Perhaps Think A Little

By Sharon Bakar Life Sdn Bhd 3 began with each member of the cast of thirteen bounding forward to introduce themselves and declare proudly, to audience cheers, “I am Malaysian!” National identity has, of course, to embrace ethnic and sexual diversity – there is no such thing as the “average” Malaysian. Yet you have to […]

Icon, Guru, Beloved Friend

By Kathy Rowland I came late to Krishen Jit. Having grown up with Talking Drama with Utih, his review column in the NST which ran from 1972 to 1994, however, I felt I knew all there was to know about him years before we actually became friends. He was after all a towering figure in […]

THE 2004 AWARDS!

By Kakiseni Congratulations to the following! music BEST GROUP PERFORMANCE – INSTRUMENTAL Prize of RM1,000 sponsored by Genting City of Entertainment and Tumasek Pewter Trophy The award goes to: Rhythm In Bronze: Wujud Antara, musical direction by Sunetra Fernando and Jillian Ooi, produced by Five Arts Centre and The Actors Studio, presented by the Dewan […]

Bangsar Fight Club

By Tan Sei Hon Someone asked me how the latest works by Noor Azizan Rahman Paiman @ Paiman and Roslisham Ismail @ Ise at Galeri Seni Maya, Bangsar, would look like. I answered, from my recollection of past encounters, that they would probably be the usual Dadaist, Rauschenberg-like stuff or imitations of Saatchi’s stable of […]

Brave New Whirl

By Pete Teo James Lee is working on my music video. So I might not be the best person to review The Beautiful Washing Machine. However, the Kakiseni editor insisted that I am – supposedly because I’d appointed James after seeing the film and thus my analysis would be informed by the right kind of […]

The Girl Who Cries “Huh?”

By Chuah Siew Eng At the first instalment of Shorts for 2005 (it is presented at Help Institute three times a year by Kelab Seni Filem), a friend said she needed to go to film school before she could understand any of the short films. For example, Kit Ong’s 1,3,5, is as obscure as its […]

The Lost Hero

By Zedeck Siew On July 12, 2004, a conspicuous but largely unnoticed full-page advertisement ran in the New Straits Times. It was titled: ‘A Gift to the Nation’, and touted a certain Mansor bin Puteh, ‘Malaysia’s Storyteller’. The black and white ad reproduced, right under the title, Mansor’s Columbia University student card. When I meet […]

The Immortals

By Jeremy Mahadevan When wandering through the labyrinthine extents of ancient monuments, wonders of the world and so on, one doesn’t expect to come across bulletholes. But Angkor Wat is studded with many such reminders of the violence that has engulfed its surroundings. In the light of an early December morning, thrown up from behind […]

Rocket Men Pt. 2

By Shanon Shah + Jerome Kugan This article is a continuation of a series of emails exchanged between singer-songwriters Shanon Shah and Jerome Kugan. Click here for Part 1. Shanon: Juara Songwriters I filled my head with Beatles songs at one point. But hardly anyone’s ever said that I sound like the Beatles. I suppose […]

Experiment in Bronze

By Antares On opening night of Monkey Business, director Krishen Jit wasn’t sitting like a stone deity in the foyer with an inscrutable look on his face, as is his wont. He was recuperating from another cardiac arrest in the National Heart Institute. However, those involved with Five Arts Centre seemed quite cheerful as they […]

What’s That Balai?

By Sharon Chin Shopping malls are the truly remarkable spaces of this nation. In one multi-storey complex you can get your car washed, dump your kids at daycare, take a shit, exercise at the gym, buy groceries, bring home an exotic iguana, and eat anything from nasi kandar to Seremban siew pau. And it doesn’t […]

Rocket Men Pt. 1

By Shanon Shah + Jerome Kugan We invited Shanon Shah, winner of the Kakiseni Most Promising Young Artist Award 2003, and Jerome Kugan, nominee for Best Original Music for Theatre last year, to correspond with each other via emails, discussing their influences, techniques and worldviews. Both of them have been on popular demand at Pete […]
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