Culture Groupie

I've been lucky to be introduced to so many talented young performers in Kuala Lumpur! Last week I got a glimpse of the world of indie rock of KL thanks to my new Finnish friend Veera. I feel like a groupie after sawing local band Brainhead twice during one week. Tuesday night in the Urbanattic...

...and Thursday night in Salmah Cafe.

There I got introduced also to Stonebay.

After the show we of course makan (=eat/eating/dinner/lunch/breakfast/snack/food etc.). Here is some of the members of the court. From the left the boy showing a peace sign is the singer of Brainhead. Next to him is his brother and the guitarist and then the bass and then the last smart looking man in the cap is the guitarist of Stonebay.

Culture comes in many forms and today I finally visited klpac(The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center) for the first time. Friend of mine from our Shakespeare workshop, Sandee Chew, told me that she is performing in the Kaki Blue musical that is now being shown for the last week in klpac. 

The play was like Malaysian version of high school musical but with more controversial aspects "Kaki Blue is about the many uniforms and roles we put on, and shed, as we grow up in this country." (quotation from the playbill). 

As an outsider I didn't always get the jokes the same way as the countrymen but I did enjoy the music, good singers and stage charisma & intensity of the cast. I find the issues of this country mind pondering: the icy peace of different nationalities inside one nation and the limits of the self expression while still being relatively free. Problems are hidden under a surface that seems solid and clean.

After the show Sandee showed me around the Sentul Park where klpac is situated and introduced me to the rest of the cast and other workers and activist at the center. I'll definitely will be hanging around the Sentul area more in the future!

P.S. In the park there were also cute fishes.