Monday, January 24, 2011

A Whole New Experience with WAU BULAN..:)


Good Evening readers! Today's post is going to be a bit different with the previous post about the 'Wau Bulan'. I decided to share my experience teaching the Koreans how to sing and dance the 'Wau Bulan' in this post. It was an unforgettable experience for the Koreans and myself. :)

On the 15th until 21stJanuary2011, the Faculty of Education UiTM Shah Alam conducted a 'Student Exchange Program' in collaboration with the 'Kyung Hee University' from South Korea. The faculty acted as the host while the Koreans were the participants. There were 24 Korean students and 2 of their professors. I was one of the student committees appointed for the program. I held the responsibility of conducting cultural activities for I have wide e
xperience in traditional dance and Malay culture.

My job was to teach a local traditional dance to the Koreans. I chose the 'Wau Bulan' for it has a catchy and lively melody. Besides, everybody(the committees and UiTM students) know the song. So, they will be able
to sing and dance along to the 'Wau Bulan'. Here, I am going to showyou the progress of the teaching from the start till the end.

  • Sunday, January 16th 2011
Session 1
On the welcoming day, which is Sunday, I got the dancers from Prisma Seni to perform the Wau Bulan for the Koreans.

That was was a short yet sweet introduction to them.












These are the
dancers. They were wearing the One Malaysia costumes.











Some of the Korean students who voluntered
to try the 'Wau Bulan' with the dancers.











These are the reactions we got from the Koreans.
They were excited to see the 'Wau Bulan'.














Session 2

We had the 2nd session after lunch where
it was the turn for the COMMITTEES to demonstrate
the 'Wau Bulan' to the Koreans.

























Session 3

After that, we first taught them how to sing the 'Wau Bulan'song. We show the lyrics on the slide and taught them the melody. It took quite a while to teach them the pronunciation. Apart from that, everything was alright.


















~(^_^)~

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Wau Bulan.





Hello readers! Last week, I have explained to you about the song 'Wau Bulan'.Somehow, I have a hunch saying that you are more curious on the 'Wau Bulan' which is our traditional Malaysian kite itself. Why the shape of the kite is in that way? Why does the olden days people create the Wau Bulan? These questions must have been haunting your mind for the past few days.
But please. Don't worry.

I am here to help for I am going to satisfy your curiosity by answering those questions. :)


~waaw- the Arabic letter~



Do you know that the word 'WAU' is believed to have been derived from the Arabic letter ' و'. The letter is pronounced as 'waaw'. Similar to the wau. This is because the shape of the wing resembles the outline of the particular letter. You can refer to the picture of the 'Wau bulan' below and you may compare it to the letter 'و'. Besides the esthetical shape, the kite has a sharp front which looks like a 'spear' to give an aerodynamic characteristic which helps it to move across strong winds.



~ a flying Wau Bulan~



In the past, farmers used the wau as a sort of flying scarecrow to ward off birds from their paddy field. Apart from that, it was also mentioned that the sounds made by the 'wau' once it was airborne, lull their children to sleep. Why? The 'Wau Bulan' made a coarse and masculine sound which terrifies the children. This gave the farmers ample time to grow their crops without any distraction.

Here, we have just learned a new fact about 'Wau Bulan'. It is not merely a traditional kite which act as traditional games. Instead, it serves farmers to chase away crows and other birds from destroying their crops. We should learn from the olden days people who have been so creative in boosting their agricultural products. Aren't we proud to have the 'Wau Bulan'? It is not just mesmerizing in terms of look and creation but VERY USEFUL and meritorious at the same time..



~(^_^)~ enjoy reading..!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Ewah ewah. Ewah bulan.



Ewah ewah. Ewah bulan.
Ewah bulan. Teraju tiga.
Ewah ewah. Ewah bulan.
Ewah bulan. Teraju tiga.

Ini malam, sama-sama.
Sama-sama bersukaria.
Ini malam. Sama-sama.
Sama-sama bersukaria.

Greetings dear readers! I am going to start my blog today with the verses from 'Wau bulan', which is a popular Kelantanese folk song. I believe that 99% of Malaysians are familiar with the song. So, what happen to the 1%? Well, they are still babies who can't sing yet. It shows that everyone in Malaysia knows this song. Our mothers used to lullaby us with this all-time favourite folk song for it is simple, yet beautiful.




~wau bulan~

Have you ever wondered, what the song is mainly about, whenever your mouth is humming the tune of this catchy and lively song? Yes! You are right. The song is actually about the 'wau' itself where it stands for its name, 'Wau Bulan'(Malaysian traditional kite).


The song was produced spontaneously long long ago by a man whose feeling was filled with excitement and happiness while playing the 'Wau Bulan'. The first verse mentioned about the kite. How amazing it is to see the 'Wau Bulan' soaring high in the sky. Where in the second verse, it is described that the people would gather among themselves for a fiesta at night after a 'Wau Bulan' is flown during the day.The Wau Bulan is the symbol of happiness and joyous to the people.



~ a Kelantanese man with the 'Wau Bulan'~

~(^_^)~ enjoy reading...!