Introduction

This chapter surveys the main trends in the historical development of both contemporary art and popular music. Some contemporary composers try to communicate the political and social situation in the country in their works. In the 1990s, some traditional music genres in Malaysia have experienced development in the context of a contemporary art music tradition. The chapter focuses on the main trends in Malay pop — the predominant local pop music in Malaysia — with some relevant examples from the other ethnic groups. Malay popular music developed in the early twentieth century, when soci-economic and political changes were taking place in Malaya as a consequence of British intervention. Popular music based on Anglo-American and Latin American dance music sung in Malay formed the other half of the recorded repertory of the pre–World War II period. The film songs derived from Malay social dance music increasingly used more Western musical elements.