Penang Beat Prelude@Queensbay, Penang 2011

Hello friends ... just want to promote my latest event for Penang. Maybe some of you might wonder why out the blue I suddenly want to promote this event on my blog. To be honest, my office events during the last few months were back to back with no time for me to spare for updating my blog. As for this one, my office is the co-organiser so I have some space to breathe.

Few months back I was approached by Penang Municipal Council to assist them in this event which will be mainly funded by them. This was because, the President of Penang Municipal Council was so impressed with Music In The Park Concert during the last Parks and Gardens Carnival at Penang Botanic Gardens. Further to that, I was also made to understand that the council would also like to strengthen and focus on tourism related activities as a member of Tourism Promotion Organisation (TPO).Coincidentally, I was also doing a research on sister cities or friendship cities as a catalyst for sustainable tourism (huhuhu ... topik memang hebat tapi paper pernah tak siap-siap).

So together with the National Arts and Culture Department (under Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture), we researched, planned and developed a music fest that will benefit from the council sister-cities networks and TPO membership as well as creating new arts and culture based tourism product for Penang. To be honest, I was a bit surprised when Cik Mariam (National Arts and Culture Department Director) suggested that we explore "experimental music". Wow, when all the hype now in Malaysia is "World Music" ... from Penang to Sarawak and now Sabah ... lets be honest here that I was skeptical. I remembered talking to one of the founders of Sarawak Rainforest Music Festival ... years ago, nobody cares about world music and now 3 states are claiming that theirs are different than others.

But as we progressed further, I began to realise that Cik Mariam might have a point. It was to my great surprise that we as in Malaysia do have groups that have won numerous awards at international level and a homegrown group that just need a little push and exposure. Hahaha ... now, the Penang Beat is no longer a music fest but a platform for these groups to compete with each other. But since the genre is relatively new we decided to design it as a showcase or prelude first.

Hahahaha ... will have to stop here as I don't want to give away so much information ... just come and feel the BEAT on 11-12 November 2011 at Queensbay Beach area from 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm. See you there!