Front Row

The festival--which is a mix of workshops, demonstrations and performances--enters its fifth year. Our guest tells not only of its offerings but also about the former participants, especially in its competition. The festival which humbly started with a focus on the piano has now opened its door to other jazz instruments. Michael Veerapen reasons why this change in the festival. See omnystudio.com/...

Our producer was at klpac the week before Christmas when he noticed a group of performers of different nationalities. Being nosey, he asked who they were and what they were doing and discovered a gathering that sought to melt the borders among performers and arts practitioners of different disciplines and nationalities. The No Borders Project is in its sixth year. See omnystudio.com/listener for p...

The government’s Cultural Economy Development Agency (Cendana) set up to build a “vibrant, sustainable and ambitious cultural economy” in the country today announces its call for applicant to its Emerging Artist Incubation Funding Programme. The agency’s founding CEO answers questions to clarify the nut-and-bolts of what all this funding entails and what information is requ...

This month on Speak Easy, Elaine Foster invites two poets to do a round-up of the year that was 2017. Azam Rais is a seasoned poet and host of Poet X, an online podcast series of spoken word poetry, while Julian Matthews only discovered spoken word poetry recently. The contrasting experiences of both guests provide a thought-provoking insight into the spoken word scene in Malaysia. See omnystudio....

A BFM-produced-for-the-holidays storytelling of ‘The Gift of the Magi,” by American writer, O Henry. Performed by: Phraveen Arikiah as Jim; Hana Nadira as Della, and Sabera Shaik as Mrs Sofronie Read by: Lim Soon Heng See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Glass, thinking on the future of theatre, started to work with the ‘next generation’. And since the inception of the ensemble in 1990, has created works which reviewers have described as “inspiring and dynamic” and “masterful.” David shares on how to take non-traditional works and devised them into a performance, using examples from the works that he has s...

The four share on why they are performing early (Western) music with period instruments, and what they discover and how to enable discerning ears to hear. They have come together as a musical group, Wicked Music People. They explain how their own modern sensibilities guide their approach, and how they have to bow the fine line between being true to the period music and their contemporary ears. See...

January Low returns to an interview a little more than a year after her last on to talk about her performance, ‘Bloom’. She tells about the need to dance and how through dancing Odissi, she re-imagines herself, seven years after leaving a dance company to become a wife and mother. She also informs on working with actor, Ghafir Akhbar. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information...

Pauline Fan tells us about the types of Kompang and the event at Publika in which a craftsman will demonstrate the making of this percussion instrument. Pusaka continues to promote and foster such traditional skills and preservation of culture. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our producer caught up with Jolly Koh, a senior Malaysian artist, to discover his understaning of beauty, truth and goodness. The artist is holding an exhibition--Jolly Koh @76--of works created within the last few years. He gives his opinions on contemporary art and art writing while underscoring that for him, art is about creating what is beautiful. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

After 13 weeks, training, writing and learning the skills of directing, six young directors showcase their work and the company, Anomalist Production, that nurtured them, comes on to tell about the process and the need to find, incubate and cultivate new talent. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The director, a Malaysian homed in China, returns to KL to stage another work, this time one by Chinese playwright Cao Yu. ‘Peking Man’ is considered by many, the playwright’s masterpiece. This play details the collapse of a prominent family because of familial conflicts. Klpac earlier in the year staged in English Cao Yu’s ‘Thunderstorm’. See omnystudio.com/lis...

New media in art incorporates contemporary technologies--digital and analogue--to create new/different experiences. Our guests tell about the weekend exhibition and panel discussion, and share the reasons for their interests in this way of expressing which blurs the line between the subject and object, the artist-as-facilitator and the spectator-as-artist. New media art seems to compel an experien...

Non-Indian ASWARA graduates gather to dance classical Bharatanatyam to point out that we all need to cross our cultural borders, go beyond our ethnicities and tongues. Our guest tell of ASWARA students performing classical dances in India and the reception the company received. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The artistic director of the musical group that focuses on classical music tells about the company’s exploration of Johann Sebastian Bach’s secular works. Believe it or not, but the centerpiece of the ensemble’s repertoire is the comedic ‘Coffee Cantata’. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The festival--though it is a tag the organizer doesn’t like--is in its second year. Riding on 2016’s experience, our guest the organizer, shares how this three-day event, which features mostly art, art-and-curatorial talks, guided art tours, has grown to include food. Shalini Ganendra shares on how to approach artworks so as not to be intimidated. See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...

This month, Speak Easy focuses on how poetry and poetry slam are being used in education across schools and universities in Malaysia to improve things students’ confidence, develop their self expression, and language skills. But poetry in education can do a whole lot more. We hear from poetry educator Yohanna Yusrinal, as well as poet-students Tee Yen, Amanda Lim, Elissa Foong and Taarani Ma...

Part dance history and part dance appreciation, this conversation situates Martha Graham’s contributions as dancer and choreographer to the world of contemporary dance. Bilqis Hijjas also shares on Martha Graham’s life, the “Martha Graham technique” and the seminal works for which the dancer-choreographer is known. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A conversation about capturing the human form in art and some insights into why this activity is complex and compelling. In capturing landscape and objects in still life, the artist is for the most part less overtly impacted and influenced as by the changing human being before them. Our guests share on “the male gaze.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The dancer, choreographer, teacher and artist talks about creating dances. He shares his experience dancing first as part of a troupe and then going solo. He tells about his Welcome to Project and his every changing collective dances, under the rubric 'The Sukanpins Project, when he collaborates with local performers made up of dancers and non-dancers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

Our guests--a mix of Malaysians and Australians--come from a university in Australia bearing a musical for children, titled, “Home at Last: A Toy’s Journey.” The production is funded by the Australian Council for the Arts and the Western Australia’s CAN initiative. The play deals with migration, immigration and communities. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio...

Finding out about this new theatre company--Kudoclasm--that has in collaboration with Theatre Lounge Cafe, produced two shows which will be staged this and next month. ‘Erica’s Room’ and ‘On a Starry Night’ appear to be holiday offerings to bid farewell to the old year and to usher in the new. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A conversation about the growth and evolution of this 9-year-old festival which caters to independent artists and performers. Tony Yap shares how the outdoor sites in and around the historical town contribute to the development of the festival and keep its character distinct and unique. Our guest reveals how his own performance philosophy and practice seep into the festival and its offerings. See...

The artist talks about her 11th solo exhibition which comprises paintings on linen to graphite drawings and watercolour on paper. The artist situates herself in Malaysian art and explains her concerns and preoccupations with the domestic which she manifests on canvas and paper. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The renowned arts critic and writer for ‘Times of India’ makes another visit to our capital. He gives a preview of his illustrated talk on an iconic Indian dancer--Ram Gopal-- who took classical dances from the subcontinent onto the world’s stage and in the process earned himself an OBE (Order of the British Empire). Dr Sunil Kothari points out the importance of official archives...