Ading Kerah with female chorus of Temiar people

The Temiar people are deeply spiritual. They live in the rainforests of central Malaysia and their lives revolve around its traditions. Dreams are seen as a bridge between the natural world and the spirit world. Song and dance are particularly influenced by dreams as they give voice and movement to the belief that a dream is the soul’s way of wandering around the forest in search of guidance. Dreamsongs form the basis for community-wide singing and trance-dancing ceremonies, which celebrate all the important occasions in Temiar society. The male singer, Ading Kerah, sings about the dream as he has received it. He is accompanied by a chorus of female Temiar people.

Songs of this kind should be approached with a high degree of cultural sensitivity, as the Native peoples involved are in a continual battle for the survival of their landscape and culture (see links below). Recordings of this material are often contentious as sacred songs, which would otherwise not be shared with other communities, can be unwittingly included.