Ulasan Pementasan Teater Sarah: Paradigma dalam Persembahan, Performance Review: The Paradigm in Performing of Theatre Sarah

The first performance of Sarah was presented at the School of Art, Universiti Sains Malaysia on 16 until 18 October 2019. Sarah’s script is the work of Noordin Hassan and directed by Halimi Mohamed Noh. The performance of Sarah is in-conjunction with the 90th anniversary of Malaysian National Laureate, Noordin Hassan. In critically evaluating theatre Sarah from the staging point of view, the production has achieved performance objectives, especially in terms of designing set and spectacle elements. Thus, this article further discusses Noordin Hassan’s patterns of thoughts through his work as well as the actions of the director in highlighting various aspects of staging Sarah.

Intercultural Communication: A Study on Music as an Element in the Wayang Kulit of Kelantan

This research discusses intercultural relations in the performing art of wayang kulit Kelantan, by examining the phenomena of communication between cultures that occur within the multi-ethnic Kelantanese community, with a focus on the element of music. In order to understand the intercultural communication that occurs in the element of music, Kumpulan Wayang Kulit Sri Campuran was chosen as the main research subject due to the group’s characteristic ethnic diversity, which comprises Malay, Chinese, and Siamese, as well as the community that is directly and indirectly involved in the performance, which also comprises various ethnicities, thus illustrating the existence of the phenomena of intercultural communication. Methods of observation on the element of music in performances held at several locations by this group have been able to prove the existence of clear intercultural communications within the multi-ethnic community in Kelantan. These phenomena also show that this group specifically, and the Kelantanese community in general, upholds cultural collectivism that strengthens intercultural relations, whereby people from various cultural backgrounds can be brought together by a single performance that clearly showcases characteristics of teamwork, tolerance, understanding, compatibility, sharing, and harmony.

What is wrong with Singapore

This artwork was produced as part of the residency programme organised by the Centre of Contemporary Art, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Philippines called Acts of Life, with support from the Goethe-Institut. During the residency, the artist observed that media technology is utilised to abate the narratives by the nation state to define how a subject should operate and experience the world. Reflecting this, the artist created a work to discern the truthfulness and relevancy of a national narrative in individual lives. For this, a survey is devised as an artistic strategy to juxtapose the desires of a subject with the expectations of a nation state. An opinion booth was set up as part of the 2019 Singapore Art Week. With the header “What is wrong with Singapore”—the booth invites the audience to contribute their opinion towards the statement by writing it down on a postcard and pasting it on a designated wall. The accessibility, dissemination, and restriction of these opinions are left completely to the judgement of the audience visiting the booth.

An Analysis of Reports by The Illustrated London News (ILN) and The Graphic against Social Activities in Malaya in the 19th Century

Unlike in the West, the emergence of visual printing and printing press in Malaya was comparatively lagged behind. Publication and printing reached the Malayan shore through the Straits Settlements after the first publication was brought in and introduced by A. B. Bone in 1806. Since then, various visual reports regarding Malaya made their way into the well-known newspapers in Britain, The Illustrated London News (ILN) and The Graphic. Social activities in Malaya became part of the main visual report in these newspapers. Nonetheless, it was found that these newspapers were not objective in reporting the news on social activities in Malaya. In lieu of this, the current research attempted to find out the extent of the action of ILN and The Graphic in manipulating visual news report about the social activities in Malaya in the 19th century. In addition, this research also aimed to find out how far the ideas and thoughts of both newspapers in describing the news reports related to social activities in Malaya in the 19th century. This research focuses on the 19th century, within the specified period, of which the two respective presses released many visual news reports regarding social activities in Malaya. The qualitative method and visual approach were chosen as the research itself was conducted in London, especially at the National Art Library, situated in the Victoria and Albert Museum. In Malaysia, materials and resources were obtained from the Malaysian National Archive, National Museum, National Library, and libraries at higher learning institutions.

Njoo Cheong Seng: An Artist in the Fight between Liberalism and Eastern Traditions

As an artist, Njoo Cheong Seng (writer, playwright, film producer, and director) made efforts to respond to colonial discourse through his works and activities from the mid-1920s to the 1940s. His responses manifested in the forms of resistance and counter discourse. This paper seeks to explore the ideas and forms expressed in the counter discourse by Njoo Cheong Seng, an artist of Chinese Indonesian ethnicity. The perspective applied in this research is the postcolonial approach, particularly with regard to the concepts of hybridity and resistance. The deconstructive reading framework interpretation method was applied to determine the opposing relationship between the colonised and the coloniser discourses. The results show that Njoo Cheong Seng supported the movement to restore Chinese characteristics as a form of cultural resistance to the idea of Dutch colonial liberalism. The strategy that he used seemed to support the colonial discourse while simultaneously masking the hybridity that he promoted through ideas such as cultural nationalism. In addition, Njoo Cheong Seng and other similar collective artists developed a strategy that seemed to be of a puritan nature; however, it was, in fact, a simultaneous hybridity that consistently responded to modernity values. Njoo Cheong Seng actually opposed modernity born of liberalism. Essentially, he opposed the concept of the human as the centre of everything, or anthropocentrism.

