Sumazau

The Sumazau is a traditional dance performed by the Kadazan from Penampang and Papar districts, and by the Dusun (where it is known as sumayau) as well as the Murut (with alternate version) from adjacent areas in the western coast and interior of Sabah, Malaysia throughout the Kaamatan festival. The dance involves male and female pairs who are dressed in traditional clothing. The rhythm of the dance is set by the beat of hanging gongs. It is performed by raising both arms to shoulder height and flapping them. Both the Malaysian federal and Sabah state governments have declared the dance, its music, and traditional clothing as a national heritage which includes the ritual processes and tools that are classified as the Kadazan tangible and intangible cultural heritage.¶

Clothing

The clothing ensemble most associated with the sumazau is called the sinombiaka or baju sumazau in Malay language, which refers to traditional clothing made out of black cloth and gold braid. For women, it is accessorised with the tangkong (three rows of small brass rings attached to rattan) and himpogot, a belt of British trade dollar coins that were issued from 1895 to 1937. Men wear sigar, a colourful headcloth woven by the Iranun people which is obtained via trade with the Sama-Bajau and named podong/tanjak by the latter.¶

Movements

The sumazau begins with the first movement where dancers shift their weight from foot to foot while keeping their knees bent and arms swinging on their sides in time to the music. When a male dancer cues the other dancers, they switch to another position where the arms are outstretched and their feet are on tiptoes. Men move their arms in a gentle rolling motion while women motion their arms with their elbows bent downwards and raise their heels slightly. This move imitates the departure of a bird, specifically an eagle, which would have been visible from paddy fields.¶

Music

The term sumazau can also refer to the music associated with the dance, known in Malay as rentak sumazau (sumazau rhythm). Otherwise, it is also called magagong (to hit a gong), the nominalised form pagagungan or magagong sumazau.¶

Instruments

The dance is usually accompanied by a sompogogungan, a set of six to seven hanging gongs, and a gandang. The sumazau ensemble may include a kulintangan.¶

Sompogogungan

In Gunsing (also spelled Guunsing) village of Penampang District, the gongs are named as such, left to right from the players' viewpoint:¶

Sanang (canang in Malay) Sasalakan Naanangong Hahambatan Other Hotungong Tontoongan Tatavag Each gong name denotes the musical part that it plays. The gongs are classified into two types. Sanang gongs are small with thick brass walls, a single knob on a flat surface and a rim bent downwards. On the other hand, the remaining three gongs (called tawag among interior Sabah Kadazan-Dusuns) are heavy, made of brass or bronze, have deep rims, and the front surface is raised near the centre with larger knobs.¶

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Sumazau”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.¶

Sumazau is Traditional dance originating from Sabah, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition.¹¶

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation.¹¶