I had to make a choice. On May 20, there were 5 places (namely, Penampang, Beaufort, Tambunan, Sandakan, Papar) got Unduk Ngadau Competition. This time the choice was easy. Penampang to Sabah is like Ipoh to Malaysia, a place “produces” the most KadazanDusun beauties. FYI, the Unduk Ngadau 2005 (Sabah State Level oh, not district level like this one) is from Penampang.
My photo-shooting session was difficult. Due to a stupid videoman shooting in front, no photographer could get nearer than 30 feet to the stage. I was chased away (though I didn’t block the view) by the security guards like a dog. Nevermind lah, already get used to it liao. Luckily, some photos turn up quite ok. There were 31 contestants so the competition was stiff. Don’t play play.
Same as other Kaamatan shows, it started with a group of KadazanDusun seniors doing the Magavau ceremony to summon, appease and recover Bambarayon, the Spirit of Rice, followed by some singing and dance performances. FYI, there are over 40+ districts (e.g. Kudat, Ranau, Lahad Datu, Keningau, Semporna…) in Sabah organise local Unduk Ngadau Competition, to select the Unduk Ngadau that represents their district. By the end of May, these 40+ district-level “small” Unduk Ngadau will compete for the “BIG” Sabah State-Level Unduk Ngadau.
I didn’t know there was a Unduk Ngadau Competition in Monsopiad Village on May 14, until a friend who worked there informed me earlier that they got such activity as part of the 10 year celebration of their village. Actually my initial plan was to go to the Unduk Ngadau Competition in Kota Belud. Somehow my friend managed to convince me to go to their function.
The Unduk Ngadau competition started by 22 contestants crossing the suspension bridge at 2 PM. I was glad that I was there coz most of them seemed to be quite “high quality” (as my wife, hahaha…). Most of them are from Penampang. It was quite true many told me that Penampang is the best place in “making” Unduk Ngadau. Another nice thing is that there were not many “arrogant” Nikon-SLR photographers around.
The hall was quite small, so I could stand very near to the stage, only a few feet away to take the photos of the contestants. This eliminated the need to use high optical zoom level, as it would make the photos look grainy and blur. Again, I shot 100+ photos so you could see each of them from side, front, figure and up-close. I think the overall outcome is quite ok.
Being selected as the beauty queen is probably one of the happiest moment in girl’s life. But I never used my camera to capture the expression of their faces at that moment, a mixed feeling of happy, excitement, joy, surprise. Sigh… only now I realise that I miss a lot of precious moment.
If you are from Kota Kinabalu, you should concern about this Unduk Ngadau Competition (May 12, Dewan Masyarakat Menggatal) coz it was selecting the Unduk Ngadau to represent KK City. The contestants were beauties from Inanam, Api-Api, Luyang, Telipok, Sepangar, and Menggatal. In the end of May, more than 40 Unduk Ngadau, sent by different district from all over Sabah, will compete for the best of the best in the grand final.
For knowledge test, the candidates will be tested on their knowledge on Kaamatan. Below are some of the most popular questions:
1) What is the meaning of Kaamatan?
2) What makes a good Unduk Ngadau?
3) What is the name of the paddy spirit?
4) What is the purpose of Magavau?
5) What are the jobs of Bobohizans?
6) Which ethnic group celebrates Kaamatan?
7) Name 3 traditional dances / musical instruments of KadazanDusun.
If you find that your favourite face can’t make it to the top 3, very likely that they may have screwed up in the knowledge test. The judges are not blind ok.
Final Result of Unduk Ngadau Competition (Kota Kinabalu City):
Unduk Ngadau 2006 (middle): Jacelyn Joyce Apun(No. 2)
1st Runner-Up (left): Kay Maryln Josune (No. 7)
2nd Runner-Up (right): Devenna Jaikob (No. ‘8’)
The web traffic of MySabah.com has increased a lot lately. Guess some of you may be crazy downloading the pictures of Unduk Ngadau. I was so dedicated taking photos on the spot that everytime there was someone gave me his namecard and said he wanted to buy my photos. This is the 4th Unduk Ngadau photo gallery I share online, free for everyone to see, and they are more later. Lucky lor you. I have been shooting the photos of beauty pageant around Sabah for nearly a year. It is not an easy job. You can check out the FIRST beauty pageant photos taken by Smoke Head, very bad job, isn’t it?
Besides the Unduk Ngadau beauty pageant, the Sugandoi Competition (means Singing Competition) is also one of the popular activities of Kaamatan celebration. The contestants usually dress in KadazanDusun or Murut costume, which is counted as part of the score, and sing the popular KadazanDusun songs. The winner will be invited to perform in district Kaamatan celebration.
There were 13 girls competed in the Unduk Ngadau Beauty Pageant in Kudat district on May 9, 2006. This time the organiser also displayed the biodata of the contestants, so I got a copy from them. You can see their height, figure, hobby… at the bottom of each photo. Quite a number of them are Rungus girls (most Rungus lives in Kudat area).
Actually some of them are very pretty, but it happened that they chose the wrong hairstyle and make-up, causing them looked less “presentable”. Usually I am very kind and don’t post any negative comment about beauty pageant contestants. After all, people took courage to participate to make the event successful and we should encourage that. So just let them have a good memory.
