I went down stairs and mix in 3in1 instant coffee while adding coco powder with it and hot water. Sipping it while chewing some mixed nuts for my breakfast. Took in a couple of Spirulina as supplement before that. It's good for sinus suffers like me. Not that I am a real health conscious type, but when I do have stuff which I know is good, I would treat myself with them. Like when I pass fruit stalls, I would get 2-4 packs of different kinds of fruits as snacks. Today it was just because there was nothing else good to eat. So go nuts with nuts!
I'm thinking about the conversation I had yesterday with my friends about Wojtec and Shaun (our travelling friends from Poland and Britain). Apparently, they eat very little daily. Wojtec ate one big meal per day which is what? 3 pieces of roti canai and teh limau ais (ice lime tea). Yeah the famous roti canai. Trvelling friends from aboard especially vegans or vegetarians dig this stuff! They'll look for roti canai everytime they visit and crave for it when they get back home. Malaysian's roti canai is considered to be the best in Southeast Asia. That's what I’ve heard lah. They're cheap and tasty. Not to mention the dipping dhal sauce that is served with it. This Indian originated meal is a heaven's dish!
This goes to the food topic for the day, me and my friends always cook and eat together whenever we have the opportunity. Yesterday we hang out at Karen’s house which was so much fun! Getting together and cookeat with friends is always fun. Reminds me of those days at FNB's house. We helped cooked Hana's famous fries coated with cheesy vegetarian Bolognese sauce. Yumm! The night before, they had gotten together to cook curry (vegan and chicken) while The Pips practiced for the Diskustik session on Saturday, so there were some left over to add on the menu for the day. Cem cooked delicious fried rice Thai style. Karen’s place was awesome! It was very open and welcoming so much as the house's host being lovely and a goddess as her beautiful singing voice filled the atmosphere with songs from 80's to 90's ballads. And might I add here that she's hot hot as well. (^_^) She's from Sarawak Kelabit descendant. She was very friendly, warm and outspoken.
We gathered at Karen’s house before getting to the discussion session "Diskustik with The Pips" somewhere near Telawi, Bangsar on Saturday. The event was organized by Republic Anak Muda - RAM (Youth's Republic) which comprises of a few groups. I knew one of the organizer there who works with a progressive alternative book publisher Gerak Budaya.
RAM also organized an event called Frinjan. It's held every fourth night at Dataran Shah Alam. There have already been 3 rounds of it. The event has booths selling books, music, and clothes. Bands like Carburetor Dung, Dum Dum Tak, The Pips, and many more had played at the events. Kind of reminded me of Artport that was once organised at Shah Alam too. Artport was a loose collective of artists and friends who got together to gather people and organize shows. It's no more now.
Back to Diskustik with The Pips. They were the first band for the talk series and it was held at the Rumah Frinjan. The space is a double storey house. There were books and CDs that were displayed for sale at the entrance. We came early. Hana, Marr and Cem came by bicycle. We waited for about 30 minutes before the crowd started to show up and fill the hall. A bit intro of the band, then they performed and after that the Q&A session with the audiences. For me being there was kind of like weird as I don't get out much and attend this kind of get to know "artist" event before. It was kind of a good initiative to bridge different groups to "promoting" the bands I guess.Some of the Pippers thought the questions were kind of strange and alien/laughable as maybe they have never or don’t care/take into account about that stuff like fame/popularity, future mission/vision of the band, go on board the mainstream side. I think for them, music, friends and the journey/process of making and sharing their music was all that mattered. Those alone were no substitute for "stardoom". Ekin commented that their songs won’t make it to mainstream as the lyrics are bound to be censored if they ever get there. It was a bit "funny" when it got to the popularity part. As one of the general objectives of making music is to spread messages, questions like how will the messages get across to wider crowd or listeners irks me a bit coz that was always the issue with the typical music business concept. Okay now that the band has released an album, they better get out there and make their existence known and spread the propaganda now. Some of the band's lyrics contained some stuff like the current political issues and general disgrace of the structural system as a whole. The audience that were there tried to understand and were intrigued at the messages that The Pips trying to voice out.
Maybe a lot of DIY punk bands are struggling to stand their grounds on their ethics whilst spreading their messages of love and hate through their music while rejecting the whole music industry style aimed to fulfill the capitalists aims for profit. Yuen's point about non-partisan and refusal to participate in the music industry profit-driven game generally summed up the whole thing for Pips. Alak and Hana added a few things about environment issues and The Pips' affiliation with other groups in an interview after the session was over.
Sometimes I find this hard to try not to sound like being too righteous or holier-than-thou but I know some may feel that bands that don’t follow the righteous path to a more "worthy" cause are seen as having some kind of "air" or wondering aimlessly and got nothing better to do. I don't know much but I consider myself to fall in between a spectator and a learner trying to "fit in"/be a friend coz I love the gentle people and the angry music. Often misunderstood and denied. For the longest time I still try to get excited about it to know more about the ideologies, ethics, music, art, culture, people, friends that make up the underground scene itself but not confining it to a mere trend and become a separatist. Battling with negative perceptions by parents, the "outside world" or society at large. I think all the people that are in it are trying to do what they love doing which creates moments and experiences that some may or may not understand. It is these moments and experiences that kept everyone together to explore and share more talents/magic, information, opinions, emotions, friendship/bonding and most importantly - RESISTING IDEAS. Wahhhh I’m starting to sound like V in V for Vendetta. Hahaha
Okay lah (I’m dragging it too long), back to the event. "I love The Pips" was the reaction shared by the audience especially Halina who was the only grrrl in the organizer’s team that was present. RAM has a zine call A.Sid which I’ve not checked out yet. The Pips performed twice. At the beginning and at the end with Ekin and Alak on guitar, Yuen and Cem on gembe, and of course our beloved Hana-chan as vox! Yoyo who plays the bass couldn't make it due to personal reasons. Marr, Ekin's sister Diana, and I (the groupies) were there as well to cheer and support them. Some of Ekin's girlfriends came too. A few guys from other bands also came to see The Pips perform that night. There were about 25 people attended the Diskustik. The next round of the Diskustik will be with the band Efek Rumah Kaca. Overall, it was a cozy session lah. It went on great. They loved the song "Ashes in the Wind" most.
We head to Karen’s house after the event and chilled. The next day was fun coz all the cooking and chatting session I mentioned earlier. We felt like staying longer and occupy the space for ourselves but realized that she has to study and that we had to let her with her time. Hehe.. We vowed to come and hang out there again and Yuen was like - don’t steal my friend lah. He was the one who introduced us to Karen in the first place. Him and his Sarawak obsession. Hey kamek suk Sarawak juak! (I love Sarawak too!) So we split around 4pm and that was how the day ended.. or was it just the beginning of a new friendship? Thanks Karen for having us in your house and feed us your food. The ginger snaps and masala tea were awesome! <3
0 comments:
Post a Comment