Musical functions of the Lundayeh dance music in Sabah

The lundayeh is one of the indigenous ethnic groups in Sabah, Malaysia. The majority of lundayeh resides in the interior district of Tenom and Sipitang of Sabah. The lundayeh is renowned for their opulent rites and rituals, in particular their magnificent dance-moves which have intrigued researchers far and near. This study is an attempt at unravelling the mysteries and intricacies of the lundayeh's traditional dance, which has been pass down from generation to generation. Two of their most well- known traditional dances, i.e., Gong dance, and Sekafi dance form the central focus of this study. The former is accompanied by the gong ensemble music and the latter is accompanied by the sekafi music - a traditional string musical instrument in which the name of the dance is derived from. This study examines the musical functions of the gong and sekafi dances with particular emphasis on the musical instruments, costumes and the dance performance of the two traditional dances