Jikey

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{{Infobox dance

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| native_name = Jikey

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| origin = Malaysia

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{{Dance drama of Southeast Asia}}

Overview

Jikey (Jawi: جيكيي) is a traditional Malay dance drama that is popular in Kedah and Perlis, Malaysia. The dance drama is known as Yike in Cambodia and Likay in Thailand. It is also popular in southern provinces of Satun and Phuket.

History

It is believed to have originated from the singing of zikir among the Malays, before it developed into a secular theatre after the late 19th century.{{cite book |title=The Garland Handbook of Southeast Asian Music|page=228|author=Terry Miller & Sean Williams|isbn=978-0-415-96075-5|year= 2008|publisher=Routledge }} The Jikey performance also has strong influence from other Malay performing arts like Mak Yong, Hadrah, Bangsawan and Mek Mulung.{{cite web|url=http://kebudayaan.kpkk.gov.my/about/perkhidmatan/?c5=515&menu_id=55&c3=50&click=1 |title=Jikey |publisher=Ministry Of Information Communication & Culture of Malaysia |access-date=22 September 2010 }}{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Description

The main elements of Jikey are improvised dialogue, music and dance, and local legends formed the main repertoire with considerable emphasis placed on slapstick comedy. The Jikey music consists of both instrumental and singing. The main characters are comedians, kings and warriors, and a form of leitmotif is involved as various characters in the drama are identified with specific elements in the music.{{cite web|url=http://www.musicmall-asia.com/malaysia/folk/jikey.html|title=Music for Theater: JIKEY|publisher=Musicmall Production Pte Ltd|year=2004|access-date=22 September 2010}}

A complete theatrical orchestra for Jikey includes rebana (with no jingles) in large, medium and small sizes; one tambourine; one hanging, knobbed gong, five or more pairs of {{lang|ms|cerek}}, one pair of {{lang|ms|kesi}}, an oboe ({{lang|ms|serunai}} for Malay or {{lang|th|pi}} for Thai). However, typical ensembles consists only of a violin, 3 rebana and 2 {{lang|ms|cerek}} or bamboo stampers.

References