So, here we are! SPIL 061 is our first SPIL lab since the lockdown back in March 2020. Our essential ‘house band’ with Yong Yandsen (tenor sax) and Kok Siew Wai (voice), together with our frequent collaborators and good friends Ping Wei (sax) and Yii Kah Hoe (di zi/xiao) would like to celebrate the first restoration of the SPIL series since the pandemic on Saturday, 23 October, 2021 at The Percussion Store! Please mark your calendar! Come join us, we miss you!

Date: Saturday, 23 October 2021
Time: Door opens at 8PM
Venue: The Percussion Store, No. 6, 2nd floor, Jalan Panggong, 50000 Kuala Lumpur.
Admission: RM30
Tickets Booking: 019 770 2498
Online streaming info: To Be Announced
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/576249303520679

* Seating arrangement at the concert will be adhering to the current Covid-19 SOPs.
* We strongly recommend you to call and book for a seat.

KLEX would like to express our deepest gratitude to the International Relief Fund for Organisations in Culture and Education 2021 of the German Federal Foreign Office, the Goethe-Institut and other partners for supporting the restoration of the SPIL series.

*Funded by 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

ABOUT THE MUSICIANS:

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.

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.

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), Playfreely (Singapore) amongst others. Siew-Wai is interested in improvisation and the exploration of expressions with the human voice.

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.

* The event is funded by 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

Founded in May 2014, SERIOUS PLAY IMPROV LAB (SPIL) is a monthly music series focuses on improvisation. It’s a project of KLEX – Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video & Music Festival. It is a performance laboratory series 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.