two civil wars (1989-1997; 1999-2003). In 2005, Liberians elected their first female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She's only one of a handful of African women who have taken the top spot of their country. Interestingly enough, she was awarded an honorary degree from Indiana University in 2008, which is about 40 minutes from where I grew up.

Monrovia is the capital and largest city in Liberia. It was named after President James Monroe, who was a huge supporter of the American Colonization Service. Whenever I hear the word Monrovia, I always think about a small town in the same county I grew up in that’s about a half hour’s drive southwest of Indianapolis. Strangely enough, Monrovia (Indiana) is only about twelve years younger than Monrovia (Liberia). Anyway, as the capital of Liberia, Monrovia is also the center of government, education, the arts, and commerce. It’s situated on the Atlantic Ocean and stretches across both sides of the Mesurado River. The city suffers to curb issues of pollution. Lack of infrastructure and sanitation leads to poor living conditions. Only about one-third of the city’s population has working toilets. The rest do their business in the small alleyways between crammed-together houses. 

Despite having natural resources such as iron ore, timber, and rubber, Liberia continues to depend on foreign aid and foreign investment. A poor infrastructure, high transportation costs, poor trading connections, and a small workforce all negatively impact its economy making it one of the poorest countries in Africa. In fact, Liberia used the US dollar from 1943 to 1982 until it finally used it alongside the Liberian dollar. During the 1990s, Liberia acted as a major trader and exporter of blood diamonds from Sierra Leone, which was one of the causes the UN declared a ban on their diamond exports. It was dropped when they agreed to the Kimberley Process. Liberia is the world’s second largest shipping flag of convenience state, behind Panama. There are more than 3500 ships registered under its flag, which equates to roughly 11% of all ships in the world. 

Because of its history, English serves as the official language and lingua franca of Liberia. Although there are about 31 indigenous and local languages spoken throughout the country, each of them only have a small number of first language speakers. Most speakers speak a Creole called Liberian English. 

About 85% of Liberians practice some form of Christianity with about 12% practicing Islam. A small number of people don’t claim any religion at all, and some still practice indigenous beliefs. There are actually a few Buddhists, Bahá’ís, Sikhs, and Hindus in Liberia as well. Even though technically their constitution wrote in the separation of church and state clause, it’s still considered a Christian state. Biblical studies are offered in public schools, although if parents wanted to, they could opt out of it.

Liberia has an interesting history. I read that 12 of Liberia’s presidents were born in the United States, which reminded me of how the first seven US Presidents were born when we were still a group of British colonies. In fact, I stumbled upon a Straight Dope message board where people were coming up with a number of other world leaders who were not born in the country that they led. Reading about Liberia brings a lot of discussion about heritage and ancestral ties. It’s said that Oprah once traced her ancestral lines back to Liberia. In the eleven years I’ve been married to my African-American husband, he’s enlightened me on a wealth of information regarding African-American and African history that was never remotely taught in schools, especially in rural white schools. Perhaps because it’s not always the most pleasant history (to say the least), but a necessary history nonetheless. I look forward to learning more about this country. I can already tell from my menu that their food seems like a cross between traditional African fare and Southern US cuisine. So, it’s bound to be tasty.

Up next: art and literature