It’s here, the first ever music compilation album for the SPIL concert series! It’s a milestone moment for KLEX! “Serious Play Improv Lab, Volume 1” is officially launching on next Saturday, 28 May, 2022 @The Percussion Store! Come to our album release concert and grab a copy! The concert will feature musicians on the album including Charlotte Leng (vocals), Chia Cheng Kok (percussion), Loke Xiaoyun (vocals), Kok Siew-Wai (vocals), Ping Wei (saxophone), Straits of Celaka (mandolin), Yii Kah Hoe (dizi) and Yong Yandsen (tenor sax). See you next Saturday!
* The release of this album is made possible with the support of the International Relief Fund for Organisations in Culture and Education 2021 of the German Federal Foreign Office, the Goethe-Institut and other partners. goethe.de/relieffund
Date: Saturday, 28 May 2022
Time: Door opens at 8PM
Venue: The Percussion Store, No. 6, 2nd floor, Jalan Panggong, 50000 Kuala Lumpur.
@PSpercussionstore
Admission: RM30
Tickets Booking: 016 964 6903
FB Event: https://fb.me/e/dW6hbjIqq
Graphic Design: Aixin Choo
* Seating arrangement at the concert will be adhering to the current Covid-19 SOPs.
* Only fully vaccinated individuals.
* We strongly recommend you to call and book for a seat.
#IRF2021 #goetheinstitutmalaysia #klexspil #percussionstore #goetheinstitutmalaysia
Founded in May 2014, SERIOUS PLAY IMPROV LAB (SPIL) is a monthly music series of KLEX Festival. It is an art laboratory focusing on music experimentation and improvisation. SPIL provides a platform for musicians from various backgrounds to collaborate and present a new collective expression through improvisation. Over the years, many local and international artists have initiated experimentations and collaborated in the SPIL series, enriching the experimental and improvised music scene in the region.
ABOUT THE MUSICIANS:
Originally from the UK, Charlotte Leng studied Music at Goldsmiths College, London. As a classically-trained musician, she has performed as a piano accompanist and as a violist in various chamber ensembles, orchestras and session recordings for bands. She has also collaborated on community theatre projects as both an actor and musician at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith and curated world music events. In more recent years, Charlotte began pursuing Dalcroze training, where musicianship is explored and developed by experiencing music through the body. At the heart of this is the process of improvisation and experimentation, through voice, instruments and movement. This has led to regular forays into experimental music, extended vocal and instrumental techniques and free improvisation as well as the exploration of ways to combine ideas from multiple artistic disciplines.
Currently working as a percussionist/ timpanist in the National Symphony Orchestra based in Istana Budaya, Malaysia, Chia Cheng Kok is also music educator of various school and university orchestras. As an active percussionist, Chia has either performed or conducted in the Winter Guard International Competition, Japan International Orchestra Music Festival, Jiayi City International Music Festival (Taiwan) and also played with the Asian China Youth Symphony Orchestra in Cambodia (Angkor Wat), Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra and many prominent local orchestras and bands. Chia was recently invited as soloist in a double percussion concerto year of dragon with Professional Cultural Chinese Orchestra.
From Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Kok Siew-Wai started out as a video artist, now active as a vocal improviser and artist-curator/organizer. She has shown her videos, curatorial video programmes and performed in Asia, Europe, Australia, Canada and USA, including allEars Improvised Music Festival (Norway), Asian Meeting Festival (Japan), CTM Festival (Germany), Hanoi New Music Festival (Vietnam), Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival, Nusasonic (Indonesia) amongst others. Siew-Wai is interested in improvisation and the exploration of expressions with the human voice.
Loke Xiaoyun sings, and plays the piano, the flute, and the Sape. She also has deep interest in different aspects of music and was involved in different academic research projects in music education, music sociology and ethnomusicology. Trained as a classical musician, Xiaoyun first dipped her toes in atonal vocal improvisation when she was a member of Merle Noir. She also draws inspiration from nuances in different ethnic singing styles. Xiaoyun enjoys working with different artists from disciplines, such as dance and visual works. One of her collaborative works was a multi disciplinary project with Seni Tiga #8: Foundry. She also contributed to KLEX Nusasonic Radio Episode #1: So Far So Good in 2020. Apart from performing, Xiaoyun is a music educator with students from different age groups and currently in training to be a Dalcroze Eurhythmics certified instructor.
Ping Wei is a Malaysian saxophonist who performs experimental music. He has learnt to play the saxophone at a young age and has since been involving in different projects, including Birdian Saxophone Quartet, Klpac Symphonic Band and Klpac Orchestra. In 2007, Ping Wei performed as a guest player for the University of Malaya Orchestra in a royal concert in honour of His Royal Highness Sultan Azlan Shah. Since 2017, he has become interested in experimental music and played in festivals such as KLEX Festival and Dao Xuan Chin International Arts Festival. In 2020, Ping Wei and Yong Yandsen released a saxophone duo album “PangGong”, with an attempt “to bring out the unexpected and unusual sounds of the saxophones by redefining the conventional understanding of musical rhythms and melodies”. He is currently running The Saxophone Store (TSS), a music venue for free jazz and experimental music in Kuala Lumpur.
Straits of Celaka is a one-man improv act by mandolin player Libau. Drawing from the improvisational works of Loren Mezzacane Connors and Jandek, Straits of Celaka’s instrumental excursions explore the subterranean superstitious corners of the tropical nusantara.
Yii Kah Hoe is a critically claimed Malaysian composer and Chinese dizi and xiao improviser. He has been recognized as one of the major voices among Southeast Asian composers of his generation and receiving multiple awards including BOH Cameronian Arts Awards, the winner of Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Forum for Malaysian Composers and others. His music has been widely performed in Asia, America, and Europe by ensembles such as Ensemble Mosaik, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, amongst others. Yii’s music is perceived as bold and avant-garde. His works use sounds and rhythms of many traditional instruments from various ethnic cultures. Yii is a senior lecturer at SEGi College Subang Jaya, Malaysia since 2000.
Yong Yandsen is a free jazz and improvised saxophonist from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Yandsen has released albums through XingWu and Herbal Records in Malaysia, Utech Records (USA), Dream Sheep (Italy), and his solo debut on vinyl through Doubtful Sound (France). He has played at allEars Improvised Music Festival (Norway), Asian Meeting Festival (Japan), Mosaic Music Festival (Singapore), amongst others. Yandsen, together with Darren Moore and Brian O’Reily, form the improvised trio called Game of Patience. They have toured to Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. In 2018, he joined another trio with Christian Meaas Svendsen and Paal Nilssen-Love. Yandsen has also done several solo tours to Japan and Taiwan. He is the co-founder of a Malaysian record label, LaoBan Records, focusing on releasing contemporary improvised music.
More info:
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