To Randai or Not to Randai

Randai, a folk art of the Minangkabau people, flourished as a theatrical form among migrants from West Sumatra in the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan in the 1960s but has nearly died out today. This article concerns efforts to revive interest in randai by the Malaysian government and concerned practitioners, including one of the co-authors, in recent decades. This revival has involved the Malaysianization of the art form.