The Tageh sing ritual of the Kensiw, Kedah, Malaysia
S. Nagata’s 2013 note in the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society documents the tageh sing ritual of the Kensiw (Orang Asli) of Kedah, based on fieldwork conducted in the early 1970s near Baling. The article argues that tageh represents a distinct genre of religious performance—neither shamanistic seance nor seasonal-fruit ceremony—that is unique to the Kensiw and may constitute a polar type within the broader spectrum of Orang Asli ritual singing.
Summary
The article situates tageh within Geoffrey Benjamin’s typology of Orang Asli religious practice, which distinguishes between seasonal-fruit shamanism (west) and tiger shamanism (east). Nagata demonstrates that the Kensiw maintain a clear distinction between penlogn pano’ (the shamanistic ceremony involving a conical structure and tiger-spirit possession) and penlogn tageh (a communal singing ritual). The tageh is performed at night on the seventh day after a death, during a kenduri feast that marks the end of the mourning period. The ritual is conducted in total darkness to avoid frightening cenoy (sky spirits) who join the singing, and the purpose of the performance is to invite these spirits and sing for the well-being of all participants (pp. 78–79).
Nagata draws on his own field notes from the early 1970s, supplemented by later recordings from 1991, to describe the ritual’s structure. The cao neges (sing leader) opens by inhaling smoke from embers of heli kasa and blowing it in four directions to address Tapn (Thunder-God) and request protection for the throat, which may suffer from prolonged singing. The leader may also perform brief healing treatments—inhaling breath from a patient’s chest and exhaling it outward—before the communal singing begins, accompanied by a large horizontal bamboo drum struck with a woven palas palm beater. The smoke from the embers serves as a communicative medium between humans and tageh (the spiritual force invoked), a function Nagata compares to the Temiar use of fragrance in incantation (pp. 79–81).
The article also addresses the decline of tageh performance, noting that complaints from surrounding Malay peasants about the noise of singing and bamboo drums have contributed to its suppression in resettlement communities (p. 80, n. 29).
Key Findings
- The tageh ritual is performed at night on the seventh day (hay tujoh) after a death, during a kenduri feast marking the end of mourning; additional feasts may occur on the 16th, 20th, 40th, and 50th days (pp. 79–80, n. 25).
- The ritual must be conducted in total darkness so as not to frighten cenoy (sky spirits) who join the singing; the purpose of penlogn is to invite cenoy and sing for the well-being of all participants (p. 79).
- The musical instrument is a 5-inch-diameter bamboo tube, 5–6 feet long, called lebeh or gendang, held horizontally and struck with a sandal-shaped beater made of woven palas palm (pano’ palas); no woman plays this instrument (p. 81).
- The embers used in the opening ritual are made from heli kasa, identified by a botanist at Universiti Sains Malaysia as Dianella ensifolia (Family: Liliaceae) (p. 80).
- The cao neges (sing leader) is described as sedikit hala’ (‘a little bit shaman’) because he can play the drum and sing, but is not a full shaman (p. 80).
- One reason for the decline of tageh performance is complaints from Malay peasants living around the resettlement community about the ‘noise’ (bising) of singing and bamboo drums (p. 80, n. 29).
Conclusion
Nagata concludes that while Orang Asli healing and dream songs are widely disseminated across ethnolinguistic groups with local innovation and cross-group adoption, the tageh sing ritual appears unique to the Kensiw in that no other group performs a similar ritual, and it may therefore represent one polar type within this genre of performance (p. 81).
Context
- Primary sources: Nagata’s own field notes (1971–2001, University of Toronto), supplemented by 1991 audio recordings; the article also draws on earlier ethnographic literature by Benjamin, Schebesta, Evans, van der Sluys, and Roseman.
- Historiographical contribution: The article fills a gap in the literature on western Orang Asli religious practice by documenting a ritual genre (tageh) that is distinct from the better-known shamanistic ceremonies, and by identifying the unique musical instrument and botanical materials involved.