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MALAYSIAN MUSIC IN CONTEXT:
Geographical Location
Social and Political Background: People | History | Economics
Trends and Developments in Music


A lack of documentation has resulted in little being definitely known in concrete terms about Malaysian history prior to the 15th century other than that, like surrounding areas, Hinduism was a dominant influence on the locals, being brought to the region by traders from India. Chinese sources also record early contact between traders from China and the Malay peninsula. Straits Settlement Chinese or the Peranakan arose from this period.

With the conversion of the Malay prince Parameswara to Islam in 1410 and his founding of the Sultanate of Melaka, Islam spread rapidly throughout the region as Melaka expanded her territories. In 1511, the Portuguese successfully conquered Melaka only to be be faced with constant battles with neighbouring Malay states until they too were conquered in turn, this time by the Dutch in 1641. The Dutch succeeded in holding on to Melaka and some parts of Johor until 1824 when the British arrived to buy over portions of the peninsula. Up until this time, the northern Malay states were predominantly under Thai control. These were eventually bought over by the British in 1909, as were territories in present day East Malaysia from various Europeans who had gained them as gifts from the Sultans of Brunei and Sulu in the 19th century bought over in 1882 by the British North Borneo (Chartered) Company. (Milne 1994).

The mid 19th- to the mid 20th- centuries saw the influx of a large number of immigrants from China and India, encouraged by the British to man the growing tin and rubber industries. By the mid 1940s, the population of the Malay states was about 50% Malay, 37% Chinese and 12% Indian, with deep division between the groups resulting from religious, linguistic and cultural differences. (Chong 1985).

The hallmarks of a plural society (Furnival 1939) were thus firmly entrenched, and the diversity of music in the country as described by Rahmah Bujang (1987) and the Information Malaysia 1994 YearBook (1994) can be seen to be a mere reflection of this state of events.