The Borneo Music Collections

The Borneo People

An estimated 18 million people live on the island, with the majority based in the coastal lowlands and cities. The forests of the Heart of Borneo area are of high value for people’s livelihoods and the environment. There is a strong interdependence between Indigenous Peoples and the resources as well as the services the forest provides. The indigenous peoples of the Heart of Borneo are commonly known as Dayak. The term was coined by Europeans referring to the non-Malay inhabitants of Borneo.

There are over 50 ethnic Dayak groups speaking different languages. This cultural and linguistic diversity parallels the high biodiversity and related traditional knowledge of the Heart of Borneo. Diverse Dayak languages Cultural tradition and arts Tattoos Dance.

Languages

Many of Borneo’s languages are endemic. It is estimated that around 170 languages and dialects are spoken on the island of Borneo and some by just a few hundred people, thus posing a serious risk to the future of those languages and related heritage.

Culture

Borneo culture and art are reflected and expressed through custom, dance and music, food and drink, and even tattoo.

Tattoos

Traditional tattooing has been customary among men and women in several groups of Dayak Peoples. They use motif designs of snakes, birds and plants, sometimes combined, to symbolise meanings such as bravery, patience and beauty. The motifs are symbolic of the social class, and of individuals of a certain social standing that are allowed to be tattooed with particular motifs.

Dance

The traditional Dayak hornbill dance is named after the bird with a big casque, long down-curved bill and black and white feathers. The hornbill is both an important species and cultural symbol for Dayak peoples. The hornbill dance, the most well-known traditional Dayak dance, is performed in stylised movements of the arms to resemble a flying hornbill. Both men and women wear an adorned headdress, women dancers hold hornbill feathers tied to their hands which will open up when the hands move, while men dancers will hold a shield and a ritual knife. The dance is usually accompanied by sape music. Originally, dances were performed as part of a post-warfare ritual, to greet returning warriors who fought the enemy or came back from successful head-hunting expeditions. Nowadays, dances are commonly featured during the rice harvest season, New Year and other celebrations, or to greet important visitors to the community.

The Music

The sape’, (also known as sampe or sapeh), is a traditional lute played by many of the Dayak communities in the Heart of Borneo during celebrations, like harvest festivals (gawai) and rituals. One string carries the melody and the accompanying two strings are struck rhythmically to produce a drone.

(Source WWF)

The Borneo Collections consist of 5 Albums of Music

A Visit To Borneo: Exotic Music from Dusun Murut, Bajau

Kwangkay Funerary Music of the Dayak Benuaq, Borneo

Music of Kenyah, Modang in East Kalimantan; Indonesia

Musique des Chasseurs de Tetes Kalimantan The Album

Musique Dayak of (1953-1954) - Traditional Dayak Music

The Borneo Music Collections

(MP3 Googledrive Access)