A gig and art exhibition will be held this *Saturday (14th April)* for the victims of the Kg. Berembang tragedy.
Saturday, 14 April,
D’Space, 60 Weld Quay, Georgetown
5pm: Urban pioneers’ struggle art exhibit
8pm: Gig feat. Coma, Firefly, Weot Skam
More info here
If you don’t know what happened in Kg. Berembang, find out here:
1 comment:
`Shadow play went on smoothly' -whose shadow play ?
Despite the strong warning from the cops that they will `arrest everyone' who come to the wayang cardboard which they saw as an `illegal assembly' nothing came of it and the show was reported as `running smoothly' by the same press which reported the cops' threats. D' Space was packed like a popular gig show -and everyone which was scared into not coming had something valuable to miss from the show ! Finally we should ask : whose shadow paly was it -to try to scare more people from coming to what was afterall a common enough humanitarian fight against evictions ?
The scare was real : 3 rock bands pulled out from performance and a venue at Balik Pulau was cancelled-and replaced by another at Art Forest Restaurant along Sg Dua. While both venues were jammed packed a story teller also pulled out without any excuse.
The programs were a good mix of documentary (a VCD documentary on the sad story was screened), an exhibition of strong resistent to the demolition of Kg Berembang, a film appreciation screening titled `Hitler Speak' which shows that a murderous person need not be `unfriendly' personally -just like our local varieties who speak of the Hadhari language, a lively dialogue following the Wayang Cardboard show by about 10 kids. The show at Sg Dua at 3.30pm was a bit abbreviated.
VCD : detailed the oppression
The VCD was produced by PAS and went into good details of the mass evictions and demolitions. It is a shame that no mainstream media went into such truths to let people know of what happened there. A very resident-friendly perspective was adopted -a rare approach in our developer and government-friendly media. Keep it up and the people will look at PAS with the new media-savvy PAS in new eyes !
Exhibition : witnesses of oppression and resistance
The lower-profile photos and picture exhibition was -though less organised, told a moving story of residents' resistent to the housing's demolition. No doubt there are many kids doing the shadow play who have a camera or video camera in their hands at the wayang's tour !
Keep up the `shootings' kids !
Wayang Cardboard: traditional media turned into modern potency
While my last encounter of wayang kulit was a cough mixture advertisement over TV many years ago the one presented by Kg Berembang kids was a refreshing use of the traditional media for a modern theme. In an era where mainstream modern media are almost hijacked for propping up the conservative agenda it took an old media to expose the ugliness behind the modern development in the country. That is refreshing -and a good message to traditional arts which are still bog down in tradional subjects only. What come to mind are the Chinese opera shows, Chinese water colours etc.
The wayang cardboard's adaptation of the medium defer from the traditional Kelantanese variety in a few points : it utilises a modern sport light which is located about 1 meter away from the fabric screen. The Kelantanese one utilise only normal 100 w incandescent lamps placed inches behind the screen. Also the `cardboards' with flexible joints are in black and white -not colourful as done by the seemingly more `sophisticated' Kelantanse variety. Of course the biggest difference is : the traditional variety is done by expert `dalang' (the string pullers) while this new style are done by some 10 school kids ! The participatory approach create a much closer rapport between the audience and the young string pullers !
Despite the contrasts between the current adaptation and the traditional version the delivery of the show was as stunning as its simplicities and unpretensiousness. The story was told in a straight forward and chronological fashion -giving the script an unpolished rawness to it. Enough to pack a punch to the audience -and also to the `baddies' in the show ! Reactions from the audiences seems quite positive in the 2 premier shows in Penang !
For such an economic portrayal of a modern day story it did put the police's harsh warnings in bad lights -after some members of the same force were implicated in the demolishion of the Kg Berembang's houses ! A few of the cardboards did portrayed the simplified characters quite effectively while a number of the actions seems to be quite well delivered. No wonder the positive audience responses afterwards !
More attempts are definitely welcome in view of the domination of Malaysia's the mostly `bodek' (please the boss) art culture ! It deserves a much wider audience -so watch out for it when it comes near you !
The presentations can be improved (which I think the producer artists would do should they get hold of more support) if there were better sound input eg some traditional musical accompaniments eg Gendang/drums -which can improve on the building up and down the dramatic tension; and the cardboards pictures/profiles can be improved not just in adding colours but also experimenting in using close up figures. Perhaps not showing the props (currently made of thin timber strip-but can be replaced with transparent material) can also help improve the show.
Overall I think the artist Yeoh who was behind the wayang cardboard should be congratulated for creating something which was a fresh air in Malaysia's preciously rare participatory arts. We need more of it -and to learn from regional pioneers for such arts eg Mulyiono of Indonesia who is the self-confessed guru for Yeoh-whose -ideas turning encounter with the srtist was just a worshop of a few days recently !
Whose `Shadow Play' ?
While the press reported that the shadow play went on smoothly there was a contradiction between the reported absence of police and another part of the same report which reported this writer as thanking the police ! Well we sported 5 familiar police faces in the crowd ! But sure they only made some `friendly' enquiries and didn't try to stop us. Thanks them ? For what ? Is it for offering themselves as the `orang upahan'(paid guns) of some politicians playing shadowy power games to minimise criticisms of the misdeeds of the rich developers and related class ? A top politician who is not known for taking any principled stands on anything affecting the state had tried to reply to critics by saying that he does has some steel behind his softly-softly facade. Well he is not wrong -our encounter with the security apparatus run by him through the State Security Council had shown usual steely resolve to intimidate legitimate civil society activities ! The latest episode is no exception. We suggest that the politician direct his `hardness' to better directions eg fighting corruption, cronyisms, mal-administrations, money politics in elections, bad transports etc rather than towards suppression legitimate dissent from the civil society. Afterall we didn't vote him to put steel on our head !
Audience Impressed
The best comment on the Wayang Cardboard was perhaps from the audience : they were suitably impressed with the work and performance of the young performers and the behind-the-scene-artists. We hope that your presence will inspire more people to attend and support such shows in the future despite cowardly threats from behind the shadowy power-that-be who refuse to admit their role in issuing the threats-let alone justify it. We may play with shadows to tell a story we don't play from the shadow !
Reviewer :
Ong BK
Star: Shadow play runs smoothly
new
Sunday April 15, 2007(Star)
Shadow play runs smoothly
PENANG: The Tragedi Kg Berembang card-board shadow play went on as scheduled, attracting about 50 people who enjoyed the two-hour show despite an earlier police warning.
The show, which was held by invitation only, was organised by a coalition of non-governmental organisations at Weld Quay last night.
Show coordinator Ong Boon Keong claimed that he had explained the matter to George Town OCPD Asst Comm Azam Abd Hamid on Friday that the show was nothing illegal and would be held within a private owned premises.
“ACP Azam was very understanding and I thank him for that,” he told reporters after the show.
Ong, who is Save Ourselves (SOS) founder, said the organisers did not make any open invitation because the premises could only accommodate a maximum of 70 people, hence the show was “by invitation only.”
No policemen were spotted throughout the show which was presented by 10 children whom Ong claimed were forcefully relocated from their homes to make way for development.
It was reported earlier that the organisers had planned to also hold a similar show in Balik Pulau but had to cancel it when the government agency for the venue pulled out.
ACP Azam had on Wednesday urged the organisers to cancel the show as they did not apply for a permit to hold it.
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