WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE!

By – Hesmel Faznee Faisal

Salam, to fellow bloggers and readers of this self loathing blog!

The 80’s were regarded as the period that bred rock groups whose glamorous rock (with exaggerated jewelries!) appearances were more noticeable than their talent!

One of these musicians were former Guns and Roses lead guitarist, Slash and coming August 2010, Malaysian rock fans would have the chance to see him in the flesh performing live here in Sunway Lagoon!

 

Who can forget the famous riff in Welcome to the Jungle, Sweet Child O’ Mine or even Paradise City? Our local rock fans would not want to miss the opportunity to witness these songs being played live by Slash who is responsible in creating those riffs.

There have been quite a number of international performers who had made their first appearance here in Malaysia. Interestingly, most of them had not even been here or perform here before.

My only hope is that our local talents will take this opportunity to mingle around and make an acquaintance with these talented musicians and learn a thing or two from them. I believe our local artistes should not be too excited on taking photos together with them for the sake of posting it in their personal blog or in the social network website, for that matter.

The focal point should be on how to impress them with our traditional music form (I loathed against the so called local Britpop bands!) such as masri, inang, joget, asli, ghazal, jaipong and ghasidah.

Westerners are very passionate and are keen to learn more on the Eastern culture. Former Led Zeppelin musicians, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant for instance, had recorded an album with traditional Egyptian musicians. They even had a jamming session with those musicians in the bustle streets of Marrakesh, Morocco.

Grunge group Pearl Jam’s lead vocalist Eddie Vedder, had on few occasions performed together with the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a Punjabi musician from Pakistan and primarily a singer of Qawwali, the devotional music of the Sufis. They even collaborated to record two songs, "Face of Love" and "Long Road" for the movie Dead Man Walking soundtrack (starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn)!

I don't think Mr Saul Hudson (Slash’ real name, Jose!) himself is interested in the Malaysian  own version of rock, bluegrass nor any of those Britpop crap! What he likes most perhaps is the originality and probably is eager to explore the purest performance of traditional music.

I think our gambus or rebab musicians can take this great opportunity to exchange notes with Mr Hudson and discuss future plans to collaborate in an album.

Even traditional singers can take this opportunity to show their talent and if lady luck is on their side, they might get the attention they needed most, after often being brush away by local recording companies!

We should not be shy with our own unique culture but rather be proud with what we have.

There is no wrong to sing Nak Dara Perindu in the middle of New York City or Tanjung Puteri in the Royal Albert Hall in London. This is the only time where our local talent can strive and show their skills in playing “our music”.

Kita Kan Tersesat Pabila Malam Menjemput Bulan Semula Ke Sangkar Waktu – The Salam Connection