Entry by Nbilla Jane Riza
World most complicated music. Have you ever think about it? A fact from my current read book tells me that it is gamelan. Research by Heather Jennings, a physicist, outcomes a number from zero to one as the indicator of complexity. The closer the music came to one, the more complex it was. Gamelan got the highest value, and is above Brazillian forro, techno, jazz, and rock ‘n’ roll. Sorry to suffocating death metal and the chaos of fengtau; they are classified as noise.
Waduh! Gamelan, sayang... is the song that they play during kuda kepang! As I read the fact, it made me realized why people were so "into" the kuda kepang when the music was being played.
"Gamelan is as interesting as it is complex. There’s a mesmeric quality to gamelan, which stems from the repetitious nature of its rythms. A single chime sounds familiar and ordinary, but many chimes combined create an effect that is other-worldly and rather beautiful.” - Mark Lewis
How crazy was that? Even a Mat Salleh felt what I felt! No wonder people was possessed!
JOHO, lets watch some kuda kepang!
The Arulmigu Sri Raja Kallamman temple, the world's first glass temple, in Jalan Tebrau in Johor Bahru has become a major tourist attraction. It is a first of its kind with more than a million pieces of colourful glass adorning the temple's walls, ceiling, domes and pillars. The glasses were imported from Thailand, Japan and Belgium. The temple was built at the cost of RM3 million.
The grand building that was completed in year 1866 was previously used as the Grand Palace where Sultan Abu Bakar, the father of Johor modernization rest in peace.
The museum is located at a 60-year-old building along Jalan Ibrahim in the heart of the city and is the first museum of its kind in the country. The museum features e a collection of artifacts related to the Cantonese, Hokkien, Hainanese, Hakka and Teochew clans that would mainly comprise of pictures on cultural events celebrated in the olden days and also cultural tools and equipment used in the past that are rarely found now.