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he sedition act 1948 another colonial relic is now wielded as an ultimate weapon against any and all species of political dissent zahim albakri consummate actor director nevertheless from the mid 1980s onwards dramaturgs began experimenting with local plays about local folks speaking english with manglish accents today we have consummate actors like huzir sulaiman jo kukathas jit murad and zahim albakri portraying a kaleidoscopic chorus of characters employing a colorful spectrum of local and foreign accents finally malaysian theater has come of age having outgrown the usual incubation period of cultural cringe the establishment of the actors studio academy in 1989 by veteran actress faridah merican and lebanese australian actor director joe hasham has been an important factor stimulating the development of professional stagecraft in malaysia faridah and joe not only share a passion for theater they are both also major players in the advertising business and are thus in a powerful position to promote their art with sufficient marketing savvy to make an impact on the public consciousness their positive links with the corporate sector and officialdom enable them to move mountains where others can hardly move molehills as demonstrated by their most outstanding achievement to date the inauguration of klpac kuala lumpur performing arts centre which houses several theaters and auditoriums as well as a performing arts academy thereby serving as a national hub for ongoing cultural ferment facing the music minah angong celebrated ceremonial singer of the indigenous temuan tribe it may be said that all culture is derivative to a lesser or greater extent but when one considers the musical front in malaysia scarcely any originality is audible even traditional malay court music is a legacy of hindu buddhist influences the sri vijaya and majapahit kingdoms extended from sri lanka to most of malaya and indonesia between the 7th and 16th centuries indigenous music is an integral element of healing rituals and consists for the most part of chanting accompanied by pitched bamboos it goes beyond original to aboriginal in its basic organicity content to generate repetitive trance inducing aural mandalas that often go on and on aboriginal tribes traditionally do not perform for outsiders although in recent days some groups have adapted to the concept of public performances to my knowledge only akar umbi an ethnic fusion group based in ulu selangor has released an album for commercial distribution and even so the market for such music is negligible michael veerapen jazz piano virtuoso composer in terms of pure technique however malaysia has produced an impressive number of excellent musicians who can hold their own anywhere in the world i know of a few classical soloists who would be welcome in most orchestras and when it comes to jazz we can boast the likes of michael veerapen an ace pianist whose chief inspiration has been bill evans paul ponnadurai whom i dubbed p p king was hailed as one of the world s top blues guitarists malaysia s very own b b king he could do things with the guitar you wouldn t imagine possible but his scintillating career was abruptly terminated when he died at age 51 in july 2012 sunetra fernando is an ethnomusicologist specializing in gamelan music her rhythm in bronze ensemble has set new standards of performance for contemporary gamelan over the years it has evolved into an astoundingly versatile and inventive gamelan ensemble willing and able to explore exciting new musical and performance frontiers with the departure to the uk of sunetra fernando rhythm in bronze has in recent years been democratically led by various veteran members of the ensemble like jillian ooi shahanum shah susan sarah john and lorna henderson omar ably supported by jazz guitarist isyam swardy daud and percussionist extraordinaire kamrulbahri hussin we now have well known names in avant garde composition saidah rastam gave up law to devote her energies to exploring a different musical aesthetic her work quirky evocative sophisticated has been showcased in major theatrical productions film soundtracks musical revues malaysian philharmonic orchestra performances contemporary dance even a full scale operatic extravaganza m the opera staged at istana budaya palace of culture kluang born chong kee yong in toronto curating a concert of new music from malaysia may 2011 unbeknownst to the public at large there has also been a miraculous flowering of hardcore talent in contemporary symphonic music as personified by extremely serious academic composers like teh tze siew tazul tajuddin and chong kee yong the latter born to a farming family and raised in a southern town called kluang after graduating in music from the malaysian institute of arts kee yong continued at the xian conservatory in china and subsequently at the royal conservatory of music in brussels belgium he has since acquired an impressive catalog of commissions from renowned orchestras around the world and won a string of awards for his unique compositional approach yii kah hoe is another outstanding name among symphonic avant garde composers in malaysia an accomplished traditional chinese flute player kah hoe has won a string of local and international composition awards and is a dedicated researcher of ethnic music from around the world apart from being a conscientious music educator and festival coordinator indeed there are many more contemporary malaysian composers blossoming quietly with minimal visibility but with astonishing focus and passion ready for international if not local recognition hands percussion spectacular theatrics precision drumming among the new generation of music makers you ll find grunge garage rock techno hip hop ethno fusion and metal groups alongside electronica and techno ambience freaks who perform with laptops these fringe performers haven t been around long enough for me to remember all their names but some exciting work has emerged from bernard goh and deborah tee who did the original score for the actors studio production of rashomon bernard goh subsequently formed a highly disciplined widely acclaimed touring company called hands percussion which has really gone places weijun loh dancer choreographer composer goh lee kwang often collaborates with chinese avant garde dancer lee swee keong churning out trance inducing tape loops and arty soundscapes and weijun loh a dynamic young dancer choreographer composer audio engineer returned from australia a few years ago bursting with ideas and energy the irrepressible jerome kugan jerome kugan is another dynamic young presence writer critic electronic composer visual artist and songwriter whose evocative debut album songs for a shadow set stunning new standards for the burgeoning indie music scene malaysian musicians for the most part tend to gravitate towards either pop or the indie underground which has a surprisingly large following among the urban youth jazz musicians who have ventured into ethnic fusion include lewis pragasam whose group asiabeat was perhaps the first to combine exotic percussion and oriental instruments like the shakuhachi with western jazz modalities unfortunately our radio stations are not interested in pushing the musical envelope and prefer to play it safe by airing only commercial mainstream sounds lewis pragasam master percussionist initiator of asiabeat a pioneer world music group featuring