Music For Freedom
When Words Fail, Music Speaks.
On 27 August 2021, FNF Malaysia successfully held our Music for Freedom Live concert. Dr.Almut Besold, Head of FNF Malaysia and Indonesia, opened the show with a few words. Francissca Peter, Vanessya S.Y.T, and Vera Jasini Putri will serve as this year’s judges. If you watch our live concert last year, you might familiar with their faces.
In the music industry for quite some time now, Francissca Peter is the first Malaysian artist to win an international award for "Best Song" at the ASEAN Song Festival. Vanessa S.Y.T who was crowned as a winner in our Living Freedom Song Writing Contest last year. Lastly, Vera Jasini Putri is FNF Malaysia's Programme Manager.
And we have 3 of our finalists who succeeded enter the final round, Deedy Marji with his song “Kita Bebaskan”, Kah Wei with “Be You”, and Chevy Amry with “The world of our dreams” who sing by his close friend Farid.
Music for freedom song writing contest is a stage to convey hopes and it’s about striking a chord and generating emotions of positivity, to restart and embrace new opportunities and become the best of ourselves. When words are not enough when voice is being silenced, music help!
Taking place near the Malaysian independence day, “This is not just a celebration, but also a reminder that freedom, also in a sense of independence, something you constantly have to renew, at least if you want to preserve it”, said Dr.Almut Besold on her opening remarks.
Music Connect Us
We're all suffering in this pandemic, and I'm trying to contribute some positivity during this time, so that people can feel a little more at ease when they listen to my song." he says. Since our independence day is just around the corner, I want to show patriotism to the listener, said Deedy Marji when we asked him what inspire him to write his song "Kita Bebaskan".
When it comes to Kah Wei's song "Be You," she first came up with the melody from the syllable, "Kree yay," and later decided to go with the word "Free yay" because she wants it to sound swaggy. When she still hears people being treated unkindly, it makes her sad. She explained, "We humans are capable of thinking and deciding whether we want to be mean person or kind person towards one another. We must be kind. By sharing our hopes and dreams and our hopes for the future, we can create a better world for all of us.
Farid and Chevy Amry's song "The World of Our Dreams" was originally written in Bahasa Malaysia, but they later decided to translate it into English with a different message. The English version is about free from negativity and find our way to better our self.
Music for me..
A quote that resonates with Kah Wei is "When words fail, music speaks". 'When I can't find the right words to express myself, I turn to music. As she explained, "music and lyrics are very magical, as they can be used to convey emotion or feelings to the audience, or even to tell a story".
Just like Kah Wei, Deedy expresses himself through music. This is an artistic way for him to solve problems. "Some stories and problems are awkward for me and not suitable to be told to someone else, so I choose to turn them into songs", he explained.
For Farid, music is inspirational. “Chevy and I share the same emotion, we share to other people and we hope they can be inspired as well”.
The Past and Present
Malaysia music industry influence with a lots of sound and culture, because of the internet we can reach and explore music from other countries”, said Farid.
"Malaysian music industry back then is very good," says Deedy. Even when you read the song title, you can feel the song. That's why I grew up listening to those songs. They're of high quality, sincere, and meaningful. It's a good thing that the Malaysian music industry is now more colourful and vibrant, with different genres such as hip hop, K-pop, and everything else mixed together. Currently, the music industry is more welcoming, and anyone can participate, regardless of their musical ability. And people could give feedback or comment to your product directly, if they like it, they like it, if they don’t like it they will make sure that they tell you that they don’t like your product.
For Kah Wei, it’s a difficult question for her, since she’s quite new to the industry, but she is curious about how Malaysia music industry will be in the future.
Let's combine two fabulous thing, Music and Freedom
According to Farid, music is one of the best ways to convey a message because we don't want to sound like we're preaching, but we just want to deliver a message. I believe that music has a vital role to play in our daily lives, and we are constantly drawn to it. In the background, whether you're watching TV or going to the convenience store, there's always some sort of music. As a songwriter, Kah Wei believes that it is important to spread a positive message to the people around her.
Deedy Marji believes that music is a universal language that everyone can understand, even if they don't understand the lyrics. That's the freedom that music has, and it's the best way to reach people.
Freedom for me..
I can only hope that things will return to normal. Face-to-face contact is not feared, nor is a handshake, or just as simple seeing the face of people smiling without wearing a mask. I just wish the pandemic will end soon and we can live freely and happily again, said Deedy Marji.
Is a bit personal for Kah Wei when talking about Freedom, Freedom to decide, freedom to love one another, freedom to speak and even to fight for my own battle, it makes her realise that she has to be thankful for what she have and every little thing she had in her life.
A short note from Farid when talk about Freedom for him, “we should be free from our negativity within our self so then, we can spread positivism.
Written by Nesya Tirtayana - Communication Officer FNF Malaysia