Mek Mulung

Mek Mulung is a traditional Siamese and Malay theatre originated from the Thailand's region of Ligor,[1][2] and developed in three interconnected regions of Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, and Songkhla.[1][3] Basically, it is part of the Menora dance performance and kinda developed as distinct court performance of the Ligor Kingdom[1] when Ligor under the influence of the Srivijaya empire (when the central government was in Surat Thani) who introduced their own culture that incorporated into these theatrical performance.[1] It was later brought and introduced to the southern Siam regions of Satun, Trang, Pattani and Kedah (the region of Kedah were part of the Thailand's Rattanakosin Kingdom before it was given by British to Malaysia via the Anglo-Siamese Treaty in 1909)[4][5] in the late of 18th century and incorporates some Arabic-based elements such as hadrah, tambourine, etc.[6]

As the origin place of these dance performance, the Mek Mulung is still widely performed in Thailand as it is part of larger Nora theatrical dance performance, the Siamese usually held the performance at certain regions with Nakhon Si Thammarat being the well-known one as the destination to enjoy these performance. It is also known in Malaysia-controlled region of Kedah, but the practice of Mek Mulung has been majorly declined since it received a lot of backlash and banned by the Malaysia's government who considered these kind of cultural performance as haram (lit. ‘forbidden’)[7] which does not reflects the Islamic values.