Welcome to Musical Malaysia
 Sponsored by Musicmall Productions S/B

Malaysian Art Music Composers  

Several serious classically trained Malaysian composers also have conscientiously strived to achieve a uniquely Malaysian identity in the ever evolving world of 20th century art music by infusing their compositions with elements derived from the various musical cultures present in the country. The most notable of these is Valerie Ross who has succeeded in making a name for Malaysian composers through the publication and performance of her works in the West. Other Malaysian composers who have succeeded in gaining international recognition through the winning of international composition competitions or national recognition through the performance of their works by leading local art music ensembles include Tan Su Lian, Raymond Kong, Razak Aziz, Sunetra Fernando, John Yong, Fauzi Musib, Chan Cheong Jan, Martha Lee, Johari Salleh, Tan Chong Yew and Alias Arshad. Still others such as Ariff Ahmad have succeeded in carving a niche for themselves by specialising in a particular genre of music such as Malay Gamelan.

Whether or not these composers have succeeded in synthesizing a uniquely “Malaysian sound” in the same way that composers such as Ives, Gershwin and Copland, or Richard Rodgers in the American music arena, have succeeded in creating that special “American sound” remains to be determined. As yet no concentrated effort has been made to catalogue or study the works of Malaysian composers as a whole

It is beyond the scope of the present paper to attempt to exhaustively identify all Malaysian composers or even all prominent Malaysian composers . It is also beyond the scope of the present paper to conduct any sort of analysis of the works of those composers chosen to be presented here. For the purpose of this project, a random representation of Malaysian art music composers will be selected. One of the major limitations of this study is the lack of published compositions by Malaysian composers. This is due in part to the fact that there are no music publishing houses based in Malaysia at the present time .

Information on the composers included here was obtained through field research. It was found that certain composers were hesitant to release scores due to the fact that their work remains largely unpublished (fear of plagarism). An advertisement put out by the present researcher seeking Malaysian composers received no response at all although this advertisement was posted for several months on the UPM Music Department Web Site which received several hundred accesses from hosts outside UPM everyday. The same advertisement was also posted to various Malaysian Internet newsgroups and posters sent to various local centers of music study, but zero response was received.

The composers listed here were selected mainly for their accessibility, having had works performed publicly or having won national or international composition competitions. A very few have also succeeded in publishing and / or in having their compositions performed abroad.

Much research still needs to be carried out into who our Malaysian composers are, what they have written, how significant any specific individual may be and numerous other questions. There are many other upcoming contemporary art music composers in Malaysia as evidenced from the wealth of talent displayed in local composition competitions as well as in original pieces the present researcher has heard and / or seen by various individuals, however hardly any opportunities comparable to those in the West exist for this talent to flourish. Many more opportunities for performance and publication of new music must be made available before the state of art music composition in Malaysia can mature and emerge from its present infancy. 
 

LINKS TO MALAYSIAN COMPOSERS 
 

Musical Instrument Index | MIDI Archive
Original Malaysian SoundFonts | SEARCH Musical Malaysia