This weekend, three major local music festivals will be competing for your precious attention. Was it all planned? Is it some twisted conspiracy they're not letting us in on? Has the Illuminati infiltrated and defiled the purity of our music scene too now? Why do the big events always seem to clash, right?
We may not have come to that, but we've all got questions. Let's take another rudimentary look as long as we're headed to participate and pay precious support in a few days time at KLPac, downtown Bukit Bintang and/or the MPO.
All three are sizable events. All three are reasonably looked forward to, both by audiences hungry for big live music congregations and the performers themselves. All three events have their own audiences.
Yayasan Sime Darby Arts Festival (YSDAF 2014) is an all-in rojak mixture of the best local talents from all circles (recording artists and original independent bands, resident jazz performers, pub circuit players).
DFP Seni Fest is essentially our premier international classical orchestra hall reaching out to non-exclusive local audiences.
Kakisenifest meanwhile vies to be a mainstay of urban international arts in the immediate years to come, presented by longtime local arts practitioner community. Their tireless campaigning recently rewarded by a late sponsorship boost from Prudential practically days before the festival. The activities will occupy the surroundings of the Pavilion shopping mall. And crucially for festival-goers, it's free.
All are in their early incarnations. For YSDAF, billed as "A Community Project", it's the inaugural event, and so far it looks a attractively-marketed, well-funded CSR gesture reachout backed by eager, relevant performers hosted by KLPac. While the other two festival inventions are making subsequent tries, brand-building on their decent debuts and focusing on minute improvements and an upward trajectory.
YSDAF 2014's intent even extends towards interaction, going beyond the exclusivity of billing performers and emphasising equally on the Open Mic signups - while headlining the last day are iconic names like Sheila Majid and Zainal Abidin. This with a view towards, dare I write, integration. It's free as well.
Meanwhile, at the MPO - the only ticketed event and rightly so - M. Nasir is due to give the big closing with the orchestra for DFP Seni Fest, a safer recipe for guaranteed audience closure when you think about it. Just music pros going about their business and giving people what they expect. The entry tickets assert and preserve a standard of entertainment worthy of your investment.
So on the verge of these three main events kicking off this weekend, the cogs are well-oiled and everyone is raring to go. Everything seems presented seamless for (one gets the feeling) a finally respected public, inviting them not only as spectators but to participate as well. As a general music lover looking in, it feels no longer about cajoling or beckoning but welcoming with open arms. This sentiment is a breakthrough for highlighted arts events of this scale; maybe this is the key to unlocking the indifference of live Malaysian audiences at large.
Of course, this kind of thing, a deluge of mouthwatering, annually climatic events vying for our attentions all at once - or the infamous 'Malaysian concert clash' - isn't as new in our land. It's been happening with live music concert festivals since world-class things like Sunburst Festival was introduced in the mid-2000s, even since the days of Rock The World and Urbanscapes (and their poor respective 'competing' events). But wait - is it even fair to mark it down as a strictly Malaysian fenomena?
Abroad, you don't have to wait for the weekend or a large festival to hear quality live music - it's everywhere and you're spoilt for choice. And you could still argue, in '14, that concerts are "their culture", and not "ours" (i.e. not yet, or will it ever be?) But for the here and now, it comes down to a clash of dates, hence attention, priority and more importantly, budget for the paying music lover.
Come Friday, on the day Kakisenifest, the first of the three events, kicks off, we'll try and tune in to what folks have to say, from the organisers and performers to the festival-goers themselves. Till then, happy festival-planning. - I Shah
