By Soon Li Wei
KUALA LUMPUR: The rousing opening number by Malaysian artiste Michael Chan and the captivating music of the gamelan set the tone for the entire musical theatre, ‘Mantera Nelayan’.
With the hypnotic rhythms of the gamelan, a completely immersive experience has been created, allowing the audience to escape to the tranquil sounds of the ocean.
The minute the stage was lighted, 12 ‘fishermen’ were seen seated cross-legged on the floor, with musical instruments such as keromon, gambang, saron, kenong, gong and gendang.
As the beating of the gong gained momentum, the sounds of ocean waves crashing on the shore and thunderstorm portrayed by the vibrant energy of the ‘fishermen’, signalled to the audience that they were ready to set sail to earn their livelihood amid rough sea conditions.
Interestingly, all 12 ‘fishermen’ were human-sized puppets made of wood and clay and were fully controlled by musicians in the background.
While the show was only aired on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il1S8l3fpG8), this writer’s excitement was written all over her face, especially when she had the privilege of watching the show live.
The gamelan show, which was performed by a group of gamelan women artistes in 2014, was part of a ‘Arus Gangsa’ project mooted by marine biologist and seagrass expert from Universiti Malaya (UM), Dr Jillian Ooi Lean Sim.
When she is not underwater watching grass grow, Ooi is the co-music director of Rhythm in Bronze (RiB), an award-winning contemporary gamelan ensemble based here.
Ooi proves that when scientists apply music to their work, the results can be surprisingly beautiful. And the science-music relationship works well as she is capable of stimulating ears and academics as well.
According to Ooi, RiB’s ‘Mantera Nelayan’ was inspired after her stint with the fishing community in Pulau Rawa, Mersing while undertaking research works on seagrass meadows together with her students.
“According to the beliefs of the fishermen, they will only carry out mantera rituals as blessings to ensure a safe journey.
“This is because they believe that fishing means taking something from the sea, hence, the mantera has to be practised for fear that some tragedy will befall them,” she told Bernama.
Arts in her blood
Ooi, 51, is known in the marine world, especially related to seagrass, with the species commonly found in depths of up to 10 metres.
Seagrasses are mainly found around mangrove forests, coastal areas and near coral reefs as well as seagrass meadows.
In fact, Ooi, who is known for her expertise in the seagrass ecosystem since 2015, was selected as a 2022 recipient of the Pew fellowship in marine conservation. She received a US$150,000 (RM630,900) grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts to study the growth and best methods to restore seagrass meadows and raise awareness of its importance.
Besides that, the senior lecturer at the Geography Department of Universiti Malaya (UM) was also given the trust to advise two non-governmental organisations which undertake marine resource conservation programmes, Reef Check Malaysia and Tanjung Kupang Alumni Club.
Who would have guessed besides her interest in marine and seagrass research, Ooi is also passionate about arts, especially in preserving Malay traditional music since her varsity days.
It all started when Ooi was invited to attend a research of gamelan performance at the UM Cultural Centre when she was still a third year Geography student at UM in 1997.
“1997 was a meaningful year for me as I was ‘accidentally’ exposed to the gamelan traditional musical instruments which were usually performed at convocations and royal events only.
“During that time, I only followed friends to watch Gamelan Club training sessions by ethnomusicologist and musical arts lecturer then, Sunentra Fernando, who later founded RiB to preserve the art of gamelan music.
“My intention was only to watch their training sessions, but Sunentra (Fernando) also invited everyone there to play the gamelan with them. I felt rather awkward at first but was happy to be given the opportunity to play the traditional musical instrument,” she shared, with a laugh.
Her defining moment was when she was given the opportunity to strike the gamelan for the first time although she was practically struggling to play the instrument.
“I have no idea what gamelan was all about. I’ve played piano before and was thinking was it that hard to play. But when I started to play the gamelan, it was actually very easy as it only has five notes.
“It requires teamwork, I truly enjoyed my class and the rest is history. Sunentra later set up RiB and invited me to be joint director for subsequent shows,” she added.
Despite her busy schedule undertaking research activities and sample collection works on the field, Ooi remained steadfast in her commitment to be part of RiB with regular practices with her teammates every weekend.
“Despite being a lecturer and marine science researcher, my passion towards gamelan is still strong and whenever I’m free, I would go for training together with my colleagues to sharpen my skills,” she said adding that, RiB comprises members from various races and professional backgrounds such as doctors, lawyers and engineers.
OCEAN SOUNDS MUSIC TO THE EARS
For Ooi, playing the gamelan takes her imagination to the depths of the ocean as the gamelan music produces similar ocean sounds that are music to her ears whenever she dives underwater to collect seagrass samples for her research.
“Whenever I dived underwater, I could hear various sounds besides other sounds from the waves, fishes, dugong and other marine life species, which gave me a calming effect and a sense of freedom.
