Performing the Arts of Indonesia: Malay Identity and Politics in the Music, Dance and Theatre of the Riau Island

Presents Indonesias performing arts in relation of Malay identity, and politics in the music dance and theatre of the Riau island. Focuses on the Riau Archipelago in the Southern Malay world, the traditional arts in the western, northern and northeastern part of Archipelagos, and the cities of art and popular culture. Includes the polities of identity, and concepts of place and space, the sound of music and the Orang Suku Laut, the nobat ensemble in the Riau-Lingga sultanate, colonial-era demise and sonic, the relations in nineteenth-century literary texts. Studies the vanished era of the Lingga-Riau sultanate, the musical practice of two biola players, kinship among Penyengat, Zapin dancing and Gambus music in the Viceroy’s court at Penyengat. Mentions Gobang mask dance theatre, Mendu theatre performance in the Natuna islands, music composers and performers of Tanjaungpinang and Penyengat, and musical cosmopolitanism in Kepri.