Nicholas – gamelan teacher inspired by P. Ramlee movies

Gaga over gamelan: Nicholas (seated, centre) playing gamelan with his students during a performance at an Orang Asli village in Iskandar Puteri, Johor.

JOHOR BARU: During the day, B. Nicholas works as a security guard but on Thursday and Friday nights, he teaches children the gamelan.

The 23-year-old said that he got into the gamelan, playing a percussion instrument that uses metallophones, while learning the traditional Malay art of self-defence silat during his secondary school days at SMK Gelang Patah.

“The biggest influence for me in getting involved in Malay heritage was Tan Sri P. Ramlee – in fact, my whole family, who prefer to converse in Malay and Tamil, till this day always watch and listen to all of his films and songs.

“He put in a lot of gamelan sounds and silat moves in his films and songs, which inspired me to learn it,” he said in an interview.

Nicholas, who is a graduate of the National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage (Aswara), said he has been working as a security guard for a year now to help look after his parents.

He said that gamelan is usually played during a silat performance – the gamelan music must be in synch with the silat performer.

“Currently, I am teaching about 12 to 15 pupils from SK Medini who are divided into two groups.

“The first group consists of beginners who are learning the basics of playing instruments like gongs and drums, whom I teach on every Thursday night between 8pm and 10.30pm.

“The second group is more advanced students who will practise every Friday night between 9pm and 12am,” he said, adding that he was the only non-Malay teaching gamelan.

Nicholas said some of his students have represented Johor and even won in a national competition held in 2019.

“One of the main reasons why I am teaching the gamelan is because I do not want this art to be lost.

“It will be such a shame if that happens,” he added.