‘Awang Batil’ storyteller honoured

KANGAR: Romli Mahmud, 55, the last in the line of Awang Batil storytellers, has been named Perlis’ arts personality of the year.

He received the Perlis Cultural Arts Personality Award 2012 at an appreciation ceremony here on Saturday night.

Romli, who inherited the mantle from his late father Mahmud Wahid, is the only one in the state who is keeping the art alive.

Awang Batil is a form of storytelling that is accompanied by the batil or brass pot to bring alive the long tales that are peppered with humour and sadness. Awang is the protagonist in most of these tales.

Romli received RM1,000 and a certificate from State Youth, Sports, Culture, Arts and Heritage Committee chairman Abdul Jamil Saad. Artist Ahmad Omar, 62, and actor Osman Awang, 71, were the other two recipients at the ceremony organised by the Perlis National Culture and Arts Department. — Bernama