00:00 (drumming)
00:02 (laughing)
00:07 (upbeat music)
00:09 - Hello and welcome back to another episode
00:19 of Asia One Tries.
00:20 I'm Muna and today we are in Kampong Ubi.
00:25 So I assume we're going to do something related
00:28 to the Malay culture.
00:30 But then again, I've learned not to trust the producers.
00:33 So they might just be throwing me off.
00:35 So can you just give me my hints please?
00:37 - Here are three hints for you
00:38 and if you guess the activity correctly,
00:40 it'll help you on the activity challenge later.
00:42 - Okay.
00:43 - Round, rhythm, celebration.
00:47 - I'm playing an instrument.
00:48 - Maybe.
00:49 Muna, you have two more chances.
00:51 - It's a Malay dance.
00:53 Yes?
00:54 - Muna, you have one more guess.
00:55 - Like zafin or zafin.
00:57 Like 'cause you go around, right?
00:58 - Unfortunately, you got it wrong.
01:00 So the activity that you'll be trying today
01:02 is learning how to play a kompang.
01:04 - I've actually played the kompang before
01:06 but not like professionally or trained.
01:08 It's just I see a kompang and then like,
01:10 you just kind of like.
01:11 So I'm very excited to learn properly.
01:13 Let's go.
01:14 (drumming)
01:16 - Hello.
01:21 - Yeah.
01:23 - Hi, I'm Muna.
01:24 Nice to meet you.
01:25 - Nice to meet you.
01:26 - Hello. - I'm John Wooden here.
01:28 Welcome to the Singapore Hardware and Kompang Association
01:30 and nice to meet you, Muna.
01:32 - Thank you very much.
01:33 So tell me about what you do here at Pehaks
01:36 and how did it get started?
01:37 - It started off from way back 1978
01:41 where those kompang activists,
01:44 they gathered and they tried to form up.
01:47 We have meetings, we have trainings here.
01:49 I mean, the objective is to preserving
01:52 traditional kompang beating.
01:54 We will organize workshops,
01:57 especially for new teams,
02:00 get together with some other countries from Malaysia
02:04 to have a program exchange.
02:06 - Okay, and what is kompang
02:08 and what is the history of kompang?
02:10 - It started off from actually from Middle East.
02:14 It flows down to Indonesia, you know.
02:17 So until Malaysia then come to Singapore.
02:20 - What kind of occasions are kompangs usually played at?
02:22 - Okay, basically we have the wedding celebration,
02:25 Prophet Muhammad's birthday celebration procession.
02:28 And even now we are involved in the chinggih procession.
02:32 - So events to celebrate
02:33 and to create awareness about different cultures.
02:36 - Okay, Muna, would you like to try?
02:38 - Yes, I'm ready.
02:39 - Come.
02:40 - Okay, so take me through the different kompangs
02:46 and the different components.
02:47 - And this is what we call jidoh.
02:49 Normally it's being used in like now, Malay wedding.
02:52 What we have here is the kompang I talked about just now.
02:55 The sound of this
02:57 (drum beating)
02:58 and this
02:59 (drum beating)
03:00 kompang is different.
03:01 Basically this is made of wood.
03:03 This is the wood skin.
03:06 What we have here is the hadra.
03:08 - Yeah, I thought this is the one.
03:09 - Symbol is here.
03:10 - Symbol.
03:11 - Hadra is smaller than this.
03:14 The size of kompang normally 14 inch.
03:16 - Okay.
03:17 - For hadra it could be 11 inch, it could be 12 inch.
03:20 - Okay, and then this one, this is different.
03:23 - Yes, it is.
03:24 (laughing)
03:25 This is made of extra plastic.
03:28 - Oh, really?
03:29 - Yes.
03:30 - Why?
03:31 - Trying out process or trying out some other means.
03:35 - Okay, so trying to find an alternative.
03:37 Can you teach me maybe the basics of playing a kompang?
03:42 - If you are what we call right-handed,
03:45 then you'll be with your right hand.
03:47 So you hold with your left hand.
03:50 Okay, generally we have three simple beating.
03:53 In high pitch, that means you got your palm here,
03:56 touch it, touches here.
03:58 (drum beating)
04:00 This is the high pitch.
04:01 And low pitch tone is,
04:03 you close your finger, half of your palm here.
04:08 (drum beating)
04:11 Okay, low pitch.
