Front Row

The Vocal Fest (“VoxFest”) is a music community service project in its 4th year running. Our guests tell about this three-day programme which provides a platform for vocalists to come together and learn from practitioners in the industry. They peel the skin back on this event to show how it works and how it builds a community. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A play that takes us back to the Renaissance and about the relationship between the ‘virgin’ Elizabeth I and the oft-married Mary Queen of Scots. Two veteran actors, playing two queens, tell about their own friendship and how that seeps into the performance. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From an affinity for nature to the production of images of nature while questioning the role of nature in art. The gallery owner and one of the exhibiting artist talk about intricate geometries and about beauty. The young artist was here last talking about his beastly works--artistic depictions of animals in the wild. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when supposedly staid traditions clash with the need to innovate? Our guests tell about the melding of styles and how they determine if hybrid works or not. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A conversation with a magician, mime artist, dancer, acrobat, juggler, musician and consummate performer. He tells about creativity and engendering stories about relighting the waning moon, about burning dead letters and evoking memories of love, about laughter. He gives us peek into the mind of an artist who performs for family, and in the performance reaching out to adults and children alike. Se...

Coming form a deep and long tradition in Carnatic and Hindustani music, our guests deliberate on the balance between tradition and innovation, the need to have roots and then branches. The vocalist gives a sample of the kind of music that marries the old with the new and explains why it is new. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A collaboration between ThinkCity and Projek Dialog sees the emergence of a poetry festival that celebrates Kuala Lumpur and what it holds in the imagination of its dwellers and those who move in and out of its heart. Our guests not only tell what will be offered at the festival but also throw light on the genesis of this event which has on its roster an impressive list of local poets. See omnystu...

A look at a festival that celebrates contemporary music. We learn what this genre of music is, what informs it, its influences and its prominent practitioners. Apparently there are quite a few Malaysian composers who are celebrated and whose music has premiered overseas. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest comes to Kuala Lumpur straight from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to perform. She does stand-up comedy but in this performance titled ‘Ghost Machine’, she is described as offering an “interactive performance art”. Is this the new definition of comedy? Laura Davis talks to us about performance, comedy and interactions with the audience. See omnystudio.com/listener...

A look back and an examination of the Malaysian Institute of Art’s contribution to visual education and to the country’s visual art. Our guests tell of how the foundation from the institution allowed them to explore their own artistic lives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode, we talk about counterculture and Beat poetry. Beat poets and the culture they espoused was anti-establishment and non-conformist. Are the hipster poets of the now “beat” in any way? Is spoken word meaningful counterculture? Jack Malik and Azizan Afi weigh in before performing their own haiku/jazz live improvisation, featuring Axam Maumoon on saxophone. See omnystudio.com/...

Borak Arts Series is a platform that attempts to create opportunities and build capacity through the congregation of local and international cultural leaders, artists, presenters, producers, intermediaries, funders, academics and students. Our guests share what the fifth in the series will focus on and what it hopes to achieve. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A conversation with Tengku Irfan to discover the mind of the musician. He tells why he chose the piano above other instruments and shares what playing music does to him. He also informs how playing an instrument complements conducting, which he now undertakes. He will be conducting in the DFP at the end of the year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A conversation on figurative art and what lies beyond the form, the lines, the light-and-shade that the artists are trying to capture. They share their experiences trying to capture the emotions, their individual encounters, perspectives and responses to the live models who help them create. They point out why visual representations of human beings are more engaging. See omnystudio.com/listener fo...

Sifu Productions take on an established work to establish itself. After several years of devised plays and comic sketches, the company expands into the traditional to find a sustainable business model. Our guests tell about their choice and express challenges creating an ideal situation for the company to thrive. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The choreographer and dance-researcher takes us back in time to share about the threats of the British Empire to India. How during that era of changes to politics, socio-economics and religious structures in India threatened and posed significant challenges to several art forms. She points to efforts by activists which ascertained a revival of these traditional forms. See omnystudio.com/listener f...

The performance company celebrates its 20th anniversary with a grand concert which will involve both local and international percussionists and troupes. Bernard Goh shares on his collaborators and points to Hands Percussion’s future paths. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This new ensemble called eight-dot-twelve marries eastern and western instruments to play both Oriental and Occidental music. Two members tell about the birth of the group and its official coming out performances. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Having started a project called 2020 back in 2015 , the team returns to share on its evolution which now culminates in ‘The Futurists’ Diaries’, a performance in the DiverseCity KL International Arts Festival 2017. This third show builds on and develops discoveries found in between productions when Toccata involved artists, scientists and the public in its roundtable discussions....

Another year and a new series of Short & Sweet, comedies, plays, musicals and dances, each performance within 10 minutes from start to end. The producer tells of the impact of Short & Sweet on the performing arts scene and the opportunities it offers to young wannabe performers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the last of the series , the practitioners share not only why they themselves practice theatre but also its relevance and historical significance in creating this safe and sacred space. Theatre and play are the counterpoints to ‘adult’ sobriety and seriousness. Play connotes not only the opposite of work, but also innocence, pleasure and creativity. See omnystudio.com/listener for p...

Starting with a tongue-in-cheek title for his exhibition, the photographer-artist details his journey into the visual arts and his fascination with image-making. He moves forward professionally by returning to traditional ways of creating images with the camera. In this exhibition he attempts to slow down time and to produce tactile prints created in cool dark room, not often inhabited by those wi...

A conversation, on religious and cultural practices, in a cavernous mall basement that has been converted into a performance space. Our guests--activists and theatre practitioners point out the need to initiate open dialogue instead of sweeping uncomfortable questions and issues under the proverbial carpet. They detail why the performance is yoked together with two common rituals which are being e...

A conversation on performing shows for children with hilarious tales of working with an audience that is honest and not necessarily bound by decorum and theatre etiquette. The artistic director also points out the importance of performing with and for marginalised communities and making them visible to the young audience. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the last episode of the series , our guest begins with Stravinsky’s ’Rite of Spring’ and close with references to reel-music, original soundtrack to films coming out of the studios. He frames contemporary music in the context of soundtracks which accompany visual sequences on the screen but which may not be meaningful listened to by itself. See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...