文章基本信息

标题：Distant Drums and Thunderous Cannon: Sounding Authority in Traditional Malay Society
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作者：Barbara Watson Andaya.
期刊名称：International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies
印刷版ISSN：1823-6243
出版年度：2011
卷号：7
期号：2
页码：17-33
出版社：Penerbit USM
摘要：Pre-modern Malay society was intensely oral and aural, and the texts that are now read were always intended for group recitation and performance. Studies of auditory history in other societies have emphasised that in the past, sounds were experienced differently from the way they are heard today. At the very basic level, thunder—the voice of the heavens—established the benchmark and the basis for comparison for awe-inspiring sounds that humans could attempt to replicate, notably in the beating of drums and the firing of cannon. Together with the noseflute, the drum is the oldest and most indigenous Malay instrument, and the drums that were included in royal regalia were accorded personalities of their own. Cannon were introduced much later, but quickly assumed a preeminent position as personified embodiments of extraordinary supernatural power registered in the awe-inspiring noise of their thunder-like firing. At the same time, the sounds of both cannon and drums were fused with their physical presence as representations of fertility to create a complex sensory experience, conveying messages that were central to the functioning of the society. This paper argues that in the pre-modern Malay soundscape, drums and cannon functioned as visual and aural proclamations of identity, helping to define the community’s cultural parameters by drawing elite and commoner together.