1. The album hints at new beginnings
WVC Jazz Ensemble is set to enthral listeners with a heady repertoire of local classics with the release of its latest album, Purnama, this month. The new moon on the album cover is symbolic of a fresh start, of another step in the unexplored road ahead.
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Composer, pianist, band leader and music director Tay Cher Siang explains this by first admitting that his interest in the classic works of jazz luminaries like Miles Davis and John Coltrane over the years unintentionally resulted in an oversight of Malaysia's own rich musical heritage of that time.
In 2016, he set out to change this. The new album thus represents the band's quest to explore and reinterpret a gamut of Malayan classics, taking into account the historical events in which Malayan musicians lived as they witnessed the birth of a new nation before and after Independence.
"It took me many years and many miles to come back to the music that was born in this 'tanah tumpah darahku'—the land of my blood," Tay says. "With fresh ears and eyes, I started to learn about the women and men who lived for and built Malaysia, who breathed life into the cultural realm before and after the birth of the new country. The language was beautiful, the sentiments hopeful, and the melodies grew out of the rich soil of this land. The image of a new moon seemed somehow to capture the spirit of those times."