Jikey is a traditional Malay dance drama that is popular in Kedah

Kedah

Kedah is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area of over 9,000 km², and it consists of the mainland and Langkawi. The mainland has a relatively flat terrain, which is used to grow rice...

 and Perlis

Perlis

Perlis is the smallest state in Malaysia. It lies at the northern part of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and has Satun and Songkhla Provinces of Thailand on its northern border. It is bordered by the state of Kedah to the south...

, Malaysia. The dance drama is known as Yike

Yike

Yike is a genre of dance drama from Cambodia with strong Cham and Malay influences. Yike is performed in nearly every province of Cambodia and by the Khmer Krom communities in southern Vietnam. The Khmer Krom have two terms for it, the yike as the rest of Khmer communities, and the yuke which is...

 in Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

 and Likay in Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 and popular in southern provinces of Satun

Satun

Satun is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Satun Province. It covers the whole tambon Phiman of Mueang Satun district. As of 2005 it has a population of 21,498....

 and Phuket. It is believed to have originated from the singing of zikir

Zikir

Zikir is a form of song from Malaysia. It is found mostly in rural areas, and consists of the choral singing of Arabic language texts in praise of Muhammad. The singing is often accompanied by rabana kercing or shallow frame drums.-External links:*...

 among the Malays before it developed into a secular theater after the late 19th century. The Jikey performance also has strong influence from other Malay performing arts like Mak Yong

Mak Yong

Mak yong or mak yung is a traditional form of dance-drama from northern Malaysia, particularly the state of Kelantan. It was banned by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party in 1991 because of its animist and Hindu-Buddhist roots which pre-date Islam in the Asian region by far. In 2005 UNESCO declared mak...

, Hadrah, Bangsawan

Bangsawan

Bangsawan is a type of traditional Malay opera. It was known to have developed from a sort of Indian theatre performance during the 19th century by visiting Indian travellers....

 and Mek Mulung

Mek Mulung

Mek Mulung is a traditional Malay theater that unique to the northwest state of Kedah in Malaysia. It became popular since the late 18th century and incorporates most elements of Mak Yong, Menora and Hadrah. The theater features a repertoire of stories from local legends, which according to a...

.

The main elements of Jikey are improvised dialog, music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 and dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

, and local legends formed the main repertoire with considerable emphasis placed on slapstick comedy. The Jikey music consists of both instrumental and singing. The main characters are comedians, king and warriors, and a form of leitmotif

Leitmotif

A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...

is involved as various characters in the drama are identified with specific elements in the music.

A complete theatrical orchestra for Jikey includes rebana

Rebana

Rebana is a Malay tambourine that is used in Islamic devotional music in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore. The sound of Rebana often accompany Islamic ritual such as the zikir. The name Rebana came from the Arabic word Robbana meaning "our God".-Rebana in...

 (with no jingles) in large, medium and small sizes; one tambourine

Tambourine

The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....

; one hanging, knobbed gong

Gong

A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....

, five or more pairs of cerek, one pair of kesi, an oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

 (serunai for Malay or pi for Thai). However, typical ensembles consists only of a violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

, 3 rebana

Rebana

Rebana is a Malay tambourine that is used in Islamic devotional music in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore. The sound of Rebana often accompany Islamic ritual such as the zikir. The name Rebana came from the Arabic word Robbana meaning "our God".-Rebana in...

 and 2 cerek or bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

stampers.