Wayang is an Indonesian/Malay word for theatre. Kulit means skin, and refers to the leather construction of the puppets that are carefully chiseled with very fine tools and supported with carefully shaped buffalo horn handles and control rods.
The Malay shadow puppet theater consist of four types of Wayang Kulit found throughout Southeast Asia, the most widely perfomed in Malaysia is the Wayang Siam (also known as Wayang Kulit Kelantan) originating from Kelantan. Its musical repertoire numbers 35 pieces, performed by a percussion dominated ensemble of up to a maximum of 10 players. The melody is provided by the serunai with various types of drums providing rhythmic textures of various timbres and various types of gongs marking time.
The Shadow Puppet play in Kelantan is performed primirily as aform of intertaiment in the towns and villages, and for many people it is an evening's diversion from the routine of daily life.
