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Pangalay (also known as Daling-Daling[1] or Mengalai[2] in Sabah)[3] is the traditional "fingernail" dance of the Tausūg people of the Sulu Archipelago[4] and eastern coast Bajau of Sabah.[3][5][6]
The dance has a similarity to classical Balinese and Thai dances,[7][8] and involves the movements of the shoulders, elbows, and wrists[9]
The Pangalay is predominantly performed during weddings or other festive events.[4] The male equivalent of the Pangalay is the Pangasik and features more martial movements, while a pangalay that features both a male and female dancer is called Pangiluk.[10]
The original concept of the Pangalay is based on the pre-Islamic and Buddhist[11] concept of male and female celestial angels (Sanskrit: Vidhyadhari, Tausug: Biddadari) common as characters in other Southeast Asian dances.[citation needed]
Neighbouring Sama-Bajau peoples in the Philippines call this type of dance, Umaral or Igal, and they sometimes use bamboo castanets as substitutes for long fingernails.[9]
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A variant of the dance called Pakiring is practiced by the people of Mindanao, Sulu and Sabah. The dance emphasizes the sideways swaying movement of the hips (kiring-kiring).[12]
A traditional song called Kiriring Pakiriring often accompanied the pakiring dance. The lyrics of the song are in the Sama language and are thought to have originated from Simunul, where the language is spoken.
A version of Kiriring Pakiriring became widely popular nationwide in the Philippines when it was re-recorded in the 90s in a song popularly known as Dayang Dayang (literally "princess of the first degree"), after the song's chorus. The identity of the singer and the language used in the song remained a matter of debate for almost two decades, with speculations claiming that the singer was Malaysian or Tausug, and that the lyrics were seemingly gibberish. But in 2024, the singer was finally identified as Nur-Ainun Pangilan, known by her stage name Hainun. She is a Sama Dilaut singer from the island municipality of Sitangkai in Tawi-Tawi. She sang the song in 1996 for a Malaysian recording company in Sabah. The lyrics are in her native Sama Dilaut language and were apparently made up on the spot. In the song, she describes the dance moves of her husband Al who was with her during the recording session, mentioned in the line "Lahawla ngigal ngigal si Al" ("Lahawla, Al is dancing"). The actual title of the song on the original cassette tape was Dumba Dumba, and is apparently a Malaysian translation of Sama kiring-kiring.[13][14]
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