Sunday, October 5, 2008

Dikir Barat at Senok Beach

I was invited to Datuk Khalid Ahmad's Aidil Fitri open house at his beach front house at Senok beach, not far from Kota Bharu, the capital of Kelantan.

In addition to the traditional Kelantanese cuisine such as Nasi Dagang, Nasi Kuning and Tapai, we were also served with grill oyster and chicken.

The highlight of the afternoon was a Dikir Barat performance by a local group.

Dikir Barat is a popular Kelantan past time activity, especially in the older days when there were less things to do. It is a sort of a group performance where they sing local songs in the Kelantanese dialect, headed by a lead vocalist. The only musical instruments used are the gong and percussion.

The Dikir Barat that was presented to us was performed in the way it is normally performed in the villages. No fancy outfit, and the group we facing each other is a sort of a circle.

When I was still at the primary school, I used to attend Dikir Barat performance which were held during the Sultan's birthday celebration. Normally, there would be few team competing with each other and the whole affair would end until early morning.