Coffee Talk for Drum Up JB!

 

With its founding in June 1988, the art of the 24 Festive Drums celebrated 35 proud years of drumming this June.

 

Damien Leow opening the Coffee Talk
with a brief introduction

I had the privilege of walking alongside in their journey of drumming that started in Foon Yew High School in Johor Baru and saw how this art of drumming gradually spread nationwide and was also exported abroad.

 

I learnt that when the drummers furthered their studies at universities located in the UK, US, Australia, China and other countries, they brought along their passion for drumming and established drum troops there.

 

This dramatic art of drumming was literally exported back to China when the drum troop from Foon Yew High School proudly staged a performance of the 24 Festive Drums at Teochew City and Beijing in China on their first visit there in 2008.  

 

Facade of the Permaisuri Zarith
Sofiah Opera House in Johor Baru

In 2010, I also had the pleasure to witness the first National Drums Competition and International Drums Festival that was organised and hosted in JB, the hometown of the 24 Festive Drums.

 

This performing art continued to be actively promoted by younger generation drummers and professional drum troops like HANDS Percussion, Orang Orang Drum Theatre and the JB Drums.

 

I was privileged to document the art of the 24 Festive Drums in My Johor Stories 3: Proudly Johor, Then and Now, among the brands that were proudly established in Johor, spread nationwide and then exported abroad.

 

Under the Downtown Johor Baru Grants Programme: Arts, Heritage and Culture provided by Think City and supported by Iskandar Regional Development Authority and the JB City Council, the Drum Up JB! shows, a collaboration between JB Drums and Orang Orang Drum Theatre, were presented at the Permaisuri Zarith Sofiah Opera House.

 

The audience waiting for the Drum Up JB! show
to start for the 8pm show

With monthly shows staged since January 2023, Drum Up JB! was proud to be established as the city’s First Permanent Cultural Attraction.

 

To commemorate the 35^th anniversary of the 24 Festive Drums, a number of activities planned for the celebration weekend of June 17 & 18, included a 24 Festive Drums Workshop, a Drum Up JB! Photography Exhibition and a 24 Festive Installation Art By Artbaiduren.

 

On Sunday, June 18, there was a 24 Festive Drums Guided Walk with a tour of the Museum of the 24 Festive Drums and two sessions of Drum Up JB Coffee Talk that were held at YSpace, Johor Baru.

 

Mohd Shahril speaking at the Coffee Talk

The first Coffee Talk at 11am was conducted in Mandarin that featured guest speaker, Dr Koh Doh Tat while the English session at 2pm with me as the Moderator, featured three speakers.

 

They were Tan Chai Puan also known as Xiao Man, co-founder of the 24 Festive Drums, Indian classical dance virtuoso in the art of Bharatanatyam, Ajith Bhaskar of Suvarna Fine Arts, and Mohd Shahril Abd Manan, Programme Manager with Think City Johor Baru.

 

This Coffee Talk aimed to discuss how the staging of Drum Up JB! shows impacted audience members from our multi-cultural community and to share ideas on how to develop the cultural scene in our city.

 

The original illustration by Tan Chai Puan was
screened as a backdrop for a segment of the show

To prepare for the Coffee Talk, I accepted the invitation from Drum Up JB! to watch the show again on Saturday, June 17 so that I could observe the changes and improvements since I enjoyed the show when it was first presented in January.

 

In my second viewing, I saw that a storyline was woven into the flow in an interesting biopic narrative that showcased the origin of the art of the 24 Festive Drums.

 

I was impressed with the clever use of lighting and I liked the screening on the backdrop, particularly in the segment where the original illustration by Tan Chai Puan that depicted the artistic pose of a drummer was screened as the backdrop while the outline of nine drummers were portrayed in silhouette.

 

Ajith speaking at the Coffee Talk

The Coffee Talk on Sunday, June 18, marked a major milestone for the performing arts community Johor as we brought together these key personalities in the local arts, culture and heritage scene to share their thoughts and ideas.