Feto-mone Gender Paradigm in the Culture and Architecture of the Dawan Tribe Settlement in Kaenbaun Village

This article aimed to show the existence of gender concepts in the culture and settlement of the Dawan tribe in Kaenbaun Village, as indicated with its strong presence in the everyday life of the community, including the formal and ritual aspects. The concept exists in the inner world and mindset of every villager and has also become the guiding element of their world view, behaviour, place arrangement, and living space structures. This study was, there, conducted using participatory observation based on the Husserlian phenomenology paradigm supported by the inductive-empirical and qualitative descriptive methods to discover and understand the gender concept as well as its application and background in the selected tribe. The results showed the fetomone gender concept has become a paradigm of the thought expressed broadly and consistently through words, behaviour, as well as place and spatial arrangements among the villagers. Its function and meaning were further clarified in relation to the life and settlement architecture of the people. The core principle observed to be behind the concept is the separation and integration of life elements in an intense and permanent mutualism symbiotic relationship. Therefore, it was necessary to research the concept, function, and meaning of gender in ethnic cultures throughout Indonesia in order to form a collection of knowledge on gender and spatial planning which is useful to the understanding of ethnic settlements’ uniqueness based on local or ethnic perspectives and their preservation.

The Frequency Spectrum and Time Frequency Analysis of Different Violins Classification as Tools for Selecting a Good-Sounding Violin

This work evaluates four violins from three distinct manufacturers, notably Eurostring, Stentor, and Suzuki, using a scientific approach. Eurostring1 and Eurostring2 were the names given to the two Eurostring units. The purpose of this study is to identify elements in various violins that could be used as tools for selecting a pleasantsounding violin by having them classified by a professional violinist. The signal’s time varying frequency was evaluated using a frequency spectrum and a time frequency plane, and the combination of frequency spectrum and time frequency domain is utilised. PicoScope oscilloscopes and Adobe Audition version 3 were used to record the acoustic spectra in terms of time and frequency. The time frequency plane is identified, and time frequency analysis (TFA) is produced by Adobe Audition spectrograms. The sound was processed in order to generate Fast Fourier Transform analysis: Fourier spectra (using PicoScope) and spectrograms (using Adobe Audition). Fourier spectra identify the intensity of the fundamental frequency and the harmonic spectra of the overtone frequencies. The highest frequencies that can be read are up to and including the 9th overtone. All violins have a constant harmonic overtone pattern with an uneven acoustic spectrum pattern. Eurostring1 showed inconsistent signal in the string G with 6th and 7th overtone missing, whereas Eurostring2 lack of the 6th overtone. Among the string D, only Eurostring1 display an exponential decay for the overtone. All the string A except for Suzuki showed nice and significant peak of fundamental and overtone. Stentor displays up to the 5th overtone. Among the string E, Suzuki showed inconsistent harmonic peak intensity. TFA revealed that the fundamental frequency of string E for Eurostring1 was lower than the first overtone. Only Eurostring1 has an uneven decay for the overtone frequency, whereas Eurostring2 exhibits a large exponential decay for the overtone frequency.

Music of Razak Abdul Aziz: Preparing Chosen Solo and Collaborative Piano Works for Two Academic Recitals

For the first time in history, full-scale performances on musical compositions by a Malaysian composer, Razak Abdul Aziz, were presented through two academic recitals—27 July 2019 and 6 February 2020—at Orchestra Hall, Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan (ASWARA). These recitals consisted of solo and collaborative piano works, performed by me and a team of music collaborators that were specifically selected for this purpose. Razak Abdul Aziz, who is still actively composing, spent most of his career life as an academic, first serving for Institut Teknologi MARA (ITM), then Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) until his retirement in November 2019. Besides fulfilling the academic requirements set by Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) for my doctoral degree, I had chosen to perform works by this composer as he is generally known to the local music community as one of the earliest contemporary composers in the country (started composing in the 1980s). Yet, a full-scale performance of his works was long overdue, though he had the opportunities to have some of his works premiered and performed on local and international platforms as part of concert programmes. This artist project talks about the preparation I made for both recitals, briefly explaining the creative process I journeyed through and the challenges I faced during this time span, discussing each work I had selected for these academic recitals. These recitals could, perhaps, be the pioneers in studying and performing works by Razak Abdul Aziz, hoping to expand this effort to national and international levels.

Suasana Mendung di Cempaka Sari

This work entitled “Suasana Mendung di Cempaka Sari” in terms of ideas is held through environmental experience encountered by the artist since residing in Perak (from 2001 until now). The artist lives in Seri Manjung district and works at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Perak Branch, Seri Iskandar (in Bota sub-district). Hence the daily travel distance of the artist goes back and forth from home to work and vice versa is about 100 kilometres. Through “daily activities” back and forth, the artist indirectly has been served with various shapes and visual elements pertaining to “social products” that are having “potential” to be questioned such as politics, economics, culture, religion, or environment in supporting the formation of his ideas for designing artwork.