I hate writing bios. Let me tell a story instead. Once upon a time, there was a piano in a sleepy Malaysian town called Alor Setar, in Kedah State. It was bought by two loving parents for their daughter who wanted to play it. So she took lessons and learnt how to make music with it. Her two younger brothers took lessons and learnt how to play it as well. Although the two elder siblings enjoyed playing piano, the girl noticed something about her youngest brother - he was the only one among the three to have actually fallen in love with the instrument. To him, it was not merely an instrument. It was a companion and a confidante. I am the boy who fell in love with my sister's piano. And I have never stopped loving it. I loved it through my childhood and teenage years, when I seemed to be the only person I knew who was listening to Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, American Music Club, Bjork and Simon & Garfunkel. I loved it through the dark times, when I gave in to the pressure to study chemical engineering and work at an oil company, living the life that people convinced me was 'safe' and 'secure'. But I was not convinced for long. My stubbornness has led me here. I've been asked so many times, "But aren't you frustrated? You've quit a well-paying corporate job to make music, and yet the mainstream music scene has not embraced you until today?" But that's not why I make music. I don't make it to be embraced by the market. Sure I've won awards as a singer and songwriter. That's nice. It's nice to know that even if I'm not the number one seller in Malaysia, at least there are people who acknowledge that my music has integrity and quality. And other doors have been opening for me as well. Around the same time that I started getting recognized as a singer-songwriter, I also found my feet and my heart as a human rights advocate. And now I find myself writing plays - a terrifyingly absorbing (and just plain terrifying) experience. But all that does not explain why I make music. I make it because I'm the boy who fell in love with my sister's piano. I know no better reason to go on. And I'm still loving that piano. There's a Carly Simon song in which she sings, "So I'll try and see into your eyes right now/And stay right here 'cause these are the good old days..." These are the good old days. They really are, and if you want to be put on my mailing list, simply send an e-mail to
[email protected]. I'm sometimes slow but I always reply all (courteous) messages.
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