 

Incidentally, Tan and Ajith were acknowledged for their contribution to the Arts by the Iskandar Malaysia Social Heroes Awards (IMSHA), and I had the pleasure to document each of their stories under Portraits in my 2017 MPH Non-Fiction Bestseller, My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage.

 

In our Talk, Tan was pleased to share relevant info on how data on the number of drum troops and drummers were collated from a social media application since 2018.

 

In Malaysia alone, there were over 300 drum troops with more than 30 drum troops based in universities while drum troops were also established in primary and secondary schools.

 

Facade of the Permaisuri Zarith Sofiah
Opera House by night

He commented that while drummers were made up of mainly male in the majority, there were also many female drummers. This was a promising phenomenon as this art of drumming is assured of continuity in this region.

 

Ajith said that the performing arts community must have its own eco-system to sustain interest and develop future generations of artistes and performers.

 

While Suvarna Fine Arts train young people and build the next generation of artistes, they also work hard at developing a succession of performers through personal engagement among a network of students, parents and friends.

 

Tan Chai Puan speaking at the Coffee Talk

He encouraged an active engagement in the artistic community here for mutual benefit instead of working in isolation in our deeply polarized community.

 

Ajith applauded the Chinese schools which has an Art curriculum in place, something which is sadly lacking in Tamil schools and National schools here.

 

This, he observed, was probably why youths lacked the exposure and opportunity to develop their passion for the Arts, unless their parents arranged for separate classes outside of school.

 

He shared from his 30 years of experience in Suvarna Fine Arts, with more than 27 years of teaching and performing in Johor Baru, with all the struggles from seeking a suitable venue, how they were forced to work in isolation, to the lack of recognition of their artistic value.

 

Ajith highlighted the need to make a distinction between theatre performances vs public entertainment and that Tourism cannot be lumped together with Art & Culture because serious theatre productions are not the same as shows for tourism promotion.

 

Entrance to the Permaisuri Zarith Sofia
Opera House in Johor Baru

Both Tan and Ajith recognized that Johor needs something like the Johor Society for the Performing Arts (JSPA), the organizer of the annual Johor Arts Festival for 15 years, that curated and built a creative system and championed the arts scene here.

 

They lamented the absence of an active JSPA and the driving force behind it, the late Suzie Yap and her husband, Yap Siong Cheng, who worked hard at bringing a wide range of live shows, both free and ticketed, to this city.

 

I had the privilege to pay my tribute to the Yaps and their work in JSPA, in a piece published in My Johor Stories 3: Proudly Johor, Then and Now, the third and final instalment of My Johor Stories.

 

“Art is not cheap!” declared Shahril as the speakers discussed the lack of theatre-going culture in our community and the issue on why the audience often arrived late for the start of the shows.

 

Having supported a host of art, culture and heritage events, Think City is well aware of the costs involved in presenting a live show or event.

 

The organisers needed to find out why the audience was arriving late and must address the issues as they lay down the ground rules to deal with the late arrivals.

 

Logo for the Johor Society 
for the Performing Arts

Ajith, who has performed in international venues, agreed that theatres must have clear rules for late arrivals because being late simply means that they don’t respect the artistes.

 

The Coffee Talk closed with a general consensus that this city needed a reboot of the Johor Arts Festival in a two-way engagement to develop administrative skills in production management and as a platform for applying and acquiring the funding.

 

Shahril suggested to learn from the experience of other creative cities and to seek opportunities to collaborate with other artistes.

 

To create more interest in Drum Up JB!, Shahril proposed that they reached out to students and parents through schools in weekend cultural exploration events and to corporate groups through promoting the show packaged with hotel stays.

 

Ajith shared that the Indian arts community here knew very little about Drum Up JB! and proposed that they reached out personally to Indian arts organisations, community leaders, temple presidents and other organised groups.

 

Tan gave an example where a lady in Singapore used WhatsApp to connect with art, culture and heritage groups or personalities, and kept everyone regularly informed of the activities that was happening in the city.

