Hari Jadi is coming atcha’!

 

Dear friends of RiB,

The past few months have been ongoing hard work but we are proud to announce that our 2009 production, Hari Jadi, is in the works!

Hari Jadi is a celebration of our 12 year journey as a contemporary Malaysian gamelan ensemble and will feature our ongoing collaborations, new works, sounds and new experiences!

Our celebration will take place from 3rd-6th of December at PJ Live Arts; tickets are on sale via Ticket Charge!

Keep checking out our Facebook page and our Facebook event of Hari Jadi for regular updates and news!

See you in December!

Presenting the RiBblets!!!!

They’ve been called ‘the kids‘, ‘your students‘, ‘the newbies‘ and I’ve been labeled  ‘Cikgu Garang ‘(Strict Teacher)…not by them but by the RiB members!!

FYI, all of them are 18 and above. And I’m really not that strict too! Wait…I’ll check double check that!

When Sharm, our lovely manager, assigned me to form and work with the RiBblets, I was not sure if I could take up the responsibility of guiding and nurturing a mini-Rhythm In Bronze. It was SCARY but exciting at the same time!!!

The initial practise sessions were a little wierd for me, not because of their playing, but because they were way too quiet compared to RiB.

I can’t help wonder how RiB came together in 1997, what it must have been like to meet and play with new friends,  the preparation for the first gig together, and how Sune and our previous music directors have lead all of us to come this far.

A few months down the road, I can sense the ice melt away little by little as the RiBblets start growing together and getting better at their playing. And I think they are pretty much excited to make their debut at our December concert just as I am!

Shy. Eager. Random. Enthusiastic. Afraid. Cool. Composed. Whacky. Fun. Excited.

“Music does bring people together. It allows us to experience the same emotions. People everywhere are the same in heart and spirit.”

Meet the RiBblets!

Pretending to hurt the only rose in the group!

Instruction: Look like you're talking to someone. Err..Sidek??

Feelings...lizard on the ceiling...

L-R Top: Janett, U-Jean, Shiddeq, Yiing Hui, Lih Ying. Bottom: Julie, Khatriza, Joaan, Li Yien

~ Happy Ann

Letter to a friend

When we heard about Wai Fun’s demise, both Jill and I were discussing about our relationship with her. My friendship with Wai Fun began over 30 years ago.

It was a good friendship that had it’s rocky moments. I was shocked to hear that she left us so soon, and I have to admit that I took it rather badly.

Anyway Jill wrote a letter to Wai Fun and passed to me to include my thots and was given the task to publish on our blog. Well I sat on it and I couldn’t bring myself to write, so I am publishing it without my inputs. Sorry, Jill but my thots does reflect your thots

~ Sharm

Dear Wai Fun,

I cannot fully comprehend that you are no longer with us. I still do not know how or why you departed so very suddenly and Sharm and I have been texting back and forth to relive our memories of you and what you meant to us.

There are many things we remember of you: how you gave yourself up to the creative process, never resisting but always willing to give yourself over to the music even at the most difficult of times; how touching it was to receive little gifts from you, many of them made by your very own hands; what a bulldog you could be when negotiating for extra perks from our sponsors because you wanted only the best for all of us; how stressed you got whenever you had to play the bonang but how you pulled through with aplomb anyhow; how you amused us with your perfectly pointed tippy-toe walk in Suara; how you were an ace at putting on stage makeup which the rest of us sucked at and hated doing; and how you sat and brainstormed with us about naming our concert until you came up with “Rhythm in Bronze”, which ultimately was adopted for this ‘new’ gamelan group.

Outside of our music and our ensemble, you were very much a friend we could depend on to come to our aid, be it for concerts, weddings or funerals – you were just always there for us, you were always the one to step forward and say “I’ll get that done. Leave it to me”.

Thank you so much, Wai Fun. These words come too late – as words of these kind always do – and so they come tinged with regret. Regret that the twists and turns in our lives brought an unhappy distance between old friends. Regret that we never made the time to reconnect. But Sharm says that it is precisely because of things unsettled between old friends that a meeting in a next life is inevitable. And we can only hope that we do greater and better than we did in this life.

Wai Fun, may your days be spent in the company of good souls and golden gamelan notes. Till we meet again, my friend, you will always be in our memories, our prayers, and our songs.

~ Jill

birthday wishes

I was merrily browsing my way though google suggestions of birthday song lyrics (hard to find non-cheesey ones ya’know) when I stumbled upon these and thought that perhaps they were rather apt for the old RiBbers forthcoming celebrations….

