Archive

In all its projects, PUSAKA develops and builds upon its extensive archive of audio-visual material on culture and the arts in Malaysia and the wider region.

PUSAKA is a cultural organisation established to conduct research and create a comprehensive documentary archive of traditional performance in Malaysia, while revitalising and strengthening the viability of these traditions at the community level. 

PUSAKA works intimately with some of the most distinguished performers of the Wayang Kulit, Mak Yong, Manora, Main Puteri, and Rebana Ubi traditions of Kelantan, and has expanded its work to embrace traditions from other states in Malaysia, including the music and dance of the Mah Meri and Kompang Jawa of Selangor, Kuda Kepang and Kompang Jidor of Johor, Portuguese dance of Malacca, Boria and Teochew Puppetry of Penang, Awang Batil of Perlis, and the Urumee Melum temple drumming tradition. 

Through rigorous research and exhaustive documentation of Malaysia's intangible cultural heritage, PUSAKA seeks to establish a deep interaction with aspects of history and contemporary life while illuminating and providing an intellectual context for the contemplation of broader aspects of culture, tradition and ideas.

In these pages, you will find excerpts of PUSAKA's extensive archival material of Malaysian performance traditions in the form of audio and video clips, photographs, interviews. Our archive will be expanded and updated regularly, and we invite you to return again and again to discover and immerse yourself in the beauty, complexity and diversity of Malaysia's cultural life.