Several musical forms of Sabah, Malaysia
E.M. Frame’s “Several musical forms of Sabah, Malaysia” (1976) is an ethnomusicological survey of traditional musical practices in the state of Sabah on the island of Borneo. Published in the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, the article documents and categorises the diverse musical forms found among Sabah’s various ethnic groups, reflecting the cultural plurality of the region.
Summary
The article provides a descriptive account of the principal musical forms encountered in Sabah, drawing on field observation and local knowledge. Frame identifies and distinguishes between different categories of music—vocal, instrumental, and dance-associated—across the state’s major ethnic communities, including the Kadazan-Dusun, Bajau, Murut, and other groups. The work situates Sabahan music within the broader context of Bornean and Southeast Asian musical traditions, noting both distinctive local features and regional parallels.
The article addresses the challenge of classifying musical forms in a multi-ethnic society where boundaries between genres are often fluid and where many traditions are oral and performative rather than notated. Frame’s approach is primarily taxonomic and descriptive, aiming to provide a reference framework for further study rather than to advance a single interpretive thesis.
Key Findings
- The article identifies multiple distinct musical forms across Sabah’s ethnic groups, including vocal genres (songs, chants, laments), instrumental music (gongs, drums, stringed instruments, flutes), and music associated with specific ceremonial or social contexts (pagan festivals, weddings, funerals, healing rituals).
- Frame documents the use of gong-chime ensembles (related to the kulintangan tradition) among the Kadazan-Dusun and other lowland groups, as well as the prominence of the sape (a plucked string instrument) in Bajau musical culture.
- The article notes the role of music in ritual and cosmological contexts, particularly in the Pagan harvest festival of the Kadazan-Dusun, where specific musical forms are integral to the ceremonial sequence.
- Frame highlights the diversity of drum types and their associated musical functions across different ethnic communities in Sabah.
- The work acknowledges that many musical traditions in Sabah were at risk of decline due to modernisation and the influence of Malay and Western musical forms.
Conclusion
Frame’s article serves as an early systematic documentation of Sabahan musical heritage, providing a foundational reference for subsequent ethnomusicological research in the region. Its value lies in its breadth of coverage and its attempt to impose an analytical framework on a highly diverse musical landscape, even if the classification system it proposes has since been refined by later scholars.
Context
- The article was published in the second issue of Volume 49 of the JMBRAS, which also contained the Society’s Annual Report for 1975/1976 (the text provided in the source document). The article itself appears on pages 156–163 of the journal volume.
- Frame’s work represents one of the earlier scholarly attempts to document Sabahan music in a peer-reviewed academic journal, predating the more extensive ethnomusicological surveys that would follow in the 1980s and 1990s.