The legendary awang batil master Pak Romli Mahamud will perform over three nights at the Pesta Raya event at Esplanade-Theatres on the Bay in Singapore on May 19-21. Photo: Cheryl Hoffman
The northern Malaysian storytelling tradition of the awang batil is likely to die with Pak Romli Mahamud unless he finds a student.
The soft-spoken 68-year-old is resigned about the fact.
Speaking in a northern Malay dialect over Zoom from his home in Kampung Pokok Sena in Chuping, Perlis, he laments: “I’ve had students in the past, but none of them have really absorbed all the knowledge. Even the ones who have learnt have taken in only a little, not enough to graduate from their studies. Unfortunately, that means I don’t have someone to take over.”
Romli brings the tradition to Singapore as part of Pesta Raya, the Malay arts festival organised by the Esplanade.
His performance is made possible by Pusaka, a Malaysian cultural organisation established to archive traditional Malaysian art forms. Its creative director Pauline Fan, 45, helped to translate during the interview.
Romli’s father, Mahmud Awang Wahid, was the most famous storyteller from their home town.
The awang batil style of storytelling traditionally employs masks, serunai (a wind musical instrument) and the batil (brass percussion pot). The storyteller tells a repertoire of stories in a northern Malay dialect while playing instruments that guide the tempo of the performance.
Romli says: “It was quite a natural thing to inherit the tradition from my father. He was a well-known awang batil and I used to accompany him during his performances.
“It wasn’t a problem for me to absorb my father’s style of playing. As I started to develop my own style, I brought in a few new things as well.”
'I’ve had students in the past, but none of them have really absorbed all the knowledge. Even the ones who have learnt have taken in only a little, not enough to graduate from their studies. Unfortunately, that means I don’t have someone to take over,' says Pak Romli Mahamud. Photo: Cheryl Hoffman
Encouraged by his father to innovate, Romli introduced the violin and rebana (a type of tambourine) to his performances.
Each awang batil memorises a repertoire.
He has 11 stories – some of which were passed down from his father, some he learnt from an old storyteller in Perlis and others that he adapted.
The difficulty for many of his former students, even his children, is the dedication and patience necessary to perfect the balance of storytelling at an even tempo while playing an instrument and engaging the audience.
Romli says: “Sometimes, those who are less skilled can forget to play while speaking or vice versa. That’s one of the reasons it is difficult for me to find an apprentice – it is one of the hardest art forms to learn.”
While he is open to the stories being told in Bahasa Malaysia rather than the traditional northern dialect, none of his students have completed their training. Romli believes that younger people lack interest in learning something so complex and time-consuming.
“I’m very open to taking on students, but it’s not guaranteed that they can learn the entire tradition and become an awang batil. It requires a lot of responsibility, effort, time and commitment to carry on the tradition.” - The Straits Times/Asia News Network