04:14 (drum beating)
04:15 - Yes.
04:16 So these are the different components of a whole kompang?
04:19 - Yes, the basic.
04:21 - Can I watch a whole demonstration?
04:23 Are you going to show me that?
04:24 - Yes, sure, why not?
04:25 - Yes.
04:26 (singing in foreign language)
04:31 (drum beating)
04:44 (singing in foreign language)
04:47 - Okay, first we have the first beating,
05:09 or the normal beating, what we call as melalu.
05:13 This is Mr. Abu.
05:14 Mr. Didi here will be playing the offbeat,
05:20 or what we call menyelang.
05:22 Mr. Shamil to do the third beating, that is menyingkah.
05:28 So Sherry have two people here,
05:32 will coordinate three beating.
05:35 (drum beating)
05:38 (drum beating)
05:40 - So Mona, are you ready to take your challenge?
05:52 - Yes, I think so.
05:53 But which beat am I going to play?
05:56 - Since you guessed the activity wrongly,
05:58 you will place Mr. Shamil in the rhythm beat.
06:01 - That's the most complicated one.
06:04 Okay, then I think I will try my very best.
06:07 - Okay, Mona, you ready?
06:08 - Yes.
06:09 - Three, two, one.
06:11 (drum beating)
06:16 (drum beating)
06:18 (laughing)
06:43 - That was my attempt at joining the Kompang troupe.
06:47 Tell me, on a scale of one to 10, what do you think?
06:51 - Four.
06:53 - Four, okay, okay, okay.
06:54 It's not so far from a fail,
06:57 but it's very close to a just pass.
06:59 - So how long does it usually take
07:01 for someone to be proficient at Kompang?
07:03 Three months.
07:04 - That is three months.
07:05 - For a new learner, it's okay what you have done here.
07:08 - Thank you so much, guys, for helping me.
07:10 Thank you.
07:11 I'll give this back to you.
07:13 - Thank you.
07:13 - At least I can say I tried, right?
07:15 Whether I'll come back, I don't know.
07:18 Okay, thank you, Jamal,
07:19 but I think maybe Kompang playing
07:21 is not in my future anymore, for the time being.
07:25 I want to know, are there any modern
07:28 or contemporary ways of Kompang playing?
07:32 - Yes, there is.
07:33 There are fusion beats also,
07:35 with instruments other than the Kompang itself.
07:38 The big drums, the Brazilian drums.
07:42 They play samba with Kompang.
07:46 - What is the cultural significance of Kompang in Singapore?
07:49 - Where we can really educate
07:53 or share the traditional ways of beating Kompang.
07:58 So, we have been doing,
07:59 we'll be having the workshops, competitions.
08:03 Future generation, especially from the younger generation,
08:06 they really understand what is Kompang beating about.
08:10 - Yeah, yeah.
08:11 Do you feel like the Kompang itself
08:13 helps to shine a lot more light
08:17 on the Malay music culture in Singapore?
08:20 - As far as music is universal,
08:23 Kompang can blend in with other culture.
08:25 We ever collaborated with Cengkir, Lion Dance.
08:28 We just listen to their beat.
08:31 We will go in into our style of beating
08:35 to match with their beating.
08:37 It's not impossible to blend in these elements.
08:42 As I said just now, music is universal.
08:45 - Yeah.
08:46 Thank you for sharing and thank you for trading me
08:49 to play the Kompang.
08:51 I might try again.
08:53 - Yeah, sure.
08:54 - One day, but not today.
08:57 Actually, my heart was broken when he said four points.
09:00 The challenge was really difficult.
09:02 I mean, first of all, I had to do the hardest beat.
09:07 I didn't get any help.
09:09 So I think today was my downfall.
09:13 But what I love about it is that
09:15 he always says that music is universal.
09:17 So that gives me a bit of hope, right?
09:19 Because whatever music you choose to make,
09:22 maybe someone will find joy in it.
09:24 And with that, thank you very much
09:27 for watching this episode of Asia One Tries.
09:30 Please watch the next episode
09:32 where I will try my very best to score 10 points
09:34 to make up for the six points I lost.
09:37 Heart pain, you know?
09:41 Very heart pain.
09:42 (upbeat music)
09:45 (upbeat music)
09:47 (upbeat music)
09:50 (upbeat music)
09:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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