By Tan Mei Kuan
The Pre-Other Festival 2019 was held in Ipoh running on the theme ‘BUNYI: Blasting Soundwaves Throughout Ipoh’ from October 5 to 6 at the Tin Alley.
It featured family-friendly art installations by award-winning artists such as Kamal Sabran, Goh Lee Kwang, Syafiq Abdul Samat and Saishogen. The interdisciplinary talents also included Cheryl Mow, a music therapist from Malaysian Music Therapy Association, Alifdalmim with his one-man show poetry performance, Adrian Yew Erman, a senior engineer from Supernova Media and Nazli Che Din, senior lecturer from the faculty of built environment in University Malaya.
In addition, there was an open-air block party brimming with the groove of Malay Disco, historical tour, healing sound bath and dialogue on multifaceted uses of sound. The entrance was free.
Curated by Kakiseni in collaboration with Ipoh’s arts community and joined by KUASA, local grassroot environmental NGO based in Perak, it was a sneak peek of what The Other Festival 2020 would entail.
Ipoh Echo spoke to Festival Curator, Lylatul Qadrina who explained, “In 2017, we were focusing on light installations with a night festival. The team decided to go with sound (bunyi) this year. When you think of Ipoh, you will always be reminded of the sound of kopitiam (coffee shop), the trains, tourists, buses of the city etc. It would be interesting to highlight that by creating new and different perspectives to bring a deeper meaning to sound that we are experiencing daily.”
“The entire building (Tin Alley) is curated forming a trail of the sound of life. Thus in the beginning of the trail at the entrance, you will hear the sound of what a baby would hear in the mother’s womb. Then we progress to the installations by artists to trigger childhood memories and later transitioning into adulthood,” she added.
According to the amiable Lylatul, it had received a positive response because most of the visitors had never been to a full-on sound festival and of how relatable the sound journey was.
The Other Festival 2020 aims to not only highlight the cultural and creative capacity of Ipoh with music and poetry performances but to also celebrate the wonderful heritage of this town with curated tour and exhibition. Continuous exploration of sound, interested arts champions and partners who believe in arts for all, can drop the Kakiseni team an email at festivals@kakiseni.com.
Established in 2001, Kakiseni is an NGO that promotes artist and audience development to help build better communities. For more updates, visit its Facebook page by the same name or its website: kakiseni.com.