Don’t worry about that extra line
That’s creeping up upon your face
It’s just a part of nature’s way
To say you’ve grown a little more
Trees have rings and thicker branches
Kids shoes get a little tighter
Every year we’re getting closer to who we’re gonna be
It’s time to celebrate the story of how you’ve come to be

Happy birthday my friend
Here’s to all the years we’ve shared together
All the fun we’ve had
You’re such a blessing
Such a joy in my life
May the good Lord bless you
And may all your dreams come true

So light a candle on your cake
For every smile you’ve helped create
For every heart and every soul
You’ve known to grow a little more
A few more pounds, a little more grey
Don’t count the years just count the way
It takes a little time to go from water into wine
Don’t ever lose the wonder of the child within your eyes

Happy birthday my friend
Here’s to all the years we’ve shared together
All the fun we’ve had
It’s such a blessing
Such a joy in my life
May the good Lord bless you
And may all your dreams come true

Corrine May

RiB Concert 2009

Great news!!! Our December concert is on. It will run from 3rd to 6th of December 2009 at PJLive. We also blessed to have a rehearsal space, thanks to Minconsult.  Now waiting for the dough to come in.

Below is the little write up of our show:

2009 sees Rhythm in Bronze reach a new milestone – our 12th birthday and the coming of age.  To celebrate this new era of RiB, we are throwing a party or a ‘birthday bash’ by mounting a Gamelan Theatre concert. The concept of the performance will be based on RiB’s music journey, drawing from songs and pieces that hold a special significance in our history and development.

RiB will be working under the Artistic Direction of Edwin Sumon, a prominent Malaysian Theatre artist and the Music Direction of Susan Sarah John and Seow Lai Fong. The concert will also present key guest performers who contributed in our journey e.g. master drummer Kamrul Hussin, guitar maestro Isyam Swardy, Fong Tan Xue Fen and Jimmy Ch’ng from Hands Percussion to name a few.

To add the icing to this amazing and delicious ‘birthday cake’, the concert will be showcasing Rhythm In Bronze 2^nd team, fondly known as Ribblets, making its debut under the music direction of RiB’s Ann Salina Peter.

This is another opportunity to further RiB’s exploration of gamelan theatre. Having Edwin on board will help RiB inject his creative ideas to the theatre aspect of the performance based on RIB’s music, and this will be done via workshops. Hence the name of the concert has yet to be decided.

Creative & Production Team:

Directors (artistic & movement)    Edwin Sumon

Music Director                                       Susan Sarah John & Seow Lai Fong

Set & Costume Designer                     TBA

Lighting Designer                                 TBA

Sound Designer                                     TBA

Make up                                                    TBA

Performers                                               10 RiB Members

Guest/Master Drummer                     Kamarul, Isyam, Ijan,

                                                                       Jimmy, Fong,  Yasmin, Kong Yew,

                                                                      Swee Min, Siva

Exec Producer                                        Sharmini Ratnasingam

Producer                                                   Lorna Henderson Omar

Production Manager                           Pat Gui

Stage Manager                                       Hamidon Abdul Hamid

Do come. You will ahve a time of your life….

Sharm

Ban Seamove Worldwide Lines!!!

10 August 2009 was the day I found an excellent example of a ’bodoh sombong’ (loosely translated as egoistic stupidity) in a person.

It all started with a call from Pat, our stage manager, informing that the movers were late by an hour. By the 2nd hour there was still no sight of them. When they finally arrived, it turned out to be 4 young boys with 2 of them being at least 14 or 15 years old, who didn;t have a clue on how to wrap the instruments and didn’t have the right equipment. Not only that we found out that the lorry was lost and late and then discovered he was not coming for the pickup. The boss refused to take our calls and when he came to the venue after the show, I insisted to meet him and he convieniently dissapeared and refused to see me. At this point, I was tempted to cut his fee.

Cutting the long story short, Pat managed to get the instrument back in 1 piece. I told her to inform them to contact me for the payment.  The boss, Mr Vijayan, the so-call Managing Director of Seamove Worldwide Line called me at 1am asking about the payment. I mentioned that I was leaving for overseas the next day and will make payment the next day. I mentioned I was not happy with the service and mentioned about the 4 little boys. He erupted and started swearing and hanged up the phone. The following are the sms-es that was sent; the red font is his/or his staff sms while my sms is in blue.

