Journal of Musicological Research, 24: 287–307, 2005 Copyright © Taylor & Francis, Inc. ISSN 0141-1896 print / 1547-7304 online DOI: 10.1080/01411890500234054 GMUR 0141-1896 1547-7304 Journal of Musicological Research, Vol. 24, No. 3-4, July 2005: pp. 0–0 Journal of Musicological Research FROM FOLK TO NATIONAL POPULAR MUSIC: RECREATING RONGGENG IN MALAYSIA 1 Recreating Ronggeng in Malaysia Tan Sooi Beng Tan Sooi Beng Universiti Sains Malaysia The Malaysian social-dance music known as ronggeng underwent changes in style and performance contexts from the early twentieth cen- tury until the turn of the millennium. Ronggeng has been transformed from a folk genre of the Malay and Baba communities—performed by lower-class women who danced publicly with men and were, thus, looked down on as common by some sectors of the population—to a national form promoted by the Malaysian State, performed by and attracting audiences of different ethnic groups and classes. As ronggeng has become national, it has been “reconstructed” and “sanitized”; certain elements have been selected while other undesirable ones have been omitted, so that the music and dances of the new national ronggeng have become divorced from their folk forms and settings. It is Sunday afternoon and a wedding party is taking place at an old Baba house in Penang. Chinese, Indian, and Malay guests are seated around tables. An ensemble comprising Malays and Chinese—such as Pak Mat (accordion), Pak Wan Pekak (violin), Pak Aziz (rebana frame drum), and Ah Seng (gong)—entertains the guests. The instrumentalists are accom- panied by dancers and singers, including June, Ramlah, Pak Mat’s wife 1 An early version of this article was written when I was a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the School of Music-Conservatorium, Monash University, March–May 2001. Thanks are due to Professor Margaret Kartomi for her comments on this article and for the help and hospital- ity she extended to my family during our stay at Melbourne. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Kartomi for bringing together an extraordinary group of music postgraduate students under her supervision when I was completing my doctoral dissertation at Monash University in the late 1980s. I benefited greatly from their sharp insights and intel- lectual support. It was through my interaction with them that I am able to adapt a multidisci- plinary approach to ethnomusicology. Special acknowledgements are also due to Pak Mat Hashim, Pak Wan Pekak (deceased), Pak Aziz, Mak Ramlah, and June (deceased) who allowed me to follow them when they performed folk ronggeng in various parts of Penang. They taught me the music and allowed me to perform with them.