“I started playing instruments in Form 4 when I was 16. It actually started with me writing poetry in Form 1 which eventually became lyrics and eventually I was playing melodies in my head. Singing in my head wasn’t enough so I picked up the guitar.
I mainly play the guitar and a bit of keyboard, piano, drums and whatever people need me to play I’ll learn just for that purpose. I also like to write ballads, ambient music, and I am part of a post-rock band. I prefer very emotional stuff as the emotional ones are more touching.
Other than my day job, I’m a full-time staff here doing music for the production. Previously, I’ve worked with the sound designer who is also the music director. He decided to hire me for the Rashomon play as I have experience working with him and the director.
For the Rashomon play, all the music that the audience hears was all played live except for the Japanese flute – that was sourced online.
During the play, we played the Chinese drums which I think is called Tanggu, guitar, there’s an orchestra, bass drums and we also have smaller percussions.
I don’t really like saying that I have a natural musical ability cause compared to others, they are way more fluent than me. For me, my process is a lot of remembering and rehearsing.
Working with everyone in this play was fun. What we’ve experienced in our lives is very relatable to the play. We call it the ‘Rashomon’ effect. For example, there were a lot of forgetful moments like I almost lost my phone and another two people actually lost their phone during production. It was a very weird experience.
I first got to know the two Japanese actors. It was very refreshing to work with non-Malaysians. Their ethics are very different – they’re always way earlier. They come 2-3 hours earlier to warm up.
I definitely draw events from my personal life to help me feel the emotions of the characters. The play’s fakeness and ambiance is definitely reflected everywhere around us, quite aptly with the current political situation. Cause politicians always have that layer, a mask. Similar to the gatekeepers.
The most important ingredient to make a good musical piece for me is for it to be grounded, in the sense that it can’t be big like a musical theatre as that’s more for having fun. But this kind of play has to be grounded. Relatable.
I think for me the most important thing when making music for this kind of play is always to make something that is relatable for the actors and most importantly the audience.”
