Music Press Asia Digital Magazine Vol.1 , No. 1

JUNE / JULY 2021

VOL. 1, NO. 1

MUSIC CITY OF THE NEW MILENNIA Exploring Sarawak's Charm: What happens to the Rainforest & Its Tribal Community in the New Millenia

THE OCEAN IN WORDS China Turns 100 Revives Tourism & Culture

MUSICPRESSASIA.COM

The Roadmap Of The Future: See how technology company deal with the environmental issue related to carbon

How Can The Aviation Industry Meets Its NetZero Goals?

Volume 1, Number 1

ENVIRONMENT Carbon Carbon in in the the Sky Sky

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Ode Ode to to Nature Nature

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How Can Aviation Industry Meet its Net-Zero Goals Nina Golan The Warriors of Borneo Monica Tong Rainforest Rainforest Postcard Postcard

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The The Ocean Ocean in in Words Words

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Culture Culture & & Grain Grain

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Roadmap Roadmap of of the the Future Future

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A Festival in Borneo Benjamin R. Zulkifli Demystifying Earth's Largest Pool of Water Monica Tong Exploring Sarawak's Charm Monica Tong & Soraya Efendi At the Frontline on Offsetting Carbon Anthony Khoo

DRAWINGS & ILLUSTRATIONS: Kenneth Lam, Sydney Wijaya, Nina McNair, Emily N. Tan i

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IN THE NEWS At the Podium

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Conference & Summit

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Meeting for Wildlife

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Economy Meets Music

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Dinosaurs & Hot Sauce

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Asia's Dream Palace

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A Chinese Maestro Travels West Aida Lim Investing in Music Today Anthony Khoo Restoring Balance Soraya Efendi Qatar's Anchor Soraya Efendi

Modern Education Merges Pop Culture Mary J. Marwan A 36-Month Artist Residency Begins Dorothy Lau Tourism

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Turning 100

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China Plans to Boost Performing Arts Sandra Lim A Centurion's Grand Showcase Aida Lim

Digitalstream Communications is a Malaysia-based creative content disitribution company.

It specializes on multiculturalism.

Previous page (i) background image: THE BEACH LIFE is dedicated to the staff at Music Press Asia. This magazine would not possible without the amazing effort of you whose lives are either in lockdown or under some sort of restricted movement. We still long for Beach Day, the annual gathering of our staff, to return. But the great reward waits quietly for those whose patience is also a game of endurance.

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FEATURE Music City of the New Millenia

Harbin's Culmination of Talent & Culture Going Forward Ruiwei Shan

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RESPONSES & REVIEWS Selected to Watch Transition: What It Means For A Fish Market Benjamin R. Zulkifli

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MUSES & WHISPERS Dealing with Covid-19 The Quarantine Stew Timothy Lee

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EVENTS Calendar: Summer 2021

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APAC countries represented in these articles:

THE MAIL ROOM: Letters should be sent with the writer's name, address, and daytime phone number via e-mail to letters@musicpressasia.com. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter. iii

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June/July 2021 Volume 1, Number 1 Published by Music Press Asia MONICA TONG Editor-in-Chief FARAH ADEN, MARY J. MARWAN Managing Editors ALICE BOHN Senior Editor STUART CHIN Web & Staff Editor QUEENIE NGUYEN Social Media & Audience Development Editor AIDA LIM, SORAYA EFENDI Assistant Editors KEVIN LEE Art Director TIMNA BECKER Copy Chief LUCAS TAN Business Operations Executive JENNIFER GOODWIN Editorial Assistant

Reviewers (Music, Books, Films) BENJAMIN R. ZULKIFLI, MARY J. MARWAN, YUDA HARYANTO, AZUMI HARADA BEN HUSSEIN Chief Revenue Officer, Circulations Operations Manager JONATHAN CHEONG Product & Merchandise Manager FAYE ZALEHUDDIN Marketing Executive RAMSOM KOAY Advertising Director, Advertising Accounts Operations

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE: EMAIL: subscribe@musicpressasia.com MAIL: P.O. Box 82, GPO, Georgetown, Pulau Pinang, MALAYSIA 10710 ADVERTISING: Call Ramsom Koay at +(60)12 488 2835 or visit www.musicpressasia.com/advertising WEB SITE: MusicPressAsia.com NEWSLETTERS: MusicPressAsia.com/newsletter FACEBOOK: Facebook.com/MusicPressAsia REPRODUCTION: The contents of Music Press Asia are copyrighted. No part of the magazine may be reproduced, hosted or distributed in any form or by any means without prior written permission from Music Press Asia. To obtain permission, please write to editorial@musicpressasia.com

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To our readers

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ello and welcome to Music Press Asia’s very first digital magazine (Vol.1)!

As we, rather permanently, set into the humdrum of our makeshift office space at home, we perk our ears to the beginning of a new era where Covid-19 is perpetually a mainstream item. Undeterred by its microscopic stature, the virus comes equipped. With incredible dexterity to multiply and speedily destroy the human body, it has launched mankind into a frenzy and rattled the foundation that secures systemic processes set by thriving sectors including the music industry. No one was spared.

Meanwhile, there are more music released than ever before and as cruel as it may sound, not necessarily depending on the fortune amassed, reality has a tight grip on musicians and artists who’s continuing the race. As some succumbed to the revolting monopole of an unseen disease, others soldiered on dealing with relationships confined by lockdowns and quarantines.

Knowing that hard truths of reality birth amazing lyrics and enduring story-telling, for this reason alone, we are excited for what’s ahead for the music world in this region.

Of course, the urge to wipe the whiteboard clean and start again was not far out of sight. But what remains of Music Press Asia today lies in its strength made up of diverse appetite for immaculate Asiatic perspectives.

From the rich history of its tropics, increasing activities to protect wildlife, to an everchanging logistics and geopolitical climate, Asia-Pacific still reserve a great level of mysticism waiting to be uncovered.

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To coincide with Earth and Environment Day, we are dedicating this very first volume inspired by oceans, rainforests and the impacts of carbon dioxide has on our world.

And so to lure such information onto our pages, the task lies in a few journalist and writers, whose efforts we see as daring leaps of faith. The very element driving the DNA of the magazine, in essense, is its people who are in many ways elementarily exotic, rarely speak less than three languages, Asian and very much in love with music and culture.

Nina Golan our assistant editor tackles the environment theme, while Chinese correspondent Ruiwei basks in the grandiosity of Harbin’s theatre halls and worldstanding music competition. Anthony Khoo covers the ventures in technology.

Monica Tong devoured Bill Bryson, on his ingenious expressions about the natural world, and Benjamin Zulkifli our reviewer of films undergoes re-education of some of the best documentaries from Asia.

With evolution, comes change. And with perseverance, comes reward. At Music Press Asia, within the willfulness in finding spectacular stories, there is a need to provide relief, informative and fun reporting to our readers. Between the lines of our paragraphs and sentences, we hope you’ll laugh a little, pray a little, and be thankful for just a little while longer because the silver lining is about to emerge.

Farah Aden, Managing Editor

Carbon in the Sky How Can Aviation Industry Meet its Net-Zero Goals Nina Golan

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hat do you know about the ‘Net-Zeros’ initiatives and what it means to you?

Apart from documentary insights on how excess of carbon can harm our environment, our knowledge about the matter today look more like a narrow street and the limited information was getting rather sluggish.

