The Family in Paris

By Soultari Amin Farid

noramin_dd@yahoo.com

Shh... the family is asleep. Yes it is only 9.30pm and everyone, except moi, is sound asleep in this Parisian apartment right beside a noisy boulevard. Ah, there goes an ambulance, its piercing siren penetrating through these walls. And no, le bruit (the noise) does not stir them one bit. *sniggers to self*

I am at the kitchen looking at the amount of spices and asian groceries Mummy: a mix of food brought from Singapore and the booty she managed to gather from a day's trip to the supermarket nearby earlier today.

She was complaining why are French vegetables so few: carrots, peas, cauliflower and broccoli. Maybe she was expecting some European species of kang kong (water spinach), buk choy (chinese cabbage) or even taugeh (bean sprouts) to appear somewhere, somehow at the Monoprix supermache (supermarket) next door.

And tucked in the corner, is the mini rice cooker. Yup, an Asian must-have. Ah what great Siamese rice I had today all thanks to that rice-cooker.

I walked to hall and I looked at both my parents, lovingly cuddling each other. I can't help but be reminded about the many travels I had with them. The two individuals who gave me a glimpse of the world and were the main reason I thirst for it more and more as I grow.

Now, close to a quarter of a century later, we meet in this city: where it all began. My earliest memory I had of travelling the world, is that moment I was at the top of the Eiffel tower. I recalled being petrified at the height of this monument. I must have been 4 or 5 years old. Now, said "Wonder of the World", is a few metro stations away.

And I wonder how it will be when I meet it again.

This monument, a symbol, instrumental in making me the globetrotter that I am today...

The Malay Dance Scene Gears Up For MUARA 2014

By Soultari Amin Farid

noramin_dd@yahoo.com

It seems the Malay dance family in Singapore is all geared up for MUARA 2014: Malay Dance Festival By The Bay @ the Esplanade.

Quietly I observe this intense moment online when every group is hard at work to ensure that they give their best for the 3 day festival this coming weekend. I appreciate it very much that they have entrusted the documentation of their works, knowingly or unknowingly, onto social media. Overseas practitioners such as myself, at the very least, are able to witness the splendour of their artistic journeys without having to be present real-time.

Yes, watching excerpts of their trainings make me emotional. Why? Because it means that the Malay dance scene in Singapore is active and, inevitably, flourishing. The coming together of the young and old, revival of dance pieces of the past performed by today's youths, the appreciation of tradition ultimately shows that Malay arts in Singapore continue to remain relevant and practised.

Groups despite their differences and implicit (sometimes explicit) competitiveness understand the importance of the arts towards the realisation and awareness of that Malay identity -- particularly considering the restrictive constraints of a Modern Multicultural society.

That when faced with the promises of modernisation which privileges popular culture, Malay artistic expression (exemplified through the hard work of Malay dance groups) has proven that it exist in the present and ever ready to move alongside modernity.

To Dance and Be Dance...

By Soultari Amin Farid

noramin_dd@yahoo.com

All this reminiscing about dancing on stage again, made me recall that moment when I uttered these fine words: "I am hanging my dancing shoes".

Haha, well probably those shoes should remain hung in that closet for many years to come because my dance doesn't require shoes! - bad joke.

Yes, yes it is just an expression to assert one's desire to stop dancing. But when I said that a few years ago, I was probably not thinking right. Till today, even if I tried, I can't. Because for me, to dance is to be free.

Free from the chains that stops me from expressing my true self. The only way I am capable of being fully honest to myself and the people around witnessing the spectacle as it unfolds.

The finest moment when I lose control of myself and I allow the dance to take its natural course. Yes, that ecstasy I am talking about.

Probably one day, this body shall cease to move the way I am able to do now. And maybe I will never be able to reproduce that same feeling of liberation once my limbs chooses to fail me

but at the very least, I am able to say that I know how it felt to be free...

I know how it felt to ... "be dance".

Poetry (1): The People of That Ship - A SSEAYP Poem

By Soultari Amin Farid

noramin_dd@yahoo.com

A SSEAYP Poem, I wrote in my diary a year ago during my PPA engagement with Bugkos Lahi (Philippine Participating Youths) and the people of Lakewood, Zamboanga.

THE PEOPLE OF THAT SHIP

Every year during this time.

End of October. I am reminded - even when I don't want to.

I am made to relive the 50-odd days when (wo)men and water become one.

When we bared our hearts and fell victim to the temperament of the waves: both when its calm and when its tumultuous.

Moments when star-gazing and corner-hunting were our past-times.

When costume exchange were our mode of currencies in the hallways.

When clinical masks became fashion statements.

No one can fully understand the impact the "people of that ship" has had on a person - unless if they were to experience it themselves.

That fateful evening my heart was stolen, the moment our shadows collide during sunset.

Every year during this time, I am reminded of the eventful moment I became one with the sea

When we became the "people of that ship".

