BR - Brunei Culture & History through Performing Arts (Traditional Song & Dance)

This video showcases the following: Gulintangan (Brunei traditional music ensemble) Traditional dance Traditional craft-making (Kain Jong Sarat, Tudung Dulang) portrayed by the song and performances Culture and history portrayed by traditional folk song performance such as Umak Ruma, Padian, Adai-Adai, Anding. Against the tide of time (and globalisation), traditional performing arts have become a very important medium to convey and preserve the rich culture, tradition and history of a country. This was the case for many generations as prevalent with the folk songs, dances, poetry and music that is in abundance within the region. In the case of Sekolah Tinggi Perempuan Raja Isteri (STPRI), we are doing our best to preserve and promote these valuable treasures of the country by actively preparing some students into performing these arts for inter-school competitions, as well as various national events (when needed) and also private events such as wedding and corporate dinners. By performing (and also observing) these events, students not only learned a lot about their culture, tradition and history but also get to understand themselves better as a journey in the arts may always lead to a journey into within oneself. It is also possible to integrate the school’s core values i.e. Commitment, Responsibility and Respect (CR2) together with other inter-personal skills such as teamwork and communications. This also helps to realise the ministry’s mission in providing holistic education to achieve the fullest potential of all and most importantly instilling a strong Bruneian identity within the students. Currently the school has an active group of musicians, dancers, singers and also poets and have just recently won 1st place in the inter-schools traditional gulintangan (music) contest. The whole group have performed together a lot of pieces which depicts many aspects of cultures such as below: 1. Kain-Jong Sarat – A song and dance about the traditional woven handicraft of Brunei 2. Tudung- Dulang – A song and dance about the another hand-crafted traditional item, i.e. food cover 3. Padian, Adai-Adai – Songs and dances about the lives of different people (merchant on small boats selling daily items, fishermen) living in the water village 4. Kampong Ayer – song about the water village – description and also hope 5. Anding – a song and dance which was a remind of the animistic past of Brunei 6. Umak Ruma – a tribal song and dance to celebrate moving into a new house 7. Laila Menchanai – a song about the beloved wife of Sultan Bolkiah (the 5th Sultan) whom died together with the Sultan (sort of like Romeo and Juliet) For the video, the school will just make quick examples of these pieces and most significantly will concentrate more on the music ensemble (gulintangan) and the dance group in terms of the skills learned and personal growth from the exposures and experiences of learning together. This video was produced by SEKOLAH TINGGI PEREMPUAN RAJA ISTERI, Brunei Darussalam.