Malay Folk Music

Malay folk music is the traditional song repertory of the Malay world of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei, sung in Malay to pantun quatrains. Its core forms include the slow, melismatic asli, the dance genres joget, inang and zapin, the sung poetry of dondang sayang and the Johor ghazal ensemble, played on gambus lute, violin, accordion, gendang drums and gongs. Village entertainment, wedding celebrations and court patronage sustained the repertory, which twentieth-century singers such as *Rosiah Chik* carried onto record and *Noraniza Idris* later revived for the pop market.