00:00After botanist H.N. Ridley introduced rubber trees to Malaya in 1877, the British brought
00:08in Indians to work the rubber plantations. Life for these indentured labourers was gruelling.
00:14They worked from dawn to dusk, clearing jungles, planting seedlings and tapping rubber all for
00:19a pittance. Many were worked to death, while others died of malnutrition and incessant tropical
00:25diseases. Despite it all, they kept telling the stories of their lives through music, writing
00:31and singing folk songs about their plight. This was unveiled by brothers Kumanavanan Rajendran
00:38and Gogularajan Rajendran, who are spearheading a documentary about Malaysian plantation life.
00:44They are using the folk songs of old to trace the lives of those who came over from India
00:49more than a century ago. The documentary began to take shape in 2021 through the brothers'
00:56research for a fictional film on plantation life under their production company, Om Sakti
01:02Films.
01:03I was writing a fiction film and it was based in the plantation, the story, so I wanted to
01:11do research for that fiction. So we started by interviewing labourers who used to work and live
01:21in the plantation. And it's only then I noticed like, wow, there's so much stories that just
01:28waiting to be told. And like some of the grandmothers I met, I'll just ask like, how are you? And
01:37then they'll be talking for two hours. So they have so much stories to tell, and they are getting
01:43old. And these are like so important stories. So yeah, that's why we thought like there is a necessity
01:49to fill this void. So we took it upon.
01:54Gogularajan said their fiction film research led them to Professor Dr. R. Dandayutham's work,
02:00a University of Malaya professor from India who documented Malaysian folk songs in the 80s.
02:05So the people I interview with, most of them have moved out of the plantation. So when they're
02:14telling me the stories, they are really good, but there is a distance in their memory. One is the
02:22distance in the space and distance in time. So I was craving for something, exploring different forms
02:31like how to tell these things. And, and I found the folk song. And when I read one of the
02:37songs from Dr. Dandayutham's collection, it's actually this, this song. It's
02:42so simple, but it just puts you in that. What does it mean? To tap a rubber tree, we boarded
02:49it on an old ship. For 45 cents, he's breaking my back. For 35 cents, he's bending my joints. We
03:04miss that emotional experience of their life, which makes them human. So I think it is important to
03:25reclaim that. And the songs gives you just that emotional experience of the Indians.
03:32Dandayutham's book titled Malaysian Folk Songs contained over 500 plantation songs collected
03:39from workers, but the melodies were missing. During his weekend, he would go to plantation and
03:45he would tape songs. He was doing it out of passion. But then before he could complete his work,
03:54he passed away. His family transcribed them and published it into a book. In the 500 folk songs,
04:02there are just so many things. Even though it was collected in the 80s, because it's oral history,
04:11it is transmitted from generations. So it tells a story that spans a long history.
04:19Gogularajan said Dandayutham's folk song compilation painted a detailed picture of plantation workers'
04:26daily struggles and survival. From the early immigrants who came from the famine and the boat journey
04:34and how they were tricked into this. And when they arrived at the forest and then their homesickness
04:41and then how they evolved. Like if you arrange them in a timeline, it tells a whole story from the
04:47early immigrant to independence. And they sang it in song. All the 500 songs, even though it's singing
04:55about something happy, there is an underlying pain. The 80-minute long musical documentary titled
05:03Araro Ariraro will be filmed in Banting and Curling Plantations and is expected to be released in March
05:102026. The brothers have roped in 10 people who lived in estates to star in their documentary.
05:17So we couldn't use all the 500 songs, but we are using around 15 songs.
05:24We pick our 15 songs that best reflect the life and best for recreating into image.
05:34Gogularajan described the documentary as their offering to plantation residents,
05:39ensuring their history remains alive for future generations.
05:43A queen of 15th music is the full of 15th music.
05:46The mother of 15th music is the full of 15th music.
05:50Now they are speaking to the 80-year-old women.
05:52They are speaking to the 80-year-old women.
05:53But the African-American women up and the women is the full of 15th music.
05:56The 2000s is the same time for the 18th music,
05:57and the feeling of 15th music.
05:58We all know that the African-American women's魔術
06:10is the same usage as their own and the Dutch music is so much as their own.
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