The aviation industry today accounts for 12 percent of all transport CO2 emissions and 2 percent of global carbon emissions. An invaluable part of the world economy, it is a sector vital for connecting countries internationally and one of the hardest sectors to decar-bonise as no lowemission alternatives currently exist for long-distance flights that can match the speed of air travel.

But there seems to be new insights in the horizon, although we know this subject has been a subject for over a decade among discussions among leaders of our countries and industry players. Using alternative fuels that produces sustainable options and emerging technologies that can decarbonise short- and medium-haul flights are just some of the options to achieve net-zero aviation.

Unfortunately, none of us can calculate or even determine with our naked eye how much carbon are being released by our machinery. Yes, that includes the cars we drive, the manufacturing plants that make

our every day products, and the planes we board en-route to holiday destinations abroad. But scientific procedures and accounting are now being introduced systemically and being standardised internationally, enabling ways to identify amounts of carbon being released by a corporation down to an individual.

While more countries are pledging to decrease their use of fossil fuels over the next few decades, a definition of what net zero means to corporation and individuals are increasingly taking form. When Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) published Waypoint 2050, it was a long-term climate goal set for the sector almost a decade ago, pledging the industry to netreduce 50 percent in Co2 emissions by 2050; a goal that would reduce around 914 million tonnes in global commercial airline carbon emissions in 2019 to 325 Mt in 2050.

And while these approaches and criteria on assessing net zero targets are under development, the idea is pretty clear here.

That carbon is indeed harming the environment. Directly under fire in this issue is the hearth of the aviation industry and its existence which we can no longer live without.

What is at stake here? Even though the carbon dioxide emissions per passenger flight have fallen more than 50 percent since 1990, the volume of air traffic has increased by around a fifth over the last five years. By 2050, it is estimated that 10 billion passengers a year are expected to take to the air.

NINA GOLAN writes for Music Press Asia. She is also an avid supporter of the environment. She believes that carbon emission will result in the disappearing of the natural world including the polar region in the Arctic.

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Nina Golan

It being a matter of logistics, it is pretty much a nightmare if it is disrupted.

Although the discussion here isn’t about a disruption, but finding solutions that we could live with - even in the future.

In a recent report by the World Economic Forum, its ‘Clean Skies for Tomorrow’ coalition may have some answers. Recognising the immediate efforts needed to achieve carbon-neutrality in flying, it suggest options in developing sustainable aviation fuel production and usage. Giving us insight into the efforts to calculate, accurate as possible, a fact-based report on the availability and accessibility of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and other clean propulsion technologies -- all in the name to drive a shift to zero-emissions aviation.

The urgency of the matter has already launched many efforts worldwide including the collection of used cooking oil and identifying production costs and location of its refinery plant. In its foreword, the author firmly noted the importance of SAF as a ‘necessary step in aviation’s decarbonisation pathway, especially with next-generation technologies like electric flight and hydrogen-powered propulsion…’ that would be adopted in the industry as early as 2030.

Mentioning even with the pandemic slowing down aviation operation, climate goals are a collective worldwide effort.

Pledging their commitment encouraged by the CST coalition member, their collaboration with the Energy Transitions Commission and the Rocky Mountain Institute, and the World Economic Forum’s partners in the CST coalition secretariat.

With increasing research on the environment and how fossil fuel can be damaging in the long-term, there is another

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Carbon in the Sky

issue that traditional corporations may not want to indulge in that although producing sustain-able aviation fuel will almost certainly continue to be more expensive than refining fossil jet fuel, it is the costs of exceeding the 1.5 or 2.0-degree targets of the Paris Agreement are incal-culably even greater.

Even if the aviation fuel value chain may agree that SAF are a critical compo-nent in the industry’s pathway to decar-bonisation, there are significant challenges ahead.

Transitioning fossil fuel energy to electric, for example, will require developing battery life span for long-haul route. Using PtL fuels and hydrogen, although possible, will need collective support from the government and energy sector requiring several levers to be activated soon and standardised within the aviation eco-system itself -- a significant yet surmountable challenges.

This means global stakeholders active within the aviation industry can begin to make important decisions on investments, regulatory measure and long-term targets.

United Airlines launched Eco-Skies Alliance, a program for companies to partner with the airline in its investment of approximately 3.4 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) this year. In April, Alaska Airlines committed to reach net-zero emissions by 2040 via a five-step approach - by upgrading its fleet, improve flight efficiency, explore electrification technology, invest in carbon-offsetting technologies and expand the SAF market.

Meanwhile, Japan Airlines made a drastic operational success and operated its first commercial flight using SAF. The truth is there isn’t a ‘silver bullet’ to this approach for aviation’s decarbonisation but SAF is definitely necessary asset in the

Nina Golan

transition. Every region in the world is under pressure to develop its own appropriate mix of technology and feedstock pathways in achieving standardised certification for sustainability, lifecycle emissions reductions and technical compatibility.

With a long history of exaggerating how soon new clean technologies will be available and how much it will help in reducing emissions, the aviation industry may suggest that alternative fuels and propulsion systems may well help with climate mitigation. But it will take a long time before they are deployed at a scale that makes a difference.

What about the consensus in the sustainable transport research commu-nity?

Ideally, curb air travel at all levels with travel-demand management measures; a plan that the industry and policy makers are being extremely reluct-ant to accept as they continue to expand airports and cater to encouraging increasing travel activities.

Looking beyond technological solutions, some airlines are taking a more grounded path their decarbonisation efforts. Escalated by issues posed by the pandemic, AirAsia a Malaysian budget airline has made significant structural change to its core product and service to help boost the agriculture sector. AirAsia’s newest company OurFarm, apart from helping farmers’ export, is their latest venture to support agriculture efforts building warehouses to accom-modate fresh produce and expanding a less harmful, on-theground delivery service. Deutsche Bahn and the German Aviation Association have both expressed plans to collaborate, committing plans that could move approximately 4.3 million flight passengers to rail lines every year over the next decade.

Carbon in the Sky

Another research indicates that flights connecting Sydney and Melbourne could be replaced with high-speed train service reducing over three decades of carbon emissions. Adding Finland’s data that carbon could be reduced by 95 percent if all national short-haul flights were to be replaced by rail journeys. France put this data in action when the French National Assembly decidedly voted in April to ban domestic flights on routes where journeys could be completed by train in less than two

36.8 billion - approximately the amount in metric tons of carbon dioxide was released by fossil fuels in 2019 before the pandemic hit.

36gCO2 - central IEA's estimate of carbon consumed by an individual for 1 hour of streaming video on Netflix hours and thirty minutes. Conse-quently, only five routes were impacted and connecting flights would not be affected.

While short-haul flights may be easier to ban because of alternative rail routes, they account for a small share of aviation emissions. But this is a start to many more possible alternatives. Moving away from considering all decarbonising efforts are responsibilities of corporations, experts are pointing out this shift in strategy from funding fuel alternatives to establishing a fundamental cultural shift to decarbonising aviation. So, is high-carbon conveniences a necessity or even desirable in our lives? Perhaps not always but highlighting an issue that has restraining aspects of fuel consumption are paramount to tackle climate change.

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Ode To Nature The Warriors of Borneo Monica Tong

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lena Murang’s latest music video of its single “Warrior Spirit” [“Sky Song" album] is anything but ordinary.

Clad in beautiful costumes inspired by her cultural heritage from Borneo, she dances ever so gracefully and always with a group dressed in spectacular silhouette alongside intricate handmade beaded accessories that became almost synony-mous with creatures and verdure which we unapologetically admire in mother nature.