I must say I was really proud with myself becoz not once did I blow my cool . In fact I reasoned with myself that it was no use explaining because he did’t have the capabilities to listen or think. So all my sms was simple and after payment was made and my final hit at them, I kept silent.

However even though I was what May called Zen-ned out, I noticed my whole body was tensed and tight. In fact it got worse whenever I heard my message tone which was Achmet’s Silence, i kill you. Silence I killlll you! Becoz whenever I heard it my body reacted and I wanted to send a killer sms. That is why, I have since changed my message tone to a mild one.

Sorry no translation becoz am too lazy.

11 Aug 2009; 01.38am: Duit tu u simpan pasal u anak dia semua kerja susah. Vj ckp dia bukan pengemis org pengemis aja tibu dia buat ripot lepas tu dia tau apa nak buat mana2 u tak boleh buat perniagaan

11 Aug 2009; 01.44am: Bagi bank acct dan saya transfer esok

11 Aug 2009; 01.50am: 14060541214522 vijayan a/l subramaniam. Rm 1500

11 Aug 2009; 01.51am: Vj cakap 1400. Saya transfer esok

11 Aug 2009; 01.16pm: Pul berapa u masuk duit cast 1400

11 Aug 2009; 02.01pm: Bank?

11 Aug 2009; 02.14pm: Cimb

11 Aug 2009; 02.21pm: Ic no

11 Aug 2009; 02.23pm: Kenapa u tanya bukan2 masuk duit bokeh keluar nama vj ok.

11 Aug 2009; 02.25pm:  Maybank 2u nak info. Saya nak balik sekarang, kalau tak dapat skg mesti tungu sampai i balik jumat.

11 Aug 2009; 02.36pm: Ok dah transfer melalui Maybank2u.com.  msg: Interbank Funds Transfer – RM1,400.00 accepted on 11 Aug 2009 14:35:49.TQ

11 Aug 2009; 03.38pm:  I CKP CIMB MASUK SEKARANG BUKAN MAYBANG FAHAM TAK.

11 Aug 2009; 03.39pm: OK I PEREKSA SEKARANG

11 Aug 2009; 03.46pm: Jgn tunjuk bodoh. Maybank2u ialah internet banking. Sy transfer dari maybank2u kpd cimb. Saya ada receipt bayaran. Jgn sms atau tel atau saya buat polis report dgn semua sms biadap awak

11 Aug 2009; 05.34pm: Vj baru pereksa in bank duit tak ada u masuk ke tak.

[Leaving for Melbourne]

11 Aug 2009; 06.03pm: Semua sms u ada pd i ok u ckp dah masuk tapi tengok kat bank tak ada ok sekarang vj buat ripot bolis tapi ingat u tak boleh buat perniagaan.

11 Aug 2009; 06.13pm: Mulai sekarang u jangan sms kita vj buat ripot polis dan di mana u buat perniagaan di situ semua vj ada duit tu u simpan ok.

[I am in Melbourne]

12 Aug 2009; 09.06pm: U juga bodoh sampai sekarang belum clear payment tu tak pa besok bolis cal sama awa.

[I arrived back in KLIA]

13 Aug 2009; 09.21pm: Thank you for payment

All I can say is PEACE! and tolerance.

~ Sharm

busy doing nothing…

I have too many ideas in my head, spinning around (as Kylie might say).

The problem is this….with so many musical ditties spinning around I’m finding it hard to pin any of them down for long enough to just sit still whilst I scribble them out, and with the added distraction of my delightfully entertaining son in tow, this composition of mine is just not quite getting written.

I’m not sure if anyone out there remembers a lovely old film with Bing Crosby in it travelling back in time and accross the oceans to Camelot, but the lyrics from one of his songs seem rather apt for my present state of consciousness, and these lyrics are now also contesting with my many musical ideas for space in that muddled mind of mine….

We’re busy doing nothing

working the whole day through

trying to find lots of things not to do

busy going nowhere, isn’t it just a crime

We’d like to be unhappy but, we never do have the time

Ups and Downs of RiB…

Freshly set up for a sound check; no dramas!

I’m sure one can infer that at RiB things are almost always looking up and merry, with many happy occassions and crazy moments.

But yesterday, unfortunately, was a down for us. We had a private performance for the Securities Commission at the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur. Sharm, together with our fantastic stage managers, had organised movers to come over to our space to pack up the gamelan before moving them over to the hotel in the evening.

