Friday, September 01, 2006

Silat Melayu on the Move


Cikgu Mohd Nadzrin Wahab

For an outsider coming to Silat Kuntau Tekpi (or any Silat Melayu) it is not sufficient merely to learn the physical techniques of buah, tapak, kuncian, pukulan, etc. In order to truly grasp where the Art “is coming from” both historically and conceptually, one must endeavor to understand the culture which spawned it. For one who is so far removed from the Source - namely Malaysia - this is can be a daunting and often frustrating task.

Without a doubt, the greatest blessing on this journey into the hermetic world of Silat Melayu has been to make the acquaintance of a generous and enthusiastic teacher, practitioner, and eminent scholar of Silat Melayu named Mohd Nadzrin Wahab, known to many as Saiful Azraq. Any foreigner who has done even the most cursory research into Malaysian martial arts from the available resources in English knows this young man - primarily because Nadzrin is personally responsible for translating and making the information available to us!

It is no cliche to say that this young man is a veritable encyclopedia of information on the history, customs, traditions, lineages, masters, people, places, events, milestones and just about anything else significant to Silat. Luckily for us, he is a painstaking and patient guide. If by chance he doesn’t have the answers...he knows the folks that do.

I invite you to his blog: http://silatmelayu.blog.com/

Tell him ‘JD Tekpi’ sent you!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm... who dares to unmask the Spider-Man?

Anonymous said...

apasal muka uncle macam tu? Sakinah

Anonymous said...

Guru, is this the guy you're always on the phone with before Tekpi class?

guro jeff davidson said...

Yup. The reason SKT training is so expensive is to cover the long distance phone bill.