By Ahmad Shaufiq
Pics by Muharos
Festival Kolektif 2019 by Gerakan Seni Ipoh (GSI) began in April with a total of nine collectives curating their programmes successfully. From film, music, theatre, art discourse, visual and youth activities, such as skateboarding, for instance, all helped to sow the seeds of a pan-cultural discourse amongst the various disciplines.
The festival itself helped to promote youth culture from different perspectives, spreading acceptance and positivity among locals on what youths are up to these days. A positive outcome of the festival is the creation of an inter-discipline audience, who are prone to usually attending one particular event. For example, a filmmaker who attends the ‘Weekend Rockers’; or an event about the local history of Ipoh Metal music scene circa the era of Ipoh Metal Militant collective; or a poet who attends the ‘Outerinter-X’, an event on media art.
On the context of the culture itself, the festival had envisioned that Ipoh has its own core culture and served as an inception to spark further revolution. It could be art, sports, or industrial townships but keeping the context within Ipoh, the collectives or any organised body are encouraged to express itself through their own curated programmes and activities.
On the forum of ‘Ipoh Bandaraya Kreatif’ curated by S.O. Hussain, a discussion on creative art revealed that there are seven disciplines which have been recognised by UNESCO. These include music, literature, gastronomy, design, new media, traditional art & handicraft and film which was presented by Asri Ahmad from Reka Negara.
During the forum, there was a rather ‘intense’ discussion between fellow panellists and the audience, on which of these disciplines Ipoh leans to, to form its own unique creative culture.
A few of them like Dr Kamal Sabran, a panellist himself, shared his own perspective with an insistence that Ipoh is a town of music since literally the history of music such as ‘Negaraku’ has a similar rhythm to Perak’s State anthem. He also cited the power pop band from Ipoh, Couple, awarded Ipoh’s Heritage Band during the UNESCO day celebrations in October 2018.
If you missed out on the festival, fret not, as the festival is still on until June. For further details about GSI, you may check out their Instagram and Facebook and mark your calendar for the upcoming programmes.
Instagram: gerakanseniipoh. Facebook: Gerakan Seni Ipoh
