KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 — A Malaysian community orchestra has come together virtually to celebrate the nation’s independence month with two Merdeka-themed music videos.
The group, known as the Virtual Community Orchestra Malaysia (VCOM), was founded in mid-2020 by RTM Orchestra's music arranger, Leonard Yeap Lin Soon.
For Merdeka and Malaysia Day, VCOM is producing the music videos with one being an orchestral cover of Malaysia Tanah Airku by local singer, Jamilah Abu Bakar.
The other one is a reissue version of VCOM’s original song called Bangun featuring local singer, Annabel Tiu, which was produced in February.
Yeap who’s also in charge of VCOM’s sound quality said Bangun was composed by Annabel Tiu and the lyrics were collected from their Facebook followers through their comments and private messages to VCOM.
The reissue version of the song also involves a larger number of musicians as they have added a new brass instrument section along with a new video production team for Bangun.
“We always believe our love for the country shouldn’t only be expressed during the Merdeka season. Not a moment passes by without us thinking about our country, her people, her future and her well-being.
“Bangun is a collective declaration of that love at that very moment in February. Whereas we believe this is just the opportune time for us to republish this song at a time when Malaysians desperately need to heal and move on,” Yeap said.
As for Justin Chew, who’s also one of the mentors for VCOM, he hopes that Bangun would serve as a reminder to Malaysians.
“The word ‘Bangun’ itself is a simple word, yet difficult to practise. After 64 years of glorious independence, we tend to forget all the greatest achievements we have made, and the bountiful resources we have.
“It's my hope and wish that this song will always remind us to wake up and cherish the spirit of Kemerdekaan and the harmonious colours of our united people that make up the country we love and call home — Malaysia. Negaraku, Tanah tumpahnya Darahku,” he said.
The new music videos are expected to be released on Merdeka day, August 31 and on Malaysia Day, September 16.
Besides that, VCOM is also actively seeking new members to join in their virtual community orchestra team.
As for VCOM, Yeap was joined by executive producers, Justin Chew Kah Kin (a freelance musician and piano teacher) and Universiti Sains Malaysia music graduate, Jeanie Ooi Hee Sun.
VCOM aims to provide opportunities for local musicians to collaborate with each other by producing a series of orchestral videos while staying safe at home amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Ooi, even though VCOM was not having “live” performances due to the lack of broadcasting equipment, the team functions exactly like a symphony orchestra team — complete with a conductor, composers and section leaders.
They also have a video editor and audio editor who’s in charge of producing the videos and arranging the audios.
“Our modus operandi is to pre-record all of the performance in advance and the videos and audio will later have to go through the editing process by our editors.
“We usually send a sample track for individual recording on the respective section and appoint one of the section members to become section leader who is responsible for the quality of the entire section.
“To make sure the quality is standardised, the recordings will then go through a few quality control processes by our section leader, music director and the executive producers.
“Usually, to finish a project, it would take us a minimum of three weeks and it can go up to a couple of months as most of the musicians have their own commitments as this is still a voluntary group,” Ooi told Malay Mail.
Since their inception, VCOM has managed to gather over 60 musicians from all over Malaysia including from Sabah, Sarawak, Kelantan, and Terengganu.
Coming from various backgrounds including business owners, teachers, music freelancers and some are even professional orchestra members, the VCOM team aims to create music with a sense of Malaysian originality and identity.
“By setting aside our differences, we’ve gathered musicians from all kinds of races and age groups.
“Even though we’ve only talked virtually through Zoom meetings and social media, we are keen in raising public awareness to support our local musicians,” Ooi said.
For more information on joining the team, please visit VCOM’s Facebook page.