john kaizan neptune on shakuhachi breaking into the world music circuit isn t a simple task either especially with absolutely no support from malaysia s notoriously ethnocentric cultural agencies local record companies are predominantly interested in making money by distributing international recording artists especially those topping the pop charts in short a great deal has been happening on the malaysian musical front but not many have been exposed to it unless they re hip to the wknd a vibrant music portal founded by fikri fadzil showcasing up and coming musicians especially local and regional acts and there are indeed some truly gifted singer songwriters in our midst such as azmyl yunor who engagingly represents what some might call the neo existentialist generation y ethos take for instance the recent emergence into global prominence of a world music fusion band called akasha whose members come from a broad spectrum of ethnicities and cultures its musical soul is essentially carnatic with kumar karthigesu on sitar vick ramakrishnan on tabla and sivabalan s shanmuga sundram on mridangam they all honed their superb musical prowess at the temple of fine arts performing classical indian music with a contemporary feel the silky funk of jazzy latino blues is provided by australian born guitar ace jamie wilson with the help of seasoned keyboardist eric li and bassist greg henderson following its sensational debut on the international stage at the 2008 rainforest world music festival in sarawak akasha released a couple of cds and swiftly evolved into class act greatly sought after around the world my own experiment with attempting to introduce novel sounds into the local music scene has made me uncharacteristically pessimistic in 1984 i produced a solo album with folksy protest songs on side a and ambitious avant garde soundscapes on side b the album solitary vice other virtues received favorable reviews but no record company was interested in a distribution deal indeed one of the songs city hall was played on the radio once or twice before the dj patrick teoh was told to stop by the program s corporate sponsor still i was able to recoup my modest production costs over the course of a year or so and actually sold out my limited stock of 600 cassettes subsequently i released only 500 copies of my second album 2nd coming which was almost entirely instrumental again it received generally good reviews but no offers of distributorship record companies are happy selling 150 000 200 000 copies of a popular malay album why should they waste their time trying to promote a complete unknown writing songs in english to a potential market of less than 10 000 amir yussof rock god nature mystic animal lover conservationist a decade later amir yussof encountered similar problems with his groundbreaking debut album some of this is real which won awards for best local album in the english song category but sold no more than 5 000 copies his second and third albums met pretty much the same fate although they all achieved new levels of musicianship and technical excellence amir eventually dissolved his record label and worked at various other things including a stint as entertainment manager in the kl hilton later he relocated to sabah and took over a small restaurant cum pub designing and selling chic gear on the side however he continues to play gigs around southeast asia and is popular at music festivals sabahan pete teo released an arty album in 2003 called rustic living for urbanites which he marketed independently as well as online the prospect of exporting malaysian music is hardly bright simply because much of it does sound like already well known western music in amir yussof s case he has been compared with mark knopfler cat stevens and sting while pete teo often sounds like his heroes leonard cohen lou reed and tom waits vatudu as they say in malaysia nobody knows what malaysian music ought to sound like so how well the odds against making real money in music locally has compelled many musicians to become extremely resourceful and enterprising pete teo has since gone on to make a splash as a screen actor and independent film producer the incredibly talented tough talking street savvy brian gomez speaking of versatility brian gomez warrants at least a brief mention here he has been dubbed guardian angel of the indie scene because he runs a cozy pub called merdekarya where young musicians stand up comics and storytellers can gain experience and exposure not only is brian an accomplished singer songwriter with a penchant for wry earthy humor he also happens to be a damn good writer and all round intellect his 2008 debut novel devil s place blew me away with its sheer gall and gumption and his facebook notes have acquired an avid following stepping lightly into dance i could say a few things about the dance scene in malaysia if only to include ramli ibrahim s name in this overview much has already been written even a documentary film made about ramli ibrahim who has attained godlike status as a cultural mover and shaker ramli began dance lessons in australia where he was studying mechanical engineering inspired by chandrabhanu a native of perlis who changed his name from zamin haroon after he embraced classical indian dance and its attendant philosophy and migrated to australia ramli started out with bharatanatyam and odissi when he returned to malaysia in 1983 and later extended his choreographic scope to contemporary three decades later ramli ibrahim s sutra dance company is dynamically alive and well and the man himself has got involved with acting playwriting painting and sociocultural commentary besides being an energetic and urbane impresario i once described ramli ibrahim as malaysia s answer to diaghilev and nijinsky which greatly pleased him sadly as a malay performing and promoting classical indian dance ramli has had to battle accusations of being a cultural traitor until fairly recently he received virtually no official support for his laudable work today ramli ibrahim has achieved what seemed impossible when he returned to malaysia in the early 1980s he is now the globally acclaimed artistic director of sutra foundation leading his talented dancers in spectacular performances around the world and regularly winning accolades a bona fide malaysian success story butoh dancer choreographer lee swee keong in green snake it was western classical and jazz ballet all the way till the mid 1980s when postmodernism was introduced to malaysian dance audiences by marion d cruz co founder of five arts centre who studied under martha graham and later delved into javanese dance nobody was doing stuff like this at the time so marion managed to get a fair amount of mileage out of her avant garde choreography in the 1990s dancer choreographer lena ang brought butoh to malaysia and it infected the likes of lee swee keong whose monkish discipline and ascetic dedication to sublime aesthetics as a performer more than compensates for his exasperating tendency to mystify as a conceptualizer in 2003 sutra hosted a contemporary dance festival which showcased several exciting new talents in malaysian dance among them aida redza who has spent a lot of time in copenhagen and whose wild unpredictable and shamanic choreography is always thrilling to watch syed mustapha syed yasin is another innovative trance dancer whose company tandak dance theatre explores the magical roots of malay culture in a highly theatrical mode...