By Naeemah Munirah Abdullah
‘Istana Andeka’ or the Palace of Andeka is where a group of passionate Caklempong lovers spend their time. Every Tuesday night, the training room located at the second floor of Cultural Activity Centre (CAC) building would be filled in with light-hearted atmosphere. With 45 new members selected after the audition this semester, named Batch 12, the club is ready to continue its long-life journey of upholding the traditional Malay arts in the eyes of modern musical industry.
Sitting inside the newsroom of IIUMToday, the president of Andeka Caklempong, who is also a journalist of the campus online bulletin, Zulhamka Rosli, shared his views and experiences on the club he is committed to lead. The commencement of Semester 2, 2014/2015 marked the beginning of his new obligation as head of what he called ‘the Andeka family’.
Wearing Andeka Caklempong official shirt in denim jeans blue, the third year Public Relations student explained that it has become a tradition to wear it every Wednesday.
“Just like how the university uniform bodies wear their uniform on Wednesday, we decided to wear ours as well. It’s not compulsory, just to have that sense of belonging towards the club for any member who feels like joining the culture,” said Zulhamka, looking calm in his warm smile, sitting cross figure-four.
Answering how the club attained its name, Zulhamka mentioned that the term ‘Andeka’ means ‘to uphold’. That makes Andeka Caklempong upholding the cultural music of ‘caklempong’. He further elaborated that this beautiful art originated from Minangkabau people in Indonesia who migrated to Negeri Sembilan.
Andeka Caklempong is one of the clubs under a bigger umbrella called Centre for International Islamic Culture (CiTRA). It was established in July 2004 together with other clubs such as Gamelan Gema Gangsa, Percussion Club, Angklung Club and Acoustic Band. The idea of the establishment came from Dr. Mahadi J Murat, the Director of CiTRA, who wanted the university to have a cultural centre with an Islamic base.
Along the semester, many occasions have taken place. The biggest one for majority of Batch 12 is Citra Recital 4.0 since it was the first performance where the new members were involved in; to play songs they’ve just learnt in front of the audience and were evaluated by the teacher known to all CiTRA units as Cik Gu Ku Zahir.
Other performances by the senior members this semester were the show in conjunction with Student Carnival at the campus main attraction area, The Busking Project 2.0 at Titiwangsa Lake, Budi Awards 2015, Usrah Buskers, and just recently before final examination began was UNESCO Day 2015 show at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur. The latest one was a combination of two junior members with senior members including the alumni club who have graduated, all from Batch 6 up to Batch 12.
How the alumni are still attached to the club even after years upon their graduation shows the specialty of Andeka Caklempong which is said to be the home or rather the family for all who were once members.
The night when the club celebrated its graduating members towards the end of this semester together with congregational prayers performed and a forum paneled by the seniors, all members were overwhelmed by the special video contributed to those who are graduating soon. Tears of graduating seniors witnessed by all who attended the gathering portrayed the strength of bonding they had created.
“It is the nature of human beings to be attracted to melodies and have the tendency towards music. Even in reciting the Holy Qur’an, there are certain intonations which are pleasant to our ears,” said Zulhamka, viewing that being actively involved in musical activities does not make one so immersed in it until he forgets other responsibilities, what more religious obligations.
“We stop playing the instruments when it’s ‘azan’ (the call of prayer), we observe our manners between different genders in conducting activities among the club members no matter how close we are with one another, and we try to educate our members with Islamic understanding through various ways. For example, the three-minute session we had every time before training begins, which we call as ‘kultim’ (kuliyah tiga minit),” he further elaborated.
However, he admitted that not everything could be under control. The mainboard committees try their best to arrange and organise activities in order to shape the club towards positive development, religiously and intellectually. Besides, they always remind the members to prioritise studies and family ties as to not be against those two when it comes to commitment for the club training. Again, it is up to the individual in how he or she brings up his or her personality and manages himself or herself.
According to Zulhamka, the satisfaction gained is when they perform in front of the audience and people enjoy their performance, which could be seen from the huge applause they get, for instance during Ta’aruf Week.
One thing he treasured most besides the family-like bonding that they have is the soft skills he learnt. Being part of Andeka Caklempong taught him a lot, enabling him to apply what he got from the club into other dealings in life.
Under the guidance of Cik Gu Shazana as the instructor along the two years and a half that he had been in the club, he had performed at weddings and festivals inside and outside campus. To be able to reach that stage where members can memorise and play more than 20 songs in one occasion, it requires patience to learn and cooperation from all performers. If one person makes a mistake, everyone has to repeat the whole song until they get it right.
It is the sacrifice of time and energy by each member who wants to see Andeka Caklempong at its best which brings the club to a higher level from time to time. Some of them stayed over the semester break to practise, taking only a short leave to go back to their hometown. They are fine with it because they believe it is worth doing. The outcome arrives later, and is already proven looking at the previous success they had achieved.
“I hope the new batch and existing members can work together to keep up to our goals. I wish to see the name of Andeka Caklempong to be raised and promoted. We have in plan as our own initiative to hold a Caklempong festival and invite Caklempong clubs from other universities to perform together with us.
Let outsiders come to our university and hopefully from there Andeka Caklempong will be more known to people,” said Zulhamka confidently before he got up to continue his task in the IIUMToday office.
Surely he carries the spirit like how every trusted leader does. He believes as the saying nurtured in every member of the growing Andeka Caklempong family goes, “Once an Andeka, always an Andeka,” that wherever they are, they will always be ‘Andekians’.
To see activities and updates or to contact IIUM Andeka Caklempong Club for events, the following addresses can be followed:
Facebook: IIUM Andeka Caklempong
Twitter: iiumcaklempong
Youtube: IIUM Andeka Caklempong
Instagram: @caklempongiium ***
Photo of Andeka Caklempong IIUM