Front Row

Earlier this year, director and playwright Fa Abdul faced protests and even police reports being lodged against a play she was staging in Penang - ultimately, the show was shut down after opening night. Perhaps aptly, Fa is now back with a play called “Tales from the Scars”, featuring 10 monologues on subjects as diverse as racism, parenthood, adultery, and marital conversions. We spea...

Malaysian artist Sharon Chin has been commissioned by the Singapore Biennale 2019 to present an artwork, which is called “In the Skin of A Tiger: Monument to What We Want (Tugu Kita)”. As part of this, Sharon is carrying out the first phase of the project in Kuala Lumpur, as a participatory performance involving 100 volunteers. We speak with Sharon about participatory art, how her work...

The Free Hand Music Festival 2019 is Malaysia’s first contemporary classical piano composers festival, headlined by pianist Mei Yi Foo, recipient of BBC Music Magazine's Best Newcomer award in 2013. We speak with Mei Yi and the festival’s director Adeline Wong, about the importance of creating space for contemporary classical compositions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

As part of the arts, poetry is a means to give a voice to the voiceless, to bring into light stories that are left in the shadows. This brings us to the latest project by Project Liberat8, a Malaysian nonprofit organisation that aims to educate and raise awareness of the public on the anti-human trafficking cause. Together with the International Labour Organisation, they produced “ Between T...

A performance called Mix Bill of Contemporary Dance Works features a collaboration between UK and Malaysian dancers. The show brings together Kenny Shim & Collective from Malaysia, and Mobius Dance from the UK, to explore the kinds of works that can be created when dancers of different backgrounds and approaches come together. We speak with Gianluca Vincentini, artistic director of Mobius Danc...

The inaugural Lukis Tulis Festival is a visual arts festival that highlights emerging Malaysian artists. Initiated by two women - Ratna Rashidi and Shereen Sukha - who themselves came to art later in life, the festival aims to make visual arts a more accessible and less intimidating space both for artists and the general public. We speak with the two founders about what we can expect from the even...

Mak Yong, the age-old operatic dance drama from Kelantan, can be difficult for a modern audience to take in. “Wayang Mak Yong Stories” attempts to acquaint the public to the stories from Mak Yong, by presenting them through shadow theatre. We speak with the show’s director Shabera Shaik, and performer Tristen ZiJuin, about presenting these stories through a different medium. See...

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Carnatic music from South India and classical Hindustani music from North India come together in a duet of strings, in a show called “Duologue III”, featuring sitarist Samuel J. Dass and violinist Hariraam Tingyuan Lam. We speak with Hariraam about creating a musical conversation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hariraam and Abbirami learnt the Indian classical style of playing the violin from a very young age, having been trained in the style of Indian Carnatic violin maestro Lalgudi G Jayaraman. The two violinists will be performing together in “Two Violins”, a recital that aims to encourage a deeper appreciation of Carnatic music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An exhibition of mixed-media installations at the Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery explores the idea of Malaysian heritage. Titled “Pusaka: Embracing our Heritage for the Future”, the exhibition features a diverse collection of installations by 12 Malaysian artists that explore themes like education, economy, sports, literature, and nature, among others. We speak with some o...

The paintings in Lina Tan’s debut exhibition feature items that many of us will find both familiar and nostalgic - such as a cassette tape, matchboxes, or a sardine can. Aptly called “Stuff”, the exhibition explores our attachments to these seemingly mundane things. We speak with Lina to learn more about her art in the show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The “Don’t Let…” theatre series brings together different directors to present bite-sized productions of a wide array of works. This time, in honour of our National Laureate Usman Awang’s 90th birthday on July 12, the series is taking on his writings, in a multilingual, multigenre production. We speak with the series’ producer Easee Gan, and one of the director...

Art Battle is a global movement where artists compete against each other to create work within a limited amount of time. We’ve had three Art Battles here in Malaysia so far, and for the latest edition, Art Battle Malaysia is collaborating with UNHCR Malaysia to feature young artists who are refugees. We speak with Art Battle Malaysia founder Ruby Subramaniam and Yante Ismail of UNHCR Malaysi...

Al Firdaus Ensemble is a multi-cultural music ensemble based in Granada, Spain, who play music inspired by the Sufi tradition. Their songs, however, draw from a variety of sources, including Western classical, Celtic, Arabic, Turkish, Andalusi, and Flamenco. Ahead of their performance in Kuala Lumpur, we speak with two of the group’s members, Ali Keeler and Omar Benlamlih, about their music...

Speak Easy producer Tina Carmillia joins host Elaine Foster in London for an on-site conversation about poetry and science. Are art and science more alike than different? The duo summarises their recent activities in academic research, public talks and personal readings to discover the natural world in poetry. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does one go about the business of running an art gallery, particularly within a market like Malaysia? In conjunction with World Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day, we speak with two different art gallery owners to gain insight into the business aspect of visual art in Malaysia - the different approaches, the potential, and the challenges. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...

“Blank” is a play where different performers take to the stage each night to perform from a script they have just seen for the first time, which has blanks left in for members of the audience to fill in. Created by award-winning theatremaker Nassim Soleimanpour, whose works have been presented by names like Whoopi Goldberg, Alan Cumming and John Hurt, “Blank” will be perfor...

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera is one of the best known musicals of all time, with its iconic music and dramatic storyline. Three decades after it debuted, the musical now has its Malaysian premiere. We speak with the three main actors of the show: Matt Leisy, who plays Raoul, Meghan Picerno, playing Christine, and the Phantom himself, Jonathan Roxmouth. See omnystudio.com/li...

Reimagining Melaka, an annual classical music festival by arts NGO Melaka Classics, aims to bring a culture of classical music to the city of Melaka. Taking place in significant cultural spaces around Melaka, this year’s festival will emphasise musicians who specialise in Historically Informed Performances - an approach to classical music that aims to be faithful to the manner and style of t...

Artist Anida Yoeu Ali, a first-generation Muslim Khmer woman who was born in Cambodia and raised in the US, combines live performance, installation, photography, and video art to explore issues of displacement and belonging - by performing as a human-sized bug. We speak with Anida as she debuts her work in Malaysia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The fourth edition of the annual Refugee Festival will bring artists from the refugee community to different communities that may not typically have access to the festival. The festival also brings together refugee and Malaysian artists to present their works together. We speak with the festival’s director Mahi Ramakrishnan about how the event continues to evolve as it provides a valuable vo...

Mortality is not an easy subject to explore - a theatre production called “dust”, however, attempts to do so by bringing together five performers who will each present ideas related to death and grief through their own perspectives. We speak with the shows director Esther Liew and one of the actors, Ranessa Theyakaraja. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this festive episode of Speak Easy, we'll be looking into the concept of poetry exchange. Equally challenging and fun, the practice of exchanging words in a poetic form can be seen not only in our beloved tradition of berbalas pantun but the lively halls of poetry slams as well. Joining Sheena Baharudin are three poets to talk about poetry exchange and a new event entitled BALOH, which is curre...

How do you use art to comment on the constant development that Kuala Lumpur undergoes? In the case of Dhavinder Singh’s installation art project, he literally takes the art to the sites that are being developed. His work, called “Test Tanah”, is a touring art exhibition that will be displayed at various locations slated for redevelopment in Kuala Lumpur. We speak with Dhavinder t...