A university staff member gently holds up and drains water from a flood-soaked traditional geduk drum (used for wayang kulit shows), another volunteer slowly places a cracked and damp classical guitar on a bench for it to dry, while the rest of the students arrange assorted brass instruments, flight cases and traditional instruments, including gamelan (gong) stands, on large mats in a car park area.
These were some of the rescue scenes coming out of the Faculty of Music, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Malaysia in Shah Alam in Selangor this week, as lecturers and students began to clean up and slowly dry all kinds of instruments after last weekend's catastrophic flooding.
Situated in the Section 17 Campus, Shah Alam, the Faculty of Music’s storage rooms were swept by knee-deep flood waters, leaving a trail of destruction and broken instruments.
Prof Dr Tazul Izan Tajuddin, the dean of the Faculty of Music, acknowledges that the mood on campus was one of despair when the news broke that the flood had hit its music storage. But there was no time to waste as a group of lecturers and students came together on Monday to rescue the instruments floating or submerged in storage.
“It was hard to imagine the amount of gear that was soaking in water after we heard the news. But we had to act quickly and remove what could be salvaged. There were all kinds of instruments in storage, including orchestral instruments, traditional instruments and concert backline, mixers and electronic gear... nothing was spared from the flood waters’ reach,” says Dr Tazul.
“In the case of traditional instruments, a lot of them were badly damaged because they used wood and (leather) skin. Some instruments had already kembang (expanded) and masuk air (water-damaged) considering the amount of time they were submerged,” he adds.
The space affected was basically the one-stop rehearsal, tour prep and music lesson storage hub (including manuals, books) for the UiTM music fraternity.
Kamrul Hussin, the founder of traditional group Geng Wak Long, who also lectures traditional music courses at UiTM, also saw a few of personal instruments damaged in his staff room.
"I lost a Turkish gambus which I bought for US$4,000 (RM17,000) some 20 years ago in the flood over the weekend. I kept it on campus so that the students could use it during classes. For the first semester students, I usually have some bamboo instruments (tegunggak from Sabah) and a set of gendang (drums) to loan them. Most these instruments are terribly damaged now," says Kamrul.
With the water cleared out, Dr Tazul mentions his team is also looking through the inventory to see what instruments can be rehomed in another storage space on campus, and used for future performances.
“Luckily, we have no immediate live shows that were affected. The water has receded, but no one really knows the extent of the damage, yet. For certain, there will be instruments that will have to be discarded if they cannot be repaired,” he says.
On the UiTM campus, volunteers are also sandbagging certain areas of the music faculty as a flood prevention measure.
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