The movers were meant to arrive at 12pm so imagine our horror when we found out that they only sauntered in at 2pm! Frantic calls to the movers were not answered and when they finally did arrive, we realised that the ‘movers’ comprised 4 very young boys who did not have a clue about packing and/or handling the gamelan. Sharm and I rushed over to our gamelan space and ended up having to help the boys wrap up our instruments. It was chaotic; we quickly discovered that they did not have enough materials with them (simple things such as pen knives, boxes and cardboards) and were hopelessly lost because they had to work at a very frantic speed. Then we found out that the lorry was lost, delaying us further. Then it begun to rain. We were meant to arrive at Mandarin Oriental by 4pm, but ultimately the lorry only started making its journey there at 4.20pm.We were due for a sound check at 6pm and call time was 5.30pm for the rest of the girls.

We were, of course, late for the check. Thankfully, by the time the instruments did arrive most of us had already arrived and were there waiting. At the first sign of the instruments making its way to the hall, we were in full Warrior Princess mode. Half of us rushed out to help move the instruments into the hall and the other half started ripping apart a lot of bubble wrap, cardboard and plastic in attempt to set up the gamelan as quickly as possible. It was quite a sight. I believe the set up was done in record time; gongs were hung; sarons and bonangs were all in place; mallets distributed. The sound people, thank god for them, were quick to pick up on our franticness and started setting up the mikes for the soundcheck.

After a quickie sound check and run through, we rushed through dinner, changed, slapped on makeup and in no time were on standby for our performance. Sharm gave us all a pep talk about staying calm and enjoying ourselves and I think that really helped everyone. The performance went well and although we were technically part of the ‘background music’ of the dinner, quite a number of people sat up and listened to us. It was all over in 20 minutes.

The movers’ screw up left us pretty worned out at the end of the night. We’ve vowed not to use this mover again so we’re going to try someone else that we have in mind. Let’s hope this will be the last of the Movers’ Drama!

~ May

RIP Yasmin Ahmad

RiB performing The Wind

Over the years, RiB has had the wonderful fortune of working with some of Malaysia’s most talented musicians and composers. One such person was Hardesh Singh, well known for his work in many of Yasmin Ahmad’s films.

In 2007, he wrote The Wind, with lyrics written by none other than Yasmin herself. That piece has been described as a “soothing…dreamy…[a] nostalgic piece” (Choy, 2007). Among us girls, Susan also commented that The Wind had (and still has) great potential to make it to a CD due to its atmospheric nature.

Upon reading the lyrics of this piece, I think it is easy to infer how something so simple as an image of a kite could evoke such depth.

The Wind

As a child I could see the wind
I could see it swim across the sky
whistling on its way home
riding on its crest was the wings of a kite

A kite was more than just a piece
of paper in the air
It could sweeten a bitter moment
soothe the wildest hour
A kite could make me see the wind
and find the calm within.

~ Copyright; Yasmin Ahmad

The Wind was performed for our 2007 concert Alih PungGONG. We received many good responses from it, and from the lyrics alone it is easy to see why. We were also very fortunate to meet Yasmin at the concert and certainly hoped we managed to do the piece justice.

Yasmin Ahmad, you will be missed.

~ May

_________________

References:

Choy, S. L. (2007). Game Gamelan Gals [Electronic Version]. The Star.

Urbanites and Whirlwind Ratings!

It was an experience….our performance was energetic but it really felt like an early ejaculation. We were on stage and the next we were out. We actually left audience wondering and waiting for our next song until they realised it was over…

 

Pix by Shameer Narindra Bakhda

In fact it was rather inbalance because the preparation and also moving the instruments took longer and loads more of effort compared to our <10 minute performance.

It was great fun performing with the Tugu Circle drummers. They were good and it was fun to work with other drummers.

RiB with Tugu Circle Drum

However sometimes I wonder if they were intimidate with us. We are like a noisy whirlwind and most people wonder what just happened after an encounter with the RiB gals. It didn’t matter if we have been in the group since the beginning or just recently joined, the noise we emit would require it’s own measurement. We might want to consider including in the criteria the number of conversations going on at the very same time and everyone trying to compete with each other to be heard and ultimately everyone actually understanding what was said. It is like we are all deprived (what? I am not sure) and this is the only way we can get some sort of balance within us. (how deep was that!!).   Or it just could be as simple as we are all craving attention and want to be heard.

Looking quite innocent and harmless, minus Lorna and Susan

Maybe one of our audition test should be based on this. Hmmm….

Anyway watch out world, RiB gals are out, unleashed!!!

Sharm