WHAT most of you, dear readers, know about touring musicians probably comes from Hollywood or YouTube, which shows superstars on tour with an entourage, private jets and limousines, handlers parting crowds like Moses did the Red Sea, and debauchery backstage.

The reality is the opposite. It’s like boot camp but constantly on the move, shifting from one venue to the next, wondering if anyone will attend the show, how much merch you’ll sell, whether you’ll make it in time for soundcheck, sitting around alone waiting for the show, dealing with low-cost airlines, baggage check-ins, hoping the ground crew doesn’t trash your equipment, and sharing sofas or beds with sweaty bandmates.

So, when I say “touring,” I mean being on the road and meeting people who are blunt and honest, who don’t necessarily treat you like royalty, and who are most likely not as well-travelled as I am. You will get frank and direct observations from them, especially from regional neighbours.

In fact, much of what we consider reality in our minds is actually media-curated representations of the world.

The life of a touring musician is a slog, but for some of us, its challenges are a joy

Conversations with fellow travelling musicians are my favourite part of touring.

Through these conversations, I’ve discovered that our idea of what “Malaysia” constitutes is sometimes informed by our own biases and the horror stories we tell ourselves, without considering how things are for our neighbours.

We have it good here compared to them.

I recently drove friends from a Thai band around town, and they asked me how much petrol costs in Malaysia. Their response to my answer was, “Wow, so cheap!”

When I passed a toll booth, one of them saw the price and again said, “So cheap!”, adding “I want to move to Malaysia to live and work!”

While many middle- and upper-middle-class Malaysians are hurrying to migrate to greener pastures, many in the region view Malaysia as a haven in an otherwise rough neighbourhood.

Granted, there are many things we wish could be better, but we should consider what is enough for us and discard ideals of luxury and all things material (I’m referring to the middle class here). W should discern between our needs and wants.

Here’s what i’ve discovered from my observations: we have it really good, relative to our neighbours.

Diversity both boon and bane

I often have to correct my foreign friends’ social media posts about their recent trips to Malaysia  because they tend to shorten “Malaysia” to just “Malay” in their writing, which is highly inaccurate.

This abbreviation occurs because it’s common to shorten a country’s name – for example, “Thai” for Thailand, “Indo” for Indonesia, or “Pinoy” for the Philippines.

However, you can’t shorten “Malaysia” to “Malay” because it essentially only refers to one ethnic group. Although they are the majority, it’s still inaccurate.

When I explain how diverse Malaysia’s population is, most people are blown away. The fact that we have vernacular schools and such adds to their sense of awe.

While most nation-states in the region have forcefully made minorities conform (the localisation of Chinese Indonesian names, for example), the Malaysian state has been very accommodative for the most part.

Yes, the state can do more – I know. I am just using this as a relative comparison. I’m not saying we are the benchmark for diversity.

All I’m saying is that all the noise we hear from politicians – even from both ends, the conservative and the liberal, the reckless and the intellectual – is a testament to this diversity: it’s a diversity of competing ideas and beliefs that often clash.

Don’t feel disheartened – democracy is noisy and merely an ideal. The noise will continue.

Learn to take the noise with a pinch of salt. Stick around. Don’t leave the problems behind and make a ruckus from afar. – August 16, 2024.

* 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.