Admiringly known as Sarawak’s Sape’ queen ever since her debut, Alena Murang continues to amaze us with some of Sarawak’s tribal heritage; one that belongs to the Dayak Kelabit heritage — one that not only represents ferocity but also of strength of its people. The music video transcended not only a culture almost purified of external element of a byzantine world we live in, but leave us contemplating the inconsequential element of our livelihood today, especially during postpandemic times.

And although Alena was seen rather spectacularly right in the heart of it, it is the unified motion of beautiful choreography that has enlivened and awakened the spiritual aspect of warriorhood. In circumspect, a lustrous work of art form being passed on. Showcasing the heritage and ultimately her indigenous roots, Murang brings forth a common ground we can all admit and understand. Her single “Warrior Spirit” admits to the strength found in the force of unity.

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Warrior Spirit is an expression of sophisticated ingenuity of a culture that has continued to exist and thrive even in this generation. So, it is indeed true grace in all its form and has splendidly encapsulated all its mysticism in just one visual feast. From her we learn ever so gradually to capture the affinity of home and the child-like naivete we have long lost in the process of becoming an adult.

While Borneo has never been told in such creativity, the album itself is naturally charming, bursting with tribal elements; an ode to nature. At this time of writing, the single has won the Best Asia and Pacific Music Video award from UK's International Music Video Awards 2021.

MONICA TONG is head of editorial at Music Press Asia. After spending over a decade learning classical piano and violin and living in the UK & Germany, she returns to Asia with plans to discover her creative roots.

"Where do you think I come from?"

What's your Covid-19 story? Send your story to us at letters@musicpressasia.com

Rainforest Postcard A Festival in Borneo

merriment of our annual RWMF and build up their anticipation for RWMF 2022,” said Sarawak Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

"I believe that RWMF 2021's theme – Entranced, Liberated,

Rainforest World Music Festival

Benjamin R. Zulkifli

“With Covid-19 hampering world travel, it’s important for us to remember the iconic Rainforest World Music Festival during the pandemic. Our online musical showcase this year attempts to recreate a virtual experience for those who are missing the excitement and

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he organiser of the Rainforest World Music Festival isn’t letting the pandemic stop them from sharing the tropical goodness of what Sarawak and its 27 ethnic tribes can offer. In less that 24 hours, the virtual event will begin with a great line-up right in front of your screen.

Bringing forward the theme that was meant to happen last year, be ready to be ‘Entranced, Liberated, Immerse’ right from the screen of your homes as Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) entertains us with live streaming on its official website.

Beginning from 6pm to 7:30pm, from 18-20 June.

Performance line-up include Sarawakian talents — Alena Murang, Kemada, Sang Rawi, At Adau, Tuku Kame, Suk Binie’, Nading Rhapsody and Mathew Ngau — will be lighting up the screens in between flashbacks of favourite musical acts from previous years, alongside inter-views with RWMF’s forerunners and personalities and giveaway sessions.

Immersed – captures the spirit of the festival as a whole, and we look forward to being able to hold it in a big way for RWMF 2022 which is tentatively scheduled for 17-19 June.”

In the meantime, viewers at home who have missed the annual musical event can relive the feel of the RWMF with a choice of concert, workshops, and even food delivery via GrabFood. With its virtual application, on-screen participants may also join daytime workshops and performances from previous years at the website’s SCV longhouses — just like how it was being done physically at the festival ground.

Through collaborations with delivery and e-commerce application — Grabfood and Shoppe — viewers were able to order and dine in at their own leisure, and even order exclusive and limited edition merchandise.

Benjamin R. Zulkifli admits to owning a music collection of CDs, cassettes and LPs of over 200 albums. He reviews films and music for Music Press Asia.

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The Ocean in Words Demystifying Earth's Largest Pool of Water Monica Tong

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riven by the indomitable power of the ocean, here's one reason why the endless water landscape that surrounds our land has always been the source of creative inspirations worldwide.

The scientific discipline of oceanography was not taken seriously until a joint expedition was set up in 1872, an expedition that sailed around the world for three and a half years. Organized by the British Museum, the Royal Society and the British government, the expedition set forth from Portsmouth on a former warship called HMS Challenger.

“Until well into the nineteenth century most of what was known about the oceans was based on what washed ashore or came up in fishing nets, and nearly all that was written was based more on anecdote and supposition than on physical evidence,” — Bill Bryson (AmericanBritish author of books on travel, English language, science).

Today, World Ocean Day reminds us of the major roles the oceans have not only by

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organiser of an expedition but in our everyday life. Here at the headquarters of Music Press Asia, we do not just believe that the ocean are the lungs of our Planet, but also a major source of medicine, food and a prominent part of the biosphere.

In part five ‘Life Itself’ and the eighteenth chapter titled ‘The Bounding Main’ of this book, Bryson in all candid earnestness expressed the discovery of the ocean’s deepest canyon, the Mariana Trench, that descend almost 7 miles to the floor bed of the sea — ‘discovered, not incidentally, by Harry Hess with his fathometer’.

And as much as our discovery of the Moon and its substantial craters that can be seen merely by a backyard telescope, our knowledge of the ocean floors ‘remain remarkably low resolution’. So when 34,000 ice hockey gloves were swept overboard from a Korean cargo ship during a storm in the Pacific and washed up all over from Vancouver to Vietnam, did they began investigative techniques to trace currents more accurately.

In another paragraph, after revealing how salinity level of the sea water are being filtered naturally by the deep-sea vents and down into the Earth’s crusts where clean water is eventually ‘blown out’, it can be a little dramatic to say that the process isn’t a fast one and can take up to ten million years to clean an ocean; although hardly noticeable in one generation of a human life cycle but in nature’s timing a rather efficient one. Bryson goes on to mention dumping of radioactive wastes as late as 1957/58 and efforts to sink gallons and gallons of plutonium, uranium and strontium at the Fallarone Islands, just off the California coast near San Francisco. Highlighting the rich aquatic animals and its bountiful

resources that have provided humans and other wildlife over the course of its existence, and continues to do so today.

At the end of the chapter, after a ‘very roundabout way of making the point’ in all humility that we continuously marveled about his personality today, in many ways know very little about Earth’s biggest system — another reason why we are taking baby steps to educate and learn before it is too late. Audiobooks and printed paperbacks of 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson are available on YouTube as well as for purchase on print.

Tourism China Plans to Boost Performing Arts Soraya Efendi

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arlier this month (June), China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism released its 14th five-year plan to develop the various areas for the 2021-2025 period.

The plan sets out the major tasks of developing the culture and tourism, including advancing social civility, establishing artistic creation systems for a new era, improving the protection, inheritance and utility of cultural heritage, and enhancing the modern tourism system.

But what is the future for China and rest of the world post pandemic? With decreasing commercial flights over the last 18 months, will tourism ever bounce back to times before the virus?

“Efforts will be made to provide higherquality and efficient public cultural services and greater accessibility and sustainability over the next five years,” said Yan Xiaodong, an official with the ministry, at a press conference.

According to the ministry, it will continue to upgrade the structure of the cultural industry and promote the employment of new technologies and digitisation. Along with the Belt and Road initiatives in place, it has plans to also deepen international cultural cooperation and strengthen cooperation.

Tourist products will be enriched and improved during the period, with new offerings to be expected such as national cultural parks, red tourism routes and ice and snow tourism attractions, it said. The plan also underlines the development of internet-powered tourism, promotion of smart management of tourist attractions and innovation of tourism-related public services.

