KakiSENI Festival 2013

Black Box in the centre court of Pavilion

Today marks the end of the wonderful performances showed in the Black Box in the centre court of Pavilion. The KakiSENI festival kicked off on the 22nd of April and is due to come to a grand finale on the 1st of May, Labour Day, allowing the public to come over to the shopping complex and enjoy a few fun street performances on their day off.

I was told of the event by, of all persons, my dad. I never knew that he would actually encourage me to attend events such as these instead of staying home and studying, but he does after all. And here I would like to thank my dad for telling me about the event.

I went to Pavilion on Friday straight after my class to watch my much-anticipated Durian Beckett as I have been introduced to Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot by my Literature in English lecturer back when I did my Cambridge A Levels in Taylors, Mr Andrew. True to its name, Durian Beckett incorporated Malaysian culture and themes into Beckett's "Theatre of the Absurd", creating a spicy blend of our multicultural influences into the play, which I thought, was done quite well without taking out the original essence of Beckett's plays.

Finding that I still had some time on my hands before going back to celebrate a friend's birthday party, I                            

decided to stay and watch Dream, 94:05 and Siena. Dream had shadow puppetry and Siena was interesting. But what touched me the most on that day was 94:05. 

with Mohd Fared Jainal, actor of 94:05 and his son :)

94:05, a monologue, invites the audience to the life and memories of Ahmad bin Abdullah, who is preparing himself for death. He recites Surah 94 – Relief, focusing on 94:05 – “So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief”, and shares stories of the Prophet Muhammad from memory, to ease himself,
and maybe even find a reason to continue living. Mohd Fared Jainal IS Ahmad. He does it so well that it seemed that he was sharing his own personal experience, instead of a script written and directed by Irfan Kasban, an equally talented man. The way Ahmad connected with the audience - asking us to shut our eyes instead of turning the lights off; and vice versa, the way we connected with Ahmad - singing him a birthday song; is something that will stay with me forever, reminding me of the beauty of humanity.

Rosnan Rahman (pic courtesy of facebook KakiSENI)

Hungry for more, I returned on Sunday with a vengeance: to attempt to watch all the plays I thought I wouldn't be interested in, and I was not disappointed. I watched Cinta Sang Arnab, Vitamin and Rebab Berbisik. Cinta Sang Arnab had a lovely romantic theme and Vitamin had a hilarious caterpillar! But the best was saved for last, as they say. 

Rebab Berbisik started slow, introducing the audience to the traditional dying art of Mak Yong, which I shamefully admit, almost fell asleep listening. But I was jolted awake with all my senses tingling when the second half introduced the same guy in the first half, Rosnan Rahman, but this time as a drag queen! His amazing portrayal of both characters was a pleasure to watch and the audience enjoyed it so much that they even joined in the fun and 2 participants were not shy to show off their dance skills when he invited them on stage.

Did I mention the Street Parade? That was fun! All groups had different performances, determined to entertain the crowd, and entertain they did! Two imposing figures from Nyoba Kan walked stately down the road, attracting much attention for their impressive costume and makeup. The University of Malaya Cultural Centre had a group of girls knocking coconut shells against each other with boys flying eagle-shaped kites above their heads. Wahaha Creative Studio's kids paraded their bright orange 30-feet-long balloon dragon and Hands Percussion turned on the carnival-like atmosphere with their rhythmic drumming. Even 8TV turned up to join in the festivities with their usual mascot. Fire and Clown Entertainment (FACE) gave us two mimes who did not do so well on their tricycles. All in all, a great walk, and a little rain did not dampen the spirits of both the performers and the public until it became a little too heavy exactly when all the groups arrived safely back at the main entrance to Pavilion.

Nyoba Kan 

Nyoba Kan

Hands Percussion drumming with vigour

Wahaha Creative Studio's kids and their 30-feet-long

8TV mascot

FACE mime enjoying his popsicle

I couldn't believe it, I just had to go one last time, since it was the last day there was going to be performances in the Black Box, so I returned to Pavilion, AGAIN. This time, I watched André & Dorine, Birds In Memory and Éxodo. André & Dorine, presented by Kulunka Teatro of Spain was nothing short of amazing. It's testimonial to the skill of the theatre company to be able to craft such an emotional story when the audience couldn't see the performers' expressions as they were wearing masks and without using dialogue. André and Dorine's story has its romantic moments, nostalgic moments, comedic moments and touching moments, all coming to life so vividly, and creating such raw emotion from the audience at the end of the play, it was beautiful.

André & Dorin (pic courtesy of KakiSENI)

André & Dorin (pic courtesy of KakiSENI)

Éxodo was, to say the least, mind-blowing. Three women literally laughed at death in his face and continued to taunt him as they carried out dangerous yet beautiful stunts with fire. En La Lona combined the elements of dance, ritual, acrobacy, physical theatre and humor. Fiery skipping ropes and wheels on fire, it was a spectacular performance, entertaining both young and old alike.

En La Lona's Éxodo

En La Lona's Éxodo

I have no regrets attending the KakiSENI festival for three days as it can be clearly seen that the performers gave 120% into their love and passion for the arts as well as performing in front of an audience. The KakiSENI crew were great as well, the unseen helpers backstage and for administration and publicity all chipped in to make KakiSENI festival 2013 as good as it was. Kudos to the team and lots of respect and praise for all the performers. It was an awesome event.

Seni = Art (pic courtesy of facebook KakiSENI)