Simon Soon
The Boria and Bangsawan are two performing art forms that created a new entertainment culture in Penang's multicultural port city environ around 1880s. This culture appealed to a public that cuts across class, language and cultural divide, using the Malay language as the mediating language across different nationalities and cultural communities.
The origins of Bangsawan in Penang dates to 1870s, with the visit of Parsi theatre troupes (known locally as wayang parsi) from Bombay. Wayang Parsi was performed by a troupe of mixed male and female performers and staged mythical and romantic stories derived from India and the Middle East through the medium of Hindustani. Local audiences from Malay, Jawi and Chinese peranakans as well as the sepoy troupes all enjoyed the performances despite being staged in a language that not all of them understood.
In 1884, Mamak Pushi, a wealthy Persian in Penang residing on Aboo Siti Lane, who was impressed with the new theatre bought the equipments such as curtains, clothing, musical instruments which belonged to a Persian Theatre which is facing financial problems. Mamak Pushi is also claimed to be Abu Bakar Siddiq Merican.
Mamak Pushi with his son-in-law, Bai Kassim, then established the Empress Victoria or the Jawi Peranakan Theatrical Company which later to be known as The Queen Alexandra Theatrical Company, Pushi Indra Bangsawan of Penang or Wayang Pusi. Instead of performing in Hindustani, the performances were staged using the Malay language.
Eclectic narratives popular with Malay, Indian and Chinese were now added to the repertory, became source material. Meanwhile, music, dance, and other features appealing to the multiethnic performers and audiences made this theatre.
In addition to the term 'Bangsawan' (nobility) pioneered by Mamak Pushi, other groups that emerged thereafter have used various terms to refer to their theatrical group, such as those known as the Tiruan Wayang Parsi (Persian Imitation Theatre), Malay comedy and Bangsawan. At the end of the 10th century, the term opera was used. The usage of the term opera may be credited to Western operetta and vaudeville groups, which visited the Malay Peninsula and had influenced the Malay aristocracy.
Bangsawan in its heyday (1920s-1930s) was the prime commercial entertainment, accessible to all; it was performed all over Malaysia by traveling troupes that emulated that first company and kept on evolving with the times. Bangsawan performers became popular idols and set the fashion, modeling behavior for the young and young at heart.
NOTES
Ghulam Sarwar. 1989. 'Bangsawan: The People's Opera.' Pulau Pinang, pp. 5-6.
Jan van der Putten. 2009. "Wayang Parsi, Bangsawan and Printing: Commercial Cultural
Exchange between South Asia and the Malay World. In Islamic Connections, ed. R. M. Feener and T. Sevea. Singapore: Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies.
Matthew Cohen. 2002. "Border Crossings: Bangsawan in the Netherlands Indies in the Nine- teenth and Early Twentieth Centuries." Indonesia and the Malay World 30, no. 87: 101-115.
Tan Sooi Beng. 1993. Bangsawan : A Social and Stylistic History of Popular Malay Opera. Singapore: Oxford University Press.
https://www.bharian.com.my/rencana/sastera/2017/08/312193/susur-galur-melayu-tanjung-asimilasi-keturunan-merican
