Razak Abdul Aziz’s Pepatah Episodes: Re-Imaging the Malay Proverbs through Piano Music
(1) Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Abstract
Proverb sits under the umbrella of figurative language and is used to sweeten speeches. In Malay, pepatah is the equivalent of this form of figurative language. Razak Abdul Aziz, a Malaysian composer, selected a set of Malay proverbs and adapted them into his piano work, Pepatah Episodes. The composer follows the tradition of piano programme music that uses figurative language elements championed by composers such as Alexander Scriabin, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel. This paper aims to investigate the pepatahs chosen to be paired with the written music, expounding the programme in the movements for piano. Using the programme music analysis framework by Burkholder et al. (2014) and Kregor (2015), the finding shows that the composer chose the pepatahs for one of the three (3) portrayals: (i) imageries in the pepatah (ii) imageries in the meaning, and (iii) imageries in pepatah and meaning. The programme analysis shows that from the nine (9) movements written for piano, four (4) movements portray imageries in the pepatah, three (3) movements portray imageries in the meaning, and two (2) movements portray imageries in the pepatah and meaning. Razak Abdul Aziz challenges the conventions of programme music by having the pepatah set after the music is written, demanding the performer to read it aloud before performing and having the portrayal of the pepatah in the mentioned ways. This provides a different perspective for other composers to produce works using similar frameworks and scholars to analyse musical works.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Amuah, J. A., & Wuaku, H. M. (2019). Use of proverbs as communicative tool in Ghanaian choral music compositions. Legon Journal of the Humanities, 30(1), 133-160. doi:10.4314/ ljh.v30i1.6
Abdul Aziz, R. (2020, 2 October). OnPepatah Episodes part 1 [WhatsApp conversation].
Abdul Aziz, R. (2021, 2 August). OnPepatah Episodes part 2 [Personal interview].
Abdul Aziz, R. (2022, 4 August). OnPepatah Episodes part 3 [Personal interview].
Bakar, J., Esten, M., Surin, A., & Busri. (1981). Sastra Lisan Minangkabau. Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa.
Ballard, L., & Bengtson, M. (2017). The Alexander Scriabin companion: History, performance, and lore. Rowman & Littlefield.
Beard, D., & Gloag, K. (2005). Musicology: The Key Concept. Routledge.
Bowers, F. (1974). The New Scriabin: Enigma and answers. David & Charles.
Burkholder, J. P., Grout, D. J., & Palisca, C. V. (2014). A history of western music (9th ed.). W.W. Norton & Company.
Debussy, C. (2007). Favorite piano works. Schirmer.
Guo, S. (2019). A Study of Claude Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque: Prelude, Menuet, Clair de Lune and Passepied (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Kansas.
Hall, V. (1988, November 27). Razak Abdul Aziz: the reluctant composer. The Star.
Hinson, M. (2003). Anthology of Romantic Piano Music with Performance Practices in Romantic Piano Music: Book & DVD. Alfred Music Publishing.
Honeck, R. P., Voegtle, K., Dorfmueller, M. A., & Hoffman, R. R. (2020). Proverbs, Meaning, and Group Structure. In Cognition and figurative language (pp. 127-161). Routledge.
Kamien, R. (2011). Music: An Appreciation (7th ed.). McGraw Hill.
Kamus Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (n.d.) Pepatah. In prpm.dbp.gov.my. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://prpm. dbp.gov.my/ cari1?keyword=pepatah
Katz, A. N. (1998) Figurative Language and Figurative Thought: A Review. Figurative language and thought. 3-43 (Katz, A. N., Cacciari, C., Gibbs, Jr., R. W., & Turner, M., Eds). Oxford University Press.
Kregor, J. (2015). Program music. Cambridge University Press.
Lombardi, P. (2021). Feathered beams. MusMat: Brazilian Journal of Music and Mathematics, 5(2), 65–90. https://doi.org/10.46926/musmat.2021v5n2.65-90
Mat Piah, H. (1986). Pencirian dan Analisis Kesusateraan Melayu Klasik. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Mieder, W. (2004). Proverbs: A Handbook. Greenwood Press.
Mieder, W. (1996). Proverbs. In American folklore: An encyclopedia (J. Brunvand, Ed.) (pp. 597-601). Garland Publishing.
Nichols, R. (1998). The life of Debussy. Cambridge University Press.
Orenstein, A. (1991). Ravel: Man and musician. Dover Publications, Inc.
Parker, R. and Abbate, C. (eds) (1989). Analyzing Opera: Verdi and Wagner. University of California Press.
Program music. (2019, June 16). New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 4, 2022, from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Program_music
Robert, R. & Kreutz, R. (1994). Why do people use figurative language? Psychological Science, 5, 159-163.
Sackville-West, E., & Shawe-Taylor, D. (1951). The Record Guide. Collins.
Schmitz, E. R. (1850). The Piano Works of Claude Debussy. Duell, Sloan and Pearce.
Tomić, M. (2020). The role of harmony and timbre in Maurice Ravel’s cycle Gaspard de la Nuit in relation to form (Master’s thesis, Norges musikkhøgskole).
Winick, S. D. (2003). Cognition, comprehension, and communication: A decade of north american proverb studies: 1990-2000 (W. Mieder, Ed.). Schneider Vlg.
Zamani, M. F., Idrus, M. M., & Lin, G. Y. (2019). Razak Abdul Aziz: The Forgotten Composer. Asean Journal of Management and Business Studies, 1(1), 76-83. doi:10.26666/ rmp.ajmbs.2019.1.11
Zamani, M. F. (2021). Music of Razak Abdul Aziz: Preparing chosen solo and collaborative piano works for two academic recitals. Wacana Seni Journal of Arts Discourse, 20, 79-85. doi:10.21315/ws2021. 20. 7
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.