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Monica Tong

A Malaysian’s Tuesday Playlist

Monica Tong, editor-in-chief at Music Press Asia shares her Tuesday listening rituals starting from an hour before dawn to midday and why Bossa Nova, and ultimately, birdsongs are her life-saving Tuesday must-haves. FOR THOSE OF YOU with a nine to five and Monday to Friday kind of office patron, Tuesday mornings can be a bore if not downright uninteresting. Considerably, if Tuesday is fast becoming a second cruel Monday, what music should be the choice that bears the weight of the eardrums? And as crucial in wrapping up a seamless…

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Alena Murang "Warrior Spirit" music video from album 'Sky Songs'. Photo by Vignes Balasingam. Music Press Asia

Alena Murang / ‘We come from a line of warriors and heroes’

Alena 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 synonymous with creatures and verdure which we unapologetically admire in…

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Feature of the Month. Cover photo by Borneo Talk. Music Press Asia

What Do You Know About Sarawak & its Culture?

JUST TWO WEEKS after the celebration of Aidilfitri, Music Press Asia is once again clad in a festive spirit. This week, we feature 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…

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Last Madame is produced by Ochre Pictures and Mediacorp. Music Press Asia

Last Madame: An Identity Boost To Southeast Asian

Ochre Pictures, a Singapore-based television and film production company, has recently caught the attention of arbiters of the television world in Southeast Asia after publishing their very first *M18 series, Last Madame. With awards and nominations already listed for 2020, this production is a gripping story set in 1940s Singapore; a time in history widely known when enigmatic power of…

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Empty spaces: Live venues are facing an uphill challenge filling up an audience. Image credit Cincinnati Kentucky's Springer Auditorium. Music Press Asia

Rebooting The Pandemic

As the topic of the pandemic gathers heat in our office, more specifically like a person sitting and warming up the kaftan strewn wooden chair situated in the corner of our editorial division without meaning to leave any time soon, we are grappling with a sense of urgency to discuss as a mean to deal with how it [the pandemic]…

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Chaos' first step to recovery in aviation. Images and information of TheNewsMarket. Music Press Asia

Aviation Industry: Being Creatively Challenged

Let’s start with Malaysia, a tropically cool paradise smack within a miniscule area called the Southeast Asia. Within a regionally attraction that is distinctly equal of beauty is the Andaman archipelago in the northwest and Indonesia’s popular reefs in the south; with a bustling, healthy micro-economy — Malaysia’s aviation industry is financially challenged, in a creative way, indeed a battled…

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Pop Classical at its finest in 2020 - Yuja Wang, the sensation. Music Press Asia
Editor's Pick

Playlist of the Week: A Classical Moment with Yuja Wang

World’s most famous classical pianist today — Yuja Wang — is literally, our most hyped artists in the classical music section. Jetlining from France to Venezuala, this youthful pianist has sky as the limit. Bracing sold out venues all over Europe and China since 2010, she now calls New York her home. Having been raised in a Chinese family: father,…

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Locked out and locked in: "After 3 months in lockdown, I realized that nothing else is more important than health and love" - Monica Tong, Head of Editorial at Music Press Asia.

Pandemic Lifestyle: “Work Hard. And Live For Health’s Sake”

Starting with a question: Have you ever sat in or participated in a musical instrument practice session before? If yes, then how long did you fare before numbness kicks in or, distracted to ‘get on’ with other tasks of the day, left the practice earlier than intended? As a classically trained piano and violin player, I endured hours of practice…

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Is the live scene in music & entertainment in South Asia dead? Pictured: Taiwanese band Mayday's concert in Singapore was postponed 9 months after its initially scheduled performance. Music Press Asia

South-Asia Industry Focus: “Has the LIVE Industry Met Its Death, Yet?”

Is the question permeating in most discussions between the music creators and executives whenever I sit in a ZOOM-powered chatroom these days. Not only has it been the fundamental question for all underlying discussions in publishing and licensing, but, even, in the spheres of creativity loosely associated with live, is LIVE the big elephant in the room at this moment…

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Stephen Chow Hong Kong comedy icon plays Monkey King in Jeffery Lau's 1995 romance and fantasy-comedy film series A Chinese Odyssey. Music Press Asia.

Is The Chinese-Language Entertainment Provider Reforming Well in the 21st Century?

Obsession of a growing middle-class, Chinese familyEverything about entertainment began with the TV box: Barely into my teens our middle-class family, like any other, became obsessed with movie night; a weekly family affair where its members get together and contemplate the great ideals of practicing good behaviour while enjoying a film, of which we’d carefully chosen to watch and start…

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