Persatuan Peranakan Baba Nyonya KL Selangor

The PPBNKLS had our annual dinner and dance on 16 April 2011 at Kiara Equestrian Club (Kuala Lumpur).

The committee was surprised the event was sold out very quickly after it was announced. Now, who says the Peranakan is a dying culture? To accommodate the overwhelming response, more tables were added till the hall could not take any more.

This year, the invited band was the fabulous Melodians who entertained the guests with many old favourites, reliving fond memories. Dinner guests were encouraged to dance to the numbers and boy, did they! Nyonyas and babas danced to the beat of cha-cha and rhumba and even old school rock and roll.

Nyonyas and babas dancing the night away. (Photo by Dominique Kee)

At the start of the event, the president, Dr. Lee Su Kim gave her welcome speech. She touched on the fact that Peranakans have a 700 year old history in our country and was glad to see the culture still alive. Then Cedric Tan took over as master of ceremony. As we ate our dinner, he held lucky draws for the guests. More than 15 tables won prizes thanks to the effort of the dinner and dance committee, especially Baba Thein Chin Fatt, who worked hard to secure prizes for the night.

The Melodians were not the only entertainers that evening. The PPBNKLS Youth Group also performed some interesting songs by substituting Peranakan lyrics into John Denver’s song Country Roads. Nyonya Lee Jun Yen rendered a modern hit song while nyonya Emily Lim sang some melodic keroncong songs. We laughed till our stomachs hurt at the antics of three nyonyas and bibiks in drag played by Baba Aaron Loo, Baba KT and Baba Wong Mun Yee who put on a comedy sketch.

The master of ceremony gave a friendly warning on the authenticity of the Peranakan food served, “It may not taste as good as your mother’s cooking!” Nevertheless, the guests were forgiving and enjoyed themselves with good company and dancing.

And talking about dancing, an appearance by our very own Carmen Mirandas (there were two of them), complete with a fruity head dress and cutaway costumes, got the guests dancing in a conga line. Not even the results of the Sarawak elections trickling in that night stopped this author from joining the conga. Then, as the Melodians played old time favourites, everyone danced the night away.

Our heartfelt thanks go to the dinner and dance committee (Baba Thein Chin Fatt, Baba Peter Chua, Nyonya Helen Chen, Baba Chua Leng Kee and Baba Pepper Lim) who organised the event with the help of many members of the association such as Baba Cedric Tan, Nyonya Dr. Lee Su Kim, the youth group (led by Nyonya Jenny Kho) and many others.

The photos above are courtesy of Dominique Kee: http://dominiquekeephotography.blogspot.com/2011/04/persatuan-peranakan-baba-dan-nyonya.html

By Dr Lee Su Kim

The PPBNKLS started off  2011 with the launch of Lee Su Kim’s latest book Kebaya Tales : Of matriarchs, maidens, mistresses and matchmakers. The event was entitled Kebaya Tails and Tales, and held at the National Textiles Museum on 8 January 2011. It also featured a parade of vintage kebayas, modeled by young nyonyas from KL, coordinated by Baba Cedric Tan. The gorgeous kebayas and sarungs some of them 80 years to 100 old, were sourced from private collections of Peranakan enthusiasts from Kuala Lumpur , Penang and Malacca.  A display of antique nyonya sarung kebayas was held at the museum for a month in conjunction with the event.

The event also saw the introduction of the Kuala Lumpur Youth chapter ( coordinated by Nyonya Jenny Kho) who sang and performed for an enthusiastic audience. Another first was the Baba Nyonya KL singing group with Nyonya Annie Lim leading the group, entertaining the crowd with three popular numbers.

Described in the Sunday Star ( January 16 2011) as “a sharing of cultural experience that will undoubtedly be an important part of Straits Chinese literature”, Lee Su Kim’s Kebaya Tales is a collection of short stories, teeming with colourful characters, twists and turns and poignant events in the life stories of the Peranakans. The stories are based on or inspired by real-life events, evocative of a community renowned for its unique multicultural legacy. The book was launched by guest of honor, Ms. Tan Siok Choo, who shared some of her own moving stories in her speech.

The event culminated in a tea dance with many babas and nyonyas heading straight for the dance floor at the elegant premises of the old colonial building.  It was a very successful event and a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon with friends and Peranakan enthusiasts, complete with literature, history, culture, food, music and dance.

Our thanks to Janet Tee, Director of the National Textiles Museum for allowing us to use the elegant museum as our venue.  Thank you, everyone who helped to make it such a successful and enjoyable event, and to all those who attended , for your support.

Kebaya Tales: Of Matriarchs, Mistresses, Maidens and Matchmakers by Dr. Lee Su Kim sharing session on Saturday, 7th May 2011 at 2pm in Peranakan Museum, Singapore.

The talk co-organised by The Peranakan Association of Singapore is a fringe activity in conjunction with the current ‘Sarong Kebaya’ exhibition in the museum.

Admission: Free