A study of Sarawak music / by Charles S. Myers.

  • Myers, Charles S. (Charles Samuel), 1873-1946.
Date:
[1914?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A study of Sarawak music / by Charles S. Myers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/18 (page 297)
    before it has travelled thus far. The dayang gazes into his parang (or sword) and describes the sun, moon and water, and the rapids and the forests,—all just like real objects in this world1). The following are the words of this song, which are partly Kenyah, and partly Lelak; the song being sung by a Lelak (Klemantan) who had learnt it from the Kenyahs:— Kuben puyai ia puyan Poiai abun bunyai hujan / utan along Pela tipa jaba uyan Pela pa ngaba uyan kuma kelui balian Awai malo menjam jaman Mekung aran chaleing tipan / utan along Liem ini alem bulan Kuma ka tana buang / utan along Utan along loeng aran La ro kambi kino janan Utan along loeng aran / uyau along Labo laan lulau matan Kuma ngimen ngalong balan / utan along. Song II is known as Aroi t'oyong (aroi is an exclamation, toyong = paramour). The words are:— Aroi di, aroi di, kasih siri li inan di rasa menoyong wang your gift betel-nut my love for you feeling to love money dalam tangan in hand That is to say,—my desire for you is like money in the hand. Here are the words of another song (16), a lullaby song, the music of which however I am unable to present:— Lung koh madang manoh megingjong ujong The birds are flying to the fields from the mouth of the river Bayoh mensip anak iap lamateh telyap telyap The topmost branches of the bayoh tree are swaying Abing lamateh laki laieng bok oban. Look out for old grandfather Laieng with white hair. Analysis of the Songs. The simplest of the songs in this collection are I, II and III (all Klemantan songs). They consist essentially of the cadence C Gr; —i.e. of a descent through a fourth with the interposition of a note which is a whole tone below the opening note, and upon which the main accent of the cadence falls2). 1) I am grateful to Dr. Charles Hose for help in this section of my paper. Indeed to his hospitality and to his influence over the natives during the long period of his magistracy in Sarawak, I am indebted for having been able to take the phonographic records on which this paper is based. I wish also to express my thanks to Mr. A. H. Fox Strangways for many valuable suggestions during the preparation of this paper. 2) For the sake of comparison the notes of the songs here analysed are all expressed as starting from C, whatever the pitch, in which they were originally sung. The notes of the octave below C are written B A C . . . C; those of the