Feature

Penang in the 90s. Independent music had just exploded onto the scene and the air was electric with Nirvana and Metallica.

It is quite surprising for musicians who have countless hours of practice under their belts spent more on music lessons than their parents would want to recall and who have all played frequently in professional settings at one time or another, to perform for free.

At 19 years old, Catherine Wong is one of the youngest kotai (“song stage” in Hokkien) singers in Penang.

Ling Goh was born into a family of Teochew puppets and opera performers. Her great-grandparents, Yang Bing Jin and Li Yu Feng, were performers in China who came to Penang to continue the trade with their son, Yang Qing Ying, Goh’s grandfather.

To complement the Penang Philharmonic Orchestra, the mixed choir Voices of Penang Philharmonic was rejuvenated in 2016.

The Clan Jetties community has been living with the sea as backdrop for generations. This inseparable connection with their environment has formed an essential part of their identity, alongside the constant struggles in their daily lives.

Penang became a regional entrepot in the early nineteenth century and with it, various kinds of constructions sprung up to meet the needs of public development...

The lion dance is usually performed on Chinese festive occasions to bring luck and drive away evil spirits, and during Chinese New Year, lorries ferrying lion d...

Chinese New Year is one of the most important festivals to the Baba-Nyonyas. Given their long history of assimilating into the local non-Chinese community, certain Chinese New Year traditions naturally differ.

For the millions of ethnic Chinese in Malaysia, Chinese New Year is a huge occasion – hundreds or even thousands of ringgit are set aside for angpao, hous...