Music is present in some form in the lives of the people of Malaysia. History began with music-- leading up now to the present day.
The original music of the Malay peninsula was percussive, using drums that varied in size, ultimately varying in the amount of the noise. Large gongs beat by villagers sent messages from village to village. Also known as rebana ubi-- giant drum--these communicated from hill to hill. Taken from the Middle East were small tambourines and gambus (lutes). Music was also brought from Indonesia in the fom of a gamelan,an Indonesian stringed instrument. Athough the earliest rhythms came from necessity, it has evolved into that of a Malaysian beauty.
The rebana ubi is still used (see right picture for glimpse of this in action.. picture from salizah.com), but now as ceremonial instruments. The sape (see picture at left.. picture from musicmall.com) is used to pace out the dance beats. For the Orang Asli, music is its own, a type all to itself in the fact that it is tribal music. Originating from the gourd, cane and bamboo, the music is beautiful to listen to. Reed and bamboo flutes are used frequently in East Malaysia.
For the popular--and patriotic-- Malaysian crowd, patriotic music is a type of love song, very much unlike the marching bands music of the US.
The Malaysian version of the song lyrics is seen below-- a shorter version than that of the US! Lyricscrawler.com kindly provided the lyrics.
The National Anthem of Malaysia:
Negaraku
Tanah tumpahnya darahku
Rakyat hidup bersatu dan maju
Rahmat bahagia Tuhan kurniakan
Raja kita selamat bertakhta
Rahmat bahagia Tuhan kurniakan
Raja kita selamat bertakhta
Shout out!