Muffled

Experimentations in imagining fragmented thoughts, memories and spaces.

RATA: new grounds, new sounds 

An idea that has been brewing in my head since 2019 when Akileshwar Vm & Esplanade posed a challenge to me for a special showcase at the now ready Singtel Waterfront Theatre. 

The world is a different place right now and we are definitely different beings since then. Most of us are still trying hard to navigate this familiar yet strange mental states in our daily lives.

It is with this uncertainty I seek the assistance of Cheryl Ong, Azrin Abdullah, Rizman Putra, Chew Wei Shan & Andy Chia to plunge into a sonic abyss with me to find some versions of our new selves, which eventually birthed RATA Orkestra. With Cui Yin being our eyes and ears from the outside, the explorations have led us to something and the journey in itself is very hard to put into words. 

Can't wait to share this new world we have been building with more help from Brandon Tay, Akbar Syadiq, Adrian Tan, Rong Zhao.

29 - 31 Dec 2022 7:30P Singtel Waterfront Theatre Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay

Tickets Here

Boasting an eclectic line-up of established musicians from diverse fields, RATA Orkestra makes its debut with RATA: new grounds, new sounds (RATA), a visceral audiovisual experience in the new Singtel Waterfront Theatre at Esplanade.

Named for the Malay word rata, meaning “flat” or “even’, RATA Orkestra is a project by Safuan Johari featuring Azrin Abdullah (oud), Andy Chia (dizi, didgeridoo, electronics), Cheryl Ong (percussion), Safuan Johari (electronics), Rizman Putra (vocals) and weish (vocals). This new ensemble aims to create new aural topographies by gathering diverse local and international musicians to experiment with collaborative compositions, break old boundaries and new grounds across the traditional, the experimental, and the popular, and create a transcultural ambient soundscape of harmonious interplays and poignant discordances.

A production two years in the making, RATA also features guest artist Nova Ruth (vocals) and multimedia designer Brandon Tay. Audience members will also move around the performance space, to experience and encounter the visuals and sounds from various corners.

RATA invites you to mark the end of the year and this season of change with an opportunity to discover something new and ground-breaking.

A programme of In New Light – A Season of Commissions, in celebration of Esplanade’s 20th anniversary.

Concert for the Haunted | Alunan Siapa (Whose Melody)

7 October 2022 Singapore Courtyard National Gallery Singapore

NADA presents a haunting of Nusantara melodies, drawing on the tradition of lagu-lagu rakyat (national songs) and their distortion and repurposing for political and nationalistic means throughout history.

About Concert for the Haunted As the sonic programme accompanying October Gathering, Concert for the Haunted invited sound artists, musicians and movement artists to respond to the thematic threads and inquiries arising across its sister programmes. How do binaries of self/other, nature/culture, body/mind continue to haunt us even in the present? Through encouraging deep listening, sound becomes a seeding moment for healing, cross-pollination and the unearthing of neglected but deep connections between the human and non-human. Concert for the Haunted proposed a re-alliance with intuitive and embodied ways of knowing and encouraged expanded imaginings of togetherness through modes of listening.

A dance film made in collaboration with Floral Kokoro, where the first point of contact with a single flower triggers the creation of music, allowing her to ascend and become one with nature.

A woman touches a forbidden flower, and this brings her into the world of Kokoro, where flowers and flesh become one.

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Official Selection of Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2022

Official Selection of InShadow 2022

Official Selection of Wicklow ScreenDance Laboratory 2022

Official Selection of Thessaloniki Cinedance International 2022

~Welcome to the World Of Kokoro~

HEI STUDIO Conceptualised by: Clare Chong / Floral Kokoro Director & Editor: Clare Chong Director of Photography: Aaron Andrew Ang Scriptwriter: Kathleen Bu Producer: Moira Loh Music Composer: Safuan Johari Vocalist: Moira Loh First Camera Assistant: Alvin Thoo Second Camera Assistant: Angel Shu Gaffer: Afiq Aris Grip: Dan Song Colorist: Aaron Andrew Ang Hair & Make up: Sarah Tan Dancer: Jonit On

NEW RELEASE: PETIK-PETIK

SIFA 2022 +DISCUSS | Holding On and Letting Go 

Bangsawan Gemala Malam can be described as crossing the worlds of Bangsawan and Shakespeare; the ‘traditional’ and the ‘contemporary’; and between the individual and the company/state/country. In Holding On and Letting Go, the featured artists share their personal and research journeys for the work, and reflect on what they each hold dear in this production that is the culminated effort of many. 

Featuring: Aidli Mosbit | Director    Mohd Fared Jainal | Dramaturg, Production Designer, Artistic Director   Safuan Johari | Composer and Sound Designer  Moderated by Chong Gua Khee 

Don’t miss their works in these SIFA 2022 programmes: 

BANGSAWAN GEMALA MALAM  By Teater Ekamatra (Singapore)   2 – 4 Jun, Thu – Sat 8pm  Victoria Theatre  In a merry night of theatre, Singapore ethnic minority theatre company Teater Ekamatra remakes Shakespeare’s classic A Midsummer Night’s Dream, inspired by the splendour of Bangsawan opera and Nusantara. 

