By Chloe Ngu Hui Jing
The 24 Festival Drums is a drum performance that combines the 24 seasons with the Guangdong Lion Drum.
In Chinese traditional culture, the 24 Festival Drums holds a special place that reflects the natural world and the ancient people’s awareness of seasonal changes.
Based on China’s ancient lunar calendar, the year is split into 24 seasons, each linked to changes in the weather, farming practices, and natural occurrences. Considering this, the 24 Festival Drums emphasise the passage of time and the circle of life by immersing listeners in the ambience of several seasons through its music.
The rich cultural legacy and intimate ties to the natural environment of the Chinese people are reflected in this ancient instrument.
In 2009, Malaysia officially acknowledged this art form as part of its intangible cultural heritage, a recognition that has subsequently garnered global acclaim.
The historical development of the 24 Festival Drums
A national Chinese dance festival inspired a cultural figure, Tai Chai Puan, in 1988. He used the calligraphy art of the 24 solar terms to “carve the back” of 24 single-skin drums; each drum represented a solar term. He is forming a performance concept integrating heaven, earth, and people.
Tai Chai Puan’s original idea was transformed into the 24 Festival Drums with a complete performance form after receiving the musical creation of music educator and composer Tan Hooi Song.
The world’s first 24 Festival Drums troupe was funded by the Chinese Association of Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and the five major associations of Teochew, Fujian, Hakka, Guangdong, and Hainan.
It was established at Foon Yew High School in Johor Bahru. Time flies, and the 24 Festival Drums has slowly spread from Johor Bahru Foon Yew High School to all parts of the country and the world.
Various 24 Festival Drums competitions are held all year round. The competition between each other in drumming skills provides indispensable nutrients for the development of 24 Festival Drums so that the cultural connotation and drumming technology of 24 Festival Drums are continuously improved.
UNIMAS 24 Festival Drums
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) has its own 24 Festival Drums team, which is affiliated with UNIMAS Chinese Cultural Association (CCA) and Badan Budaya UNIMAS (BAYU).
UNIMAS 24 Festival Drums gathers a group of youth who love the performance. It is led by Coach Louis Bong Boon Kong. Louis is a veteran and full-time instructor who has participated in countless 24 Festival Drums competitions and performances. He is the first instructor in East Malaysia to be awarded a Professional Instructor’s License by the Drum Association of Malaysia.
UNIMAS 24 Festival Drums is dedicated to strengthening the culture of the performance among the students by providing long-term lessons and training to cultivate new blood.
Under Louis’ guidance, UNIMAS 24 Festival Drums celebrated a momentous occasion in their drum corps career — the first time they performed at an outside school.
They were honoured to be invited to participate in the opening ceremony of the 54th Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health Conference 2023 which was held on October 31 at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK).
The venue witnessed a spectacular musical performance by UNIMAS 24 Festival Drums, and Louis proudly announced that this was his maiden work, which was given the name “Sarawakian”. He also said that he and the performers trained in just a month.
During the short training period, Louis said he worked hard with the performers to memorise the drum beat and rehearse the dance moves. He said it took hard work to put this performance on stage in such a short period of time.
Through this off-campus performance, UNIMAS 24 Festival Drums not only demonstrated the high level of their talent but also incorporated Louis’ unique insights into music.
The performance was a showcase on the stage and the crystallisation of the team’s tacit understanding and collaboration. This performance has opened a new chapter for the future exploration of UNIMAS 24 Festival Drums.
The challenge of learning the 24 Festival Drums
The 24 Festival Drums training is a comprehensive programme focusing on physical fitness and skill development. Learning the performance involves a series of challenges that require trainees to progress in many areas.
Firstly, learners need to overcome physical challenges such as running and doing sit-ups to ensure that they can maintain stability during performances.
Participants engage in activities such as running, Zama, sit-ups, carrying drums, stacking drums, and rowing drums to build endurance and strength.
Secondly, trainees need to learn to play the drum notation and grasp the rhythm of the beat. In addition, they need to master the coordination of their left and right hands to ensure accurate movements. However, some trainees may need help coordinating the rhythm and movement of the beat.
Louis guides students to master the beat by starting from the drum notation, learning left and right mnemonics, accurately counting beats, and memorising the drum notation. This helps trainees understand and master the rhythmic changes of the music. Memorising the drum notation also allows students to exercise their memory and concentration.
Louis believes that trainees’ teamwork coordination is the biggest challenge during the learning process. The 24 Festival Drums is usually a group performance that requires all trainees to be consistent in their movements, rhythms, and expressions. Coordination of movement is an integral part of a group’s performance.
The 24 Festival Drums is accompanied by sophisticated choreography and complex movements, and participants need to be consistent in time and space to present a neat and powerful picture. This requires participants to be proficient in individual movements and to ensure that these movements blend organically within the group.
Coordinating teamwork in this process is a challenge not only on a technical level but also on a tacit understanding and trust-building level. Through continuous practice and interaction, participants gradually form a tightly knit team that can present a high-level 24 Festival Drums performance on stage.
- This article was written by a student from the Strategic Communication Programme at the Faculty of Education, Language and Communication, UNIMAS.
