Races @Sarawak : Ibans people

The Ibans are a branch of the Dayak peoples of Borneo. In Malaysia, most Ibans are located in Sarawak, a small portion in Sabah and some in west Malaysia. They were formerly known during the colonial period by the British as Sea Dayaks. Ibans were renowned for practising headhunting and tribal/territorial expansion and had a fearsome reputation as a strong and successful warring tribe in ancient times.
The Iban population is concentrated in Sarawak, Brunei, and in the West Kalimantan region of Indonesia. They live in longhouses called rumah panjai.

Nowadays, most of the Iban longhouses are equipped with modern facilities such as electricity and water supply and other facilities such as (tar sealed) roads, telephone lines and the internet. Younger Ibans are mostly found in urban areas and visit their hometowns during the holidays. The Ibans today are becoming increasingly urbanised while retaining most of their traditional heritage and culture
The Ibans were traditionally animist, although the majority are now Christian, many continue to observe both Christian and traditional ceremonies, particularly during marriages or festivals. The majority of Iban people have changed their traditional name to a Hebrew based "Christian name" such as David, Christopher, Janet, Sona, or Joseph but a minority still maintain their traditional Iban name.
The longhouse of Iban Dayaks are constructed in such a way to act as an accomodation and a religious place of worship. The first item to erected during the lohouse building is the tiang pemun (the main post) from which pun ramu (the bottom of the wooden house parts) is determined and followed along the longhouse construction. Any subsequent rituals will refer to these tiang pemun and pun ramu.
The Iban religion can be as briefly summarized as follows: The supreme God is called Bunsu or Kree Petara, sometimes also called as Raja Entala or even Tuhan Allah Taala in modern times.
Iban music is percussion-oriented. The Iban have a musical heritage consisting of various types of agung ensembles - percussion ensembles composed of large hanging, suspended or held, bossed/knobbed gongs which act as drones without any accompanying melodic instrument. The typical Iban agung ensemble will include a set of engkerumungs (small agungs arranged together side by side and played like a xylophone), a tawak (the so-called 'bass'), a bendai (which acts as a snare) and also a set of ketebung or bedup (a single sided drum/percussion).

Sape is originally a traditional music by Orang Ulu (Kayan, Kenyah and Kelabit). Nowadays, both the Iban as well as the Orang Ulu Kayan, Kenyah and Kelabit play an instrument resembling the guitar called Sape (instrument). Datun Jalut and nganjak lansan are the most common traditional dances performed in accordance with a sape tune. The Sape (instrument) is the official musical instrument for the Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is played similarly to the way rock guitarists play guitar solos, albeit a little slower, but not as slow as blues.


Music of Sape by Jerry Kamit