At one end of the spectrum, practitioners with a background in traditional Thai arts like Charkrabhand Posayakrit, Somporn Kaetkaew and the members of Joe Louis Theatre have chosen to develop their practices within the framework of conventional forms such as Hun Krabok and Hun Lakorn Lek. Next, it will then focus on aesthetic and practical concepts employed by contemporary practitioners in their search for new performance idioms and reinterpretation of the tradition. First, it will elucidate the socio-historical background of the form and the challenging issues that the practitioners have to face in contemporary Thai socioeconomic climate. This paper seeks to provide a survey of contemporary Hun practices and of the efforts that the practitioners have put into the preservation of the performance form. It is only in recent years that we began to witness a new surge of interest in Hun and the emergence of new performance idioms. ![]() However, with the introduction of new forms of entertainment and the changing Thai society, its popularity went into decline until almost disappearing from Thai consciousness. This paper will explore the formation and history of the Sultan of Lingga’s Brass Band, concentrating on how its use impacted upon the power struggle between the Sultan, the Viceroy and the Dutch Colonial Government, eventually leading to Sultan Mahmud’s deposition by the Dutch, before being replaced, first by a more docile relative and eventually, in 1886, by the son of the Viceroy.įigure puppet performance or Hun was among the most popular forms of entertainment in the central part of Thailand. In this context, the introduction of an even louder ensemble, and one that was a recognised symbol of Dutch power, had the ability to profoundly impact the balance of power in the area. Nobat were not only vital in the process of installing a ruler, but the dynamics of their performances was seen to denote the extent of a Sultan’s rule. While most Europeans are instantly familiar with the political power denoted by a fully-uniformed military band, the Sultanate had its own musical ensembles to confer power, known as Nobat. Although ostensibly under the employ of the Sultan of Lingga, in reality the band played an important part in the power struggle between Sultan Mahmud and his Viceroy who, with the help of Dutch influence, gradually sought to become de facto ruler of the kingdom. Upon completion of their studies they returned to Riau, forming a military band at the palace of their patron, Viceroy Raja Jaafar on the island of Penyengat. Raja Jaafar sent a group of local men to Melaka to learn European music, receiving instruction in a range of instruments including military drums, flute, trumpet and violin. The Sultan of Lingga’s Brass Band, also known as Korps Musik, was formed by Viceroy, Yang Dipertuan Muda Riau VI, Raja Jaafar in the late 19th Century in what is now Indonesia’s Riau Province. The focus will be on the Sin Hoe Ping Puppet Troupe, which has demonstrated considerable flexibility in adapting to secularized Singapore. ![]() How, then, does this ritual art form “negotiate” with a state that emphasizes secularism and seeks to elide multiracial and multi-religious differences? This study proposes a distinction between the “state-regulated realm” and the “state-tolerated realm” to suggest how Chinese puppet theater has engaged in negotiation with the Singaporean state to enable it to survive and even flourish. The traditional art form investigated here, Chinese puppet theater, is characteristically linked to ethnicity and religion. As discussed here, notions of “Chineseness” need to be accommodated within state policies based on the “harmonization” of racial and religious differences. On the other, it seeks to maintain social cohesion by not favoring any religious group and by downplaying religious and ethnic divides. On the one hand, the government ensures that the ethno-religious framework is protected through policies and laws. The island state of Singapore comprises various ethnic groups from different religious backgrounds living together in an advanced economy. This article will examine puppet theater as performed by Chinese descent groups in temples and public spaces in Singapore as a case study of the adaptation of particular ethnic traditions at a time of an intense process of modernization. Traditional art forms often face rapid decline if they are not able to keep pace with a changing society.
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