in less than three months time, malaysians in the UK will have the opportunity to catch two bands playing live sets in three cities. this is not the first time malaysians abroad were able to catch gigs of ‘local’ (not really in the UK sense!). i was in the sixth form here when sudirman enthralled a royal albert hall audience. i remembered a local broadsheet slated the song, describing it as an uninspiring pop ditty which segued into a barry mannilow-esque chorus. well, he did win the best performer award, uninspiring or otherwise.

in those days, having a local singer/band to come play live in england was somewhat of a big thing. those were the days sans internet, when one would read news from home that was a month old by perusing tattered copies of utusan malaysia at bryanston square (the only real up-to-date news were the telexed pieces of news printed A4 pasted in a corridor in malaysia hall). in 1998, i was fortunate to catch m. nasir’s gig in manchester organised by a bunch of malaysian architect students and luncai emas. it was an intimate acoustic set and i was happy to have paid the £25 ticket. i vividly remembered how a bemused m. nasir commented on how people thought the ticket price was too dear as it was ‘only’ a malaysian singer performing.

these days, we have malaysians (students included) who probably fly back home once to every four months. the feeling of nostalgia whilst listening to kerana kau at an alleycats gig in london would probably be more palpable for the expats who genuinely haven’t been home for at least a decade. the younger student population may not see things the same way, as with their annual vacations, those who are inclined to follow the local music scene will be pogo-ing at RTW or lounging at laundry or no black tie.

last year, we had hujan performing in four cities (which surprisingly didn’t include london). i knew some of the organisers who ran the show and have the utmost respect for their hard work and perseverance that made the mini-tour a success. we were fortunate that the band agreed to play at our humble balairaya show in april, and they put on a fantastic show for the punters.

unlike hujan, this spring will see estrella and seven collar t-shirt strutting their stuff in london, brighton and manchester. as the songs are largely sung in english, attempts to introduce their material to a british audience are also being made by including a date at brighton (not sure if the town still has the sizeable malaysian population as it had in the past, when it had TNB students doing their BTEC diplomas) and getting tunes played on the local online radio stations. these two bands aside, i have noticed that there is an increasing number of enterprising and hard-working bands trying to get the material outside of malaysia. love me butch is well-knowned in the south east asian circuit, playing festivals in KL, singapore, bangkok and manila. pop shuvit (love them or hating them aside) have played club gigs in japan, gathering a decent following. if i got it correctly, oh chentaku played a series of shows in amsterdam recently.

it is heartening to see these bands doing well through all this hard work. the beauty is most of these guys aren’t signed by major labels. i personally feel that bands signed to major labels are used as cash cows (which record label doesn’t?), which is the likeliest cause for the apathy and stagnation that we see and hear. the rock explosion of the 80’s that led to a flurry of minor key ‘hits'[sic] songs immediately comes to mind. and it’s great to see how many new bands writing and singing in bahasa like MUH and the now defunct laila’s lounge. in fact, the indo rock phenom in malaysia has somewhat died of late – which is a welcomed change!

it’s about time that we become less accommodating (without sounding too xenophobic) and showcase more of our homegrown talent on our radio stations. yes, quality rules and if a local act is shite, it will be shite, and i guess it may be fair if a radio station decides to put its preference to an indonesian act, but in this day and age, there’s a larger crop of malaysian talent to choose from than what we had a decade ago – and we do have a few gems like this girl, for example. we have been accommodating too bloody long when we have restrictions imposed on us when our material is exported to radio stations abroad (remember when amy had to duet with an indonesian singer for one of search’s jiwang leleh hits?). i’m not saying the restrictions imposed are wrong as they protect the market for a country’s local talent.

so, here’s a massive yay! to good music from hard working people with real talent. i’ve 80G of empty hard disc space left in my iPod for the likes of these tunes!