Negeri Sembilan Cultural Carnival 2010

By Farezza Rashid

The Negeri Sembilan Cultural Carnival is an annual event organized by the state’s Ministry of Tourism to promote tourism through its local cultural performances. This year the Carnival was held from 18^th until 20^th of June in Seremban with 700 participants from the districts of Negeri Sembilan, the different states around Malaysia as well as five international groups representing Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and Africa.

My friends and I from the Capoeira Camara Malaysia group were deeply honored and very excited when we were invited to accompany our instructor, Cristiano Genuino Da Silva in representing Brazil in the event. Capoeira is a Brazilian art form where martial art is camouflaged in dance with percussion music. It is still relatively unknown in Malaysia therefore we were thrilled to have this opportunity to enlighten our future audience, local and foreign alike.

The Carnival was officially from the 18^th but for us it started a day earlier with day and night rehearsals. For this, it was just me, Mr. Da Silva and another friend, Shannon Then as our group’s representatives. The first rehearsal had all of the groups gathered at the Taman Budaya Negeri Sembilan where we were to learn the steps of the ‘Tarian Piring’ (Saucer Dance), which would be performed by all 700 participants at the end of the opening ceremony.

Unlike everyone else who was clad in uniform t-shirts and track bottoms, the three of us fashioned only in Brazilian and Capoeira t-shirts, surf shorts and flip flops that made us look very much the outsiders and had them believe that we, apart from Mr. Da Silva, were actual Brazilians! We played along, so did our liaison officer, Nazim, a lazy-eyed chain smoker who would only grin with a cigarette between his teeth whenever someone approaches us to ask about Brazil.

The ‘Tarian Piring’ choreography was easy because it was not only meant for the Malays. I was delighted to observe how the Wushu and Silambam groups, mostly school children, took seriously at learning the steps of the dance that they were not familiar with. They did not seem the least bit reluctant to follow in the steps of the older and more experienced dance group in the front rows.

Before the night rehearsal Nazim brought us for dinner at the Benteng stalls where Mr. Da Silva mused at a stall named ‘Seremban Sambaria.‘ Shannon ordered Nasi Lemak forgetting that we were in Negeri Sembilan, where the descendants of the Minangkabau make spicy dishes spicier than what our tongues are used to. “Oh, I forgot to remind you about that!” Nazim said only when Shannon started to hiss.

The night rehearsal was for the opening parade therefore Jalan Dato’ Bandar Tunggal had to be closed. The arrangement was for the international groups to come in last so we were sent to the back of the long line which also meant a very long wait.

It was then that I had an almost overwhelming feeling of pride for my country, Malaysia. Sitting on the sidewalk and listening to the hypnotizing flute music as a Silat group was rehearsing, I watched young future Wushu masters play amongst themselves and not far on my right a Silambam practitioner was sorting out weapons to be used for a demonstration.

I was reminded again that different cultures could come and sit on a dirty road together for an event such as this, despite all the racial issues that our country has been facing. Those issues seemed petty that night as 1Malaysia unfolded in front of me.

From where I was sitting I could also hear Mr. Da Silva laughing loudly with the Japanese drum master as they joked about how the Japanese group would have to enter the parade with a lorry to enable them to bring in their giant drums.

I was later engaged in a conversation with a participant from the African group who was a Melaka Multimedia University student from Nigeria. I asked him about how Malaysia has been treating him so far and he had a mixture of answers. He told me that people squirmed away from him if he so much as asked for the direction to the bus station but then again, there are people like me who he could just sit and have a nice conversation with. Yes, I revealed to him that I was not really a Brazilian.

The next day the rest of the Brazilian team arrived for the opening parade. We went to Jalan Dato’ Bandar Tunggal in our superhero outfits; white t-shirts, white pants and cords of different colors around our waists to acknowledge our respective levels.

While the team headed to the back of the line, Mr. Da Silva and I joined the other group representatives for the souvenir exchanging ceremony. We were behind a couple of Indonesian dancers who were clad in colorful and glittering costumes. Ahead of us in the line, other dancers from different groups were also in their costumes.

My instructor and I shared a giggle between us looking at our plain white uniforms and yes, Havaianas flip flops worn out from everyday use. Nevertheless, we received the loudest cheer from the audience when the emcee announced, “Brazil!” and we walked casually up the stage to meet YB Dato’ Haji Mohammad Razi bin Haji Kail, a Minister in the tourism, art and culture department of Negeri Sembilan who officiated the event.

After the exchange of souvenirs we hurried to the back of the line, where the party had already started. There was a small circle where Brazilian and Japanese percussion combined their sounds with the Africans dancing in the circle. The newly arrived Thai and Indonesian dancers were either too shy to join us or they did not want to ruin their shiny costumes.

When it was our turn in front of the grand stand, we were already pumped up and ready to give the audience a hint of the 400-year old Brazilian culture. The spotlight blinded us but we could still hear the roaring crowd and that pumped us up even more, which was probably the reason why we exceeded the five minutes allocated to us.

The Japanese drummers who were before us stayed by the sideline to cheer us on and we did the same for the African dancers who performed after us. The instant feeling of camaraderie proved that the 1Malaysia concept does not only apply to the different local ethnicities but also to the groups from abroad who come to our country for either work, study or leisure.

At the end of the parade, we ended up not joining the ‘Tarian Piring’ but just sat back and enjoyed the show. As soon as it ended, the crowd swarmed into the road to take pictures with the dancers. It was probably the camera flashes that caused one of us to blow our cover.

“Hi, what’s your name?” asked a lady after taking a picture of us with her three daughters to the best looking boy in our team. “Zul.” “Eh, Melayu!” she cried, followed by a choir of our slapped foreheads.

The closing ceremony the next day was held in the Auditorium of the Taman Budaya Negeri Sembilan at 8pm. It was lower key than the opening. Only a few groups stayed on for the closing ceremony and after each did their performances, everybody came together for a final Malay dance and they were amazed to see ‘Brazilians’ move gracefully to the traditional music.