JOHOR BARU: The Johor government wants to obtain recognition from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) for the state's traditional zapin dance.
State Youth, Sports, Culture and Heritage Committee chairman Datuk Zulkurnain Kamisan said the goal of the state government was to work towards gazetting zapin as an intangible cultural heritage similar to the acknowledgement bestowed by Unesco towards the Mak Yong theatre of Kelantan.
"We have been working for the past two years to obtain Unesco's recognition.
"But even with the ongoing study and documentation of the zapin art form, particularly in Johor, it is not an easy task due to the various types of zapin that are still performed in different parts of Johor," said Zulkurnain when attending a preview of the 'Festival Hujung Medini: Zapin Rumpun Melayu' musical that will be staged in Pasir Gudang tomorrow and on Saturday night.
He said Johor's zapin had many variations and a study revealed that there were 18 types of zapin in Johor which were native to a particular district or community.
Zulkurnain said a study on zapin had been conducted by the Johor Heritage Foundation so that it could later be submited to Unesco.
He said Johor wanted to recognise its forms of zapin in the same way that Mak Yong had been recognised as a world heritage more than a decade ago.
Zapin can be traced to dances introduced by the Middle Eastern missionaries who arrived in the Malay archipelago in the 14th century.
Once performed only by men, it later evolved into a dance that paired men with women as they were dressed in traditional Malay costumes.
The dance is accompanied by musicians playing the gambus (short-necked lute), accordion, violin, marwas (bongos) and rebana (drum).
Johor Heritage Foundation director Mohd Shahrin Rahmat said there were various criteria that needed to be fulfilled before any cultural art form could be recognised as an intangible cultural heritage under Unesco.
"These criteria include having the art form documented, researched and performed widely at home and internationally. There is also a need for zapin to be gazetted by the state government.
"This and many other things are part of a check list of requirements that have to be fufilled before zapin can be considered as an intangible form of cultural heritage under Unesco," Shahrin told the New Straits Times.
He said the Johor Heritage Foundation had been consistently documenting zapin's history and meeting with practitioners throughout the state.
"The dance has been widely performed locally and abroad as well. Zapin dancers from the Johor Heritage Foundation performed alongside Malaysian songstress Datuk Siti Nurhaliza Tarudin during her concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2005.
"In April this year, the foundation promoted zapin by having a flash mob-style zapin show in Perth, Australia," he said.
Shahrin said the foundation will stage a musical by 400 dancers and musicians of zapin from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia at the festival here. It starts at 8pm and admission is free.
He said classes for zapin, keronchong and ghazal were held at the Johor Heritage Foundation, and these were art forms that the foundation specialised in.
"Competitions for zapin and other art forms are held at the school-level in all districts in Johor under the Muafakat Johor Sustainable Art programme.
"This programme culminates in the annual Muafakat Johor Art Festival, which stages dances from the Malay, Chinese and Indian communities in Johor," said Shahrin.