AFTER returning from Ipoh early Monday morning, my body let its defences go and a sore throat and cold ensued in the subsequent days.

It’s been quite a run for the past month or so for me, playing back-to-back shows and festivals between the Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day celebrations.

In this period of convalescence, I reminisce about three highlights from this busy and hectic past month.

1. Kuala Lumpur – I WANT Festival

I WANT Festival is the new kid on the block of local festivals.

From what I was told, the first instalment was held in Penang last year and this year’s in KL was its second. Unlike the other festivals that received much coverage in the press during the period, I WANT Festival was pretty much under the radar.

My connection to the festival were the friends who run the live music venue Live Fact who were tasked with curating the live music stage during the weekend, which was erected just next to MRT Pasar Seni station’s Gate B.

The community-run festival is organised by Hi Lighter Studio and the brainchild of Chinese-language radio presenter DJ Yin. Held September 15-17 at Kuala Lumpur’s Jalan Panggung, Lorong Panggung and the outdoor open spaces at MRT Pasar Seni, the festival featured cultural performances, forums, documentary screenings, workshops, a night market, projection mapping and the outdoor concert my band AYOP was invited to perform at on the closing night.

My roots with the Chinese arts scene go way back to the Chinese underground music scene where I found solidarity in being an outsider within my own community and this festival was a culmination of sorts of those two decades of being in their orbit.

If you didn’t know already, the area surrounding Jalan Panggung – which runs parallel to the more famous Petaling Street – has been gentrified in the past three to four years and, dare I say it, for the better.

Ultimately, what I liked best about this festival is its celebration of Malaysia’s multiculturalism at the heart of old Kuala Lumpur – something never done before in this manner and kudos to the organisers and communities involved.

2. Bangkok – The Overstay live show

No, the highlight here isn’t my own band – although I do think we are awesome, frankly – but how the events transpired leading to the first show on my Bangkok Metropolitan Region Tour a couple weeks back.

The Overstay is a backpacker hostel-cum-underground music venue in the Bang Phlat district of Bangkok.

When one enters, one is greeted by four dog tenants who lounge around the bar area and will be greeted by a friendly bark or two (they did to me at least, maybe because they sensed I’m a cat person).

While this gig wasn’t a sold-out show, the band and myself were taken by how the members of the other two bands – the grunge-inspired Legklaa and noise/shoegaze-infused Krthkkk (who helped organise the show) – played with their hearts and also dance and married to our songs during the set along with the audience.

Mind you, it’s rare for a band like ours to get such a response locally unless you are a hip and young-ish band the same age as your crowd.

Hence, this is a sweet memory indeed for the band and myself to know that the young ones still enjoy our songs and broke the language barrier.

3.  Ipoh – Ipoh Music Symposium 2023

This symposium was the perfect end to my month-long journey – this year’s edition is its fifth and I had the pleasure to present and contribute a piece on independent music at its first edition back in 2019.

I missed last year’s edition but was in attendance during the virtual version of the symposium during the pandemic in the preceding years.

While I missed the talks on Friday, I arrived in time for the concert which featured Francissca Peter (my childhood crush!), Atai (the late Sudirman’s nephew), Headwind, Alleycats and Blues Gang at the Ipoh Convention Centre (fitting this edition’s theme of “Malaysian Pop Music From 1975-1985”).

I moderated a session with a black metal musician-cum-designer and sat on a panel after the screening of the local music documentary “Pekik” on Sunday but missed out on the lepak session as I had to sleep early to head back to KL early Monday morning.

Ipoh is way ahead of all the other states in terms of celebrating and funding local cultural heritage (which includes popular music, mind you) and this music symposium’s run and thematic focus is a testament of its vision. – October 13, 2023.

* 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.