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| Horas!.. Its A Mandailing Raya held at Chemor, Perak |
This is from the Kinta Chronicles archive .. a Mandailing Hari Raya that was held in September 2013 at Chemor in Perak.It gave an lovely insight of the Mandailing culture.
Mandailing members from other parts of the country attended such as Kg Kerangai, Negeri Sembilan, Gombak Selangor and Ayer Tawar Perak.
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| It was 1st September hence the flags. The mock Mandailing wedding |
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| Traditional dancers from Gombak, Selangor |
The organizers had put up a mock Mandailing wedding complete with traditional costumes similarly so with the traditional dancers who came from Gombak Selangor.
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| Traditional and Raya dishes was served |
Their lunch menu was their traditional dishes which ingredients included mashed tapioca leaves (daun ubi tumbuk), lemongrass and ginger flower (bunga kantan).
Their full traditional music ensemble, Gordong Sembilan was another bonus. Their instruments consisted of the nine drums, Gordang Sembilan (graded in size from large to small), complemented by two big gongs / Agung, a bamboo flute called Sarune and a pair of small cymbals called Tali Sasayat.
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| The Gordong Sembilan Ensemble .... with 2 Agung (big gongs) |
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| 9 Drums |
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| Tali Sasayat (a pair of small cymbal) and a Sarune (bamboo flute) |
As the ensemble played the elders of the community
came together with the dancers donned their traditional shawls and danced the
Tarian Tor-Tor to the joy of the of the entire Mandailing community.
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| Traditional dancers don their shawls and get ready for Tor Tor dance |
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| ..show their guests the moves of the dance |
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| dancing the Tor Tor |
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| We Are Mandailings |
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| Mandailings Abdur-Razak Lubis and Kak Nadimah with Law of Perak Heritage Society JAG |
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| This is Tasek CHINI today |
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| Tasek CHINI before |
But just
last week it was reported that the state government has approved a new mining
site about 3km from Tasik Chin prompting the question .. was the plan to revive
the lake a paper promise.
Environmentalist and PEKA President (Malaysian Natural Heritage Protection Organisation) Sabrina Syed said there appears to be no end to the long-standing issues which include unregulated mining and logging activities.. the lake has been plagued by issues for quite a long time.. Tasik Chini is a dying lake and the issues can be only solved when we are sincere with efforts to preserve the lake.
We agree. Preserve the Lake.
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| Daytime .. Look West .... |
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| ..look East .. clear road all the way down Jalan Raja DiHilir |
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| night time ... clear roads... Jalan Raja Dr Nazrin Shah |
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| down Jalan Sultan Iskandar |
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| ..and down Jalan Sultan Idris Shah ... lets go home |
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| The late Joe Chin ..through the years |
I received a message yesterday from a friend that Joe Chin had passed away. I enquired if this Joe Chin was the organist that regularly provided the music at our annual St Michaels Institution OMA (Old Michaelian Association) dinner.
I got an
affirmative reply and a photograph of a younger Joe Chin with a guitar in his
hand saying he was a founder member of the Fabulous Falcons.
That was news to me. I had heard of the band, that they
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| Joe as a teenager |
I Googled
Joe Chin and discovered he had a blog named “thefabulousfalcons.blogspot.com”
where he describes himself as …. “a
musician and has been one since the sixties when I was a teenager. Though I
play the keyboards, the guitar will always be my first love..”
He goes on
to relate how he got into music … from the St Michaels TALENTIME …….”when I
gave up playing hockey, I found a new interest in music. It all began with the
school talentime. …In my school, St. Michaels Institution, Ipoh, the talentime
was held every year featuring the Hawaiian Rythmaires as the backing band for
every hopeful contestant. The band consisted of the school teachers like the
late Albert Teh, Lee Peng Han and Kee Ying Wah, Of course the other equally
important band member was Louis Rodriguez.”
All that he
wrote on his blog was about Ipoh and interesting …the Talentime , Hawaiian Rythmaires, his learning
the guitar, how the Falcons got their name, the Falcons early gigs and his gigs
post Falcons at the various local joints like Tiger Bar and Miners Arms. His
writings were memories of a time gone by but nostalgic.
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| The Fabulous Falcons. (l-r) Thomas Ham (rhythm) Tommy Ong (bass) Christopher Choong (drums) and Joe Chin (lead guitar) |
Joe left us
on the 1st June 2021 after a short illness. He was in Kuala Lumpur but he came
home to Ipoh and then left us. He was 74.
Gone but not
forgotten. RIP Joe.
Condolences
to the family.
JAG
