The Malay performing arts have long been steeped in healing rituals that aim to bring about a balance in life.
UNLIKE modern healthcare, which is a formal diagnostic and prescriptive process in addressing physiological and psychological ailments, traditional healthcare, referred to as anthropological medicine, combines the healing of the body and the mind with entertainment.
Several of these traditional healing rituals are direct off-shoots of traditional theatre, such as Makyong, Wayang Kulit, Menora and Mek Mulung.
The healing rituals use the performance elements of music, dance and drama (role play) with the presence, and sometimes participation, of an audience. And these ritualistic healing ceremonies are conducted, by way of performance, to heal as well as to entertain.
There are two levels of understanding to the concept of healing entertainment; one is the normal physical form of presentation to entertain an audience, while the other is using performance elements to invoke spirits to solicit their help in the healing rituals.
These two levels of performance idioms are combined into a unique presentation that transcends the physical and ethereal dimensions, seldom seen onstage but widely used in film and animation. While the medium of film and animation are for make-believe, presenting an illusion of dimensional existence of human and fictitious imaginative characters, the involvement of humans and ethereal beings in traditional performance healing is real, and they interact through the trance state.
The dramatic elements in these traditional healing performances, especially in Main Puteri, is the trance state and the role plays - some comic, some serious - are dependent on the spirits that possess the Tok Puteri.
He could be possessed by the spirit of Sri Rama or Hanuman from the wayang kulit repertoire or by Jin Selakan Tunggal Makan Nasi Mentah (the ogre), the mystical character Dewa Muda, Budak Raja (the king’s aide), Tok Wok (old man) or the Peran (clown) of the Mak Yong repertoire.
The physical aspects of the performance encapsulate the players such as Tok Puteri and Tok Minduk in Main Puteri, Tok Dalang in wayang kulit and Tok Mulung in Mek Mulung.
Incorporated into this healing presentation are the performance elements of dance, music, and drama. The role play is a significant part of the healing process as it employs the dialogue and narration (ucap tetap) of these traditional theatre forms.
The major performance element in the healing ritual is the dramatic character representation of the various spirits of the traditional theatre forms such as Mak Yong and wayang kulit, as well as the environmental spirits, and this captivates the audience and affords them a sublime experience.
The delivery of the dialogue of the various characters is based on the rhythmic cadence of the traditional theatre forms.
In Main Puteri, for example, it is based on the Mak Yong acting style. But of more significance is that the spirits that possesses him at specific junctures of the healing rituals dictate his vocal inflexion and delivery of lines as well as his movements.
Among the supporting performance elements are the silat and dance movements, which feature prominently in the movements of the Tok Puteri at the beginning of the trance state and at the juncture when the spirit exits.
The choreography of the movements consists of arm swings, poses with arms held high and legs bent with vibratory fingers and head shakings. It is a spectacle to watch a seasoned practitioner such as Che Mat Jedok of Tanah Merah execute these movements with such aesthetic precision.
It is a sight to behold when the movements combined with the accompanying music within the ritualistic decorated healing space create both physical and mystical ambience, culminating in the trance state that signifies the presence of the ethereal being. It is unlike any normal illusory stage performance.
The musical element is also an integral part of performance healing and it adds to the entertainment value of the ritual, unifying the other elements into a cohesive presentation. It serves the emotive function of creating the mystic and sublime atmosphere of the presentation besides accompanying the movements, the singing and supporting the dramatic actions.
On its spiritual function, it evokes and attracts the spirits to descend on the healing ritual. That is why in the opening ritualistic ceremony, the Tok Minduk consecrates all the instruments by smoking them in the incense smoke to invoke the spirits of the instruments, accompanied by the silently chanted mantra. In this way, the sonic orders of the music will parallel those of the energy of the spirits.
That is why a rebab, which has been constantly used in the Main Puteri healing ceremony, cannot be handled by any other person except the Tok Minduk and the Tok Puteri and those involved in the ritualistic healing. For by playing it, it will easily attract the spirits and if this happens outside the framework of the ritualistic ceremony, it may result in undesirable consequences.
This is so because the rebab has been spiritually charged. The Tok Minduk, who acts as the intermediary between the spirits that possesses the Tok Puteri and the patient, plays the rebab.
It has haunting and mystic sounds that provide the kind of hallucinating ambience that elevates Tok Puteri, the patients and even some members of the audience, into a trance state.
Accompanying the rebab and Tok Puteri’s singing and chanting are the other percussive instruments such as the drums (gendang, gedumbak, and geduk) and gongs (canag, kesi and tetawak).
But when the Tok Puteri ascends into the trance state and executes the silat and dance movements, the serunai, which is an end blown flute, replaces the rebab as the melodic instrument.
As in a traditional theatre, even in modern theatre, the setting supports and creates the space for the dramatic and action. But there is the added function of accommodating spiritual actions. As is wont in traditional theatre, the setting is symbolic, representing a variety of spiritual and mystical elements consonant with the preferences of the spirits.
Among them is the decorated canopy or lelangit hung just below the roof at the centre of the stage, which symbolises the cosmic and mystical roof of the world from where the spirits descend. Then, there are the offerings in its various receptacles such as Balai, Jong and hangings for Nasi Guru.
The second level of spiritual presentation refers to the use of performance elements of music, dance/movements and drama to heal patients suffering mainly from both physiological and psychological, especially psychosomatic ailments.
These ailments are the result of depression caused by social factors such as marital problems and stress, black magic and spirit possession, or to restore the imbalance of the internal spiritual energy called Angin.
The presence of the audience, comprising the patients’ families, relatives and villagers, complete the ingredients for a theatrical entertainment. Only that it is not only for entertainment but more important as a ritualistic healing ceremony replete with all the trappings of a performance.
In fact, this healing ritual is formatted as a traditional dramatic presentation with an opening ceremony, followed by a musical interlude and the main healing episode with its attendant drama, conflict and resolution that culminates in the healing of the patients. Usually, the healing ceremony ends with the performance of an excerpt or a full Mak Yong play.
These performance-healing rituals are an endangered species; they are fast disappearing being overtaken by modern clinical medicine, which is the main stay of today’s healthcare.
The writer is an emeritus professor of Performing Arts in the School Of Arts at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang