Front Row

"Jazz Meets the Island" is the theme of the very first Pangkor Island Jazz Festival, set to be held from the 7th to the 9th of October.  Promising music, culture and life under the island moonlight, the festival boasts of headliners like WVC Jazz Trio, Junji Delfino, The Shang Sisters and more. We speak to pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader Tay Cher Siang, who is also the curator and music director of the Pangkor Jazz festival, to find out more. 

Image credit: Facebook / Pangkor Island Jazz Festival

From humble beginnings of school grounds rehearsal spaces and rented instruments, the HANDS Percussion group grew to be critically acclaimed performers, and also a crowd favourite at both local and international stages. Founded 25 years ago by Bernard Goh, the team have weathered some storms these past couple of years, but are back with a literal bang, and are building back even better than before. They are set to present Kaleidoscope VI  - Hands International Drumming Festival "Thunder" this October, and we find out all about it from Bernard, who is also the artistic director of HANDS Percussion. 

Image credit: Facebook / HANDS Percussion

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"Jazz Meets the Island" is the theme of the very first Pangkor Island Jazz Festival, set to be held from the 7th to the 9th of October.  Promising music, culture and life under the island moonlight, the festival boasts of headliners like WVC Jazz Trio, Junji Delfino, The Shang Sisters and more. We speak to pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader Tay Cher Siang, who is also the curator and music director of the Pangkor Jazz festival, to find out more. 

Image credit: Facebook / Pangkor Island Jazz Festival

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The SeaShorts Film Festival was originally founded by award-winning filmmaker Tan Chui Mui in 2017, as an event to screen Southeast Asian short films, and it has since grown into a notable regional film event. With a programme of handpicked and curated short films, as well as forums and masterclasses, it showcases Southeast Asia’s stories and emerging filmmaking talents by bringing together the arts and cultural community from the region. The theme for this year is “Future” and we find out more about what's in store at this year's festival from renowned filmmaker Dain Said, who is this year's festival director.  

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In 2020, a video championing social justice by a young Cambodian rapper, Kea Sokun, went viral. Shortly after that, the artist was arrested and accused of inciting criminal activity under an overly broad interpretation of Article 495 of Cambodia’s criminal code, a law that has been increasingly used against citizens expressing political opinion on social media. While the government portrays Sokun as an opposition-funded musician calling for an uprising, his parents argue that he was just a kid making music in his room. The short documentary Not Love Songs follows Sokun’s story, and we find out more from the film's director Jackson Brook, who is also a Cambodia-based journalist with the Southeast Asia Globe. Jackson also discusses the current political environment in Cambodia, under Prime Minister Hun Sen, and the Cambodian People’s Party. The film will be presented as part of the Freedom Film Festival 2022, which will screen films that bring diverse and critical perspectives on the theme of Pandemik Dua Darjat or Pandemic of Inequality, that are often missing from the mainstream.

Image credit: Freedom Film

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Grey Scale is a film told through the eyes of filmmaker Evelyn Teh's 79-year-old aunt, who is living alone and growing old in a gentrifying neighbourhood, and whose hardships became more evident because of COVID-19. The story presents the quiet struggles among the elderly in their quest towards independent and dignified ageing, and we speak to Evelyn to discuss her film that is part of this year's Freedom Film Festival, and the issues presented in it. FFF 2022 will screen films that bring diverse and critical perspectives on the theme of Pandemik Dua Darjat or Pandemic of Inequality, that are often missing from the mainstream.

Image credit: Freedom Film

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After a two-year hiatus, the FreedomFilmFest 2022 (FFF2022) returns, with the theme "Pandemik Dua Darjat" or Pandemic of Inequality. The films set to be screened will bring fresh, diverse and also critical perspectives on the theme, and will feature some 34 socially-themed films from all over the world, that were made just before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. We find out more about what's in store at this year's festival from Anna Har, the Festival's Director, and the Co-founder of the Freedom Film Network.

Image credit: Facebook / Freedom Film Fest

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PESZTA is a one-day music, arts, and culture festival taking place on the 27th August across three venues in the vicinity of Kampung Attap, Kuala Lumpur. Spelt PESZTA, the festival’s title is not a typo, but rather an acronym of the various sites in Kampung Attap that will be involved in the day-long event. We find out more about what's in store from Kg Attap residents, Liza Ho (Co-founder, The Zhongshan Building) and Stephanie Goh (Yayasan Lim Yee Hoh). Both Liza and Stephanie will also share more about the mix of old and new world charm that Kg Attap offers, and also shed light on the ever-growing arts and culture community located smack in the heart of KL city.

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Gajen Nad is a stand-up comedian, known for his family-friendly material, whose jokes revolve around diversity, family, work, news, movies, relationships & travelling. In 2019, he was awarded ‘Most Promising Stand-up Comedian’ by Top 10 Malaysia - though he's not too sure what he actually promised. Gajen is set to perform a one-hour comedy special titled Professional Mixed Breed, which he joins us to share more about.

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With a brand of music described as a “redefinition of Indian music, laced with Malaysian and world influences” fusion music group AkashA Malaysia are a fan favourite everywhere they go. They are set to perform at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas on the 9th of Sep, and we catch up with two of the group's founding members, sitar player Kumar Karthigesu, and guitarist and composer Jamie Wilson.

Image credit: AkashA Malaysia

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