Musicking Home in the Southeast Asian Island World

Inbetweenness: Transcultural Thinking in my Compositional Practice

“…Merdeka, a Malay word which literally means Independence Day.2 Further reading can be found inKhairuddin, Yong, B., & Sabapathy (2012).3 The term muhibah is derived from an Arabic word hubb, signifying a universal love or affection. Further definition and reading can be found inIbrahim (2013).4 This was a historical event gathering and promoting artists and composers within the Southeast Asia region held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from Friday 27 th to Sunday 29 th November 2009, organised by Goethe-Institute Malaysia and the Malaysian Composers Collective, together with event co-organiser SEGi College Subang Jaya.5 North Borneo (or east-Malaysia), the place where I was born and lived.6 Abels (2015) discusses how dance and gongs are an essential core for people to maintain their cultural identity. There is an experience of cultural self-recognition through movement and music whereby people retrieve personal/cultural memory through the 'encapsulated cultural signal' of the gong while the movement of the dance serves as a compass by which one navigates the people back to a cultural 'home'.7 Kadazandusun traditional gongs, one of the popular percussive instruments found especially throughout South East Asia, are used in sets to play melodies.…”