Malaysians! What is more satisfying than having a Singaporean admit that our street food will forever be superior to their food court offerings?
Nothing, actually. Truly nothing beats that, but this incredible homage to Kelantan’s dikir barat by youth members of the Belgian chorus Caloroso vzw currently taking the internet by storm comes a very close second.
Behold, their performance at the deSingel International Art Center’s 15-year anniversary party, held last June in Antwerp, Belgium:
Dikir barat is a musical performance native to the Malay peninsula, found in the northeastern state of Kelantan in Malaysia, as well as southern Thailand. It often uses a capella group singing, although percussion accompaniment is sometimes employed. Performers usually sit cross-legged on the floor, and groups of singers often compete with one another.
Despite being well over a year old, the clip has only recently begun making the rounds, and was picked up today by Malay-language daily Sinar Harian.
We were particularly intrigued as to how the somewhat obscure and very Malaysian art form could have traveled across Asia and Europe, and landed on the international stage — being performed by foreigners, no less.
So, Coconuts KL reached out to Caloroso’s artistic director, Inge Sykora, who shed some light on how dikir barat made it all the way from Kelantan to Antwerp.
“We were at a festival for Children’s Choirs (Europa Cantat Junior in Lyon, France) where this song was taught by the Malaysian/Canadian composer Tracy Wong,” Sykora said in a message. “She was teaching music from her homeland in several workshops at the festival. We were allowed to perform it.”
The Perak-born Ms. Wong, a choral conductor, music educator, vocalist, and pianist now based in Canada, originally wrote the arrangement for the Hamilton Children’s Choir, who debuted the hauntingly beautiful composition.
Wong often incorporates traditional Malaysian musical stylings into her works, and was delighted to see her piece performed by the Belgian group.
According to Sykora, the song has become a very popular performance piece among girls’ choirs around the world after Wong and fellow conductor and music educator Zimfira Poloz began to teach it at choral festival workshops.
And watching the in-sync performance, it’s easy to see why: It’s simple, yet beautiful; foreign, yet familiar.
So thank you, Tracy Wong, for showing the world the best of our country, and thank you to Caloroso vzw for performing our music so beautifully. [*Wipes tear; cold, black heart warms one degree.*]
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