SORAYA EFENDI is junior editor at Music Press Asia. One of our youngest staff, she is an avid computer gamer and plays hockey with a national team. She admits to being a little obsessive over Japan's pop culture.

Is travel bubbles really a reasonable way forward for the aviation industry?

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Culture & Grain Exploring Sarawak's Charm

By Monica Tong & Soraya Efendi

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ust two weeks after the celebration of Aidilfitri, Music Press Asia is once again clad in a festive spirit. Here is one of Southeast Asia’s indigenous festival. Celebrated by over four million people, Gawai Dayak is a celebration of life. And each year, the celebration takes place right at the hearth of their homes; welcoming guest, cooking up a feast and performing religious rituals all in the name of giving thanks for the harvest they have reaped over the last year. Gawai Dayak as a celebration is as significant as what Sarawak is to the rest of us and cannot be indulged unless it is mentioned a little more precisely than what our brains can muster in the next 3 minutes. So here goes the cultural talk.

A CULTURAL FESTIVAL GAWAI DAYAK, an annual rice harvest festival, is celebrated on June 1 by the Dayak community that represent the indigenous peoples living in the interior of Borneo in Sarawak and Kalimantan, Indonesia. A celebration known to bring the community together, it is a festival that truly expresses the gratitude for the harvest accumulated in the season. Marking the end of the rice farming cycle, it is also the beginning of the season to plant new crops.

The many rituals in this one celebration alone represent the core of its diversity and importance as a community in this region: consisting of dances performed by men and women, welcoming guests, fun and games, and feasts of which are culinary displays of traditional recipes shared with friends and family.

Due to the pandemic, the festival this year in Sarawak will see a decreased number in ritualistic ceremonies. According to TheStar, after having received sources directly from the state disaster management committee of Sarawak, announced that the celebration will only be allowed for one day (June 1). And that strict standard operating procedure released on May 21 will be ‘limited to family members from the same household, while those in longhouses can only celebrate with their immediate families within their own ‘bilik’. Over the last 12 months, as the world continues to battle the spreading pandemic, traditional celeb-rations involving rituals and gathering of its community are just some of the activities seeing an adverse effect for the social norms, of which we had to abandon and dismiss altogether.

Today, its many traditions and culture continue to be the main attraction for local and international – boosting its economic and tourism sectors that continues to support its community. The Dayak Gawai, albeit it being an indigenous festival, is still being celebrated by over three to four million people in this region. And has become a symbol that unites, aspires and gives hope to the Dayak community since being officially celebrated in 1965.

Kuching, the capital of Sarawak (Malaysia) begins the celebration a week before with street parades and cultural activities held at cultural institutions and tourist hotspots.

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Monica Tong & Soraya Efendi

Culture & Grain

HABITAT & ECONOMY Southeast Asia, like many other regions, is still a diverse region populated by over 655 million people. With over 2.6 million in population, Sarawak has an equatorial climate with a tropical rainforest adorned with diverse plant species and recorded over 2,000 tree species to date. Other plants include over 1,000 species of orchids, 757 species of ferns and 260 species of palm. Bako National Park is still the oldest national park in Sarawak; known for its 275 proboscis monkeys and Padawan Pitcher Garden.

Sarawak has always been a tourist destination, popular for its activities curated to enjoy nature. People flock to this region to watch the animal world thrive in its habitat; from bird watching, jungle expeditions in the rainforests, diving in pristine waters to attending cultural celebrations that happen almost every month of the year. According to Sarawak Tourism Board’s annual report in 2018, the state alone hosted around 4.4 million tourist in 2018, with Brunei (1.3 mil), Indonesia (418,000), Philippines (58,000) tourist at the top of the list — bringing with them RM7.95 billion in terms of tourism receipts generated towards the State’s Gross Domestic Product. In the air, the state collaborated with Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA) and Wings Air, while tapping into the South China markets via Malaysia Airlines and

Here is a glorious ethnicity that continues to be vibrant. Pandemic or not, Sarawak is indeed a land of mysticism forging forward. With a developing digital frontier in research, who knows where it will end up.

AirAsia. The Sarawak Tourism Federation, over the years, has formed a China Consortium and worked with the Malaysian Association of Travel and Tour Agents (MATTA) to put Sarawak on the world map — among many other collaborations. With the entertainment element being one of its tourism’s largest driving force, it is beginning to see the impact of such music festivals, namely, the Rainforest World Music

Festival and Borneo Jazz Festival, have had within its local communities. Borneo Jazz Festival (May, Miri) is one of the longest running Jazz festivals in the region. With performaces from both regional and international recognised jazz musicians, joined by local school brass bands, while the Rainforest festival was held at the Sarawak Cultural Village since 1998, Malaysia’s first ‘living museum’.

MUSIC & CONSERVATION Alena Murang is a Borneo-born Dayak-European, who sings in the endangered language of Kelabit and Kenyah. Being recognised as one of the first women to play the sape’, a lute instrument native to Borneo, usually reserved for male healers only, Murang is deeply influenced by the lives of her ancestors, as well as the the rock and folk world. Her performances are expressions of journeys of the past and present of the mighty Aram river that runs from the coast to the highlands of Borneo — an area where the world’s oldest rainforest thrives today. She was part of the revival movement of the sape’, 20 years ago, in the first batch of students from sape’ master & living heritage Mathew Ngau Jau. Over the last few years, she has performed in festivals across the world — including SXSW (USA), Colors of Ostrava (Czech Republic), Paris Fashion Week (France), Rudolstadt Festival (Germany), OzAsia Festival (Australia), and Rainforest World Music 14

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Monica Tong & Soraya Efendi

Culture & Grain

Once considered the greatest prodigy of the vegetable world, the Rafflesia was first discovered by French naturalist and surgeon Louis Deschamps around the 1700s.

Festival (Malaysia). Since then her self-produced music videos in collaboration with likeminded artists, have been selected for film festivals in different corners of the world. She was also a youth representative a the UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris, and UNESCO AsiaPacific for her work in intangible cultural heritage. In her latest album release titled “Sky Songs”, the track ‘Put Burui’ is a rendition by graceful female dancers, whose steps ‘emulate the flight of the mighty hornbills in the sky’. In the credit notes, she plays her part as an ambassador of wildlife, saying ‘…hornbills were believed to be messengers between the earth and the heavans.’ Today, hornbills in Sarawak are now protected under the Sarawak Wild Life Protection Ordinance (1998).

Meanwhile, in conservation, after being appointed as CEO of the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) in January 2020, Zolkipli Mohamad Aton now leads the team in its next phase fighting new frontier and challenges while embracing biodiversity conservation. Being the official Controller of Wild Life and Controller of National Parks and Nature Reserves, Aton is truly a wildlife ambassador. Having joined the Sarawak Forestry Corporation Sdn Bhd’s (SFCSB) management over twenty years ago, his role in tackling some of today’s critical issues regarding climate change will remain a steadfast commitment tasked only for those equipped for it.

