Malaysian Indian folk music revival as torch is passed to a new generation

Urumee melam musical ensembles are popular with Malaysia’s ethnic Indian community, who have stayed in touch with their Hindu Tamil roots and culture and want to pass it on to younger Indians

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A Malaysian urumee melam ensemble during a performance in Bukit Sentosa. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:02pm, 25 Nov 2017Updated: 1:02pm, 25 Nov 2017

Malaysian Indian musicians bang drums on a stage shrouded in smoke, singing in Tamil, as dancers wearing shimmering gold outfits adorned with peacock feathers gyrate to the pounding rhythm.

The urumee melam ensemble are performing a traditional form of folk music brought to Malaysia generations ago by Indian labourers, that is enjoying a revival among the country’s South Asian community.

Malaysia is home to more than two million Indians, who live among a predominantly Muslim Malay population of about 32 million.

They are descendants of Indians who came to Malaysia during British colonial rule in the 19th and 20th centuries to work on agricultural plantations.

The labourers, mostly from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, brought with them the urumee melam, which would be played at Hindu temples on the estates.

Malaysian musicians of Indian ethnicity with their urumee after a performance in Bukit Sentosa. Photo: AFP

“It was the music of the working class – entire communities played it with every ritual,” says Eddin Khoo, director of Pusaka, an organisation that supports traditional performing arts in Malaysia.

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Urumee melam takes its name from the urumee, the intricately carved, double-headed drum made from goat hide that are the lead instrument in the ensembles.