 

He said that the Southern University has created a similar WhatsApp chat group and was keeping the art, culture and heritage community in JB and Singapore connected and updated with relevant info.

 

Borrowing the same concept, Tan proposed to create a landing page in multi-language to let the art, culture and heritage community here stay connected and well informed.

 

Lim Yi Kai [third from Left] with Ajith [Centre]
and friends at Suvarna Fine Arts

In the course of the Coffee Talk, Ajith invited everyone to a solo dance show in the art of Bharatanatyam presented by his Chinese student, next year.

 

I could hear the pride in his voice because this was a classic example of a healthy cross-cultural exchange and how each race group here may collaborate to create something very special together.

 

Fast-forward to Wednesday night when I received a WhatsApp message from Lim Yi Kai of JB Drums.

 

“Tonight, we had a practice session with Ajith,” was the caption he sent with the photo.

 

I trust this was the start of an exciting collaboration, a smart initiative by these talented artistes in JB.

 

The dates for the following bi-monthly Drum shows are scheduled at 2pm and 8pm for Saturday, August 12, October 14 and December 30 for drumming enthusiasts to plan their trips and enjoy a spectacular live show at the Opera House in Johor.

 

Tickets are available from https://www.cloudjoi.com/buy/mic1ja

 

Note: The trilogy of My Johor Stories books is available from MPH bookstores nationwide and online from mphonline. In Johor Baru, my books are available from JARO and YSpace.

A double 80th birthday celebration

 

In these days of modern technology, my cousins and I, who are based in the UK, Australia, Kuching, Kuala Lumpur, with me in Johor Baru, managed to connect and organize a surprise birthday celebration held in USJ, for their mother and father.

 

The birthday girl, Aunty Polly, and the
birthday boy, Uncle Mok, celebrated their 80th

It was an initiative of cousin Bernice and her sister Gillian who wished to spring a surprise on their mother, my Aunty Polly, on her 80^th birthday.

 

As Uncle Mok, the father of cousin Shaun and his brother Ryan, will also celebrate his 80^th birthday this June, they decided to plan a double birthday celebration.

 

Using an excel spreadsheet to list out the To-Do items, Bernice took the lead to assign various tasks to her sister and cousins to make the restaurant reservation, select the menu and send out invitations to relatives and friends.

 

Cousin Karen provided live music
entertainment for the celebration

When my family received their invite, I thanked Bernice and shared with her my reasons for not being likely able to travel to USJ for this celebration.

 

While Bernice could appreciate why I delayed my reply, I did not hesitate to help with what she asked for, which was to prepare a Ten Questions fun quiz and visual presentations of photographs each, for Uncle and Aunty.

 

It was my pleasure to help with these tasks as I had first-hand experience, while I was growing up in grandfather’s house and had witnessed the early years when our two younger aunties started dating.

 

Later on, I also had the privilege to be at their weddings and was there when their new babies were being cared for by grandmother the traditional way, during my aunts’ confinement months.

 

Bernice was also aware that I have a good collection of old photos and thought that it would be fun to share a visual presentation with the family and friends gathered for the joint birthday celebration.

 

Aunty Polly and Uncle Mok cutting
birthday cakes, with their spouses
 

My cousins work with global companies so it was not unusual for them to turn up at their parents’ homes from time to time as they could work-from-home according to the various time zones.

 

Meanwhile, I found a good reason to turn up in USJ where Bernice’s parents live so I arranged to go to the MPH warehouse in Belakong to collect a stock of my books.

 

Since I was in the neighbourhood and as Bernice was back, I told Aunty Polly that I would just hang out with her after we had collected my books from the warehouse.

 

In fact, Bernice and I had gone to the restaurant to recce the space, confirm the menu and returned again to test the screens in the banquet hall to ensure that our visual presentations should work smoothly.