There will be more photos of Unduk Ngadau coming. I am not being crazy about pretty girls or what. I just think that it is fun to post the photos, so my site got the MOST Unduk Ngadau photos than any other web sites, Muhaha… Who got the most photos of Sabah beauties? I guess now you have NO doubt already.
It is quite late to blog about it coz it has happened for more than 10 days (since May 5). Sabah Fest was started annually since 1988, but this was the first time I watched it. I would say it is the most colourful and best cultural show of Sabah. I will come again next year.
Though the cultural show (8pm – 10pm) was only two hours, it gave you a very good overview of the traditional dances and colourful costumes of Sabah indigenous people such as Bisaya, Murut, Bajau, Idahan, Suluk, Kadazan, Lotud, Rungus, Orang Brunei, Dusun Tobilung. Tell you, I have seen all these costumes and dances, after I travelled almost a year to many places in Sabah like Kota Belud, Semporna, Lahad Datu, Kudat, Kota Marudu, Sipitang… Now you only need to pay RM10 (USD2.50) ticket to watch all these comfortably, in an air-cond ballroom. So lucky lah you.
As a Sabahan, if all you know about Sabah indigenous people is only Sumazau and KadazanDusun, your knowledge is really poor man. I have seen many locals who can’t even differentiate the costumes of Bajau and Murut. If I am not mistaken, Sabah got over 30 ethnic groups, and each of them may have sub-ethnic that they may speak different language or wear different costume. For example, KadazanDusun got 16 sub-ethnics such as Dusun Tatana, Dusun Tindal, Bajau got 20 such as Suluk, Iranun, Murut got 14 such as Tagol, Paluan. If you sum up all these, it will be more than 100 groups. So far I don’t see any book has complete text + photo documentation on all Sabah ethnic groups.
In normal Sabah cultural show, one or more of the dances below are popular choices for performance:
1) Sumazau by Kadazan Penampang
2) Sazau by Kadazan papar
3) Magunatip (bamboo dance) by Murut
4) Limbai by Bajau
In Sabah Fest, you will see more: Click Here to see photos of Sabah Fest 2006 >>
Before the show began, all the dancers were lining up from the entrance to the hall, to welcome all the guests with friendly greeting, dances, and traditional musical instruments. I walked back and forth many times, to see if I could name their ethnic and took some photos of them. Many of them were really the village people so they could be a bit shy, but very willing to cooperate. I know coz I saw my Idahan wives from Lahad Datu (just kidding), haha… they still recognised me. So happy to see them again.
If you miss Sabah Fest, don’t worry. You can see more indigenous people dress in their beautiful costumes at Penampang KDCA from May 30 to 31. Last year I took a lot of photos and post them all here. According to my web report, it is always the TOP visited page every month. FYI, it is the first photo gallery of MySabah.com (posted in June 2005). My first blog was started in August 2005, so I didn’t blog about it. One of the goals of MySabah.com is to provide the most photos of Sabah people (especially beauties). Hope you will continue to support me by introducing this site to your friends.
OK, some of you may have been waiting for this. The photos of Unduk Ngadau Beauty Pageant in Tawau on May 6, 2006. There are 4 reasons I report for Tawau: (1) I want to blog a Unduk Ngadau competition in west coast, (2) to avoid taking same event pictures with other photographers, (3) looking for excuse to go to Tawau, (4) want to marry an Unduk Ngadau. FYI, there are more than 30 districts around Sabah organised their local Unduk Ngadau competition.
The Sabah Tourism Magazine (Page 14, Issue: May 2006, Volume 63) wrote about the meaning of Unduk Ngadau. I post it here for your knowledge: “The Unduk Ngadau embodies the spirit, beauty and personality of Huminodun who, according to local legend, was the self-sacrificing daughter of the almighty creator Kinoingan. She was sacrified to the land so that her people would not starve. Her head gave rise to coconuts, her flesh nourished the paddy fields, her blood became red rice, her fingers ginger, her teeth maize, her knees yams and other parts provided a variety of edible plants.”
There were 16 KadazanDusun and Murut ladies competed in this event. Below is the final result of Unduk Ngadau Beauty Pageant for Tawau:
Unduk Ngadau 2006 (Tawau): Diana Yaqub (No. 15)
1st Runner-Up: Eneycia Doulus (No. 4)
2nd Runner-Up: Jessy Liew (No. 6)
Miss Favourite: Cindy Celestine (No. 12)
Every year in May is the month to celebrate the Harvest Festival (Pesta Kaamatan). Each year one district will be pre-chosen to launch the Pesta Kaamatan in state-level, on 1st of May. This year the launching was held in Kota Marudu. After the launching, each district will have its own regional Kaamatan celebration and Unduk Ngadau Beauty Pageant. No matter who you are, what is your nationality, where you are from… all are welcome and invited to join the fest.
Pesta Kaamatan was used to be celebrated annually by the KadazanDusun and Murut communities, after the harvest of paddy, the primary food of our people. Now it has become the most colourful and joyful event of Sabah. Unduk Ngadau beauty pageant is only part of the programme of Kaamatan celebration. This was also my first time seeing the Tobilung Bobolians (native priest) performed the Magavau ceremony, a ritual to appease Bambarayon, the Spirit of Paddy, to ensure the bounty of next harvest.
Kaamatan Festival is a “harvest” month for me too coz it is the best time to take photos of indigenous people in their beautiful and unique costomes. The organiser also built about 7 traditional houses of indigenous people to attract the tourists. I have shared the photos online here.
