Muna Times

THE FIERCE echoing of thumping of hadrah filled the hall of Sayyidina Hassan Secondary School for this year's National Hadrah Competition, which saw Pehin Dato Seri Maharaja Secondary School successfully defending their championship of the male category yesterday.

Scoring 84.3 points, Pehin Dato Seri Maharaja Secondary School won the competition ahead of Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien (SOAS) College and the Hassanal Bolkiah Arabic Boys Secondary School closely behind in the second and third places respectively.

The Arabic Secondary School's girls team was crowned champions in the female category with a score of 81.7, leaving the Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Science College and Sultan Muhammad Jamalul Alam Secondary School (SMJA) securing the second and third positions respectively.

Preliminaries for the competition started on March 3, 2008 at the same venue and saw participation from 17 schools for the male category and six for the female before being thinned down to the top eight male and top four female teams.

Hjh Suriani Hj Noor Shim, principal of Sayyidina Hassan Secondary School said that the number of schools participating in this year's competition have been encouraging.

This year, the format has changed to incorporate two songs for each team; a compulsory piece and an additional original arrangement. For the latter, the teams had to play songs of praise or advice.

The competition began as a way to introduce the art form of hadrah, a type of drum ensemble, to youths, allowing them to appreciate and love it while preserving and ensuring that it develops accordingly with scientific and technological advances.

Musical instruments aside for the Tar was allowed in the competition to give the teams greater creative licence.

Pehin Dato Seri Maharaja Secondary School took advantage of that freedom to incorporate other instruments and the team threw in a breathtaking gulingtangan accompaniment with their rendition of Mengucap Syukur after performing Ya Man Khad Hadzar. Each performance in the hall yesterday was a more impressive display than usually associated with the hadrah. Fancy formations, elaborate movements and dramatic pauses were used in their arsenal to score points with the judges, along with their well-thought out costumes.

The hadrah is considered as one of Brunei's cultural heritage and the most popular of traditional Malay instruments which can be seen mostly during social occasions such as weddings, welcoming distinguished guests and in religious events.

It is hoped that through such competition this national heritage would help to instil and develop a sense of appreciation towards the art and spirit of hadrah in the younger generation as the traditional art contains discipline and Islamic elements, particularly in the chanting of religious poetry.

The guest of honour at the event, Koh Hong Puah, acting assistant director of Secondary Schools at the Ministry of Education, presented the prizes, including the challenge trophies for each of the two categories.