Page 85 - Westport Guide To Malaysia

THE GUIDE TO MALAYSIA 77
Lake, Legend of Mahsuri, Lady White Snake, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Krishnaarpanam, Kaadambari and Meera. Contact: Malar Gunaratnam, Director 114-116, Jalan Berhala, Brickfields
50470 Kuala Lumpur T (03) 2274 3709
W tfa.org.my
FILM
Malaysian cinema has a
rich history, starting with Singapore-based B.S. Rajhans and the famous Shaw Brothers in the 1930s. The most prominent figure over the years was Tan Sri P. Ramlee, a multi-talented actor, singer, musician, composer, writer and director who was involved in 66 films throughout his career, many of which are still popular today.
Nowadays Malaysia produces about 60 feature films a year, shot in English, Tamil, Malay, Mandarin, and Cantonese, as well as 300– 400 television dramas and serials. Local directors who have impacted Malaysian and global cinema include P. Ramlee, Yasmin Ahmad, U-Wei Haji Shaari, Amir Muhammad, Chiu Keng Guan, Yusof Haslam,
James Lee, Liew Seng
Tat, Aziz M. Osman, Ming- liang Tsai, Shanjhey Kumar Perumal, S.T. Bala, Vimala Perumal and C. Kumaresan. Malaysian actors who have made their mark on the international stage include
Malaysia’s Queen of Pop Siti Nurhaliza, pictured during a performance.
This multiple award-winning, million-selling artist sings in seven different languages, has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and has also been described as “the Voice of Asia”.
Michele Yeoh, Lim Pek-Sin, Henry Golding, Ramon Tikaram, Ruby Faye, Sean Ghazi, Lawrence Ong and Lawrence Wong.
MUSIC
The very diverse Malaysian musical culture ranges from the traditional to
the avant-garde. There
are literally thousands of performance venues, from village community centres to world-class concert halls. Kuala Lumpur is nowadays a major touring venue, with international A-list artists from most musical genres performing in the city.
Pop: A thriving Malay language pop scene rules the airwaves, represented by artists such as Siti Nurhaliza, Sheila Majid, Joe Flizzow, Shila Amzah, Ning Baizura, M.Nasir and Dayang Nurfaiza. Recently, a strong R&B influence has emerged. Country: A thriving country scene is driven by both amateur and professional musicians, especially from Melaka and Sarawak.
Rock: Popular veteran bands include hard rockers Search and Headwind,
Malaysia is also a prime location for international movie productions. Notable films shot or partially
shot here include A Town Like Alice (1956 & 1981), South Pacific (1958), The Living Daylights (1987), Farewell to the King (1989), Welcome Home (1989), The Iron Triangle (1989), Indochine (1991) Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992), Thunderbolt (1995), Entrapment (1999), Anna
& The King (1999), The Sleeping Dictionary (2003) After This Our Exile (2006), Lust-Caution (2007), Fair Game (2010), Don (2006), Don 2 (2011), Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015), Black Hat (2015) Kabali (2016), Mechanic: Resurrection (2016), Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Rajah (2020).