At the heart of it all, he and his team are now focused on caring for the wildlife within its sixty-six protected areas: 46 national parks, 15 nature reserves and 5 wildlife sanctuaries, all in accordance to the Wild Life Protection Ordinance of 1998. Its latest awards and accolades include the World Excellence Tourism Awards 2020, the Malaysia Tourism Council Gold 15

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Monica Tong & Soraya Efendi

Culture & Grain

Awards, and the Sarawak Hornbill Tourism Awards. While the pandemic has greatly decreased physical interaction with the wildlife in Sarawak, SFC is now reaching out to us through five of its programs to increase awareness as well as support for the wildlife: Orangutan Adoption Program Bring Bach the Rainforest Project Heart2Heart with Orangutan Sea Turtle Adoption Program, and lastly, Sea Turtle Conservation Program We leave our wildlife and parks in his capable hands.

SARAWAK'S TOURISM The good news is that Sarawak is moving fast into the future. Last year, the Sarawak Tourism Online Ecosystem Fund (STOEF) was introduced with the objective to expand the state’s tourism digital footprint, and at the same time facilitate the tourism industry dealing with covid-19. Funds allocated by STOEF are now ready for its second phase beginning September this year.

Creating more efforts to support and create opportunities, a virtual two-day conference the International Conference on Responsible Tourism & Hospitality (ICRTH2021) saw participation from over eighty international speakers from UNWTO, UNESCO, PATA, government bodies, business organisations, associations and universities from 28 countries.

YB Datuk Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah (Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Sarawak, Malaysia has officiated the virtual event.

Although our initial idea about the feature was to find out about the music of the Gawai Dayak, nevertheless, it was the beauty of its nature that has interwoven with so many of its local culture that attracted us here. Having some of the world’s oldest rainforests and cave systems at its doorstep, no wonder it is a prime destination for so many. It is difficult to untangle each celebration and culture into one story because its many facades have been interwoven over decades and century. And that’s where you come to a mix so diverse there’s no way to untangle them again.

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Current

Roadmap of the Future At the Frontline on Offsetting Carbon Anthony Khoo

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ech companies are now under pressure to achieve net-zero carbon footprint. Southeast Asian ride-hailing service, Grab, pledge its part to help the environment achieve sustainability. With electric vehicle (EV) options for its ridehailing service, Grab users can now add SGD$0.13 per ride as part of its go green initiative to offset the emitted carbon on their car journey — a minimal amount of an e-hailing service that will go towards reforestation projects.

Dedicating towards projects of reforestation and conservation in Southeast Asia, according to Grab, trees will be planted in GrabForFood Forests located in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam through partner organisations starting next month.

Earlier this year, Grab among other app services companies in Southeast Asia including rival Gojek, has in similar ways pledge to work on green projects to decarbonise its operations as part of the trendy net-zero carbon discussed globally this year.

“The health of our business is intrinsically linked to the welfare of our communities and the protection of our environment […] In order for our business to grow and succeed in the long run, we must work towards building thriving communities where our partners have sustain-able income opportunities, while protecting our environment for generations to come,” said Anthony Tan, group chief and co-founder

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of Grab. In its most recent electric vehicle programs in collaboration with Hyundai Motor tailored to Grab’s driver and delivery partners, the pilot project will test new EV business models: battery-as-a-service and car-as-a-service leasing arrangements, and EV financing options. While this joint roadmap is aimed at deve-loping more viable option for demands in mobility and delivery services, the EV programs continues to face resistance in the high vehicle cost and lack of charging locations.

Related news in reducing carbon footprint, private companies are increasingly coming under strain to de-crease their carbon footprint to back goals pledged under the Paris Agreement. This involves all ways to help slash green-house gas emissions.

In this race to show participation, climate experts have warned that some companies may participate in claiming carbon free without seriously pledging costly work as part of validating cheap offsets. Several private markets including the Carbon Trade Exchange in London have emerged beginning to trade carbon credits. Contrary to carbon credits, of which give the holder the right to emit carbon, forest to solar power are carbon offsets project that counterbalance the usage of fossil fuels.

Some tech companies are already announced plans to decrease its carbon emitting operations to net zero by 2050.

According to Google last year, said it has already achieved its net carbon footprint to zero, whereas Microsoft has plans to reach carbon negative by 2030.

ANTHONY KHOO writes regularly for Music Press Asia's tech segment. He also covers issues on new innovations, fintech, investment and cryptocurrency.

Quarantine Stew Spices To Bolster Immune System Timothy Lee

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he only thing keeping me sane right now might just have to be a healthy stew! Knowing how meditative cooking can cure tension and stress, I thought ice cream can cure as much as ayurvedic elements from star anise and cinnamon. This spicy stew serves five, which is great for my current household: me, my poodle, and my eighty pots of plants that have begun speaking to me.

PREP TIME: 40 minutes, or for the rest of the afternoon why would that matter?

INGREDIENTS: 3 bottles white wine 1 whole chicken (alternatively, ice cream) 5 teaspoons curry powder 2 star anise & a few cinnamon sticks 6 chilies if you're feeling bored 3 pinches mixed herbs A few cloves of garlic & cardamoms Some carrots, celery and onions or whatever you have. It doesn't matter.

PREPARATION: Wash the carrots and onions to make sure they're clean. Everything has to be

spotless! With vigour, try scrubbing them under hot water or vinegar.

Drink first bottle of white wine.

Place the chicken (or ice cream) in a slow cooker and throw in the spices.

Not sure how cardamom and star anise look like? No worries, just spend another hour on google.

Then, turn the news on, see headline, then immediately switch to a comedy program. You don't need news right away!

Deseed the chillies and consider perhaps a career in painting or acting.

Caramelise the onions, carrots and curry. To you, curry tastes like bitter gourd. But who cares?

Reduce heat and add whatever else into the pot. Drink more wine!

Call your parents and tell them that you have identified the difference between star anise and cardamom. Learn that your parents are enjoying their time alone and also because they are now retired. Blurt out your frustrations, then hang up.

Simmer.

Almost forgot the garlic. Add them to your mouth! They taste like wasabi. To you, garlic tastes like wasabi.

Reduce heat and take a nice long bath.

Almost done! Put on your favorite music and turn up the volume.

Ladle stew into bowl of ice cream because you can't be bothered washing up while calling your parents back and telling them that you miss and love them.

TIMOTHY LEE loves a good joke. With love for amazing Asian cuisine, it's his graciousness that keeps us all at Music Press Asia laughing till the end.

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At the Podium A Chinese Maestro Travels West Aida Lim

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oyal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) has recently appointed Xu Zhong, a Maestro, conductor, opera producer and educator as its first International Chair of Opera —

new appointment will also bring together the musical worlds of China and Wales.

Helena Gaunt, RWCMD Principal said: “As an outstanding musician and impresario his expertise is the perfect fit for our spirit of excellence. He brings extraordinary industry knowledge and creativity and will help us to further diversity in the field of opera. He will also act as a mentor for the new generation of performers, designers and technicians who train here. I am very honored and thrilled to have the opportunity to work closely with RWCMD [...]

The College has an exceptional vision for creative excellence through international collaboration and is uniquely positioned to offer a world-class training environment which covers the full spectrum of creative disciplines in music and drama, and in particular opera, including directing,

representing Asia, Xu Zhong, already a world-renowned pianist and conductor, holds an exceptional resume as Dean of Soochow University School of Music, Chief Conductor of the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, President of Shanghai Opera House and Principal Director of Fondazione Arena di Verona. Prior to that, he was also Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of Israel Haifa Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor of Teatro Massimo Bellini.

Bringing with him this extensive length of knowledge and experience, RWCMD looks forward to gaining more value, especially on developing perspective of the connection between drama and music in opera. The

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designing and producing,” said Xu Zhong.

