Front Row

After a hiatus - ok, ok - an extended hiatus, she is back singing and in a solo performance. I recall her on stage parodying our culture’s preoccupation with whitening cream and skin-deep beauty. Shanthini tells what she did during her hiatus and how that time away from the stage has prepared her to come back. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Because it has the Government’s ear now, dare anyone say that the visual arts industry has arrived? Gallery owner, Mohammad Nazli Aziz and the Director of Lifestyle Section, MATRADE, Abu Bakar Yusof tell of ventures overseas to market our ‘cultural assets’. They also tell of other steps necessary to ensure a sustainable, creative ecosystem for this industry. See omnystudio.com/li...

To celebrate Halloween and to engender the mood, we create just for you our version of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven’. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When artists are asked to take selfies what do they reveal about themselves through their choices? Some 20 artists were invited to turn the camera on themselves, take self-portraits and through these pictures inquire our ‘social, political, geographical and technological state.’ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The percussionist is on his annual visit to the country bringing his African rhythms to music lovers and other musicians at his favorite venue. Taking a break from his schedule--the rehearsals and soundcheck--Mokhtar Samba the percussionist drops by the studio to tell about documenting African rhythms, launching of his latest CD and being a senior musician. Listen to our previous interview with Mo...

When asked about what his art means or what he wants to communicate through it, the artist Cheong Laitong often responds, “It’s up to you to catch it.” We’re catching him instead and sitting him down in our studio to point us in the direction of where his art has come and where it is going so that we can catch it on our own. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

An artist residency with an exhibition “inspired by the belief that individuals live with the problem [free will] and so of choice; and balancing between two or more parallel realities - physical, ideological, emotional and illusionary. Expectations may not be met due to the asymmetry of information while objectivity is almost never achieved in our decision making process.” See omnystu...

Supported by an industry of writers and illustrators of children’s books, Big Wooden Horse has another production in KL titled ‘The Way Back Home’. The last time the company was in town, it played ‘Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus’. What’s the scariest thing about performing for pre-school children? What is the worst that could happen? We’ll hear w...

Three from Sirius Quartet tell about being musicians who teach and at the same time play professionally, compose and record music. But how do professional musicians continue to learn? They reveal how being in a group, they get to learn from each other. Sirius Quartet is in the country teaching masterclasses, but they will also perform. The musicians take the occasion to explain the quartet’s...

Documenting other women through photography becomes the vehicle for the photographer to explore issues of identity, beginning with herself. She tells of her displacement from Malaysia, to the United States and eventually settling in France and how this modern nomadic life precipitates questions of Who am I? What are my roots? Do they matter? Armed with a clunky 19th-century viewfinder camera she d...

This dance tradition from the Dominican Republic has evolved and is now practiced and celebrated all over the world. And being in the world, this international dance fuses the traditional with the contemporary, originating in new steps and moves. Our guests detail the dance tradition and show how bachata is related to Salsa, Merengue, Zouk and Kizomba. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

Stephanie Van Driesen has played the sassy Sally Bowles in ‘Cabaret’; she was also in ‘Othello’ as Desdemona. So you know, this graduate, from LaSalle College of the Arts in Singapore, sings, dances and acts. This time around she has put together her own show and performing it all by herself accompanied only by a pianist. As she looks at Marilyn and then herself. Stephanie...

Local theatrical works based on local contexts continue to emerge on our stages. There is ‘MUD’ a musical about Kuala Lumpur; and there was another about Chow Kit. Now comes ‘Cheras the Musical’ with book by June Tan and presented by Five Arts Centre. The writer and musical director give the inside story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back from the USA after a six-year stint, Sean Ghazi, tells about the life of the performer and gives a tip or two about life on the international stage. He and Ida Mariana detail their upcoming concert as one in which they both drop their smooth crooning styles of voices like warm milk to belt out Broadway musicals with big finishes. Hear them sing live, a cappella. See omnystudio.com/listener fo...

In the city to conduct the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra play Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird’ ballet suite, the conductor stops to speak to Front Row about the romanticism in this music that will be melded to the style of folk-jazz. This upcoming concert will see the MPO play with a Norwegian trumpet player Ole Edvard Antonsen. The conductor describes what this fusion of classical and...

Dr Sam Bowker discusses the history of khayamiya through the tentmaker’s ongoing adaptations to new conditions. He details the origin of the Tentmakers of Cairo and how what they do can be situated within Islamic art. Of course, in a world where more live in urban areas, including those in the Middle-East, tentmakers face challenges to survive into the future. See omnystudio.com/listener for...

Five fresh young graduates from Dasein Academy of Art have come together to exhibit their works. Through their art perhaps some answers to questions about Gen-Y. What do they think about when they don’t have to think? What do they do when they don’t have specific assignments and must-be-completed tasks assigned to them? What do they want? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

The choreographer-dancer-producer tells about using Bharatanatyam--Indian classical dancing--to tell stories about women and their experiences with the ‘other’ gender. The music composer and she relate the process and the rationale of bringing these stories to live and the kinds of challenges they faced. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest gives us a view into the Renaissance musical instrument, the harpsichord; and how it, in the 20th century, gained the lustre it lost in the 18th century. He also tells about the musical composition, called the Ciaccona in Italian. The popularity of the musical form coincided with the popularity of the harpsichord; and also waned when the popularity of the harpsichord took a turn. Both th...

‘Into The Woods’, ‘Sweeney Todd’, ‘West Side Story’, and ‘Gypsy’ are but a few of the musicals that Stephen Sondheim has both composed, and wrote lyrics for. Hailed by The New York Times as “the greatest living composer and lyricist”, Sondheim’s 85th birthday will be celebrated the world over in gala tributes that will see the likes...

One of Western Australia's busiest jazz vocalists will be performing in Malaysia. The Canadian born singer is internationally known for her hit single “U Sure Do” with ex-band Strike. Besides being constantly on the road for her performances, she also lectures Jazz and Contemporary music at The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. We speak to Victoria Newton about her upcomin...

Many people of the younger generation are largely unaware of artistes who made a mark on the nation’s early music scene. Among them is the late Alfonso Soliano, a.k.a ‘Bapa Jazz Malaysia’. Ranked as one of the musicians who is respected for his immense contribution to the local jazz scene, Alfonso was instrumental in setting-up the first orchestra for RTM (then Radio Malaya) and...

Performing a diverse mix of old and new pieces, with classical music forming the core of its programming, Ensemble Virama is dedicated to the development and education of Malaysian musicians. They believe that there are only two kinds of music; good music, and the other. Today we speak to Howard Ng Su Chee and Bernice Ooi Khai Ern, the respective oboist and violinist of Ensemble Virama about their...

Percussion music is done through the melodious banging, rattling or scraping of instruments. Two groups who have similar passions and yet are poles apart, one traditional and another contemporary. Listen to two different percussion groups discuss their take on the subject, as Ju Percussion and Hands Percussion come together.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Qawwali is a form of devotional music that involves the singing of Sufi hymns, a tradition that has lasted for over 700 years. The word itself is derived from the Arabic word ‘qaul’, meaning ‘belief’ or ‘credo’. Originally from Pakistan, the Mehr Ali & Sher Ali Qawwali Ensemble will be performing in Malaysia for the first time ever as a part of Diversecity 2...