(Malay Negara Brunei Darussalam).
Country in South-east Asia. An independent Islamic sultanate, Brunei is located on the north-west coast of the island of Borneo, about 440 kilometres north of the equator. The country is bounded on its northern edge by the South China Sea and on all other sides by the Malaysian state of Sarawak.
Despite a relatively small land mass of 5765 km2 Brunei is anything but geographically and demographically homogeneous. Swampy tidal plains line the coast, hilly lowlands mark the western interior, and thickly-forested mountains rise in the east to 1850 metres above sea-level. The inland areas are sparsely inhabited compared to the coastal plains, where more than 85% of the population resides. According to 1998 estimates, the population of the sultanate is approximately 323,600. About 67% of this figure comprises the ‘Brunei Indigenous’ peoples, a governmental category officially embracing Brunei Malays, Kedayan, Tutong, Belait, Bisaya, Dusun and Murut communities. The Brunei Malays are numerically (and culturally) dominant, having been reported in various sources to amount to more than 50% of the total population. Recent censuses, however, do not provide figures for the less statistically substantial groups, largely because of increasing ambiguity of ethnic affiliations, the result of intermarriage and cultural assimilation. Consequently, diverse Brunei Indigenous peoples are typically subsumed under the official rubric ‘Malay’, despite differences in language, history and religion etc. Second to the Brunei Malays in numerical significance are the ethnic Chinese, who constitute their own census category. Government statistics indicate that 15% of the population is Chinese, though studies conducted during the 1990s suggest that a much higher figure, 25–30%, might be more accurate. ‘Other Indigenous’ communities, primarily Iban and Kelabit peoples who have entered the sultanate through Sarawak, form about 6% of the population. The remaining inhabitants of Brunei include Europeans (mainly British), Indians and assorted non-indigenous groups.
Islam is the principal religion of Brunei, with over 80% of the population adhering to this faith. Other prominent religions or belief systems include Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism within the Chinese community, and Christianity, which is also common among the Chinese as well as among many non-Malay-speaking peoples of the interior. In general, inland dwellers exhibit a more pronounced tendency to retain indigenous belief systems and practices, often but not always within a broader Muslim or Christian context.
At an international symposium on the music and drama of South-east Asia in 1969, the Brunei delegation bemoaned the absence of any systematic study of these traditions in its country. This situation remains remarkably unchanged. Of the little work that has been conducted in Brunei, most has highlighted only Malay practices, if not specifically those of the royalty, and vocal performance has yet to be addressed in any detail. Further complicating the matter is the inconsistent use of various ethnic labels in the literature. Bisaya, Belait, Tutong and other peoples, who may or may not have their own category in government records, are sometimes collectively called ‘Dusun’, and ‘Dusun’ may again be lumped into the ‘Malay’ category for census purposes. Some publications have described Brunei traditions without mentioning ethnic groups or regions at all. The following musical sketch must therefore be understood as necessarily imbalanced (see also Malaysia, §§II and III).
Like other Malay sultanates of South-east Asia, the Sultanate of Brunei maintains a royal ensemble of gongs, drums and double-reed aerophones, called nobat. Staffed by specially appointed musicians, the ensemble marks an array of royal occasions, including coronations, marriages, circumcisions, bestowal of titles and visits by noble officials, as well as the departure from the palace of the Sultan or his consort. The nobat may also announce the morning, late afternoon and evening prayers of the Muslim faith. At the installation of the present Sultan in 1968, the nobat comprised two large hanging gongs, four smaller hanging gongs (canang), four double-headed barrel drums (gendang labek), two silver-covered goblet drums (nakara) and four double-reed aerophones (serunai). Specific melodies, rhythms and combinations of instruments characterize various events, if not particular portions of them. In the case of death of a member of the royal family, the nobat ensemble is silenced. Only after a prescribed period may the orchestra be ritually ‘re-opened’.
