Wednesday, September 1, 2010

MAME on Astro Awani

An email response to a good musician friend re recent ruckus at Karyawan's meeting.


Dear Hassan,


You have said it well that " It is sad that the politics gets in the way of the true purpose of a society of this kind which is to protect that section of workers who need it and need representation."


The alternative association you mentioned was the MAM ( Malaysian Association of Musicians )which was led by Terry, Zain Azman, Nasir and Julie Sudiro later is now defunct. They could not get it going. It too failed to get meaningful support from the grassroot folks and practioners themselves - the pengiat seni lot.


Yes, we had some good times with MUM initially in the late 80's n early 90's - Top of the Pubs, Music Fests, legally fighting entertainment outlets that treated our musicians bad etc. I resigned from MUM as its Hon. Sec in 1995 when I realised even then that I could not see eye-to-eye with Fred who was its Prez and concentrated on my events business which is still active n doing reasonably well apart from keeping me occupied n putting better food on the table. Syukur Alhamdulillah.


Later in 2002, together with a few like minded pioneers I registered the Malaysian Association for Music Education (MAME) see www.mymame.org of which I am President till now. May not go on as is Prez when my term ends this time. It too seems to have been a waste of my time.


I have since come to realize, actually for sometime now, that only my passion for music and music education has kept me going on in these organizations. It's hard to help people who don't want to help themselves too - musicians and music educators alike who are satisfied merely by sitting back and commenting negatively about the sometimes valliant efforts of others. It's like spitting into the air - it falls back on your own face. Yes, I have also realized that there are indeed quite a few leaders who have vested interests in music organizations, something to be found in some other organizations in Malaysia and elsewhere too. There can be much jealousy and resultant politicking. This is of course not right. We cannot escape this fact, I suppose. Well, we can do only so much, brother. Selamat berpuasa.
Wassalam.

2 comments:

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