This is an annotated transcription and translation of the Syair Tabut (Poem of the Tomb Effigies) of Encik Ali, a Malay-language, Jawi-script syair account of the Muharram commemorations of 1864 at Singapore. The only known part lithograph and part manuscript of this text, on which this edition is based, is held in the library of Leiden University, shelfmark Kl. 191. For a full discussion of this Syair, see the accompanying article Lunn and Byl (2017). A note on our translation and transcriptionWe have opted to leave several terms untranslated throughout the Syair. These are:

The Hindi-Urdu debate that raged in pre-Independence India was to find a new medium for articulation in the arrival of the talkiesor sound in cinemain the 1930s. Yet the inclusive register of language most commonly employed in filmsboth historically and currentlysuggests that cinema largely sidestepped the vitriol and bright-line divisions that characterised the literary and publishing worlds. This article investigates some of the linguistic strategies employed by scriptwriters, lyricists, and producers in Hindi-Urdu-Hindustani cinema of the 1940s. It examines scripts, lyrics and poetry to explore the (de-)linking of linguistic and religious or class identities; the relationship between poetry and filmic lyrics in the person of the poet-lyricist and in the texture of their presentation; and the potential and limits of this oral/aural medium in the context of its written paratexts. Ultimately, it suggests that cinema afforded an inclusivity with respect to language, allowing for a "crystallisation" of filmi Hindustani, though this was far from a foreordained process.

This is the first treatment of a hitherto unknown text, a hybrid lithograph-manuscript from 1864 called the Syair Tabut, or 'Poem of the tomb effigies', by Encik Ali. The only known copy of the Syair, held at Leiden University in the Klinkert collection, and transcribed and translated by Byl, Iskandar, Lunn, and McCallum (2017), describes the Muharram commemorations at Singapore that year. As the poet describes the procession and its consequences, he reveals much about inter-community participation in this ritual event. Significantly, the 1864 Muharram procession ended with an altercation that resulted in the banning of the ritual by the colonial government, and led to two major court cases on native culpability and police corruption. Encik Ali's poem offers an alternative perspective, conditioned by the wide-ranging vocabulary and conventions of Muharram, a vivid description of diverse performances and events, a knowledge of Singapore's urban geography, and the parameters of Malay poetry.