20 January 2006

Gema Dikir March 1987




The deadline was March 1987. That was the Big day.
Three months worth of blood, sweat and tears… oh yes, there were tears.
Trying to get twenty willing Sec 3 girls within Malay Society to participate is nigh impossible. A few even defected to join the Boria team (more of that later) so we had to rope in the NPCC girls, band girls and two Sec 2s Hanin and Marziah.

Suzana (as she was known those days) did the lyrics and was the Juara of the team. Nani, the more than capable Tukang Karut. Weeks were spent choreographing the hand movements - we worked on a more “flowery” and showy moves; easily done since there are hardcore Malay dancers in the team.

The Rafflesian’s quest for perfection did not stop there. It was in the practice, practice, practice; often at the back of the canteen, just under the stairs leading up to the Anderson Hall. Every hand angle was scrutinised and spotted, every head tilt, every sway and oh the hours we spent perfecting the good hollow clap! Hours and hours singing so that we can be heard at the back of the hall without sounding shrill. There is something therapeutic about yelling (opps! I mean singing) out “Eh Wau Bulan Eh Wau Bulan” at the top of your voice.



A good few hours spent training and then we are off to Taman Serasi at Botanic Gardens. Nothing beats a sore throat like a cold soursop juice or an ice kachang (10cts. discount from the auntie if Anita were to come along). Everyone tucked in either to a Roti John with the powerful chilli sauce or the mee soto with the even hotter sambal. Ah…where is Taman Serasi now?

There is no way I am going to let my girls wear that horrible Angklung blouse so it’s fund raising time folks! After discussions with Cikgu Rohaya, we approached Mrs Chee to set up a food stall for two weeks. On my paper petition, she made a note “Pls make sure the students wash their hands”. Two weeks running, Sri Perwira sold hotdogs, keropok, rojak and kueh. Not bad really – we managed to raise enough money to buy the materials for twenty costumes.

Off to Arab Street with Roziana’s mum and we chose black for the baju kurung and ochre/gold for the kain samping and kain selimpang. Matching gold ribbon for headband and decoration for the cekak musang collar. Roziana’s mom sewed everything (thanks to Roziana who pleaded with her mom, she charged a very low rate of $10 per costume!). It was great to try on the costume on one Saturday afternoon – felt very garang, you know, tying on the headband. After that, it is a norm to tie your headband onto your school bag. It’s like a special membership to an exclusive club.

*Trivia – if any of the SP girls are reading this, the position you are nearer to the centre means has a little to do with height and a lot on how well you do the moves. That’s the sneaky thing that Suzana and I did when we do the arrangements. That’s why Lat is asked to do the important job of playing the tambourine. That girl can’t dance but she can definitely keep a beat! *

The big day finally arrived. We changed, applied our make-up in the school canteen and trooped onto the bus taking us to NYJC. A week earlier, Victoria School organised a Boria competition and our girls had horrible time. Somehow, the PA and sound system were screwed and the girls took some time to recover. I don’t know what other people think of RGS girls but we are sometimes targets for “sabo”. Noraserene and some of the other girls were crying right after the performance and I remember them saying “Never mind about us! You’ll beat them next week!”

The atmosphere at NY was electric. Gema Dikir has always been such a popular competition, open to Secondary and JC and that year was no exception. More than 10 teams had taken part and the hall is chock-a-block with team in their colourful costumes and their screaming supporters. It had always been Dunearn Sec (Sri Kelanas) in top three and Crescent Girls will take the coveted 2nd spot (somehow girl teams never win first place in this competition).

Dunearn's performance was magnicient. JJC had a hilarious lyric which is still stuck in my mind twenty years on : Kami datang dari JJC, datang kesini naik teksi, tambangnye mahal sekali, nasib baik cikgy yang bagi. *ketawa lepak* Crescent Girls were ultra feminine with their fake curly hair, Cedar Girls was fab as well.