“For me, the Malay gamelan instrument is known for its rhythmic patterns that are similar to the sounds of ocean waves, and it not only rekindles memories when I was on the field, but helps me promote awareness on the importance of saving marine life due to climate change.
“My inspiration is drawn from my field trips to collect research samples and I would jot down notes, and later translate them into music and my performance in the form of music and gamelan theatre,” she added.
“In fact, most of my gamelan performances revolved around natural environment, especially those related to marine science and the ocean.
“Most of the videos of our last performance are related to water, seas and fishermen, and all these I produced jointly with the team throughout our field trips,” she added.
Seagrass conservation
This time, RiB has once again accepted the challenge to highlight the preservation and conservation of the seagrass ecosystem and the community in the surrounding areas through its gamelan performance to be held this August.
Ooi said after a two-year hiatus from gamelan music due to the Movement Control Order (MCO), the Gamelan group has bounced back with a mega production aimed at raising public awareness on the importance of protecting the seagrass ecosystem either in the ocean or offshore.
“We have made preparations since last year and honestly, we felt rather strange after laying our hands on the gamelan instrument which had been kept in the back burner for two years at the studio due to the MCO.
“Getting back the momentum is no mean feat but with cooperation and the ‘chemistry’ established with our team members, we finally managed to revive the gamelan music and are now ready for the mega show,” she added.
The gamelan premiere production, which is jointly organised between the arts performance community, scientists and residents from Mukim Tanjung Kupang, Johor will hit the stage at Bobo Kuala Lumpur from May 3 to May 6 and at Pentas 2, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC) this August.
According to Ooi, this musical, namely ‘Lengkung Hampa’, is part of the Pew Fellowship as its fellow to promote awareness on climate change and the seagrass ecosystem.
Ooi said seagrass is often overlooked in providing a sustainable natural sanctuary for marine ecosystems, but now they are at risk of disappearing from the oceans because of climate change and land reclamation.
“We call seagrass the ugly stepchild of marine organisms as they don’t get a lot of respect compared with corals and mangroves. Everyone loves corals and mangroves because they are unique and beautiful, unlike seagrass which is described as the ‘lungs’ of the sea.”
“But, I like to fight for things that people don’t think there is value and seagrass is the underdog of all the marine ecosystems,” she explained, adding that her husband, Affendi Yang Amri, a coral reef ecologist and research officer with UM’s Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, took some convincing.
She said while doing field research with Affendi, they found that coral reefs attracted a lot of big, beautiful fish… fish that contributed to the aquarium trade.
“Meanwhile, the seagrass meadows attracted a lot of colourless fish that were not beautiful at all and no one would want in their aquariums.
“But these were fish that we eat, all of them that end up on our table were at the seagrass meadows, so we really should care about our seagrass because they are the fish that we feed on,” she said.
She hopes to bring the seagrass conservations together and hold a talk through performing arts to see more crossovers, “as science will inspire performing arts and performing arts will inspire science.”
“That’s the whole point of doing this gamelan performance under the Pew project.
“While music isn’t going to reverse climate change or the decline of seagrass meadows, it’s a step towards reversing the decline of nature in culture, and that matters.
“If we want to change the world to safeguard nature and ourselves, we first have to see it. Art can do that,” she said.
Production team to Tanjung Kupang
Meanwhile, RiB executive producer Sharmini Ratnasingam said the team has also gone to the ground (“turun padang”) together with Ooi to Mukim Tanjung Kupang, Iskandar Puteri, Johor to gain insights into the fishermen’s lives as well as seagrass research areas in collaboration with the Tanjung Kupang Alumni Club.
“We also moved in groups to Tanjung Kupang to personally see for ourselves the seagrass ecosystem and mangrove forests as well as following fishermen on their fishing trips at sea.
“The turun padang programme allows our team to compose songs and to put up the best performance for the public, and based on our experience with the fishermen, we will be able to translate the message on their struggles through the gamelan performance,” she added.
She said that with every new member joining RiB, they have to look for the momentum and build good chemistry, either among musicians, singers or actors who are expected to join the cast in the performance.
“Having good chemistry among team members is crucial as we need to strengthen the bond in order to produce a synchronised performance, especially when the musical instruments are part and parcel of Malay arts.
“It is much easier to get the right key when playing western musical instruments. Unlike traditional musical instruments such as gamelan, gong and gambang, if one member misses a training session, all of us will have to repeat the session to restore the bond,” she added.
“We have been working tirelessly through rehearsals held nearly every weekend to ensure the success of our show in May and August, and it’s not easy to get all of us together as most of us are not full time musicians and have our own work commitments.
“As such, we appreciate every moment we’re together to promote teamwork whether through our weekly rehearsal or meetings to discuss our production’s performance,” she added.
She said those interested in watching the RiB upcoming performances can visit their website at
www.rhythminbronze.com. – BERNAMA
