As usual, training is always on Wednesday. For this week's training, as for normal, we learned new hand gestures and song. Firstly, we brushed up our Selembut Sutera song. The second song was Wanita (Women).
There's nothing much to update this week. Will come again next week.
Updating about this week's training. Everything went great and joyous. Fortunately, the crowd was the largest crowd ever for me. I had lots of fun during the trainings. As for normal, we learnt a new song entitled "Selembut Sutera".
Selembut Sutera (Malay Version):
"Selembut sutera kata manismu,
Tapi tidak seputih salju.
Menanam tebu di bibir saja,
Itukah serentak sehaluan namanya."
(Translated by Nurul):
"Your words is as sweet as silk,
But it's not as pure as snow.
You're only planting sugarcanes on your lips,
Are all those words just for the sake of saying?"
Other than learning a new song, we learnt more about the
Tukang Karut.
"A dikir barat group, which may be of any size, is led by a tukang karut who makes up poems and sings them as he goes along. The chorus echoes in response by the Awok-awok, verse by verse."
Overall, the training was good and I did not regret joining Dewi Kalista. I'm now a member of Malay Cultural Group, specifically the Dikir Barat Girls, Dewi Kalista.
"Dikir Barat is a style of call and response singing in the Malay culture. A Tukang Karut, who writes poems and sings them as he goes along, usually leads a Dikir Barat Group. The chorus echoes in response to what was sung verse by verse. Performed usually on festive occasions, the programme provides students with the rare opportunity of learning and experiencing this unique cultural art form."
- a short background of Dikir Barat in Singapore from Sri Warisan.
There isn't anything much to update for this week's Dikir Barat training because there's only about 10 of us who attended the training. We were short-handed and since it's a small group, the Dewi Kalista head decided that we just hang out over at the Macdonald's in school.
Although we had a short training, we managed to learn one new song entitled,"Selembut Sutera", which means,"As soft as a silk". It's not easy as training goes by. We have to memorise songs and also the hand gestures required for that certain song. I still enjoyed the short training because the bond is still there and it was good that we were not demoralised by the attendance on that training day, Wednesday.
As promised to update an entry for this week. Last Wednesday, I attended the Dewi Kalista training over at Block F. It was a good experience when we actually start the actual training for the first time. I'm one of the
awok-awok. It's basically something like one of them in the group sitting in the middle, doing the hand gestures and group singing.
As a start, all of us had to break our voices using the voice-breaking sound entitled "
Oh Le La La". From the lowest pitch to the highest pitch we can go. It was a good voice-breaking practice before we start with our real song. After breaking our voices, we actually practiced some hand gestures. I think it's for us to get used to the other hand gestures. So, they taught us the simplest hand gestures plus singing a song.
The song we started off with is entitled "
Rakan Muda". It's proclaimed by the seniors that this song is known for a song during trainings. It's only a verse with four lines that goes like this:
"
Rakan muda rakan seni budaya,Persahabatan kita haruslah setia.Biar abadi kekal sepanjang masa,Itu suatu tanda kita telah berjaya."
Let me try to translate in English. "It's teenage friendship, friendship through cultural group, our friendship is a must to last long. Let this friendship last forever, that's a sign to prove that we've succeed." (Although it may sound like awful if Malay students were to read the translated verse). At least I tried.
Okay, overall, I enjoyed being in Dewi Kalista though it's not the only sub-group I joined in Malay Cultural Group. Being a member in Dewi Kalista teach me a lot in just about teamwork, co-ordination and most importantly, how to release stress or enjoy. Their motto is "Happy happy la.."
Here are 3 pictures. The first photo is the canang (one of the instruments used in Dikir Barat). The second and third photo shows how the
awok-awok usually positioned themselves during performances.
I've been busy during the week, with Malay Cultural Group Orientation in Drama, Dance and Dikir Barat. Since this personal development blog is about the SMART Goals, I've chosen the goal of being a member in the Dikir Barat Girls Group named Dewi Kalista.
Background :
Although I have no knowledge or background about the Dikir Barat, I believe that it will be a great experience as it is interesting to try on new things. In Nanyang Polytechnic, the Dikir Barat girls group named Dewi Kalista is a newly established Dikir Barat group for the girls. Upon establishing it in 2008, Dewi Kalista receive a tremendous response.
During the Dewi Kalista orientation :
I learnt that the Dikir Barat girls group does not need someone who can sing or do well in the hand gestures instead, they are looking for teamwork, commitment and the most important thing is that we enjoy. Upon attending the first orientation, I enjoyed it very much. As a freshmen, I can feel that the group has a very strong bond eventhough we've yet to know each other very well.
I've more to learn from the seniors. Will update next week.