COMMON TONALITIES

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

15 – 16 October 2021 da:ns festival 2021 Esplanade Theatre Hall, Singapore Chowk Productions’ raison d’etre is to develop an Asian contemporary dance expression that dissolves the dichotomy between tradition and modernity. In Variations on a Theme, odissi is approached in a similar fashion to how a Western classical music composer would when elaborating on a main theme. Experimenting with footwork, rhythm and tempo, the pared-down piece features three dancers and two musicians and is an invitation to relish in the intangible pleasures of a live performance.

Choreographer: Raka Maitra Dancers: Raka Maitra, Sandhya Suresh, Caroline Chin, Anushka Ghosh Musicians: NADA (Safuan Johari and Rizman Putra) Lighting Designer: Adrian Tan

DANCE OF THE GOLDEN THREADS

HAPPY HOUR: Wonderlust Fashion & Textiles Gallery Asian Civilisations Museum 8-15 October 2021

Dance of the Golden Threads pays an ode to the artefacts with golden brocades and embroideries from the Nusantara region found in the Fashion & Textiles Gallery. The intricate motifs of these shuttle-woven fabrics shaped by the intertwining yarns make one wonder how these patterns are formed.

This screen-based presentation continuously generates patterns that sway and swivel to the tones and melodies of a music composition which is created with the slendro scale, an essential tuning system used in gamelan music of the Nusantara region.

LANGIT TINGGI RENDAH

Been experimenting with TouchDesigner to see how I can create audio-reactive visuals. This is a self-imposed homework following a tutorial by Bileam Tschepe with NADA’s latest single. 

gambus electronica 

gambus electronica is an exploration into the fusion of the different worlds of its collaborators, Safuan Johari and Azrin Abdullah. The former is known for his experimentations in electronic sounds while the latter is synonymous with the world of traditional music through the oud. Though worlds apart in terms of musical experience and practice, the two share a common interest in exploring new sounds. For this debut collaboration, the duo will take listeners through a sonic journey which maps out points of confluence and collision, layering traditional melodies with electronic rhythms and textures through improvisations and compositions.

Recorded at the Esplanade Annexe Studio on 11 June 2021.

Stream will be available online until 27 June, 11:59PM.

_T0701_

Blurring the lines between the real and the virtual, this stylish, futuristic trip into the everyday struggles of a PMD delivery rider is a multi-sensory treat.

In an ordinary neighborhood sometime in the future, a PMD Delivery Personnel (DePer) finds himself caught between the struggles of the real and digital world. In the digital realm, mainly ruled by MegahCorp, Jati is another avatar of the digital working class, ruled mainly by MegahCorp. Driven by materialistic rewards of financial incentives and social ratings, it offers him a living and hope for the future.

Meanwhile, in the real world, he has to navigate a journey of life lessons while mounting on his PMD. Genuine human connections made often paint a different story of this new way of life he has just started believing in.

As our protagonist reaches a moment of reckoning, Jati soon realizes he could not tell who is the enemy as the line that connects the real and virtual is not as clearly defined anymore.

Conceived by Zeugma, a collective made up of Rizman Putra, Safuan Johari, Brandon Tay, and Zulfadli Rashid (Big), _T0701_ exudes wit and originality the collective is known for.

With its existential themes around survival, ethics, and modern life, along with a mix of virtual reality and storytelling panache, _T0701_ is a dark and entertaining ride not to be missed.

NADA x Teater Ekamatra: Placid

The urban environment is often defined by the hustle and bustle of human activities within and surrounding it. When that is removed and everything is left undisturbed, it goes into a tranquil state where stains from yesteryear can be magnified and echoes from the past amplified, leaving us clues for the many stories to be reimagined. With Kampong Gelam as a canvas and playground, NADA goes out in search of these calm and quiet corners. In their exploration, they seek for relevant remnants to conjure their own versions of the past. Little did they know of their own trails that they will be leaving behind.

PALLAVI THROUGH ABSTRACTIONS

Fueled by a burning curiosity, Chowk Productions’ Pallavi Series (2016–2018) explored the possibilities of deconstructing classical dance to develop a contemporary language of movement, beginning with the basic stances of Odissi — the ‘chowk’ and ‘tribangh’ positions (Pallavi and Space; Pallavi in Time) and later accentuating the dimensions of the dancer’s torso and their gaze (Pallavi with Stillness). Pallavi Through Abstraction is the culmination of the Pallavi Series that seeks further abstraction towards its own unique idiom of dance, shedding new light on Raka Maitra’s original choreography. A mesmerising synthesis of softness and strength, Pallavi through Abstraction celebrates pure dance and form, seamlessly woven with live music by NADA (Safuan Johari and Rizman Putra).

Staged on 26-27 February 2021 at Drama Centre Black Box.

Choreographer: Raka Maitra Dancers: Raka Maitra, Sandhya Suresh, Caroline Chin, Anushka Ghosh Musicians: NADA (Safuan Johari and Rizman Putra) Lighting Designer: Daryl Norman Soh

An Excerpt  ‘CosmicWander: Vogue’ (WIP)

NADA x Teater Ekamatra - Pelesit

NADA takes another allegorical form, this time of a pelesit, a shapeshifting spirit in Malay folklore that is known to move at warp speed. "Macam pelisit" (like a pelisit) as the common saying goes, implies something or someone has just vanished into thin air. What is often forgotten is its magical abilities to attain beauty and bring financial gain at its master's command. Like a pelesit, NADA shall be, too, a lost and wandering one without a master to serve and can only absorb beauty wherever it goes. In this meandering journey, NADA traverses various spots and locations around Kampong Gelam, enchanted by the stories to emit more hauntological sounds.