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by Saidah Rastam

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN MUSIC IN Malaysia 50 years henceisdiversity. In composition, production, teaching, performances, appreciation, resources, and funding alternatives.

I would like to see many tribes obsessing over incredibly different sorts of music, all in a tight space. Like Tokyo.

Pop and dance music are fine. But there are so many types of music out there. In a CD shop here, pop music occupies maybe three quarters of the shelves. In an HMV store in London or Tokyo, pop music occupies maybe a quarter.

Of course in 50 years there won’t be any more CD shops.

I would like to see musicians routinely using both electronic and acoustic tools in music-making. Every composer should be able to make music with computers, just as 50 years ago in the West every composer had to be able to write music scores. Of course today, the bulk of music students have computer skills – the question is whether in 50 years anyone will actually be able to play the rebab.

I would like to see a much more informed level of music-making. It’s fashionable to claim that in these democratic times, anybody can make music with a PC, audio software and a fistful of samples, but a nation of sample-splashing musicians is a horrible thing.

At some point you would need craft, knowledge, and exposure as well, which is what going to school gives you. So I would hope that, starting at the bottom, every school would have music equipment and resources.

Music should be taught in primary schools – it is an obvious subject to teach right at the outset. Leaving aside the supposed benefits to the brain and other bits, music is a civilising thing. If necessary, teach it under the subject of “civic-consciousness”.

In Malaysian music training and education, the most impactful development has been, not music colleges, but “instant-fix” programmes like Malaysian Idol and Akademi Fantasia. These stimulate wide interest in singing and music. But they suggest that, with a few months’ exposure to “talent coaches”, anyone can be a music star.

These programmes are given front page hype nationwide. In stark contrast, real training in music in Malaysia is nearly nil.

And looking forward, we have zero aspirations to work towards, say, a Juilliard, where international level skills are developed over years of incredibly rigorous daily application.

In 50 years, I hope that, alongside entry-level programmes and courses, we will have developed postgraduate level conservatories and colleges, staffed by teachers with top-notch music credentials, drawn from all over the world.

Specialists would be a good thing. Players who have devoted their lives to practising. Likewise composers, producers and orchestrators. Specialists, too in the industries which support music and musicians: events managers, artists’ managers, technicians, concert hall and club operators, promoters, lawyers, gambus makers, gaohu repairers.

I would like to see music resource centres around the country. Such as the one at Singapore’s Esplanade, where the average person can borrow scores and recordings. Of course in 50 years, everything will be available on the Internet, but first you have to know that it exists and that you want to obtain it. Resource centres could trigger discoveries and help pursue trails. They might help civilians become fanatics.

Funding initiatives, both private and governmental, should be set up and managed, initially by international experts. International selectors will avoid the cycle of Malaysians choosing what Malaysians like. Eclecticism can be helped along by funding more experimental, edgy work. In 50 years, I hope these funding bodies will be as
established as, say, the Japan Foundation or Indonesia’s Kelola Foundation.

Financing music would also be helped by strong legal frameworks and enforcement systems. I hope to see online dispute resolution and rights processing (payment of royalties, licensing standard forms, booking of halls), although it’s anyone’s guess whether in 50 years we will have sorted out ticketing systems that work.

It’s inevitable that in decades to come there will be much more crossover musical activity, across genres and categories. I believe that it’s just a matter of time before DJs, ethnic/”world music” practitioners and contemporary composers who write programme music will arrive at the same place.

It’s beginning to happen already. I hope that when that happens, Malaysian music makers will be right there, with the best of them.

Saidah Rastam is a Malaysian music composer who is internationally known for cutting edge music.

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