Lai, lai, ka liao lai

Took the above video/photos last night. Not sure sure why Youtube and Malaysiakini upload giving me errors. So, I publish them on my blog first.

Penang is still very vibrant with this traditional entertainment for the hungry ghosts and horny men. Over the years, the ker-tai gets more canggih while the clothes of the singers get lesser.

4 thoughts on “Lai, lai, ka liao lai

  1. last time I like to go watch, but now seem like not really nice, only “entertainment” purpose… ngam those lao uncle go watch only (especially front roll)

  2. I read in the Star that in Singapore there’s getai with pole dancers. The dancers can earn lots during the hungry ghost festival. Wah, looks like the ghost have upgraded their taste. Nowadays it’s actually hard to find a stage show with Chinese operas.

  3. That’s what I read online too. These Koh-Tai singers even striptease? Could it be they learnt from Indonesia’s dangdut stage acts? I’d seen online media, the dangduts stage performances are just like the Go-Go dancers in Thailand. I do missed those nice and colorful Chinese Opera shows (ppl told me it’s expensive to have the Traditional Chinese Operas perform in Malaysia as most of them came from Thailand) that slowly a dying art. I still remembered as kid, I would followed my mom to watch ‘Judge Pao’ aka ‘Pao Chin Tian’ for example. I learnt most actors who played his part never draws the crescent moon on Judge Pao’s head the exact shape and position. One actor did that, he faced the ‘spirits’ while performing on stage asking him to seek justice for them! Another traditional entertainment I missed was the wayang kulit and Menora which used to perform at Kimberly Street’s Datuk Kong. 🙁

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