Before long, it was our turn. I cannot describe how I was shaking. A last ‘Al-fatihah’ and we are off onto the stage. Took our places behind the curtain, last minute “good luck”s and “remember to smile”. The MC annouced “Sekolah Menengah Raffles” and the curtains were drawn. Faces upon faces looked at us and three judges right in front with Yusnor Ef, the chief judge, in his big glasses.

Suzana’s melodic voice broke the silence. On raising my head and my hands for the movements of the opening verse, the only thing I can focus on was IU’s big smile through the pelepah kelapa. After all that training, the movements were graceful and fluid, the clapping solid, the voice powerful. Some of our more exotic movements were greeted with cheers. *Especially time kita pukul bangku. Bukan main suka lagi audience tu. Hahahaa. Nasib baik pukul bangku, bukan baling bangku*

I messed up one movement – me! Chief choreographer missed one move! How lame is that? – silly me! Instead of enjoying the time, I was obsessed with that one missed move. We finished to much applause and ran off stage. A guy was sitting at the steps on the way off stage. He looked very serious when he said “Very Good” I was in tears about that stupid missed move.

The waiting was unbearable. The MC finally had the results. They announced the best Tukang Karut and Best Juara. Suzana won Best Juara! We erupted into yells and cheers. They announced the Third Place winners. We were holding each other in agony. “Tempat Kedua… Sekolah Menengah… Raffles!” For a few seconds, we were stunned before breaking out in screams. We were jumping up and down too much to remember to go onto stage. IU ran up first and grabbed the trophy and I was up there and then the rest came. I was sobbing, my make-up running off onto a senior’s white prefect’s blouse– what do I care what I looked like. Hanisa was on the chair screaming “Tiga bulan! Tiga bulan!”

Victory is so sweet. Especially one that you worked so hard for. We were giddy and on a high. We went back to the allocated classroom to change and Anita went mad scribbling on the blackboard “We love you NYJC! I want to come here after O levels”. Little did she know how prophetic those words were. Well, no dikir barat session is complete without going to BG and there we met the winners, the team from Dunearn, also partaking their dinner. So over mee soto, roti john and ice kachang, we celebrated our win. Hidup Sri Perwira!

10 comments:

yuRa said...

Girl, please make amends before any of the Alangs or Kelanas get a read on this post.

Dunearn guys are Sri Kelanas.
Ang Mo Kio, Alang Ikan Duyung.

Hidup Sri Perwira!!!

yuRa said...

well chronicled. nothing less than what i had expected of you! : )

yuRa said...

every year after that, there were a bevy of pukul bangkus!! haha

semua coveting to be kaki pukul! haha.

note : i am flooding your comment box! hahha

yuRa said...

ok very lame. just did a google search for sri satria and found a blog by rgs girls. can go here http://sri_satria.pitas.com/. or have you known all along?

yuRa said...

ada photo page. heh. http://public.fotki.com/krylonsky/

eh, actually i am quite irked they kept the name sri satria instead of sri perwira. hmph!

Nani said...

Oh how powerful yr memory is... You remember almost every single bit of what happened... of the preps to the Big Day and of course the results and our reactions (that bit I remember because I stood on the chair screaming my lungs out...pompan mana tu? aku tak kenal!)and the celebrations after that...
Having broken the RGS-never-win-Dikir Barat tradition, it was definitely a sweet,memorable and well-deserved victory.
It's definitely not enough to have the win etched in our minds..
Surely, well-crafted Shikin...

melayudilondon said...

hallo darlings! I hope the scribe brought back some lovely memories.
peluk cium from me!

yuRa said...

woohoooo!! dah ada gambar!

mana credit?? hehehhe

melayudilondon said...

Opp Opp! sorry. nanti royalty aku bayar. picture is courtesy of IU!

Razali - dikir barat Dunearn Pre-U said...

Excellent write up! After all these years...dikir barat competition lives on.