 

Aunty Polly with Uncle Steven
and their lovely daughters

That same weekend, the guest room was made ready because Aunty was expecting the arrival of cousin Malcolm’s wife, Yeen, who was coming from Sydney with a stopover in USJ for the weekend, enroute to her mother’s place in Brunei next week.

 

When Yeen arrived from the airport, Aunty warmly welcomed her in. But when her younger daughter, Gillian who was based in Sydney, came in after, Aunty was clearly shocked.

 

Gillian’s father was equally stunned to see her, obviously thrilled and rather emotional.

 

I guess the presence of so many dear ones at the same time prompted my Aunty to suggest to her daughters to hold a dinner celebration in advance for her birthday.

 

Her daughters took the cue and did not hesitate to agree to invite us and a few close friends to join in the celebration arranged for Saturday night.

 

Uncle Mok and Aunty Sylvia
with the Mok family

This was a plus point because Aunty would then dress appropriately to go out for such a celebratory gathering.

 

It was, however, quite a different situation with the Mok family because cousin Shaun, who had the task of inviting his father out to dinner that night, opened the subject by asking him what he would like to eat.

 

And because this doting grandfather knew that his grand-daughters enjoyed Japanese cuisine, he replied, “Japanese!”

 

This created a bit of a complication because it was usually a casual dine-out in the neighbourhood so Uncle just wore his shorts and T-shirt, and was ready to go out.

 

It was awkward but they had to send him back in with a request to please change into a shirt and long trousers outfit because they were going to dine at a better restaurant.

 

Photo studio shot of Aunty Polly
and Uncle Steven while dating

While all this was going on, Bernice and I had already arrived at the restaurant to receive the guests who were requested to arrive ahead of time so that all should be in the banquet hall to await the arrival of the birthday girl and birthday boy.

 

As arranged, cousin Karen arrived with her mother. Karen, a professional musician, was quick set up her keyboard and provided live music entertainment for the celebration.

 

In a short space of time, many hands helped to arrange the door gifts and set up the screens, all ready for the visual presentation later on.

 

Later I learnt that there was a furious exchange of phone messages among the cousins and the drivers as the two families headed towards the restaurant with the birthday girl and birthday boy, in a countdown of the distance away and the estimated time of arrival.

 

I guess it was not unusual for them to meet each other at the entrance because the two families often dined together.

 

Uncle Mok and Aunty Sylvia
during their dating days

But I do believe that the birthday girl and birthday boy were pleasantly surprised when they entered the banquet hall and saw the smiling faces of their friends and relatives gathered there.

 

The situation then can simply be described as chaotic when the birthday girl and birthday boy moved among their guests in the banquet hall to exchange greetings and well-wishes.

 

The loud exclamations and happy reunion among friends and family members was simply heart-warming. Whew! It looked like we managed to pull off this surprise quite successfully!

 

When we settled down for the start of the banquet dinner, Uncle Mok was surrounded by members of the Mok family and his good friends, while Aunty Polly was with her close friends and two of her sisters, among other family members.

 

As the meal progressed, the celebration continued with the Ten Questions fun quiz, first for Uncle Mok, followed with the quiz on Aunty Polly.

 

One for the album: Happy 80th Birthday

The Ten Questions quiz was just for a laugh from answering the multiple-choice questions and for everyone to get to know Uncle and Aunty better.

 

The laughs went on with the visual presentation that took us down the proverbial Memory Lane through viewing a collection of valuable and rare old photos.

 

I thought that the lively interaction during my live commentary for the presentation was proof of the strong bond and special familiarity among these family members and close friends.

 

The dinner menu ended with a platter of traditional longevity noodles and a dessert of Chinese longevity steamed buns designed in the shape of peaches. After the cake-cutting ceremony, we enjoyed a second dessert of two delicious cakes.

 

This was followed by a photography session to capture the precious moments when two dear people celebrated their 80^th birthday this June.

 

With the Awesome Foursome to
arrange a surprise celebration

The celebration drew to a close with the presentation of gifts to Uncle Mok and Aunty Polly in a meaningful and memorable event.