“I will help RWCMD nurture singers and performers in opera and drama in collabora-tion with the David Seligman Opera School’s Artistic Director John Fisher and Cardiff Singer of the World’s David Jackson as well as production talent for the future."

How do you best describe 'Patience'?

I'd say, it is best with a sword right through the heart. Don't you think so?

AIDA LIM has a wall of fame dedicated to artists from the Chinese Classical Music world.

She is currently editor intern at Music Press Asia.

Meeting for Wildlife Restoring Balance Soraya Efendi

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ildlife Habitat Council organised its virtual Conservation Conference in a two-day digital event on June 8-9. Joining the discussions, speakers include Conserve Wildlife Foundation, Wildlife Restoration Partnerships, Bat Conservation International, World Business Council for Sustainable Development of North America and more.

WHC is playing its part in celebrating upcoming World Environment Day by publishing its latest WHC guide for 2021 with a purpose to help educate and activate events for more awareness that can be conducted year round. You may download the guide here. Read more about the conference here.

event is expected to connect more than one thousand participants from all over the world.

The virtual summit, the first-ever event of such scale, is dedicated to the pressing issues faced by investment and financial sector in the music industry — involving representatives of global labels, music distribution companies, streaming platforms, law firms, and investment funds, as well as discussions with leading music entrepreneurs and independent artists.

Confirmed speakers are some of the biggest names in the music industry — CD Baby, SoundCloud, Merlin, Pandora, Round Hill Music, Deezer, Bandcamp, AEG Presents, Beatport, Droplabs, and many others. According to Djooky’s latest release, the first panel on the program titled “Music Investment in the Covid-19 Era: The Big Comeback” touched upon the importance of the emerging music business market and its opportunities in the near future.

With the rest of the agenda focused mainly on the key ways of attracting investment worldwide: from prospective opportunities for DIY-creators, intellectual property as a source of revenue, NFTs, to new technology and data management tools, for both artists and investors.

A Virtual Meetup Investing in Music Today Anthony Khoo

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jooky, a music startup debuted the Djooky Music Investment Summit in a two-day virtual event starting tomorrow (June 17-18). In this partnership with communications agency CFC Big Ideas, the

business@musicpressasia.com

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Qatar's Anchor Soraya Efendi

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hat challenges and opportunities lie ahead as we push through the economic shock created by the pandemic? With the participation of over 100 speakers from around the globe, the inaugural Qatar Economic Forum, powered by Bloomberg will be held virtually from June 21 to 23. The virtual event will see participation including heads of state, global CEOs from the world’s most influential corporations, leading global investors, as well as influential opinions from the cultural, sports and entertainment world.

At the end of the first day of the Forum, Akoya brings the heritage of Qatari folk music to life in an original piece by Dana alFardan, a Qatari composer, songwriter, singer, and sym-phonic artist in a performance with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. The piece celebrates Qatar’s original genre of music: Fjiri, music of the sea. In addition to its role as a major pillar of Qatar’s economy, the pearl trade developed a new style of music, providing motivation and entertainment for the pearl divers as they worked.

Fjiri’s distinct percussion patterns represent the stories of pearl diving and accompany the traditional chanting of the Naham, a designated singer on each ship.

As a finale to the 2021 Qatar Economic Forum (23 June), Dana al-Fardan performs selections from her new album Indigo. In this performance, al-Fardan incorporates a

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chamber orchestra, light design and a curated color scheme to explore connectivity, introspection and the shared human experience of the pandemic.

Anchored strategically in Doha, the Forum discussion is focused on Qatar’s ability to link Asia with Africa and beyond, as well as its position as a leader in transitional energy technologies and the home to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Qatar Economic Forum

Economy Meets Music

The themes of the Forum include Leadership in a Post-Pandemic World, Technology Advanced, A Sustainable World, Markets and Investing, Power and Trade Flows, The Changing Consumer, The Power of Sport, A More Inclusive World. Speakers to include Hillary Clinton (Leadership), David Beckham (Sports) and Anthony Capuano (Tourism) with Asia panel discussion led by Bloomberg Anchor Shery Ahn.

Meow.

GET LISTED. To get your event listed on Music Press Asia, please send stories to Editorial@MusicPressAsia.com

Dinosaurs & Hot Sauce Modern Education Merges Pop Culture Mary J. Marwan

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one are the days when children read or learn from a physical book. Today, learning has taken new heights not altogether foreign to us. When books and learning materials were just beginning to go online, some of us were skeptical. Who would want to read or learn from a screen all day you might ask. Fast forward that thought and lo and behold here we are in the twenty first century at the age of a digitalised and digitised world.

How odd but true. Computer and smartphone screens have substituted traditional learning method with visually engaging animation. With the World Wide Web, especially YouTube, at your finger tips, where do you think education is going?

With data collected every second, efficiency is integrated at immense speed and failure could mean a mere second too slow in this world. YouTube has not only sensationalised learning but continues to overwhelm the education sector.

As part of the surge in creating fun and engaging educational content for young children, Pinkfong a Seoul-based production company was preparing to tap into the education market, perhaps not taking it entirely too seriously. After remixing and reedited the children song ‘Baby Shark’, they released it onto various streaming platforms in 2016. Almost instantly, the song became a worldwide sensation. Centering around a dance with underwater animation, the dance has now

garnered over 8 billion views on YouTube beating Puerto Rican Luis Fonsi’s pop song ‘Despacito’, Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ and even Wiz Khalifa’s ‘See You Again’.

But why are we talking about Pinkfong and Baby Shark when we were suppose to be talking about Dinosaurs & Hot Sauce?

Because with this one hit success, Pinkfong is looking further afield and finds celebrities as a huge market to promote its product. In a recent collaboration with Korean pop group NCT DREAM and with their hit song ‘Hot Sauce’, it is time for another animation video. Released by SmartStudy – the music video has already garnered over a million views on Pinkfong's YouTube channel.

Along with the remixed song, the educational entertainment company, also released another collaboration; an animated music video earlier this month featuring the group members singing a new ABC song for children in the dinosaur world titled ‘Dinosaurs A to Z’. Launched in Korean and English, the full version of the video was premiered on Pinkfong’s Korean and English YouTube channels and NCT DREAM’s official YouTube channels on May 28. In addition, special merchandise based on the animated characters of NCT DREAM’s members wearing Pinkfong’s dinosaur costumes will soon be available at on- and offline channels.

Wouldn't you agree that the world can be a dull place to learn if not for the existence of the Internet?

+ June / July 2021

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Asia's Dream Palace A 36-month Artist Residency Begins Dorothy Lau

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ong Kong superstar Aaron Kwok, Joey Yung and Leon Lai named in program line up, part of a three-year commitment plan to diversify world-class entertainment in Macau.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment, in an announcement yesterday, revealed the debut of its first series of residency shows here in Asia — featuring superstars including Aaron Kwok, Joey Yung and Leon Lai. Following a major undertaking of a three-year residency project and investment to reel up Melco’s duty to diversify and transform Macau’s entertainment scene. A collective of 90 shows at the Studio City of these A-list musicians and artists are curated within three years started this year through 2024. And exclusively be made accessible only at Melco’s designated venue.

“We are thrilled to bring to Macau such an amazing line-up of stars. The region’s biggest names are finally coming to the city to deliver a

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show experience that will be totally unique. This is a testament to Macau’s ability to drive the best talent. It also demonstrates Melco’s belief in the city’s diversification and its contribution to the Greater Bay Area," said Evan Winkler, President of Melco Resorts & Entertainment.

