Sabah
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My mother’s childhood home
This is my mother’s childhood home. It’s about a hundred years old now and may be rebuilt, so I am grateful to have seen it like this. The homestead is in Beaufort, Sabah, a town about an hour and forty minutes drive south of Kota Kinabalu. It sits slightly below the town centre, near the… Continue reading
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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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English tea, Sabah style
My cousin made English tea in a teapot! (I never do this but my friend Mariana would approve). Served with char siu buns — pork, mushroom, hard boiled egg and Chinese sausage (lap cheong). 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
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, where she became a pianist in a hotel and wrote a blog about musicians. The blog became a book before Joanna came to Australia in 2012. In this blog she writes mostly about music, gardening, and trips to Sabah. Oh, and Wookie the Havanese.
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