A ‘ngerang’ to share Sarawak’s heritage

Alena sketching intricate designs, inspired by
Borneo’s indigeneous tribes.

SARAWAK-born international artiste Alena Murang has had an eventful 2018, touring the world to perform her repertoire of indigeneous songs to the accompaniment of traditional Borneo music — plus a complement of music videos, cultural workshops, an acting stint and an international music recognition to cap an impressive resume.
She mesmerised sold-out crowds in countries as far as Iceland, the UK and the US, singing in Kelabit and Kenyah while playing the sape.

Alena has performed in front of over 100,000-strong audiences in 13 countries, spanning four continents. And among the events were Førde Traditional and World Music Festival in Norway, Peace Boat & UN Forum Reykjavik (Iceland), South by Southwest (US), Isola Tiberina (Italy), Etnosur Festival (Spain) and a show for the Sarawak Association London (UK).
Others included Wonderfruit Festival in Thailand, Indigenous Gathering Festival (Indonesia), three festivals in Taiwan — World Music Festival, Taoyuan International Indigenous Festival and Pintung Music Festival — as well as the Rainforest Fringe Festival and Rhythms of Rimba Festival at home.

Alena and her sape. —
Photos by Kenny Loh

She likened her travels to the ‘ngerang’ (journeys) taken by her ‘tetepu’ (ancestors) across mountains, rivers and cities in different lands to trade with goods like beads, gongs, jars and clothes.
“Cultural journeys. Journeys to make a living. And journeys of exchange,” said the 29-year-old of Kelabit and English-Italian parentage.
In 2018, Alena released the first-ever Kelabit-language music video, featuring her song ‘Re Lekuah’.
Funded by the High Commission of Canada to Malaysia and through crowd-funding, the video made the CBC Arts channel of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Apart from performing on the world stage, she has also conducted over 20 workshops in West Malaysia, Europe and Taiwan on Sarawak dancing and chanting and sape music.
In 2018, her music was accorded international recognition.

Alena learns to play a traditional music instrument
during one of her trips to the interior.

“Small Island Big Song,” an album to which she contributed Kelabit and Kenyah songs, was named Best Album 2018 by the Songlines Magazine.
Her music is available online through iTunes, Deezer, Spotify, and Amazon platforms.
“My music was licensed to a National Geographic documentary, and aired on NPR Radio, a globally renowned music station based in the US, BBC Radio and RPM.fm (Canada),” she said.
Alena has also ventured into acting which saw her and her sape teacher Mathew Ngau play leading roles in ‘Iman Untuk Bulan’, a telemovie directed by award-winning Dain Said.
Kenyah singing, Bahasa Sarawak (Sarawak language), and sape music were the key elements in the movie which will be aired this year.
She is looking forward to the release of the eight-episode documentary of their five-week European tour and Taiwanese cultural exchange, filmed by Taiwanese Indigenous TV Station (TITV).
Alena is estatic that a video she shot at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), has debuted at the General Conference of the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 2018, and is now available online.
In the video, she shared her personal story on preserving culture in line with Unesco’s aim to highlight the important role of youth in safeguarding and transmitting their vibrant living heritage.
For 2019, she said she was excited about her new musical journey.

Mathew Ngau (left) and Alena play leading roles
in a telemovie scheduled to be aired this year.

She has also put together a band rather than continuing to perform solo.
She played in her first music festival at City Roars Festival in Kuala Lumpur yesterday (Jan 12), alongside bands from Malaysia, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

“Playing in a band means our sound is bigger and I can play longer sets. Our band made its debut at Wonderfruit Festival (Thailand) in December 2018,” she said.
Her main focus now is to record and release new music and music videos based on Kelabit and Kenyah history, the language of the two ethnic groups and contemporary Sarawak life.
It was her mother, an anthropologist, who nurtured her interests and identity in Kelabit culture, traditions and way of life.

A screenshot of Alena in ‘Re Lekuah’, the first-ever Kelabit music video.

Growing up in Kuching, Alena took up ‘ngarang’ (dance in indigenous lingo) classes, learned to play the sape, wove and made costumes and even studied songs of the Kenyah and the language of the Penan.
She can be best described as an artiste, musician, dancer, strategist and social entrepreneur all rolled into one with a mission to bring about positive changes to society and the environment, and preserve her Borneon heritage.
She has not stopped learning about her cultural heritage and identity, and has been constantly upgrading her musical genre since releasing her debut EP — Flight — in 2016.
“I will continue to share Sarawak’s old and modern stories, perform at music festivals around the world, teach the sape, conduct workshops and working on films and documentaries.
She said as an independent musician, she was always looking for partnerships in funding, creating and innovating.

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Nature preservation on wings

Whistling duck spotted at the Kuala Baram wetlands. — Pictures by CH Phui

IT has become quite common for young people to spend less time, participating in outdoor activities, but more time, playing electronic games and browsing social media indoor with their mobile phones and computers.
While it’s admittedly harder getting them to unplug from virtual world and re-connect with the real world, two young nature advocates, Batrisyia Teepol and Ng Jia Jie, believe bringing nature to the Internet is one way to connect mellinnials to both worlds.
Batrisyia, a Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) field trainer, feels nurturing interests in nature should start from a young age — with constant exposure to interesting and easy-to-understand topics.
“For example, climate change. It’s real and young people should be made aware of it through positive information on climatic changes, global warming, and the need for less pollution. This will send a powerful message on the necessity to raise awareness of enviromental care.
“Personally, I was inspired by an incident during my teen years. My father had saved a bird, trapped in a net, near my house at Kampung Padang Kerbau, Pujut.
“It recovered fully three days later and was freed. There and then, I started to take a keen interest in protecting wildlife, especially those vulnerable to human activities,” the 22-year-old said.