“It’s my pleasure to cooperate with Studio City Macau once more. My performance for the grand opening of Studio City Event Centre in 2015 and large-scale show with electrifying stage effects was hosted here in 2019. Asia’s first-ever residency show project in Macau to be hosted this year will be innovative and striking. My team and I have already designed a brand new multi-intelligent stage with a rundown of classic songs. I look forward to presenting an exhilarating and beautiful dance performance to the audience with the very top on-stage visual effects,” said Hong Kong artist Aaron Kwok.

“This collaboration will be the first residency in Asia – and I’m looking forward to being joined by audiences from throughout the region for it,” said Leon Lai. Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited, listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, currently operates Altira Macau and City of Dreams, both located in Macau. Other entertainment venues include Mocha Clubs, Studio City and City of Dreams in the Philippines. Led by Lawrence Ho (Chairman and CEO), Melco entertainment is supported by its single largest shareholder, Melco International Development Limited.

According to Melco, more prominent artists will be announced for the curated roster within the next 12 months.

DOROTHY LAU is editor intern at Music Press Asia. Hong Kong based, she reminisces the times when Canto-pop is the sole driving genre in the region. Its stories continue to mesmerize us today.

Turning 100 A Centurion's Grand Showcase Aida Lim

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hina’s ruling Communist Party celebrates its 100th anniversary this

week following the release of its Ministry of Culture & Tourism’s 14th five-year plan for the 2021-2025 period in early June 2021.

An art performance, titled “The Great Journey”, took place at the National Stadium in Beijing on Monday evening to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of China’s Communist Party (CPC). Joined by over 20,000 people, party and state leaders including Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan walked onto the rostrum.

Before unveiling its curtains, fireworks were seen rocketing into the sky, lightening the stadium and its surroundings. The epic four-part show depicted a spectacular, historical time line of the CPC and how the Chinese people carried out its revolution, construction and reform under the leadership of CPC over the past 100 years.

The grandeur of this event is not only seen in the size of its large-scale production depicting key figures, critical events and moments in the past century through song, dance, traditional Chinese opera, drama

and live band. But mark the tremendous changes and great achievements of China as a nation today.

After the performance, the audience rose to join in singing the chorus to the song “Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China. Foreign friends and experts, diplomatic envoys and representatives of international organizations in Beijing were also invited to the event.

love music, green, asia-based EDITORIAL@MUSICPRESSASIA.COM

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Music City of the New Millenia

Music City of the New Millenia Harbin's Culmination of Talents & Culture Going Forward Ruiwei Shan

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n this music feature, we zoom into one of China's modern city, Harbin. Listed by the United Nation as a ‘music city’ in 2010, it has limitless opportunity where classical music is has played a huge part in its cultural strategic relations with others.

Harbin, the capital of HeiLongJiang, is a city situated in the northernmost province of China.

During the late 19th century, it was widely known as the commercial and industrial hub most synonymous to the Trans-Siberian Railway; when the Chinese Eastern Railway was built there, Harbin was regularly frequented by Russian engineers. With over 4,5 million population, not even its extreme winter weather can stop its revolution in culture and tourism and sees the city moving on as an industrial era in the 21st century.

So what else has changed every since the eastern leg of the Trans-Siberian Railroad was built? As we highlight some of the largest project in Harbin, bear in mind that these are also some of the most prestigious event, longest-running music programs and institution the country has ever managed. Here, we witness a city that has gradually grew not only in size but a fluid expansion of its culture that continues to drive the city forward economically, artistically and culturally.

SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE Becoming the first city in Asia named ‘Music City’ by the United Nations in 2010, Harbin remains the only one in China to carry this title. And to garner further awe and cultural potential, the city’s municipal government over the course of just a few years decided that a ‘Harbin Grand Theatre’ is to be added to the skyline, a monument leading the nation’s artistic grandeur that would eventually play a huge role in the subject of sustainability alongside culture. A theatre that would grasp the hearts of its music loving inhabitants.

Situated on the north bank of Songhua river, at the very epicentre of the Sun Island scenic area, in an amplitude of streams and wetland landscape stands the Harbin Grand Theatre. In close proximity to the prominent Siberian Tiger Park, the cultural site covers a total of 79,000 square meters; spanning an area of mountains, hills and valleys often sang about in its local poems and songs.

In order to demonstrate its knowledge, experience and technique over extravagance, MAD Architects the architectural firm that was commissioned to design the complex, decided that RUIWEI SHAN is Music Press Asia's Chinese correspondent. A Beijinger who bears great pride in her culture and upbringing, Shan continues to travel in China more than anywhere in the world. Her knowledge of her mother tongue bears great resemblance to an extremely full glass.

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Ruiwei Shan

Music City of the New Millenia

City of Harbin boasts a park almost identical to New York's Central Park.

sustainability should be at the core of what would eventually be used to build it; using glass fibre reinforced cement (GRC), root wood from Manchurian ash, Lu Ban China steel structure and solid wood weighing over 7,000 tons, equivalent to the weight of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

As if sculpted by water and wind, the building appears to blend in with nature and topography of the wetlands in the surrounding area, and resembles a silver ribbon in the summer sky; melts with the snowy landscape in the winter. From within, the structure design allows a natural flow of daylight, thus being the first theatre in the world to employ new energy saving model.

The venue celebrated its opening in March 2016. Today, it has curated over one hundred years of performance history and continues to be China’s largest cultural powerhouse, especially in the eastern and western classical music scene. Click here for its event calendar and programs.

POWER TO COMPETE The International Music Competition Harbin: Co-hosted by Harbin Conservatory of Music and Harbin Municipal Governments, the second edition of the competition was held last in 2019. With top award cash prize starting from US$50,000, its application within the piano, violin, vocals and composition category drew over 350 contestants from 31 countries and regions.

With invitation of its jury members extended to 29 professional and renowned musicians and representatives from as far as Europe, the US, China and Russia including the June / July 2021

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Ruiwei Shan

Music City of the New Millenia

Metropolitan Opera House (the U.S.), Paris Opera (France), Royal Opera House (London), just to name a few. Other prominent musicians as judges include Chiri Tekanava, Victor Tretyakov and Dang Thai Son. These partnerships, among all else, has established musical education of international standard and cultural exchange between countries.

LEARNING IN THE FUTURE Harbin Conservatory of Music (HCM) is a non-profit public higher-education institution located in the large metropolis of Harbin. Officially recognised by the Department of Education of the Heilongjiang Province, Harbin Conservatory of Music (HCM) is a coeducational Chinese higher education institution located in the SongBei district of Harbin. And is the only independent establishing state-run institution of higher learning for arts of Heilongjiang Province.

HCM offers a doctor’s degree awarded authority in two disciplines, a master’s degree award authority in two disciplines and professional master’s degree in arts. The Conservatory has departments of musicology, composition, vocal music and opera, traditional Chinese vocal music, orchestral instruments, traditional Chinese instruments, and piano, with three majors of musicology, Composition and Theories of Composition, and music performance, and with nine major training orientations.

Today, the Conservatory’s faculties has seventy-one full-time teachers, among whom sixty-three are Chinese with four doctorial tutors, twenty-four master tutors, three experts enjoying the special government allowance, and eight Russians with vice-doctorate and four associate professors. Chinese teachers are undertaking seven national social science fund projects. Equipped with a music hall, its grounds holds two hundred and ninety four piano rooms and nine functional rehearsal halls. Its top facilities include three hundred Steinway & Son pianos. With an emphasis on a feature-oriented model of education, it takes its cooperation with Russia seriously; establishing a firm and wide-ranging methodology in areas including teaching, research, creative and performance. Click here for the Harbin Conservatory of Music programs and courses.

