Boria ( Jawi: بوريا) is a form of

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

theatre of Indian origin which has through adaptive processes, become the one and only theatre of Malay community in

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

, Malaysia

History

Records on the origin of Boria are fairly limited but it was first mentioned by H.T. Haughton in 1897 which according to him, it was first brought to Penang in 1845 by the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

soldiers of 21st Madras Regiment. It was originally played to celebrate the annual Shiite festival, the Mourning of Muharram. In 1910, R.J Wilkinson, a Straits Civil Service officer and a noted scholar of Malay studies, made a comparison between the boria of

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and

, and established that the resemblance was only in name, for the show as then known in Penang had evolved to a totally different form.

The performance

A typical Boria troupe consists of a leader, a chorus, comedians and musicians. The performance normally begins with a short comic sketches and followed by a song-dance routine featuring a juxtaposition of choral and solo parts. The song-dance routine commonly performed in a western music style and with dance forms such as rumbas,

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or soul. Boria’s theme varies from Arab warriors, European traders to Chinese shopkeepers around which the costumes and comic improvisations revolved. The main melodic instruments has consistently violin but various Western, Malay, or Indian drums and Chinese cymbals are also used in the performance.

References

{{Authority control Malay culture Theatre in India Theatre in Malaysia