Coaldrake, KimiKnopoff, StevenWhittington, Stephen CharlesGan, Peck Jin2018-10-172018-10-172017http://hdl.handle.net/2440/115182Malaysian contemporary music, an emerging and highly diverse art form, has gained recognition both in Malaysia and internationally over the last decade. Nevertheless, few studies have been completed and most conclude that there is no common compositional trend. This study, however, highlights that one common trend has emerged since 2000, namely, Malaysian composers have increasingly assimilated cultural elements into their compositions. The resulting works have been metaphorically compared to the national salad dish, rojak, in which all constituent parts are readily identifiable even when mixed together. It is argued that the assimilation of cultures is central to an understanding of Malaysian contemporary music, even though it is not the only compositional approach. Twenty-nine works by five selected Malaysian composers are analysed in this study. The composers are: Kee Yong Chong (b.1971), Chong Lim Ng (b.1972), Tazul Izan Tajuddin (b.1969), Johan Awang Othman (b.1969), and Kah Hoe Yii (b.1970). Musical score analysis, combined with the interpretation of data collected through fieldwork trips to Malaysia and Singapore, reveal the ways these composers have assimilated a myriad of cultural elements, including gamelan, Malay poem pantun, mak yong [Malaysian ancient theatre], wayang kulit [shadow puppet play], Balinese baris dance, the concept of tenunan [weave] and batik, Chinese calligraphy and painting, Chinese orchestra and its instruments, Chinese philosophy, and Islamic, Buddhist and Christian spiritual practices, into their compositions. This study concludes that their use of idiosyncratic approaches is becoming increasingly distinctive to Malaysian compositions and a reflection of the same processes of mixing identifiable ingredients that is found in the national rojak salads.Malaysian contemporary composerscultural elementMalaysiamusicKee Yong ChongChong Lim NgJohan OthmanTazul TajuddinKah Hoe YiiMalaysian compositionsSoutheast AsiarojakTheses