Front Row

The brainchild of HOM Art Trans and Galeri Chandan, the Malaysian Emerging Artist Award or MEAA was created to recognize emerging talent in Malaysia, and to help propel young Malaysian artists to greater heights. We find out who shone from 2013's selection from Nazli Aziz, the MD of Galeri Chandan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Renowned Peruvian-British artist, José Navarro, presents his puppet interpretation of the Scissors Dance, a Peruvian dance from the Andes which is a UNESCO-recognized ‘Intangible Heritage of Humanity’. José tells us more about the act, which features various puppet techniques and rearrangements of traditional music with elements of fusion, that are said to provide a mysti...

Award-winning actress Siti Khalijah Zainal takes centre-stage in this one-woman show called "Best Of" which is said to look at issues of the day through collective stories and personal reflection. We find out more about this work - which was specially created for Siti Khalijah - from the performer herself, who will be joined by Alvin Tan, the Artistic Director of the Singapore-based theatre compan...

Dr. Brian Lobel is a New York-born, London based performer who has been described as a prolific maker, an itinerant artist, a fearless practitioner, an astute and wise thinker and writer, and an enthusiastic collaborator. We caught up with him during his recent trip to Malaysia to learn about his work, which lies in creating projects about bodies and how they are watched, policed, poked, prodded a...

An original one act comedy play, About Last Night was written and directed by British actor Scott McQuaid. We are joined by Scott and actress Ilyana Fizal, who give us a teaser of the plot, which opens with two strangers waking up next to each other with no recollection of the previous night. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Seasons 4 is a singing quartet made up of four old Malay College of Kuala Kangsar schoolmates, who have made quit a name for themselves thanks to their lively renditions of Broadway hits, popular numbers, classic jazz and Malay songs. With the verve and vivacity of men half their age, we get to know these singing buddies better, from group members Rahim Ismail and Ezani Abu Bakar and get a tea...

Professor Robert Baines is Australia's leading goldsmith and jeweler, craftsman and teacher. An award winning and internationally-exhibited artist and archeaometallurgist too, his work as an artist has seen him exhibit all cross the world, while his scholarship on the subject of jewellery and object-making has been published worldwide. He is here in Kuala Lumpur to give a talk and exhibit some of...

Italian sculptors, painters, architects and artists dominated the art scene in Europe for 400 years and have continuously initiated new eras with their achievements. Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci influenced the Renaissance, like Berini and Borromini the baroque Italy. For lovers of art, Italy is a paradise with an invaluable wealth of works and places. Sardinia born Luca Idili has d...

Ali Johan met with English world musician, manager and producer Ben Mandelson and discussed Ben's early days in punk and his subsequent foray into world music, which eventually led him to his current role as head honcho of WOMEX. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Abigail Anderson is an award winning theatre director from the UK who was recently in Malaysia conducting acting and directing workshops. We pried into her life as a theatre director to find out about her illustrious career thus far, while gaining an insider look at the theatre scene in the UK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sharaad Kuttan speaks with Rogue Art's Beverly Yong about the book Narratives in Malaysian Art Volume 2: Reactions – New Critical Strategies, which she co-edited. The book looks at the ways in which Malaysian artists have responded to socio-political events that have taken place in Malaysia, and also at the changing approaches and attitudes in art-making over the past 45 years. See omnystudi...

Jazz music, to some people can be considered as high culture/ high brow/ complex music, but educating the people about the different types of music that's been touched by jazz can help to dispel this myth. During the recent Penang Island Jazz Festival, Ali Johan caught up with John Cumming, festival director of the London Jazz Festival and director of Serious Productions, about the growth of the w...

In the middle of Botswana lies the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, which was created to protect the traditional territory of the Bushmen and the game they depend on. The Botswana government has been accused of violating the Bushmen's rights to live and hunt on their ancestral land and is said to be denying them a fair hearing. Rachel Stenham, a campaigner with Survival International, gives us an ac...

The best young talents of Malaysian contemporary dance are set to polish their skills in a showcase of short works called The Mezzanine: Level 2 of MyDance Alliance's Dance Escalator project. Filling us in on this project are Bilqis Hijjas, president of MyDance Alliance and emerging choreographers, Fairul Zahid and Chai Vivian.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shell Business Service Centre was the winner in the Best Sustainable Workplace category at the Malaysian Dutch Business Council Sustainability Awards 2013. Here to share more about their efforts towards creating a sustainable workplace are Mabal Tan, the General Manager of Shell Business Service Centre and Marco Winter, Executive Director of the Malaysian Dutch Business Council. See omnystudio.com...

MIASMA is a series of short plays by Malaysian writers Na'a Murad, Shamaine Othman, Iskandar Ismail (Adiwijaya) and Maya Tan Abdullah. Described as bold, daring, and witty, we find out more about this multiple bill of plays from writer and performer Na’a Murad and performer Siti Farrah Abdullah. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The drumming tradition of Urumee Melam - a vibrant largely Tamil folk music tradition historically associated with working class communities - is fast gaining popularity in the sphere of world traditional music. One of the most commanding of these groups on the local front is Chinna Rasa Urumee Melam Masana Kali, who speak to Ali Johan about their music and their latest album. See omnystudio.com/l...

A winning formula of 2+2 is what you're promised an exhibition titled Recent Works 2013 which features the works of abstract artists Drew Harris and Tajuddin Ismail and figurative artists Jalaini Abu Hassan and Ahmad Zakii Anwar. Here to discuss this further are visual artists themselves Drew Harris and Tajuddin Ismail. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A show that boasts the musical genius of Onn San and the distinctively Malaysian writing of Mark Beau de Silva, Marrying Me is a new musical comedy that tackles a parent's dying wish, love and marriage. Director Chris Ling, cast member Sandra Sodhy and lyricist EllaRose Chary give us the scoop. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Shalini Ganendra Fine Art Vision Culture Program is a non-profit knowledge building program, that hopes to develop awareness of Malaysian arts with international curators and artists. Set to speak tonight is art historian and Adjunct Curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Sandhini Poddar, who will be discussing the topic of curating Asian art to the world. She joins us to share more. See...

The group Art Friends, in collaboration with Mercy Malaysia and Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers are organising a charity auction to collect funds for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines on 5th December 2013. Themed 'Art Friends for Haiyan Charity Art Auction' the auction will present about 40 works of art from 28 well known artists in he country. Here to tell us more is Datuk Rosaline Ganen...

One is known as the Godfather of Malaysian comedy, and the other is part of the MACC... Funnymen Harith Iskander and Kuah Jenhan give us a teaser of what's in store for comedy show Lawak Ke Der 3, which has come a long way from YouTube to Istana Budaya. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Challenging the idea of collaboration, the cross disciplinary contemporary dance performance, Intertwined, sees several local talents coming together to create a performing art piece that interacts between different arts disciplines, with each artist interpreting the word "intertwined' through their own artistic language. Explaining further are composer Ng Chor Guan and producer E-Jan. See omnystu...

Singer Melissa Indot released her long-awaited second album MDot in October, and she joins us to discuss both the new sound she has adopted for this album and also to plug what we can expect from her upcoming performance at Alexis.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is English schoolmaster Edwin Abbot's satirical spin on his era's social, moral and religious conventions. This story is set to make the move from page to stage in a dance adaptation by Terry and The Cuz and daner Suhaili Micheline, and we find out all about it from Director, The Cuz and Costume Designer, Mel Page.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...