- Soultari Amin Farid 

14 June 2013

Conscious In The Unconscious

By Soultari Amin Farid

noramin_dd@yahoo.com

I found it interesting that during one of our classes when we were asked to provide some words to describe dance, which we would eventually translate in French, none of my classmates and mentioned "the body".

We were very engrossed in talking about dance of being in a state of transcendence, its ephemeralness and its emotive function. But we, probably, must have seen dance beyond its physicality that to an extent we, without realising it, have casted aside the one "vehicle" which allows us to create that movement.

And I find this "occurrence" to be something interesting, although commonplace. As artists, sometimes, when we dance we regard the body as a medium, or a tool, to transport us to that experience which once engulfed within it only then would we consider ourselves "to dance".

I personally think that utilising our body and moving does not constitute dance - not enough. I believe there is something more and it usually involves going "beyond the self" which the body is main component of.

That state of being conscious in the unconscious. Hmm...

Bahasa Menunjukkan Bangsa (Language Portrays One's Race)

By Soultari Amin Farid

noramin_dd@yahoo.com

Sewaktu pulang dari Universiti tadi saya amat teringin untuk meluahkan diri saya dalam bahasa ibunda saya yang saya tetap hormati walaupun sudah sekian lama tidak saya amalkan.

Ada kalanya saya merasakan tahap kemahiran saya yang tidak mencukupi ini telah membuat saya agak tidak berani untuk menulis ataupun bertutur dalam bahasa Melayu.

Lagi-lagi sebagai seorang penggiat aktif dalam seni persembahan kebudayaan Melayu, saya mengakui bahawa kemahiran dalam penggunaan bahasa Melayu itu amat penting terutamanya untuk memahami dengan lebih dalam lagi budaya Melayu.

Di sini saya berhujah bahawa pepatah, "Bahasa menunjukkan Bangsa" itu adalah benar dan harus dipraktikan. Dalam kajian saya tentang antropologi, saya telah mendapati bahawa ahli antropologi telah banyak membuat perhubungan antara "kegiatan kebudayaan" dan bahasa yang digunakan oleh sesebuah masyarakat itu untuk menamakan atau menerangkan tentang kegiatan tersebut.

Misalnya kegiatan yang sekarang difahami oleh "menari", dipanggil dengan istilah "bermain" oleh segelintir masyarakat dunia -- termasuk orang melayu juga yang pernah seketika dahulu memahami kegiatan menari itu seperti bermain.

Phew... sesungguhnya saya telah mengambil lebih kurang dari satu jam untuk menyusun kata-kata ini dengan baik. Dan saya pasti ungkapan kisah saya ini penuh dengan kesalahan dalam segi struktur ayat atau kefahaman. Haha!

Satu titik permulaan untuk saya. Saya akan menyambung kisah-kisah saya ini dalam masa yang akan datang. Minda saya sekarang telah dilandai kosa kata bahasa Perancis dan German kerana sedang dalam proses memahami karya-karya ahli antropologi perintis yang kebanyakkan adalah orang Eropah.

 ____________________________________________

English Translation:

Returning home from University, I had this desire to express myself in my mother tongue that I revere very much even though I have not spoken it very often.

At times I feel that due to my inefficiency in my mother tongue, I feel rather afraid to write or even speak in the Malay language.

Especially when I am an active activist in the Malay performing arts, I admit that a strong efficiency in the Malay language is very important for us to understand in greater depth about the Malay culture.

Here, I would strong agree that the saying, "Language portrays the essence of one's Race" is true and must be embodied. In my studies of anthropology, I have found that anthropologists have found realtions between "cultural activities" and the language used to name or describe these activities.

For instance, the activity that we term as "dance" is known as "play" to a few communities in the world -- this includes the Malay people as well since dance was once understood as "play".

Well, this is a beginning step for me. I will continue to write about my experiences (in Malay) in time to come. My mind is currently invaded with many French and German vocabulary since I am in the process of understanding the works of past anthropologists who are/were mostly European.

Phew, it took me close to an hour to arrange these worlds well (in Malay). And I believe these piece of expression is replete with mistakes in terms of sentence structure and comprehension. Haha!

Re-visiting "Traditional"

By Soultari Amin Farid

noramin_dd@yahoo.com

The more I think about it, the more I question this term "TRADITIONAL". Why do we define Malay dance as traditional? I feel that this labelling only serves to make the art form subservient to western-derived art forms.

I feel that by terming a dance as Traditional, we are placing it in a hierarchical structure or even a chronological order that should not exist.

How is the Asli / Inang / Joget / Zapin / Masri of lesser status to Hip Hop or Modern Jazz?

Should being popular equate to higher status?

Should an art form when labelled traditional which produces connotations of being "passé", "not current" or "unfashionable" be understood as irrelevant today?

Is Malay dance something of the past and not practised today?

Going to start being careful when using "TRADITIONAL" as of today.

It might just be a futile play of words for some , but for me condoning such labels is subjecting something I hold dearly to the politics of subservience.

This imperialism must stop.