An instrument most closely associated with Malay communities at large is the gambus, a plucked lute. Ultimately of Middle Eastern origin, the gambus of Brunei has developed so idiosyncratically that it may sometimes scarcely resemble its Arab ancestor. The Brunei instrument is carved from softwood, with a soundboard made from the skin of a deer, goat, monitor lizard, snake or other animal. Three courses of fibre or nylon strings are tuned in 4ths and are plucked with a rattan or water buffalo horn plectrum. The gambus typically combines with drum, flute and voice to provide dance accompaniment for all sorts of festive occasions.
Hadrah is a type of ensemble music that typically marks major Muslim religious celebrations (e.g. the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan), as well as Malay weddings, betrothals, circumcisions and other festivities. Comprised of several rebana frame drums (without jingles), hadrah accompanies songs of praise for the Prophet Muhammad, usually in Arabic. Consequently, while it may be used in multifarious recreational settings, hadrah nevertheless retains its religious association. Different playing styles demand different types of rebana, and the singing, in turn, is stylistically dependent on the nature of the accompaniment.
The shallow pool of literature on the musical practices of Brunei’s Malay population appears bottomless compared to the sprinkling of studies on the musics of minority groups. Sporadic reference is often made to various dance forms such as the Murut umak rumak house-warming dance or the ceremonial alai dances, through which certain Dusun communities contact spirit realms. The musical components of these and other dances, however, are usually not mentioned. Similarly, while Chinese New Year is described as the largest annual celebration for much of the Chinese population, its musical elements still await rigorous research.
Among the minority groups whose traditions have received some attention over the years are the Kedayan, Belait and Bisaya. Gulintangan gong ensemble music (see below) is a feature of the Kedayan harvest festival, Makan Tahun, as is a special procession and incantation called ratib saman. This incantation is performed throughout the second night of the festival by a group of Muslim religious leaders, who slowly proceed in a circle inside the men’s hall while rhythmically intoning Arabic words. It is thought that this part of Makan Tahun stems from a pre-Islamic practice during which spirits and deities were called to partake of the feast.
Earlier in the 20th century, Belait villages conducted a type of harvest ritual (Perakong) that employed hanging gongs, a drum and a special percussion board, perakong, from which the ritual drew its name. The perakong board was suspended from the rafters and played by two individuals who stood at each end of the instrument, striking it rhythmically with two wooden rods. Sounding together with the perakong were eight vertically-hanging knobbed gongs: five large agung and three smaller canang. At one point in the ritual sequence, two dancers performed to the beat of the gongs with bell-bearing bamboo stamping sticks. Although the Perakong was evidently characteristic of Belait villages in the past, the extent to which this ritual and the musics associated with it continue to be practised remains unclear.
These are common to many of the ‘indigenous’ peoples of Brunei. The most prominent of these ensembles, gulintangan, can be heard in coastal Malay, Kedayan, Murut and Belait communities. Among the Iban, the cognate tradition is called engkerumong (see Malaysia, §III, 2). The gulintangan ensemble takes its name from the lead melody instrument (gulintangan), which consists of a row of seven or eight small knobbed gongs, resting horizontally on ropes or rattan strips in a wooden frame. The ensemble also includes three types of vertically-hanging gongs, which support the melody of the gulintangan. Of these the gong is the largest in diameter and lowest in pitch. The tawak-tawak has a deeper rim than the gong, but a smaller diameter, yielding a higher tone. The highest-pitched supporting gong is the canang, which can be identified by its narrow rim and flat face. Canang surfaces are sometimes decorated with Chinese dragons, which has elicited speculation that some of the components of the gulintangan ensemble are of Chinese origin. All of the gongs are made of brass and are usually cast in Brunei. The only non-gong instrument included in the gulintangan ensemble is the gendang labit, a double-headed conical drum with parallel cord- and belt-lacing and wedge bracing.