 

After it was over, Bernice’s father asked with much curiosity, “How did you do it?”

 

It was with much effort and coordination from way across the globe, through the use of social media and modern technology, among the siblings and cousins who were committed to making this surprise celebration happen.

 

Thanks to the Awesome Foursome, for letting me be a part of this double 80th birthday celebration in June 2023.

Building Bonds through Drum Up JB!

 

Drum Up JB! – a live presentation to showcase the art of the 24 Festive Drums in a 90-minute programme that features creative performances by the artistes in JB Drums and Orang Orang Drum Theatre – is the brainchild of Lee Sheah Liang.

 

A scene from the dramatic drum show
dubbed, Drum Up JB!

In April 2022, the nation reopened its international borders and as families reunited and visitors thronged our streets and malls again, the city saw a revival in its economy.

 

Then in June 2022, when Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) in collaboration with Think City, and supported by MBJB, the Johor Baru City Council, offered the Downtown Johor Baru Grants Programme: Arts, Heritage and Culture, JB Drums was among the many who applied for the grant.

 

This grants programme was in line with IRDA’s efforts to build a strong community that contributes to reactivating the heritage core of Downtown Johor Baru and to complement the refreshed Sungai Segget and its renewed promenade, to make Johor Baru an amazing place to live, work and play.

Another dramatic scene from Drum Up JB!

The grant programme also aimed to support community-based initiatives that provide exciting, surprising and meaningful opportunities to rejuvenate Downtown Johor Baru.

 

With the support from this grant, the first two Drum Up JB! shows were presented at the Permaisuri Zarith Sofiah Opera House in January 2023 with much success.

 

The encouraging response to the shows led to the staging of two shows each month in February, March, April and May.

 

A dramatic scene from 'Drunken Drummers'

Several years ago, I met Lee at one of the annual Johor Baru Arts Festivals organised by the Johor Society for the Performing Arts (JSPA)* where he led a drum troop dubbed, the Unity Drums.

 

As its name describes, this drum troop uniquely featured drummers who played drums and percussion instruments like the tabla and kompang, musical instruments clearly identified with the main race groups here.

 

Lee, an accomplished drummer in the art of the 24 Festive Drums, was keen to create greater unity in our community through a common love for drumming.

 

Among the people I met at my pop-up
store were parents of Lee Sheah Liang

So it was only natural for him to connect the Chinese drummers with like-minded drummers from the Indian and Malay communities and collaborate with them in a drum troop known as the Unity Drums.

 

When the Unity Drums presented a showcase in the city’s Heritage Quarter as part of the Johor Baru Arts Festival programme, I had the privilege to enjoy this exciting performance.

 

Fast-forward to 2023 where the Drum Up JB! shows were arranged in an entertaining and exciting, family-friendly showcase which Lee believes, was a catalyst to reach out to and unite the community through the language of drumming, percussion and music.

 

After each month’s shows, the organisers of Drum Up JB! paid attention to feedback comments to help them fine-tune and improve the show programme to ensure that the audience will get the best experience from the next shows.

 

Autographing my books for Benard Kok
and his daughter at the Drum Up JB! show

From the many positive comments received from the audience, Tan Chai Puan, co-founder of the art of the 24 Festive Drums, was thrilled with the good impact of the monthly Drums shows that were staged since January.

 

In addition to being pleased with the strategic partnership of Drum Up JB! with R&F Princess Cove for the second launch of the Permaisuri Zarith Sofiah Opera House, he was delighted with the schedule of shows arranged for the rest of the year which made Drum Up JB! the First Permanent Cultural Attraction in the city.

 

The dates for the next Drum shows are scheduled on one Saturday per month up to December 2023 for drumming enthusiasts to plan their trips to Johor and enjoy a spectacular live show at the Opera House. [Please see event poster for the dates!]

 

With Tammy Cyngier of Crescendo
HELP International School

So now visitors to Johor may include the exciting Drum Up JB! in their itinerary when they visited JB over the weekend of the show dates.

