Pekan Frinjan 7.0 report

Apparently this is the 7th Pekan Frinjan but it was my first. Pekan Frinjan has different theme each time, and this time around, Pekan Frinjan 7.0: Edisi gagak-gagak tempang meribut has ‘anti-racism’ as the theme. The theme was set before any of the church burning incident.

We reached Dataran Shah Alam around 6 and they were still setting up the stalls and the stage. We walked around awhile and decided to grab something to eat near by.

Performance started at about 7 or 8. Any outdoor event in Malaysia are at the mercy of the weather. It started to pour and we took shelter under the canopy setup to cover the booths. Watching the performance from a far, it felt like last year’s Rock The World.

One good thing the rain did was that it made us and most of the people taking cover from the rain, to check out the offerings from the booths there. There are all kind of books some you don’t normally see in book stores and zines, quite a few of them, it seems they are still making it these days. There were also some printed t-shirts, CD EP and albums among other stuff. I bought a few of them.

When the rain stops for a while, people starts to get closer to the stage, checking out the poem recitals.

However, it seems that everyone there was waiting for Carburetor Dung. Carburetor Dung has been around the local underground scene since the early 90s. The Carburetor Dung I know is this hard hitting punk rock band. However this time they played acoustic. This was my first time watching Carburetor Dung playing acoustic, and they were really good.

Check out the Youtube recording.

Next performance everyone waiting for after Carburetor Dung was Couple. Before that however, there were a few poem recitals. One of them was from Nurul Schmurul, accompanied by a band. You my have guess that ‘Schmurul’ is not her real name, she is better known as Nurul Izzah, member of Parliament for Lembah Pantai, yeah that Nurul.

Next was Couple. They were layback, doing acoustic versions of their songs. Feels more like a jamming session with friends as they take request from the crowds.

After Couple, there were a few other performances. One that caught my attention was this band called Keladak. With harmonica playing lead vocalist, they at times sound like a blues band that’s a little bit jazzy and at time sounds like post-punk post-rock band. I don’t think I could really classified this band. Keladak surely will be on my radar. Check out their MySpace page.

The last performance for Pekan Frinjan 7.0, was by Paradoks theater group. Most of the crowd had already disperse once Carburetor Dung and Couple finishes. What’s left of the crowd there was hooked on Paradoks theater performance.

Not really clear what’s it is all about, but involved naked men in boxer shorts shouting and fire in a form of spray paint turned into a blowtorch. Sounds a lot like Burning Man. They wrote something on a few piece of large paper with spray paint, and then use the spray paint with lighter to burn it. Poor man’s pyrotechnics?

Over all the sentiment on the event and the performances were all about condemning the recent church arson incidents.

Looking forward to the next Pekan Frinjan.

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