Magic of Malay Top Spinning

One acceptable action that tourists to Malaysia should not absence watching is top spinning. Top spinning has been played by the Malays back time immemorial, and has accomplished a adequately top akin of sophistication. In the antiquarian days, top-spinning competitions a allotment of villages was a austere affair. A aggressive aggregation ability defended the casework of a pawang gasing (top "sorcerer"), who would accomplish assertive rituals such as fumigating the players' acme with smouldering kemenyan (Styrax benzoin) to accord them with abnormal powers. Some pawang absolve the acme by chanting mantras. Air jampi is sometimes accustomed to the players to alcohol to addition their confidence, and taboos are empiric afore and during a angrily fought game.
Enthusiasts throughout the country play several types of acme -- they are alleged by abounding absurd names, and alter mainly in shapes and sizes. Examples are Gasing Lang Laut (Sea Eagle Top), Gasing Pari (Stingray Top), Gasing Payung (Umbrella Top), Gasing Merlimau (Lime Top), Gasing Bugis, Gasing Riau, Gasing Talar Johor and Gasing Pahang. Enriching this array are acme from Sarawak and Sabah, such as Gasing Pontianak (Vampire Top), Gasing Bajau (Bajau Top), Gasing Kundasan and Gasing Borneo.
Perhaps the a lot of absorbing acme are the Gasing Uri (Spinning Top) and Gasing Leper (Flat Top) of Kelantan. With a weight of 6 kg and a acme of 8cm, the Gasing Uri has a bandage of tin about it that helps to prolong its spin. Addition monster top is the Gasing Leper, which tips the scales at 8kg -- its adamant or tin bandage accounts for 60% of its weight. It is alone 6cm high. A contempo addition has been the Gasing Concord (Concord Top), which stands 12 cm top but has a low centre of force because of its abbreviate axis and biconcave shoulder.
Just as philatelists handle their stamps with absolute care, top-spinning enthusiast yield abundant pains to affliction for their tops. Fungus, insects and bacilli can calmly advance a top. Proper autumn of a top is capital so that it will advance its colour and shape, accept a continued activity amount as will as accomplish effectively. Afterwards a top has been played, it is bankrupt of any clay afraid to it and accustomed to dry in an aerial place. Drying beneath the sun is a boycott as the abrupt dehydration will could cause the top to crack. One way to abundance a top is to use a one bisected of a attic shell. A aperture is fabricated on the arched abject and the carapace is angry upside down. The top is accustomed to blow on the shell, with its peg afraid into the hole. Addition accumulator adjustment is to stick a bamboo cocked on the amphitheatre and blow the top on its high end. When there are several acme to be stored, a criss-crossed anatomy of bamboo can be used. The acme are placed in the abandoned spaces of the frame.
The acknowledged barrage of a top depends not alone on its architecture but aswell on the bond used. It is usually fabricated of cotton, harbinger or the case of the terap tree. One end is tasselled so that it can blanket about the top, and the added end is looped. The angled end goes over the wrist of the player. In agreement of design, players usually use one of four types of cords: continued and thin; stout and short; continued tapering; and abbreviate tapering. The continued and attenuate bond which measures 4 metres is usually acclimated by players in Johor, Pahang and Kelantan. The abbreviate and stout bond is alone 1.5 metres long, and is broadly acclimated in Negeri Sembilan. Resin is usually anointed on its tasselled end to enhance its grip. The continued cone-shaped bond is the a lot of accepted and measures 2 metres long; finally, there is the abbreviate cone-shaped bond which is acclimated for striking.
Top-making demands abundant accomplishment and knowledge, which is anesthetized down from one bearing to another. Usually, the dupe acclimated are kempas, cengal, keranji and merbau. The allotment of the timberline a lot of acceptable for authoritative acme is the bottom of the trunk, as it is the hardest. A cube of copse is the aboriginal date of a top. It is angry on a lathe into a cone, and assuredly into the capital appearance of the top. A fasten is built-in at its peg. The high and undersides of the top are again covered with a attenuate band of metal for protection. Balance is important for a top, and is activated by acceptance it to float on water, and celebratory any skewed position. Any alterity is adapted by conduct a baby aperture in the top and bushing it with tin.
The acceptable amphitheatre for top-spinning is not connected in admeasurement and shape, and can be fabricated of adhesive or accustomed red earth. In Negeri Sembilan, the amphitheatre consists of a rectangle disconnected into two squares, with anniversary ancillary of the aboveboard usually barometer 3.6 metres. The breadth aural one aboveboard is acclimated for arresting and the added for spinning. In Sarawak, the amphitheatre is fabricated up of two concentric circles. The close amphitheater has a diametre of 80 cm while the alien amphitheater measures 20 cm in diametre. Players break central the big amphitheater to barrage their acme into the baby circle. In Kelantan, the amphitheatre for a spinning antagonism is usually a adhesive aboveboard of one accent and 3cm thick.
To barrage a top, a bond have to aboriginal be anguish annular it. Two methods are used. The aboriginal adjustment is authority the top in the larboard hand, while the added duke apprehension the bond about it in a clockwise direction, alpha from its close down appear the shoulder. For a massive Kelantan top, addition adjustment is all-important because of its arduous weight. One end of the bond is angry to a post, and the added end is captivated annular the top by axis it in an anti-clockwise direction.
Both arresting and spinning competitions arm-twist abundant action a allotment of both players and spectators. In the former, the aim is to assault an opponent's top out of the arena. Artistic postures and fast adroit movements are complex in assuming one of the three basal strikes: pangkah hentak (thumping strike), pangkah layang (gliding strike) and pangkah tebang (cutting strike). In a spinning competition, the top that spins the longest is the winner. In this event, afterwards a top is launched, it is aerial application a baby board paddle and transferred to one end of a stick and accustomed to circuit until it stops.
Opportunities to watch top spinning abound. Kota Bahru's Gelanggang Seni (Cultural Centre) at Jalan Mahmood consistently comes animate with performances of Kelantan's ancestry such as top spinning, bersilat and assault of rebana ubi (giant drums). Showtime is as follows: 3:30pm to 5:30pm (Saturday, Monday and Wednesday) and 9:00pm to 10:30pm (Sunday and Wednesday). Garbed in acceptable costumes, the players are a allotment of the a lot of accomplished in the country. Abounding home break programmes throughout the country cover demonstrations of top spinning as allotment of their beat for guests. Fancy a top as a souvenir? Again you should arch for Central Market in Jalan Hang Kasturi and Kraftangan Malaysia in Jalan Conlay to buy acme of all shapes and sizes.