Sabah
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Signing a Book for CK Wong, Photographer
CK Wong is a photographer in Kota Kinabalu. His work appeared in my blog SabahSongs, as we were all covering performing musicians in the heyday of ten years ago. I was writing about them and photographers were covering events. The other day I was chatting to CK although I didn’t recognise him because we were… Continue reading
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Our Short Film JACKS Screens at KKIFF!
JOEL STEPHEN FLEMING’S crime comedy short film ‘JACKS’ screened at the Kota Kinabalu International film Festival, and I was “repping” — as Joel says — for our film! Yikes! I didn’t want to let him down! So how did it go? It was a blaaast! Here’s Ronald Ng, very funny emcee and well-known Sabah Tourism… Continue reading
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Prof. Dr Danny Wong — Sabahan Historian
Sabah is very proud of its eminent historian, Professor Datuk Dr Danny Wong Tze Ken. I have included a summary of his distinguished career at the bottom of this post. So when my friend Yap said, “Eh, I’m bringing you to this,” I thought: Far out! Professor Danny (I want to refer to him in… Continue reading
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KKIFF: Watching ‘The Sight of Borneo Kirin’
I was so excited to see the film ‘The Sight of Borneo Kirin’, by Pentium Tee! It was Day 2 of the Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival (KKIFF) and Yap had a ticket for me. He warned me, “I’m in this film, okay?” No kidding! This film is a documentary about the Hakka Chinese Unicorn… Continue reading
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Playing for Datuk CL Chan’s book launch – audio
I was so pleased to be able to play background piano for the book launch for Datuk CL Chan’s book ‘Family Ties’, which is a history of five generations of his family, from their journey from China to Sandakan to Kota Kinabalu. Datuk Chan is the founder of Natural History Publications (Borneo) and he published… Continue reading
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Making Sabah Guitars
Yap Keng Vui, Roger Wang, Gordon Pan, Allen Lin, and Timothy Tang are here in Yap’s workshop. They recently acquired the contents of a Canadian luthier’s workshop in Kuala Lumpur, because he was returning to Canada. So today they are opening all the boxes which have arrived! It’s kids in candy store day! I look… Continue reading
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Sabah 2022: Woodwork, calligraphy and the moon
I’m spoiled from the moment I land in Sabah. Relatives greet me at the airport — poor things! The flight from Kuala Lumpur arrives at such a dreadful time, it gets into Kota Kinabalu at 12.40am and I actually walked out about 1.00am. I am so cared for ☺️. After a few days, it’s time… Continue reading
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Jude Day, Festival Director — Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival
The Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival (KKIFF) runs September 17 – 25 in 2022. Founder and festival director Jude Day got on Zoom with me, to talk about what’s coming up. I was going to write a long post, but Jude is so effervescent, her passion for film and the people that write and make… Continue reading
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Our movie JACKS is going to Kota Kinabalu!
