Reviving the mystical masterpice

• Main Author: Farok Zakaria
• Format: Inaugural Lecture
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://discol.umk.edu.my/id/eprint/10/

The title of the show “ The Last Makyong” as quoted in the News Straits Time when Khatijah Awang performed it in Singapore in 1994 has almost came to a reality. Almost everyone now in Malaysia does not fully understand what is Makyong, let alone the younger generations from its birth place, Kelantan. Makyong used to be one of the reigning classical performing arts in Kelantan in the 50‟s, 60‟s and 70‟s. This art genre had become the talks of the town in those years. However, in the 80‟s, 90‟s and 21st century, it has faced a tremendous declined in its popularity, which is close to dying off. However, to some arts activists who are cunning and entreprising, nothing can ever stop them from surviving. To them, come what may, nothing is impossible and nothing is left to die off because every day is a challenge for them to commercialize a product that they have owned for centuries.