By: Adliana Damia Hamizan & Nik Zaini Peei
SERDANG, Jan 15 – Preservation of intangible cultural heritage continues to be held through the organisation of the traditional oral performance programme targeting the public, school students, and the Higher Education Institution (HEI) students.
The programme from the Traditional Oral Performance (QKB2109) course was organised by the Co-curriculum and Student Development Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), in collaboration with the Prime Minister's Department, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Sarawak Branch, SMK Puteri Wangsa, Johore, and SMK Kudat II, Sabah.
The programme with the theme “Upholding Culture Honouring Heritage” (Menjulang Budaya Menjunjung Warisan) aimed to showcase the diversity of traditional oral performance through the practice of transferring knowledge to the target group.
Program Director, Adliana Damia Hamizan, said UPM took the initiative to organise the webinar to enliven oral performance through collaboration with arts practitioners and conducted an oral performance competition, a poem and prose poetry recitation virtually.
"Organising programme as such can be an initiative in preserving and upholding the arts heritage, especially for the younger generation, as well as promoting the culture of knowledge transfer to the community," she said.
She further added that among the challenges faced today was the decrease in the number of practitioners in traditional oral culture due to the lack of new apprentices as well as supporters to honour the culture.
The webinar to enliven oral performance was a success with the showcase of panellists from various backgrounds. The topic of discussion by Nurul Izzati Adlina Abdullah from SMK Kudat II, Sabah, entitled “Oral Literature of the Rungus Tribe, Kudat”.
The second panellist, Mohd Husaini Mohamad Rofi, from the Prime Minister's Department, shared his thoughts on “High Culture in the Art of Poetry Recitation”.
A representative from SMK Puteri Wangsa, Johor, Siti Nurulain Taham, showed the recitation technique of prose poetry and discussed “Poetic Works from Modern Poetry”.
The fourth panellist from UiTM Mukah Campus, Ikhwan Naguib Jusoh, spoke about the “Freedom of Speech in Composing”. - UPM
