Feeling the love for Malaysian folk songs

Three-year-old Hugo Huang has never lived in Malaysia but he can sing Malay folk songs like Burung Kakak Tua and Rasa Sayang. His mother, Lok Lee Jiun, sang these songs growing up in Penang and she wanted to share that heritage with Hugo who lives in Taipei.

Unlike most mothers who would have just sung those songs to their children and hoped they’d be hooked to the catchy tunes, Lok curated a song book of her favourite Malay children’s tunes for him because she wants to pass on the tradition to him. With Lok’s Rasa Sayang: Sing-and-Record Fun Book, other children will also get to know and learn these beloved songs.

The seven songs in her book are Rasa Sayang, Chan Mali Chan, Burung Kakak Tua, Lenggang Kangkung and Gelang Sipaku Gelang, Anak Itik Tok Wi and Bengawan Solo. Lok included the latter two because they are her favourites.

Living abroad – in Singapore, then Hong Kong and now Taiwan – has given 38-year-old Lok new perspectives and a deeper appreciation of so much of Malaysia that she’d taken for granted.

“You never realise how Malaysian you are till you live abroad,” says Lok who received many song books for Hugo in English, Chinese and Japanese. But she couldn’t find a song book in Bahasa Malaysia to teach Hugo her childhood tunes.

So, Lok set out to create a song book featuring folk songs she wants to introduce to Hugo. A song book is a medium she believes in, especially in today’s highly digitalised environment.

“A song book is perfect for children because it engages them with sound as it plays music. I also thought it’d be awesome if it comes with a recording mode so a child can record himself singing the songs,” says Lok who embarked on the project determined to present her favourite folk songs in the most engaging ways.

The inspiration for curating the song book is Lok’s son Hugo. — Photos: Lok Jee Jiun

One of the first things Lok did was to look for an artist to illustrate the pages as she also wanted Rasa Sayang to be a picture book that sparks the imagination.

After vetting through various works, Lok found Indonesian artist Aditya Pratama who brought to life the songs with his lively, colourful and zany drawings.

“The illustrations are vibrant and just a little abstract, so you have to use a little imagination. I have had conversations with my son about the illustrations, and we bond by creating stories,” shares Lok who did her talent-sourcing virtually.

This interactive song books teaches children local folk songs.

With the advances in technology and communication, she has been able to audition and engage the creative talent she needs digitally. She has also been able to cast her web far and wide across Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. She is intent on reaching out not only to Malaysian children but all children in this Malay-speaking region so they would all be able to enjoy and learn from Rasa Sayang.

“All these folk songs originated from the Nusantara; they belong to the people of this region.”

Lok’s other vital task was to record the songs. She did the initial recording in a studio in Singapore but found that the songs were too long “for children, the songs had to be less than a minute.”

She also wanted to use traditional musical instruments to play the music for the book, and finally found a studio in Kuala Lumpur that was able to fulfil her wishes. Gamelan instruments lend authenticity and distinctness to the rendition of the folk songs.

After auditioning several singers, Lok found the singer to sing the songs for the book in 10-year-old Indonesian Kezia Evana Jaya.

By pressing on a button, children can listen to the songs. There are lyrics of the songs in Bahasa Malaysia, as well as their English translations.

“I have only sang the Malay versions. But one day, my friend Serene Ding (who is also Malaysian) and I were sitting and chatting about all these folks songs in my apartment in Hong Kong. We started humming and singing them in English. That’s when we decided to decode the songs and do the English translations,” says Lok.

Apart from managing the creative processes, Lok also had to look into the manufacturing of the song book. Sourcing for a sound panel that met her standards took a few months.

She worked with a Hong Kong-based manufacturer and they went through a few rounds of prototypes but the sound quality was not satisfactory.

Lok then turned to the Taiwanese who are known for their cutting-edge sound technology and found a manufacturer who could give her the recording quality she wanted.

Despite the trials and errors, Lok has enjoyed the process of curating and producing Rasa Sayang.

“I have always thought being a lawyer is I want to do; I took bar exams in different countries. I also thought I’d be a working mother who would send my son off to childcare. But when my son was born, I realised there were many things I couldn’t outsource,” muses Lok who graduated from Universiti Malaya in 2001.

When she started the song book project, she did not fully realise the scope of the work or its influence.

She has been encouraged by the positive feedback from parents and children who have found Rasa Sayang fun and engaging.

There are now more children who know these old folk songs because of her initiative. She is delighted when readers share stories and videos of their children learning and singing the songs from the book.

“It’s meaningful to me because I realise this work will not only affect my child but the learning process of many children in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia,” says Lok who is already planning her next project which would celebrate local folk tales.

Lok wants to continue to work on passing on our rich local traditions to children.

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Rasa Sayang: Sing-and-Record Fun Book retails for RM75 and is available at major bookstores or online at www.bababaa.com.

Source : Star2.com