Orang Ulu

Orang Ulu Music Instruments and Dance

Sape

Dances, music and songs are important manifestations of culture amongst the ethnic groups of Sarawak. Sape is some of their music instruments. Orang Ulu dance consist of three main dance that is Saga Lupa Dance, Ule Nugan Dance and Kanjet Ngeleput Dance.

Saga Lupa Dance

This dance usually performed by a group of ladies during festivals or in honour of important guests to the longhouse.

Ule Nugan Dance

This is a dance which unveils the tribal occupation of the Orang Ulu people. The male dancers hold a dibbling stick used in the planting of padi in the highlands. Superstitions and omens play a sisgnificant role in their lives. The music so created is meant also to infuse and inspire the soul or spirit of the padi seeds so as to ensure their growth and a successful harvest.

Kanjet Ngeleput Dance

A graceful dance performed by an Orang Ulu dressed in full regalia of the warrior – a vest of animal skin, a headgear of colourful beads and hornbill feathers, a long knife, a bamboo container of darts girded round his waist and a blowpipe in hand. This dance portrays the nimble and stealthy steps of the hunter as he goes about in the jungle searching for his prey.