{"title":"THE INFLUENTIAL MUSICAL COMPOSITIONAL TOOLS OF MALAY POPULAR MUSIC IN MALAYSIA OF THE MID 20th AND THE EARLY 21st CENTURY","authors":"James P. S. Boyle, Mohd Nasir Hashim, Y. Chang","doi":"10.35631/ijcrei.49001","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In the mid-20th century, it is noteworthy that Malay popular music composed\nin this era was heavily influenced by various stylistic and cultural musical forms\nof both the traditional Malay styles such as asli, inang, joget, zapin and even\nkeroncong, and also by Western idioms and styles. Branded as jazz ballads in\nthe Mid-20th Century, Malay popular music is a key subject in unveiling the\nmusical changes in the Malay popular music history of Peninsula Malaysia. In\nthe 1960s, there was a trend to compose Malay popular music with heavily\ninfluenced idiomatic jazz harmonics in the many various Western styles. In the\nearly 21st century, as it has musically and stylistically evolved, Malay popular\nmusic became closely associated with the continuous dissemination of patriotic\nsongs in Malaysia as well as an amalgamation of the various trending styles of\nthe Western hemisphere such as funk, pop, rhythm and blues, gospel and even\nrock music. Throughout it all, the continued and consistent harmonics of Jazz\nMusic have been an ever-present tool for many Malay Popular Music\ncomposers since the early years of independence. This paper will focus on four\nchosen compositions, two from each of the time frames in focus and each tune\nwill have an analysis from a singular compositional viewpoint, be it melodic\n(Gema Rembulan-Jimmy Boyle, 1956), chordal (Air Mata Berderai-Alfonso\nSoliano,1964) or the dissertation of the song-form (Selingkuh Kasih-Mokhzani\nIsmail,2006 & Gemilang-Aubrey Suwito,2005). Through the analysis of the\nchosen musical scores, this paper intends to reintroduce and refresh the\nessential elements of composing a Malay Popular Music composition as well\nas the musical influences and changing mindsets of approach on the different\ncompositional styles of Malay popular music, its culture, and identity, of the mid-20th and the early 21st centuries of Malaysia to the current and future\ncomposers of this genre.","PeriodicalId":274231,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Creative Industries","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Creative Industries","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.35631/ijcrei.49001","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In the mid-20th century, it is noteworthy that Malay popular music composed
in this era was heavily influenced by various stylistic and cultural musical forms
of both the traditional Malay styles such as asli, inang, joget, zapin and even
keroncong, and also by Western idioms and styles. Branded as jazz ballads in
the Mid-20th Century, Malay popular music is a key subject in unveiling the
musical changes in the Malay popular music history of Peninsula Malaysia. In
the 1960s, there was a trend to compose Malay popular music with heavily
influenced idiomatic jazz harmonics in the many various Western styles. In the
early 21st century, as it has musically and stylistically evolved, Malay popular
music became closely associated with the continuous dissemination of patriotic
songs in Malaysia as well as an amalgamation of the various trending styles of
the Western hemisphere such as funk, pop, rhythm and blues, gospel and even
rock music. Throughout it all, the continued and consistent harmonics of Jazz
Music have been an ever-present tool for many Malay Popular Music
composers since the early years of independence. This paper will focus on four
chosen compositions, two from each of the time frames in focus and each tune
will have an analysis from a singular compositional viewpoint, be it melodic
(Gema Rembulan-Jimmy Boyle, 1956), chordal (Air Mata Berderai-Alfonso
Soliano,1964) or the dissertation of the song-form (Selingkuh Kasih-Mokhzani
Ismail,2006 & Gemilang-Aubrey Suwito,2005). Through the analysis of the
chosen musical scores, this paper intends to reintroduce and refresh the
essential elements of composing a Malay Popular Music composition as well
as the musical influences and changing mindsets of approach on the different
compositional styles of Malay popular music, its culture, and identity, of the mid-20th and the early 21st centuries of Malaysia to the current and future
composers of this genre.