Participants of the Shorebirds Watching Course with Assistant Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin.

Zoology degree
She took up bird-watching as a hobby and her passion for wildlife conservation led to the purusit of a degree in zoology at Unimas.
She studied animal science and through field trips, learned to understand and appreciate the importance of sustainable and safe habitats to wildlife.

“Whenever I had the chance, I would share interesting facts on birding and topics relating to nature with my friends. Though they often told me I was different from ordinary teenagers, mt friends still supported me in pursuing my interests,” she recalled.
Batrisyia said ‘weird’ was how her relatives and friends described the single-minded extent of her passion for conversation but then she always has strong opinions when it comes to protecting the environment.

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to protect nature. I always thought it is something that has to be done but few are prepared to take the first step. So I tell myself why not give it a try?”
Presently an active MNS bird surveyor, Batrisyia noticed there was now only a handful of young people taking an interest in environmental issues.
“I want to reach out to more people of the same age or even younger. I could use catchy phrases and eye-catching photos online to capture their attention. Whenever possible, I would blog interesting contents relating to birds and nature on my social medial account.
“Netizens, my friends among them, have expressed interests and even enquired about joining our birding event. It has spurred me to do more —- like organising talks in schools,” she enthused.

At the Shorebirds Watching Course.

Nature conservation
Her internship at Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) in Sandakan, Sabah, has taught her a lot about promoting nature conservation and helped with her other internships at Bako-Buntal Bay in Kuching and MNS.
With her zoology degree, she is now serving as an intern at Bako-Buntal Bay, studying shore-birds in the Conservation Leadership Programme under the wings of BirdLife International.
Bako-Buntal Bay, a semi-circular bay, bordering Gunung Santubong to the west and Bako National Park to the East, is one of the wintering sites for migratory waterbirds.
Apart from being the first site in the country to be inscribed on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Site Network in 2012, it’s also the first flyway network, established in Malaysia.
“My work at Bako-Buntal Bay is birds surveying, understanding the situation, tracking and managing data before making recommendations to the Sarawak Forestry Department and the government,” Batrisyia said.
Her internship at MNS is more than bird-watching as it also involves field works and learning to identify different species of birds.

“When we have ‘ID’ a new arrival, we’ll start collecting data on its species. We also take note whether its numbers have increased or decreased. The species identified could have come from countries like Alaska and Russia — we know from their tags,” she added.
Batrisyia hoped she could set an example to her peers and younger people as a nature advocate, strongly believing it’s crucial for the younger generation to understasnd and appreciate the importance of preserving nature.
“When I am collecting data, and knowing the numbers of some of the birds are declining, I feel sad because once they are gone, it’s forever — we cannot find them anymore. It’s very sad because the future generations may not know about them or see them in real life, except in books and photos.
“Every living thing is a part of the ecosystem but it’s humans who are actually consuming the Earth’s resources excessively.
“Other creatures are merely doing what they have to survive. Instead of ‘disturbing’ other animals that want to survive and live, it’s time to ask why can’t humans stop hunting them,” she stressed.

Social media sharing
Ng Jia Jie, a MNS trainer, opined that a modern way to catch the attention of the young was through social media.

Batrisyia Teepol

“Blogging the information and sharing it on social media platform like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is a good way to connect many young users, especially when they spend a lot of time on the Net,” Ng, fondly known as JJ, said.
According to Pew Research Centre, for more than six months in 2017, 30 science-related Facebook pages had drawn millions of followers. There were over 130,000 science-related stories which Facebook users tended to like, read and share.
It’s not hard to imagine how impactful the messages liked, read and shared by millions around the world have been.
Pew Research Centre is a non-partisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.

It originated from a research project in 1990 before going through several transformations. Now, it focuses on public opinion polls, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
“I do know there are enthusiasts and talents who are good at doing this — which I am also now learning. It’s important to share all this information and present it in an interesting way so that it can spread as far as possible,” JJ said.
The 21-year-old from Kuching pointed out that it was crucial learning to understand birds, their importance to the ecosystem and how some species were slowly being driven to extinction due to human activities.

Ng Jia Jie

A paradox
“First of all, birds keep the ecosystem in balance such as by pollinating plants, dispersing seeds, scavenging carrions and recycling nutrients back to nature.
“I find it paradoxical that whenever a new or rare species is discovered, there are also plenty of others on the verge of extinction.
“If you were to ask someone who had been bird-watching since 40 years ago, he or she would tell you some species used to be so common but have now become so rare. It’s a wake up call that humans have been taking nature’s gift for granted,” JJ said.
MNS, he noted, provided local nature and bird-watching enthusiasts a platform to learn about birding through its waterbird workshop — which was JJ’s first MNS activity.
“While making friends at MNS, I was told many stories by senior birdwatchers. According to them, hornbills used to fly around freely but have become endangered and will disappear from Borneo island without protection.”
JJ who has a diploma in animal health from UPM, Bintulu, plans to study veterinary medicine and hopes to open a wildlife rescue centre.
“Birding is my hobby but I hope I can do more — like rescuing wildlife. I believe both work the same way towards conservation,” he said.
JJ and Batrisyia attended the Shorebirds Watching Course at Kampung Masjid, Kuala Baram, last December.

Binoculars for bird-watching.

And JJ who has been showing a keen interest in birding since a teenager, has won several prizes in local bird races held at Borneo Highlands Resort.

Reported By : Cindy Lai, reporters@theborneopost.com

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