Database of Southeast Asian Sociocultural Information

Timor-Leste houses 16 different ethnic groups that own various kinds of performances such as Soro tais, Sau batar,Foti raba, Likurai,Bidu, Tebedai andTabe-tabe (Jacqueline Siapno, 2012:427).Each of the ethnic groups’ performances are varied as they have their own identities. However, there is one distinctive characteristic shared among them. Tais in Tetun language (Tetun-Prasa) are costumes made by local clothes and usually worn by the performers. It is a folk wisdom passing down from generation to generation. The patterns and weaving styles are different in each district. They represent a pride of both weavers and performers who wear them(พรชัย สุจิตต์, 2557:46). Men’s and women’s accessories seen on the performer’s costumes are symbols of prosperity leading life to lights (Anne Richter and Bruce W. Carpenter, 2011).

One of the most widespread folk performances in Timor-Leste is Likurai. All of those performing are female. In the past, it was held to welcome male warriors back from wars. It requires small drums to keep rhythm going as Timorese performances consist of lyrics and musical instruments. Portuguese and Indonesian musical instruments have great influences on Timorese musical instruments. A Portuguese musical instrument that looked like Fado a was adopted as well as Gamelan, an Indonesian musical instrument. It is worth noting that Gamelan is a shared identity among neighboring countries in South East Asian Peninsula. At the present, music and musical instruments such as National Anthem and songs related to Independence demanding are essential compositions of the nation’s symbol (WIKIPEDIA the Free Encyclopedia, 2016).

Apart from arts, performances and folk musical instruments, Timorese also favor Hip-Hop dance, Rap and Reggae. One of the most popular musical instruments is guitar imported by the colonizer, the Portuguese. A very well-known Timorese singer is Teo Batiste Ximenes who grew up in Australia. He composes his songs with his own style by using folk melody. His audiences are Timorese immigrants in Australian and in those immigrant camps around the world. (WIKIPEDIA The Free Encyclopedia, 2016)

Even though Timor-Leste has largely adopted Western culture interacting with their own, folk performances are still conserved to perform on the nation’s important days such as 40^th year anniversary of declaring Independence from Portugal and other joyful events. Since it had taken so long before this new-born nation was able to declare its Independence and become a sovereign state in 2002, conserving its cultural identity for the pride of the nation is so vital that Timorese people and government cannot overlook.