Front Row

Their maiden concert aptly titled, 'EAST MEETS WEST' – A Fusion Music Odyssey on September 6th, 2015 at the PJ Civic Centre from 7.30pm onwards, is the brainchild of their leader and mentor, Samuel J Dass whose prowess on the Sitar is well known the world over. Together with another international personality, tabla maestro Prakash Kandasamy who leads the rhythm section of the band. Today, Samuel Dass, artistic director, Prakash Kandasamy, tabla player, Bhavani Logeswaran, carnatic vocals, Vinod Kamalanathan, Deputy President of Swara CAC, and Jazlan Noorman, Bass Player, talk about their upcoming music event of the year and how they plan to change how people understand eastern and western music. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cleveland-born Nick Varricchio who plays Double J--who in the movie version is played by Paul Pape, close friend to Anthony Manero (the John Travolta character)--tells about the journey into the disco era. This show glued together with songs by the BeeGees is hitting the Istana Budaya.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We rarely ever see a harmonica playing classical music; or if nothing else, posing as a serious musical instruments among the classical ones. The musicians not only play to demonstrate how this mouth organ (aka French harp) which is a wind instrument invented only in the early 1900s does fit in but they also explain why.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Human trafficking is often the subject for Current Events on BFM. On Front Row, the discussion turns to a contemporary dance performance to depict this horrible commercial exploitation of people. What will be the dance vocabulary for ‘one of the fastest-growing activities of transnational criminal organizations’?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As part of the DiverseCity 2015 Festival, Ramli Ibrahim curates dances under the theme: ‘Rediscover Our Heritage’.  Bilqis and January will detail not only about the dancemakers who will be bringing onto our stages 12 premieres--that is 12 new dances, but also to explain how these dances link to the theme.  They also share about the visual arts exhibitions of dance images--paintings, sketches, sculptures--to be shown at Istana Budaya and DBKL auditoriums.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Melbourne-based actor talks about doing a one-man show which highlights the plight of ‘ethnic’ actors in a predominantly white culture. He’ll tell how humor as a standup comic differs from humor in a one-man show.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The producer of the event tells the history of Shanghai Jazz and points out that this genre of music has a considerable following in our country because certain musicians and groups made it popular. Loh explains how this music is being made accessible to younger listeners both through its presentation and through its more contemporary arrangements. This jazz is evolving to incorporate local color: ‘Kebaya Jazz’.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The creative arts business coach details the process of germinating an idea into a musical that can be staged on the West End. The process is often long and labor-intensive requiring a great investment of money, time and energy. While there isn’t a shortcut to the creative process to engender a performance product there are ways to create an infrastructure to assist the process and to birth works of quality.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After weeks of running a music competition for young string players, the directors pull together a Gala Concert which celebrates not on the competition but the young musicians. Based on their encounters and meeting with these young musicians, they tell about the competition and share their observations on the future of classical music in the country.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What needs to be in place for local artists to collaborate with ASEAN artists? But some argue that our separate politics and national boundaries point to a separation of cultures and collaboration is at best superficial. The guests explores how collaboration should and could fostered to break down these artificial walls that separate us.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.