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©The Sun
(Used by permission)
by
Maria J.Dass
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Children at the Prima Selayang flats in Kuala Lumpur learn how to play the gamelan, with help from Rhythm in Bronze troupe members. The piece on Hang Kasturi |
"This is a good opportunity for children from poor families like us to pick up
the art of music as we cannot afford to enroll for private classes even if we
had the interest.
"Now that we have some music knowledge, we would like to go out and teach and
help other impoverished children this art so that they, too, can enjoy the same
privilege we have."
This was what Kavitha Ramachandran, 12, had to say just after she and 14 of
her peers put up an impressive gamelan performance late last year at the Taman
Prima Selayang low cost flats in Kuala Lumpur where they live with their
families.
Kavitha and her family relocated to the flats from the Selayang squatter
settlement six years ago. The cramped living conditions and the dark and dingy
corridors hardly make for a conducive living environment, but for Kavitha, her
friends and their families, this is home.
Surprisingly, Kavitha and her friends have turned this backdrop into a positive
source of artistic inspiration for drama and music performances.
Every Merdeka since 1973, youths from the squatter area and later, the flats,
who are part of an informal outfit, will produce plays for the community.
In 2005, the theme was "Cleanliness", and they staged a drama about how flat
dwellers could be more considerate towards their neighbours by maintaining
cleanliness. This small production was even recorded, and Video Compact Discs (VCDs)
distributed to the community.
Their mentor Sister Regina Bertha said the theme was an apt one.
"Fights frequently break out when people leave their rubbish along the corridors
instead of throwing it into the communal bin," she said.
Sister Bertha's collaborator Margaret Martinez said this year's National Day
celebrations at the flats would include the usual sports activities and a
telematch. Dancer Elaine Pedley has also volunteered to teach the children to
dance in a performance for the day.
Sister Bertha, as she is known, has lived and worked with the squatter community
for the last 30 years. Five years ago, she moved with them to the Taman Prima
flats.
Apart from tutoring children from poor families, she organises various
programmes to empower the youths. These include educational programmes like
organic farming and recycling.
Sister Bertha said: "What I am trying to do is to help lift these kids out of
the cycle of poverty through education and exposure to various things, including
the arts."
Her efforts and the youths' interest and talents spread fast through word of
mouth and three years ago they were hooked up with the Rhythm in Bronze gamelan
ensemble.
Most of the youths involved may never have the luxury of enrolling for private
music classes and this was what made training and preparing for last year's
gamelan performance, entitled Hang Kasturi Pahlawan Terbilang, all the more
special for them.
The activity was part of Rhythm in Bronze's community outreach programme.
"We choose the gamelan because this is Rhythm in Bronze's main medium. Kids are
usually exposed to Western instruments like the piano and the guitar, which is
fine, but we feel the need to instil an interest in the Malay art form of
gamelan because this is where we come from.
"Being in a gamelan ensemble actually helps to instil discipline in the children
because it is a team effort and everyone had to keep up with each other, so
precision is important. Playing music in a team is also a very Asian thing,"
Rhythm in Bronze music director and project initiator Jillian Ooi said in an
interview.
Comprising a multi-ethnic group of individuals, Rhythm in Bronze has steadily
gained a reputation for contemporarising a traditional art form and making the
gamelan accessible to urban Malaysians of all ethnicities.
"It was not a challenge at all for non-Malay children to pick up the skills of a
Malay cultural performance and instruments. They responded well and were
actually very excited and proud of the fact that they were, in fact, playing the
instruments and music that used to be performed in palaces for kings and queens
in bygone eras," said Ooi.
Last year's Dec 10 performance at the flats was a follow-up to the first phase
of Rhythm in Bronze's 2004 project where participants learnt musical
appreciation, as well as how to play on the gamelan and on objects like pails,
bottles and Milo tins.
"We had limited gamelan instruments and because we did not have the money to buy
more instruments for the children, we asked them to bring along anything they
felt they could make music with.
"We helped them use these items to make rhythms that could be incorporated into
the sounds made by the traditional gamelan instruments," Ooi explained.
In the project's second phase, participants were trained further in music
creation, playing and performance, as well as soundscapes to accompany their
performance depicting the story of Malaccan warrior Hang Kasturi. The youths
composed the melody and song for the performance themselves.
Muhammad Ismail felt that his daughter Nurbaizurah, 13, was privileged to be
exposed to music and traditional art forms like the gamelan.
"Even older people like me are not familiar with these arts," he said.
He said his daughter has become more sociable since being involved in the
project, and mixed well with her peers from the other races. She is also more
disciplined, competitive and diligent with her school work, he said.
"I suppose that comes from being a part of a troupe that teaches her to keep up
with others, while working together with them," he added.
Ooi said several of the youths have promising talent, and as for the others,
being a part of the group was a confidence-booster.
"Those who have the potential possess an astounding talent in music, and can go
far if they have the privilege," she said.
"If we get the funds, then we would like to take this project to other poor
communities and help build the interest in arts and music among youths there,"
she added.
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