Front Row

The Kota Kinabalu Arts Festival is an initiative by SPArKS in an effort to assist in the development of the Performing Arts industry in Sabah. It is holding its annual festival. Our producer talks to its president about the performing arts scene in KK, the opportunities and challenges and the offerings for this year’s festival.

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The Kota Kinabalu Arts Festival is an initiative by SPArKS in an effort to assist in the development of the Performing Arts industry in Sabah. It is holding its annual festival. Our producer talks to its president about the performing arts scene in KK, the opportunities and challenges and the offerings for this year’s festival.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The tradition of the wayang kulit has been passed down through three generations in this family of practitioners, from “tok dalang”, the late Hussin Yusoff, to his young grandson who is currently training for the role himself. We speak to the family about keeping this traditional Malaysian art form alive, and sustaining it for a new generation of performers.

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One of Malaysia’s most renowned artists, Latiff Mohidin, became the first Southeast Asian to be featured in the Centre Pompidou in Paris earlier this year, in an exhibition presented by the National Gallery Singapore. The retrospective, called “Latiff Mohidin: Pago Pago (1960-1969)”, is now being shown in Kuala Lumpur at the ILHAM Gallery. We speak to Latiff Mohiddin and curator Shabbir Mustafa about the significance of Latiff’s work to a specific era in Southeast Asian history.

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For Raja Ahmad Aminullah, words are a means to resist. What is the point of poetry, he asks, if it isn’t to question the injustices of the world? As Malaysia prepares to celebrate its first Merdeka Day under a new government, we speak to Raja Ahmad about his latest books - both poetry and prose - and why it is essential for writers to continue questioning the system.

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Jasmine Chen is a jazz musician and songwriter from Shanghai who brings China’s rich musical heritage into the world of jazz. One of China’s leading jazz musicians, she combines Western compositions with Chinese lyrics. Most recently, Jasmine performed in and recorded the soundtrack for Hollywood film “Crazy Rich Asians”. Ahead of her performance in Kuala Lumpur, we speak to Jasmine about all things jazz.

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The photographer walks our producer through the exhibits detailing why he has decided to make a visually-challenged the subject of his black-and-white works. He tells about his process and the person who is the subject of his works: a visually impaired 70-year-old who was formerly a school teacher turned trainer at the Malaysian Association of the Blind, now a happy busker.

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The photographer walks our producer through the exhibits detailing why he has decided to make a visually-challenged the subject of his black-and-white works. He tells about his process and the person who is the subject of his works: a visually impaired 70-year-old who was formerly a school teacher turned trainer at the Malaysian Association of the Blind, now a happy busker.

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Photographer Kenny Loh began the “Born in Malaysia” photography project in 2010 as a way to document the people, places, and stories that make up the country. In its latest iteration, he focuses specifically on Kuala Lumpur, and captures through his lens the spirit of this ever-changing capital, as well as the pockets of history that still lay hidden within. We speak to Kenny about capturing the heart of KL through his camera.

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Kevin Bathman is a Malaysian-born curator, storyteller, and social change advocate who has been based in Australia. He is perhaps best known as the founder of ‘The Chindian Diaries ‘, a project that combines visual and oral history to document cross-cultural stories between the Chinese and Indian communities. The project has since spun off into various forms, including exhibitions and performances. Kevin talks to us about this project, and how the arts and social change can intersect.

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