On Dec 11, at the Selangor Book Festival, a presentation and discussion of a new book of poems by Dinsman (Che Shamsudin Osman), titled When I Think About Death, took place.
The poet, who is also a famous playwright and theatre director in Malaysia, as well as my longtime friend, for the first time ever held a night theatre performance in Shah Alam on April 17, 2016.
The play was dedicated to the struggle of residents of a village in the city, against its demolition and the construction of modern houses in the village.
The performance was based on the poems of Datuk Dr Usman Awang (1929-2001), The Ballad of the Murder of the Old Beringin and A Letter of the Bird Community to the Mayor of the City.
I once recited The Ballad of the Murder of the Old Beringin in Malay and Russian translation at an Actors Studio event dedicated to the memory of Usman Awang, and it moved me to tears.
Here is a 'beringin' on the edge of the road in the already elderly capital for hundreds of years,
Stood open to the sun, protecting the land with its shadow.
The birds chirped, jumping from branch to branch.
'Beringin' is their home, they were happy here. Butterflies chased each other, and children played in the shade of the branches. And suddenly:
Black day has come for the beringin —
Monstrous machines attacked him. Iron teeth sinking into his defenceless body.
And the 'beringin' fell to the ground, and a terrible groan rang out.
To this day, when twilight graces the sky,
You can hear the old 'beringin's farewell:
Goodbye, goodbye cloud,
Goodbye sun, goodbye moon,
Goodbye dear butterflies,
Goodbye nesting birds,
Goodbye frolicking children,
It was an old 'beringin' tree cast inside, by an enemy called 'Development'.
The play began with the traditional kuda kepang dance. The nine dancers were prancing on flat horses made from woven bamboo to the accompaniment of drums, gong and flutes.
The performance attracted 500 spectators and was included in the Malaysia Book of Records for being the first play performed atop a tree. Poet and cinematographer Yassin Salleh, famous for his film, She is My Mother, and the poem, Fish in the Aquarium, as well as singers and musicians Sani Sudin and Adinda Amira, were among the performers.
Later in 2017, Dinsman presented another play, this time in the rice field based on the play, Uda and Dara, also written by Usman Awang.
Dinsman is also a public figure. He is the founder of the theatrical group, Elite Theatre, and the organisation, Artists with the People. He also likes to organise poetry readings in one of the madrasahs in Kuala Lumpur.
The authoritative literary magazine, Foreign Literature, published in Russia since the 19th century, on its website, in a review of literary development abroad, informed its readers about Dinsman's activity with this heading: "From the most incredible literary life in Malaysia!"
I would like to add to it that poetry is just the art of portraying the beautiful in words.
For centuries, thoughts and feelings, clothed in a poetic form, penetrate the hearts of people, stating that we are all one big family and that we — despite being different from one another — are in fact very similar to each other.
And Dinsman's poetry reminds us about it.
The writer, writing from Russia, is a former lecturer at Universiti Malaya
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