 

Drum Up JB! has also partnered with hotels and resorts here with Stay & Show packages where guests will benefit from the transport provided to and from the Opera House to enjoy the Drum shows in a fuss-free experience.

 

When the Drum Up JB! shows kicked off in January, I had the privilege to partner with them by opening a pop-up store for My Johor Stories books at the lobby of the Opera House.

 

The MC at the Drum shows will make announcements to alert fans that the story of the 24 Festive Drums was duly documented in My Johor Stories 3: Proudly Johor, Then and Now (in English!) and that they were welcome to visit my pop-up store to get their own copies and have them autographed by the author.

 

With Tan Chai Puan and
Jasmine Shadiqe of NST JB

Meanwhile the story on cultural activist, Tan Chai Puan, was documented in my 2017 MPH Bestseller, My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage.

 

Both Tan and Lee know that the art of the 24 Festive Drums was often thought of as a Chinese performing art so they appreciate how My Johor Stories has clearly documented the fact that the 24 Festive Drums was founded by Johoreans in Johor Baru.

 

It was always good to meet with a host of people who stopped by to browse through My Johor Stories books and for me to say, “Hello!” to familiar people.

 

On the evening of May 20, I had the pleasure to meet with Benard Kok and his daughter as well as Tammy Cyngier of Crescendo HELP International School who remembered me from their Book Week event hosted in their school in 2018.

 

Among the audience that evening was my former colleague with the JB Bureau of The New Straits Times, Jasmine Shadiqe, who emerged from the show absolutely wowed by the spectacular Drum show.

 

When Tan stopped for a chat, he was happy to share with me some of his ideas for the activities planned for the 35^th anniversary celebration of the founding of the 24 Festive Drums since June 1988.

 

I had the pleasure of sharing in the journey of the 24 Festive Drums over the years, and was even a privileged guest at their 30^th anniversary national level celebration.

 

The audience at the Drum Up JB! shows scheduled at 2pm and 8pm on Saturday, June 17 can expect a special performance in conjunction with the 35^th anniversary celebration, so get your tickets now.

 

Tickets are now available from https://www.cloudjoi.com/buy/mic1ja

 

Among the fun activities events planned for the celebration weekend of June 17 & 18, are a 24 Festive Drums Workshop, a Drum Up JB! Photography Exhibition, and the 24 Festive Installation Art By Artbaiduren.

 

And on Sunday, June 18, there will be the 24 Festive Drums Guided Walk that includes a tour of the Museum of the 24 Festive Drums and two sessions of Drum Up JB Coffee Talk, 11am session conducted in Mandarin and 2pm session conducted in English, held at YSpace, Johor Baru.

 

The Coffee Talk in Mandarin will feature guest speaker, Dr Koh Doh Tat while the guest speakers in the Coffee Talk in English are Tan Chai Puan, co-founder of the 24 Festive Drums who is also known as Xiao Man, Indian classical dance virtuoso in the art of Bharatanatyam, Ajith Bhaskar, and Mohd Shahril Abd Manan of Think City Johor Baru, with me as the Moderator.

 

So come join us at the Coffee Talk in English which aims to discuss how the staging of Drum Up JB! shows impacts audience members from our multi-cultural community and ideas on what’s next in developing the cultural scene in our city.

 

Attendance fee at RM25/session with complimentary drinks, top-up RM40 for lunch.

RM60 for both sessions with lunch and two drinks.

 

The activities in the coming weekend, June 17 & 18, to celebrate the 35^th Anniversary of the founding of the 24 Festive Drums, are not to be missed. So make yourself free to join in the fun this coming Saturday and Sunday.

 

Drum Up JB! is an initiative under the Downtown Johor Baru Grants Programme: Arts, Culture and Heritage, a collaboration between Iskandar Regional Development Authority and Think City, supported by Majlis Bandaraya Johor Baru, R&F Princess Cove and Malaysia Digital Districts.