Hello friends! We had a great November lab and this week we’re welcoming more international musicians in town to join the SPIL lab in December! Come meet musicians from Taiwan: Lin Hsiao-Feng (bamboo flutes), Chuang Cheng-Ying (chinese lutes, zhongruan & liqin; countertenor); and Rick Countryman (saxophones) from the Philippines! Also joining the lab are John TR Long (saxophones), Tree Voices (vocals) and Yong Yandsen (saxophones). It’s a stellar line-up! Mark you calendar and don’t miss it!
 
Date: 3 December 2022 (Sat)
Time: Door opens @ 8pm
Venue: The Percussion Store
Add: No. 6, 2nd floor, Jalan Panggong, 50000 Kuala Lumpur
.
Admission by donation: RM30
For Reservation, WhatsApp: 012 919 8031
Facebook Event: https://fb.me/e/2FVqMZm0V
* Only fully vaccinated individuals.
Design: Aixin Choo
More info:
[email protected]
www.klexfestival.com
www.facebook.com/groups/klexfest
Instagram: @klexfestival
#klexspil #percussionstore
 
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:
 
Musitonik Ensemble’s artistic director Chuang Cheng-Ying studied liuqin/ zhongruan since twelve and finished MMus at Birmingham Conservatoire on countertenor voice in 2007 and a master degree in Landscape Architecture at the UPENN, Philadelphia in 2003. He won the prizes of Taiwan Music Competition in Liuqin Solo and Chinese Orchestra as the conductor for National Taiwan University Chinese Orchestra, Voice Competition by Taipei Philharmonic Foundation, and Cecil Drew Oratorio Prize at Birmingham Conservatoire. He was awarded the Young Star 2008 of Taipei National Concert Hall in and was nominated in 2010 Big Ben Award for Outstanding British Chinese. He taught zhongruan and Chinese Orchestra at the Academy of Music, Suzhou University of Science and Technology during 2015-2016. His unique style as a lute singer between East and West has been seen in Taiwan, UK, US, Canada, Mexico, Austria, Germany, France, China, India, Japan, Turkey and more.
 
John T.R. Long is a highly experienced performer, composer/arranger, and educator. As a performer he has played in many venues around the world including the Royal Albert Hall, Tokyo Dome and Carnegie Hall. As an educator he has led many youth bands and ensembles with great success: an impressive number of his individual students have gone on to study at the most prestigious colleges of music leading to successful musical careers of their own. John is British born but has been a resident of Malaysia for many years, currently residing in Kuala Lumpur. Some of John’s recent projects include arranging and performing on Zahid Ahmad’s Tuk Tak album and also performing in the horn section for Edd Rahze on his Soul Sisters concert series. John has just completed working with SIEL on their forthcoming album.
 
Lin Hsiao-Feng was born in Taipei.The format of the performance is a fusion of traditional and avant-garde. Often invited to collaborate with different artists, festivals, theatre company and galleries.currently serving as director of Lin’s culture and art, actively promoting/planning improvised music events and performances.Lin was invited to participate in Taiwan International Improvised Music Festival (2015, 2019), Jeonju International Sori Festival(2020, 2022), China-ASEAN Music Festival (2017) In 2020, Lin’s “Flute Exploration Project” was selected by the National Arts Foundation of Taiwan as an overseas travel art tourism subsidy projectMusicians Lin has worked with include Sabu Toyozumi, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Robert Dick, Ignaz Schick, Jaap Blonk, Simon Nabatov, Luc Houtkamp, Biliana Voutchkova, Shih-Yang Lee, Yong Yandsen, Kok Siew-Wai, Yii Kah Hoe and more.
 
Rick Countryman is an American-expat alto saxophonist, living in the Philippines. He currently has over 20 albums, on 5 labels across Europe, Asia, and the US, including multiple albums with Japanese legendary drummer, Sabu Toyozumi. The recordings have been described as “power, intense and inspiring free music played at its best” – Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG, “a great example of the far reach of free jazz” (SquidCo.com), and “easily stacks up against equivalent, no matter their origin.” (Ken Waxman, Jazzword). He studied jazz improvisation, intervallic cycles and concepts, and extended techniques with Bert Wilson; and is heavily influenced by Eric Dolphy, Sonny Simmons and the 60s Free Jazz movement. “Countryman excels by the quality of his timbre, the vivacity of his lines, his innate ability to surf the time and draw all the juice out of his modal vein thanks to his sonority. Genuine; it is lived… an original voice on the alto sax” (Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg).
 
Tree Voices is a Kuala Lumpur-based improv vocal trio with Charlotte Leng, Loke Xiaoyun, and Kok Siew-Wai. The trio explores human voices through attentive listening, improvisation, and experimentation with unconventional vocal techniques. They were featured in Serious Play Improv Lab (Volume 1), a compilation music album, released by the KLEX Festival in 2022. The trio also conducts vocal exploration workshops.
 
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, Hungry Ghosts, with European musicians Christian Meaas Svendsen and Paal Nilssen-Love and have done several tours in Asia and Europe. 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:
[email protected]
www.klexfestival.com
www.facebook.com/groups/klexfest
Instagram: @klexfestival