A HUB FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC Harbin Symphony Orchestra, for over a hundred years, is the old Symphonic Orchestra that has been the cultural forefront of its city’s annual celebration. In 1908, China’s first symphony concert was debuted by the Russian External Amo’er Military Orchestra that performed Tshaikovsky’s ‘1812 Overture’. Once known as the first Far East symphony orchestra, the Harbin Eastern Railway Symphony Orchestra gradually adapted its nick name as the Harbin Symphony within its music circle.

By the 1950s, it has performed with prominent nationwide conductors: Delun Li, Feili Huang, Xiaoying Zheng, Xieyang Chen, Zushan Bian, Muhai Tang, Yongyan Hu, Xincao Li, Jinyi Jiang, Lihua Tan, Shucheng Shi, Yongji Wang, and other famous international conductors such as Richard Pontzious, Rzayev and Peter Foucault. In 2009, as the ambassadors of friendship representing 10 millions citizens of Harbin, Harbin Symphony Orchestra with the delegation of Harbin municipal government visited and performed in Aarhus City Hall, the Golden Hall in Vienna, the Athens Concert Hall in Greece, as well as

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Ruiwei Shan

Music City of the New Millenia

Russia, Taiwan just to name a few. Additionally, the symphony’s performances include Harbin New Year concert, opening ceremony of China Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, Russian conductor concert series, the first China-Russia Expo orchestra concert, the opening ceremony and closing ceremony of Schoenfeld International String Competition among many others.

In 2011, it merged with Harbin Concert Hall Orchestra. Under a new management, the orchestra aimed at creating an even more professional orchestra; from planning detailed rehearsals and long-term development goals, to developing their own music seasons. This merger also saw the debut of Harbin’s very first professional chamber orchestra.

Today, its annual Summer Music Concert — alongside its Russian architecture including the Saint Sophia Cathedral — continues to play a huge role adding exceptional reputation across the country and more recently worldwide. Click here for more information about the Harbin Symphony Orchestra.

PRESS PLAY: Merchandise Making A Comeback

The LP "long play" 12" vinyl record was introduced by Columbia Records at the Waldorf Astoria on June 1948. Best selling vinyl albums for 2021 include Lana Del Rey's 'Chemtrails Over The Country Club' and Paul Weller's 'Fat Pop'. Not so far below the chart* include QUEEN, Amy Winehouse, Beatles and Arctic Monkey. *Officialcharts.com

Compact Cassette was introduced by Philips in Europe at the Berlin Radio Show in August 1963. By the end of the 1960s, the cassette business was worth an estimated 150 million dollars.

Today, many collectibles album are still available for purchase.

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INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COMPETITION

CALENDAR SOTHEYBY x JAY CHOU

Hong Kong [10 - 18 Jun] In CONTEMPORARY CURATED: ASIA, Jay Chou collaborates with Sotheby to challenge the traditional way art and auctions are perceived. Bringing together an illustrious assemblage of exceptional works, the auction of this edition is offered in two events — an evening sale and an online day sale — offering a total of more than 100 lots.

THE BAGHS — ABSTRACT GARDENS

Virtual Art Exhibition [ Jun - Sept] Relive your desires to cruise around a cosy, three-room virtual exhibition hall displaying twenty-seven pieces of rich craftwork — shawls — from the Karun Thakar Collection.

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR

Jakarta, Indonesia [10 - 11 July] Jakarta Concert Orchestra's virtual concert will be performing some of the Walt Disney Company's finest soundtrack of all times including Pinocchio's When You Wish Upon a Star. With Avip Priatna as conductor of the evening, the concert will also feature the Batavia Madrigal Singers, Farman Purnama, The Resonanz Children's Choir and more.

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HARBIN

Harbin, China [Aug] Co-hosted by Harbin Conservatory of Music and Harbin Municipal Governments, the second edition of the competition was held last in 2019. With top award cash prize starting from US$50,000, its application drew over 350 contestants from 31 countries and regions.

MUSIC CHINA

Shanghai, China [13 - 16 Oct] Widely recognized as one of the world’s largest musical instrument trade shows, Music China is an effective platform for traders from around the world. Last year alone, it has successfully drawn over 1.62 million views through its online exhibition platform — matchmaking 20 meetings and buyer tours for over 40 buyer groups in establishing connections between buyers and suppliers.

GION MATSURI, Japan [Jul] INDIE CON, Australia [4-6 Aug] CD Baby's DIY Musician Conference, Online [26-28 Aug] TUNA FESTIVAL General Santos City, Phillipines [Sept] ASEAN Music Showcase Festival, Online [11-13 Sept] DIWALI Celebrated all over S.E. Asia [Oct & Nov] BANG FAI PHAYA / NAGA FIREBALLS FEST Thailand [20 Oct]

Selected To Watch Transition: What it Means for a Fish Market

By Benjamin R. Zulkifli

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film by Klaus Scherer, it is a special July selection for the Asia-series produced as a result of Tokyo’s renovation to host the Olympics Games set to take place this July 23. A docu-mentary commissioned by German media and broadcaster, NDR, this film is set in Tokyo.

Tsukiji, the world’s biggest fish market, is relocating after eighty years in daily business. Over eight decades its culture within the fish market has transformed little. One generation takes over another and customers and dealer relationship span over years that had built into successful businesses. To make room for a highway that would cut across the area for the Olympic Games 2020, this film documented well the spirit of endurance facing a culture set within the alleys of the fish market.

At the heart of the story telling, it begins with the cut-throat buying session where tuna prices can fetch up to EUR$1 million. But you must have known about this before. The end destination of this film is something of another remarkable feat.

Gone are the tourist patrolling the fish alleys and being in the way because a new observation room is now allocated. As the day to move into the shopping-mall-like space, it follows the journeys of a Tokyo chef, a fishmonger, a breakfast bar and a (fish)boot seller. In between the cuts, the jargon of the mannerism and respect for

trade seems to be almost about life or death.

Owners of their trade and the pride carried over from a few generations before lies in the risks of basically moving your office location for the first time, after 80 years.

The family heirloom, a company sign-board, was carefully removed but standardised measurement would mean that it is now too tight to fit into the new space.

Transitioning into a modern, airportlike environment proved to be daunting for its 14,000 dealers. For some family businesses, it is the end of an era. So over four days, city traffic had undergone route redirections - so that the fish market will now begin operating at its newest location.

A step also towards modern digital real-time trading.

A Film by Klaus Scherer Produced by Shiori Suzuki Music by Mathias Rehfeldt Sound by Ursula Arens Production Management by Tim Carlberg (NDR) and Anatol Munz (Autentic) Awards And Nominations Received TERRES TRAVEL FESTIVAL (2019) WORLDFEST HOUSTAN (2020) ART&TUR FESTIVAL (2019) FLORENCE FILM AWARDS FESTIVAL (2019)

Blue.

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Watch the Olympic Games with us!

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VOL. 1, NO. 1 JUNE / JULY 2021 MUSICPRESSASIA.COM

LET'S SAVE THE FUTURE Over the past 50 years, world plastic production has doubled. Pledge to protect the earth and its environment today!