The composition of the gulintangan ensembles varies from community to community in terms of the number of supporting gongs and gendang labit. Malay and Kedayan groups, for instance, may use as few as five hanging gongs and two gendang labit in addition to the gulintangan. Belait villages, on the other hand, may use more than twice as many hanging gongs and a single drum as supporting instruments. The instrumentation of a Murut ensemble would likely fall somewhere in between its Malay and Belait counterparts.
Oral tradition holds that the gulintangan ensemble was the province of the Brunei elite until the nobility converted to Islam early in the 15th century. At that time, the Sultanate accepted the nobat as its official musical ensemble, and the gulintangan subsequently spread to the coastal communities and the inland areas. There, it typically marked harvest festivals, marriage ceremonies and the start and finish of headhunting expeditions. While headhunting has long ceased to be practised, the gulintangan is still performed in conjunction with various local celebrations; within the Malay communities, it also accompanies the martial art pancak silat.
The Bisaya at one time maintained an ensemble tradition similar to the gulintangan, but evidently the gulintangan itself was not present. In a 1960 publication, G.C. Davis described a Bisaya gong ensemble without making any reference to a gulintangan-like row of gongs. His instrument inventory included two large hanging gongs, four to six medium hanging gongs, four to six smaller ones, and a single-headed drum, which certainly seems to parallel the gong and drum backdrop of the gulintangan ensemble. The Brunei delegation to the 1969 conference on Traditional Music and Drama of South-east Asia also mentioned an ensemble of the ‘indigenous race of the Kuala Balai’ estuary (i.e. Bisaya) that consisted exclusively of hanging gongs and a drum. Such hanging gong ensembles are common to many of the inland populations of the neighbouring Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah and have often been associated with indigenous ritual activities. Consequently, some have speculated that these ensembles pre-date Islam in the area. Among the Bisaya, the gongs once accompanied a dance intended to honour the spirit of the deceased leader, but the position of the gong ensembles in a contemporary setting remains to be investigated.
As indicated above, little work has been done to assess the role of older musical practices in contemporary society, including the extent to which these forms have interacted with newer musical styles. At Malay weddings, older vocal and instrumental sounds may be juxtaposed with recent popular musics. Sometimes electric keyboards and amplified guitars are added to ensembles of Malay instruments. Fearing an extinction of local music traditions and their replacement by Western styles, the Brunei Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports has made an effort to revive interest and perpetuate many of the country’s indigenous music traditions through its programmes.
H. Hughes-Hallett: ‘An Account of a Berhantu Ceremony Called ‘Perakong’ by the Orang Belait of Brunei’, Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, xvi (1938), 41–7
G.C. Davis: ‘Borneo Bisaya Music in Western Ears’, Sarawak Museum Journal, ix (1960), 496–8
Traditional Drama and Music of Southeast Asia: Kuala Lumpur 1969 [incl. ‘A Short Survey of Brunei Gulintangan Orchestra’, ed. Brunei Delegation, 198–308; M.T. Osman: ‘Some Observations on the Socio-Cultural Context of Traditional Malay Music’, 309–19]
P.M. Shariffuddin and Abdul Latif Haji Ibrahim: ‘The Royal Nobat of Brunei’, Brunei Museum Journal, iv/1 (1977), 7–20
Borneo, Musiques Traditionelles, coll. G. Wen, Playa Sound PS33506 (1979)
D. Leake, jr: Brunei: the Modern Southeast Asian Islamic Sultanate (Kuala Lumpur, 1989)
Haji Manaf Haji Kamis: ‘Gambus Brunei Asli’, ASEAN Composers Forum on Traditional Music II: Singapore 1993, 16–18
I. Skog: North Borneo Gongs and the Javanese Gamelan: Studies in Southeast Asian Gong Traditions (Stockholm, 1993)
S. Meyers, W. Moore and J.R. Yogerot: The Golden Legacy: Brunei Darussalam (Brunei, 1994)
VIRGINIA GORLINSKI