JACKS — the crime comedy short film by Joel Stephen Fleming of 13th Street Films has been selected by CINEBALU – Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival 2022! The reason I’m ecstatic is that Kota Kinabalu is in Sabah, Malaysia — the birth place of my parents, and where I spent four years before coming to… Continue reading
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SabahSongs book in Tanjung Aru new library
Thank you Emmanuel “Nuk” Chee for sending me this photo. A new library has just opened up in the Tanjung Aru area of Kota Kinabalu. Nuk saw the SabahSongs book on a trolley. Let’s hope they place it where everyone can find it! Yay! Thanks again Nuk ♥️🤗 Continue reading
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Datuk Peter Pragas
When I first visited Datuk Peter Pragas, he welcomed me with a gentleness which made me feel quietly delighted and humbled. We shared a plate of biscuits and soft drinks at his daughter Jeanette’s home, off Jalan Bundusan. The living room was heaving with evidence of the Datuk’s musical achievement in Sabah: newspaper articles, publications,… Continue reading
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Tian Long – the Hakka Singer
After a decade of challenges in the Malaysian music industry, graphic designer Tian Long had given up on making a living through music. Then he made a funny animated video about being a Hakka Chinese guy pleading with his girlfriend not to go to England. His YouTube inbox was flooded with messages from thousands of… Continue reading
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Sophie Van Aerde
In 2008 Dr. Sophie Van Aerde arrived in Sabah from France. Two weeks later, I arrived in Sabah from England. We soon formed a violin-piano duo called Klasik Elastik. Here, Sophie talks about the French education programme which helped her musical talent flourish in the most natural way. [Excerpt from: Funk, Joanna. SabahSongs: Contemporary Music… Continue reading
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Sunset Symphony – music in a Kudat paradise
The photographs in the book were better, supplied by the Sabah Tourism Board. But Kudat manages to shine, even with what I have here. [Excerpt from: Funk, Joanna. SabahSongs: Contemporary Music in Sabah. Kota Kinabalu: Opus Publications, 2013. 44-50. Print.] The story was first published in my blog SabahSongs before the blog became a book.… Continue reading
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The man who brought Chinese orchestra to Sabah
My friend Yap Keng Vui translated all the conversations with Teo Seng Chong, and I have so much to thank him for. Teo Seng Chong arrived in Sabah in 1986 at the invitation of Tshung Tsin Secondary School (TTSS), to bring Chinese orchestral music into Sabah. He is now Head of Music at TTSS, and… Continue reading
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Ethnomusicology scholars pick up my book!
Ethnomusicology scholars have picked up my book SabahSongs: Contemporary Music In Sabah. 😀 The 5th symposium of the International Council of Traditional Music study group on Performing Arts Of South East Asia (PASEA) held their event in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah from 16-22 July 2018. Thank you Yap KV for showing me these lovely photos. Yap… Continue reading
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My book seen at a public library in Sabah
My friend Yap sent me a photo of my SabahSongs book in the Penampang (Sabah, Malaysia) Public Library today. Great to see 👍. Thank you Yap! Continue reading
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The Hakka Association in Kota Kinabalu
Yap Keng Vui and Chua Chun Kiong brought me to meet curator Allen Lin at the newly-built Hakka Association building in Kota Kinabalu. “The Hakka Association has 13 districts in Sabah,” Allen said. “Penampang, Putatan, Kota Belud, Ranau, Labuan, Lahad Datu, Tawau, Sandakan, Keningau, Beaufort, Kota Kinabalu and Tenom.” At the entrance is a massive… Continue reading
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Sabah holiday 2015. Inside the Sabah Art Gallery
My friend Yap took me to the relatively new Sabah Art Gallery. It’s an ecologically friendly building, powered by solar panels. Responsive lights turn on as you approach a painting. It’s a little freaky, but you get used to it 🙂 Continue reading
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Sabah holiday 2015. My book in Gaya Island Resort library
My cousin Shevon WhatsApped this photo to me, taken at the library in Gaya Island Resort. Continue reading
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Fascination and Czardas with Sophie VIDEO
Sophie Van Aerde and I has the opportunity to play together again, at Datuk Ibrahim Laiman Diki’s 60th birthday party at the Grand Ballroom in 1Borneo, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. January 2015. Continue reading
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My book in Times book store!
My cousin Alyssa saw my book in a Times book store window in Kota Kinabalu. I remember looking at a similar window this time last year before the book was out. I tried to imagine it sitting among other beautiful glossy books about Sabah. It seemed like a dream. Thank you Alyssa. Continue reading
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Klasik Elastik PHOTO VIDEO
Klasik Elastik is a duo made up of Sophie Van Aerde (violin, recorder) a doctor from France, and me (piano, melodica). We play mostly classical and gypsy songs. Sophie likes to be very expressive, varying the speed of the music when she feels like it. She has taught me how to listen and follow her.… Continue reading
About Joanna
Joanna is British Australian. She worked mainly in financial news in London. In her forties she moved to her parents’ birthplace, Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. She became a pianist at the Jesselton Hotel in Kota Kinabalu and wrote a blog about musicians, which was popular among Sabahans at home and abroad. The blog was turned into a coffee table book when the Ministry of Tourism and Culture expressed interest. Joanna came to Australia in 2012. This is her second blog.
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