LAST weekend unexpectedly turned out to be busy for me in terms of music.

A few days prior, upon the declaration of the movement-control order (MCO), I had mulled livestreaming a show from my house after a solo gig at Merdekarya in Petaling Jaya (in my books, the best place in town to discover independent, sometimes interesting local artistes) scheduled for month-end was cancelled.

I use social media a lot, primarily to promote my music and performances, and that entails trying to be “engaging” (aka witty) – something that comes naturally to me in person, but is quite a drag virtually. It’s a necessary evil in this day and age, when the local mainstream media hardly takes an interest in interesting, original artistes, and even more so when readership is dictated by the number of views, “likes” or followers (which, according to an editor friend of mine, is hardly representative of the truth at times).

Social media is a bane for most of us, but the ability to adapt is important for any sentient living creature to survive changing environments. The digital environment, like it or not, is one we must adapt to now.

My musician friends often go live on Facebook and Instagram, and while I sometimes do enjoy the spontaneity and intimacy it elicits, one aspect of presenting an online persona that I detest is the whole “Hi, guys!” facetiousness you somehow instinctively get into when staring at a computer or mobile device’s camera.

Mull I did for a long time about entering this perilous digital mode, but given the times and calamities (dwindling live audiences and merchandise sales, coupled with show cancellations) that have been served to us in the music fraternity, I had to adapt or go the way of the dodo.

Hastily (sometimes that’s the best way to force one into creativity), I posted on social media that I would stream for free a live solo performance from my living room to test the treacherous digital waters on the first Saturday of the MCO. Granted, I was jumping on the bandwagon (who isn’t?), but we must get over our ego to gauge reality, which might not be as rose-tinted as we thought.

I went with Facebook Live as most of my friends and fans are on FB, and from what I’ve been made to understand by some students and buddies, it’s where the “older” crowd – my target audience – tends to “hang out”.

After I made the announcement, word got around pretty quickly. A friend invited me to perform online last Sunday for Festival Duduk Rumah (#FesDuRu), a fundraiser for Covid-19 frontliners. Others in the line-up included Phoon Chi Ho, one of my favourite comedians. I said yes without hesitation, and was psyched. Suddenly, I had two gigs!

To cut a long story short, the Saturday show went well. I played a little over two hours (my usual set length), got more than 800 comments and close to 400 “likes” (an unprecedented figure considering my rather lame “engagement” track record). It was great “seeing” friends and fans whom I had not seen at live gigs in ages – some more than a decade.

The #FesDuRu concert was a success, too, surpassing its RM10,000 collection target. Although there were technical issues (FB Live hung right after my performance, and my face was plastered on the player for quite awhile), the heart and generosity of both fellow performers and viewers who donated outweighed the glitches.

I understand that the second session will be held this weekend, and I’ll perform at 8.30pm tomorrow on FB Live (@azmyl). Don’t be shy; search my name online if you’d like to tune it. For updates, look up @FesDuRu and @FestivalDudukRumah on IG and FB.

Needless to say, in spite of the circumstances of the past week, I’ve been encouraged, and for once, I feel that life in the virtual environment ain’t that bad after all. Let’s see how the coming weeks unfold.

Stay safe, everyone. And wash… everything. – March 27, 2020.

* Azmyl Yunor is a touring underground recording artiste, and an academic in media and cultural studies. He has published articles on pop culture, subcultures and Malaysian cultural politics. He adheres to the three-chords-and-the-truth school of songwriting, and Woody Guthrie’s maxim “All you can write is what you see”. He is @azmyl on Twitter.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.