On the right note
The KL Sing Song 2009 festival was a mixed bag that managed to keep the audience satiated.
WE can learn some lessons from the budding Malaysian singer-songwriter scene. Void of any elitism or holier-than-thou posturing, the highly diverse participants of the recent KL Sing Song 2009 trooped on for three days and delivered in spades.
Held last weekend at the local arts hub The Annexe Gallery in Central Market, Kuala Lumpur, the annual event was yet again hosted by the Troubadours KL collective.
This fifth edition of KL Sing Song kept to the original mission statement, showcasing Malaysia’s finest songwriting talents for the year.
Street voices: (From left) Sharidir and Nizam P performing at the KL Sing Song Festival 2009 held last weekend at Central Market, Kuala Lumpur.
Over the course of the event, 19 singer-songwriters were featured at the venue’s intimate settings. Formatted in a way where performers hit the stage in three or four pairs, the arrangement made for engaging entertainment.
Each performer had their turn, a track from each one of them every round.
As one performer played the rest sat, watched, listened and sometimes, even chipped in with a note or two.
The casual format worked for the most part, particularly on Friday where a decent crowd turned up to catch the breezy American-college pop of Izzy Mohamed and the bossa-pop of Liyana (of Estrella fame) duel with the broody tunes of Rendra Zawawi and Melina William (of Tempered Mental fame).
Saturday’s set appeared a little more touch-and-go with scene juggernauts such as Pete Teo (playing a “suicidal” set with a predominantly finger-picking style) and Malaysian folk hero Meor (with former journalist/guitarist R.S. Murthi in tow) having to mix it up with newbies such as Edwin and Albert. Much has been said about how the local singer-songwriter community is a close-knit one. But yet this is not a marriage of convenience of any sorts, as Saturday night’s eclectic line-up showed.
While united and limited by the format of the show (minimal instrumentation), the differences between the performers in terms of both sound and themes were at times astounding.
The first set on Sunday illustrated this point. Paired with the sultry soulful pipes of Najwa and the slick bluesy licks of Ray Cheong, Pahang-raised street musician Nik was the “odd one out” from the bunch.
While the other two played on lighter themes of love and relationships, Nik was in a more serious head space. With his folk-punk take on politics and racial polarisation, he was almost like the weathered and weary uncle educating the audience on the brutal realities of this world.
But yet when the trio collaborated on that set’s encore for Najwa’s soul funk jam The Monday Blues, Nik was seen earnestly strumming away on his guitar and even offered some words of advice concerning traffic jams. It was hardly his kind of scene but yet he was more than willing to try and set up a camp nearby.
Songs sung blue: Meor (left) and R.S. Murthi adding to the eclectic action at the KL Sing Song 2009.
The second set on Sunday offered closer parity between the performers, with the exception of Yuna, whose light-hearted strumming affair about airy things like her guitar (Rocket) and quirky relationships (Random Awesome) standing out a little from the bluesy affair offered by her three other stage mates.
The fast emerging Otam shared and slapped on plenty of boogie rock moments while the impressive busking duo of Sharidir and percussionist Nizam P nearly brought the house down with their driving brand of folk rock that was filled with percussive fervour and passionate blues energy.
If there ever was a testament that this singer-songwriter community remains a borderless proposition, it would have been in the appearance of one David Knight during the second set.
Hailing from San Jose, California, Knight, armed with an acoustic guitar, had little business being on stage for an event that was meant to celebrate local talents. But yet, there he was, running through his repertoire of songs that crossed between Jack Johnson’s breezy melodies and the emotive pop of Radiohead. He also provided some licks for one of Otam’s songs and Yuna’s Rocket.
For a show of such a comfortable size (70-plus on average), intimacy was always going to be the winning ticket. The audience came not to see a virtuoso display of music prowess or a slick pop machine. They were there to catch the performers in an informal environment, cutting loose with the music.
That prospect was only realised at certain points of Sunday’s show where Najwa’s laid down the gauntlet for jealous girlfriends during Jealousy and Yuna jokingly told the organisers she “does not want to go after Otam next time.”
Otam tried to bring some much needed humour into proceedings but his personality did not quite shine as loud as his booming husky Joe Cocker-like voice, and Knight also injected some jokes to the second set on Sunday. But there was less witty banter on display from the suspects on Sunday (Paolo Delfino and Wani Ardy’s almost-scholarly banter provided plenty of laughs and anecdotes in the days before), something which may come as a disappointment for people looking for a little more insight into the stories behind the songs.
KL Sing Song is perhaps an acquired taste for most, with it being such a hardcore display of pure singer-songwriter talents. There weren’t any fireworks (closest we came to that was the encore for the second set on Sunday where Sharidir and Nizam P ripped it up with some blistering blues while Slowjaxx’s Esam Salleh raised the roof with his saxophonist in tow on Saturday) or any elaborate production. There were just the songs, which at times, outshone even the acts singing them.
But the eager crowd, with much politeness, embraced each and every act. In many ways, KL Sing Song is like a reunion, where restless singer-songwriters scour the music scene but return home once a year to renew ties and to sing a homecoming song or two. It has been an essential fixture in the scene to encourage budding singer-songwriters and hopefully it will still be for many more years to come.