Traditional Malay Poem Syair in the Performances of Theater Boria

Syair presented the main poetic genre of Malay traditional literature up to and including the 19th century. Nowadays its preservation is in no small part due to its role in the performances of transitive theatre known as boria. This paper retraces a continuity from traditional didactic and historical syairs via politically engaged poems of the first half of the 20th century to the syairs of boria. Compared to syairs created in purely literary sphere, syairs of boria demonstrate some distinctive features. Commercial aspect of performance and stage singing influence their contents and poetics. Topics of socio-politically colored texts sound rather specific to meet the employer’s wishes. Laudatory syairs tracing back to traditional historical poems, minimize biographical facts giving place to compliments. As to poetics, isosyllabism of lines can be occasionally disturbed, while the final monorhyme is not always stressed in singing. Of immense significance in the composition of syair boria is its first quatrain announcing the theme of the poem and the name of the troupe. Today, syair appears as the most traditional component of boria theatre, contributing into its public status of the important Malay cultural heritage

Malay · Mode (computer interface) · Period (music) · Poetry · Singing · Theme (computing) · Transitive relation · Asian Studies and History · Cultural and Religious Practices in Indonesia · Linguistic, Cultural, and Literary Studies