Preservation of Traditional Art: The Case of the ... - Wacana Seni

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4Wacana Seni Journal of Arts Discourse. Jil./Vol.7.2008who play these musical instruments also form the chorus. When the master sings an invocationverse, the musicians follow the master and sing while playing their own instruments inantiphonal (call and response) style. The dancers are often called upon to help the musiciansplay the instruments.Every troupe has one dance master who leads the troupe. The dance master, nooraa yai, hasthe ability to perform special magic and also offers highly-developed knowledge and skill. Heacts as a sorcerer and is referred to as the mau kop roong 4 . Dance masters use their magicalknowledge to guarantee healing and a successful performance as they manipulate the spiritualpowers of the nooraa teachers through possession and incantation. The last position in anooraa troupe is the attendant, known as taa sua. The attendant is not a performer but insteadis responsible for making arrangements for the travelling show and assisting the performers.From ancient times up until the early twentieth century, the passing down of traditional nooraahas been undertaken solely by male performers. In the twentieth century, female nooraaperformers started to enter this highly exclusive performing world, and today they have becomevery active, surpassing male performers in number. In general, male nooraa performers stillsecure the most important roles in this tradition, especially the role of the ritual master. Theritual masters have not given up their position to make way for female nooraa masters. Guelden(2005) sees this as one of the challenges women face in this exclusive performing society.
5Takako IwasawaAudiencesTraditionally, both the performers and the audience have played important roles in nooraa.Nooraa performers generally have two different types of audiences. The first type of audienceconsists of the kin of nooraa performers, including the family members of the living nooraaperformers and the descendants of the dead nooraa performers. The second group of audiencemembersconsists of the general public, those not related to nooraa performers. The familymembers of the nooraa performers are of great importance, as they are seen as the ones whoimpart knowledge and wisdom to the nooraa performers. They are the main participants ofthe ritual called nooraa roong khruu (roong: building; khruu: spirit-teacher). This ritual isrecognised as the most valued activity of nooraa performers and other ritual participants. Thedescendants of nooraa performers are expected to perform the ritual regularly in order topay homage to the spirit-teacher of nooraa. To conduct the ritual, an offering of food and aperformance are required to be presented to the spirit-teacher. Therefore, the person hostingthe ritual will invite the professional nooraa troupe to practice the ritual. The leader of thetroupe takes charge as the ritual master and leads all of the participants. Nooraa roong khruuis also acknowledged as the symbolic space to which spirit-teachers descend. Through thepractice of the ritual, both nooraa performers and audiences can have strong connections witheach other because they belong to the same group, named chua saai nooraa, which is headedby the spirit-teacher.In the southern part of Thailand, a unique communal group known as chua saai nooraa hasbeen organised by the people who live there. Chua means source and saai means line. Chuasaai nooraa is characterised by the two lines of human relationships: that of the teacherdiscipleand that of the ancestor-descendant. Traditionally, nooraa performances have beenpassed down from grandfather, father or uncle to grandson, son, or nephew through a system ofpatrilineal inheritance. Men born in nooraa families have been expected to become performers
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Page 3: 3Takako IwasawaNooraa in the Tradit
Page 7 and 8: 7Takako IwasawaRevitalisation of Tr
Page 9 and 10: 9Takako Iwasawaperformance clearly
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Page 13 and 14: 13Takako IwasawaYok Chuubua (1922-2
Page 15 and 16: 15Takako IwasawaFigure 1 Warming-up
Page 17 and 18: 17Takako IwasawaMalaywan was born i
Page 19 and 20: 19Takako IwasawaCategoriesPerforman
Page 21 and 22: 21Takako Iwasawatraditional nooraa

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