Kedah Padi Heritage Festival (Warisan Padi Kedah Festival) 2016, which will be held from April 22 to May 1 at Ong Chuan Hin Rice Mill in Tanjung Pauh, Jitra is a cross-cultural event spanning visual arts, dance, music and performances.
Organised by Kedah And Perlis Rice Millers Association, the festival aims to tell the story of the heritage of Kedah’s padi farmers through storytelling sessions, music, traditional rice planting sessions, photographs and documents.
As part of the programme, the Kedah padi farmers will lead festival visitors into the padi field to plant rice the traditional way. A pair of buffaloes will also be used to plough the field.
The festival will kick off with The Art of Padi Heritage Workshop from April 22-25. Some 150 students from Keat Hwa High School in Alor Setar will take part in this art, music and drama workshop. They will learn how to make a scarecrow and create artworks inspired by padi planting.
On April 29, the Tradition of Padi Seedling, a public talk (and padi seedling rehearsal) will be held from 9am to 7pm. Three padi farmers of Thai, Chinese and Malay origin will share their knowledge on old farming traditions. Kedah And Perlis Rice Millers Association’s chairman Ong Soon Thye and padi researcher Ong Ching Zhong will talk about the rice mill, types of rice as well as tradition and modern farming techniques.
A wayang kulit master and his puppet.
Festival director Chong Keat Aun says the festival is the first of its kind in Malaysia.
“There are plans to rotate the event venue to other rice mills in Kedah and Perlis,” says Chong, an Alor Setar-born arts practitioner.
The festival’s slogan is Sesuap Nasi, Warisan Padi (A Mouthful Of Rice, Padi Heritage). From April 30 to May 1, 8am to 10pm, there will be a free concert involving 150 performers. Shows include manora dance, padi field drum performance (a combination of gendang silat drums and Chinese drums), Chinese opera, and wayang kulit. There will also be lion and dragon dance performances.
A highlight of the festival is Rumah Padi (Padi House) which is erected at edge of a padi field at the festival site.
“Two modified steel containers, timber and bamboo structures are used to set up this temporary structure which will remain until Sept 17,” says Alan Teh, curator of the art exhibition.
Alan Teh, curator of the art exhibition at Kedah Padi Heritage Festival with a miniature model of Rumah Padi (Padi House), a temporary structure erected near a padi field. Exhibits including artworks on the theme of padi will be shown to visitors. Photo: The Star/Majorie Chiew
Visitors will be taken on a tour of the artworks by 15 local artists. Teh says the goal of the festival is to raise awareness to the hardships of padi farmers, especially to the younger generation.
“At the same time, it is also to bring attention to the rapid urbanisation of Alor Setar, where many tracts of agriculture lands are being converted for housing and commercial purposes. This is quite alarming as Kedah is the rice bowl of Malaysia,” says Teh.
The closing ceremony will be the Harvest Festival from Sept 15-17 at the same venue.
