Sunday, May 09, 2010

Sabah Fest - Turtle shell orchestra at Sabah Museum Heritage Village

Kota Kinabalu: Almost every visit to Sabah Museum's Heritage Village during the ongoing Sabah Fest 2010 seems to yield surprising new cultural elements.

The latest "bomb shell" has to be the use of turtle shells as musical instruments - a string of eight shells in the kulintangang of the Paluan, a sub Murutic tribe that hails from Sook.

Everybody in the kulintangang fraternity uses brass but the Paluan use the land (forest) turtle shell and this sets them apart.

For the Daily Express which has been reporting extensively on cultural matters, seeing a turtle-shell kulintangang was also our first.

And the only reason we got to know this was because of Judeth John Baptiste, Assistant Senior Research Curator. Most visitors who venture into the Murut replica house would come away missing this specific piece of information, for two reasons.

First, the Paluan group won't tell anybody because to them there is nothing unusual since this is an age-old tradition going back how long nobody seems to know.

Secondly, the guys beating the kulintangang for the frontline dancers are placed right at the dark background behind the lansaran trampoline platform.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Sabah Fest - Turtle shell orchestra at Sabah Museum Heritage Village
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