As it stands now @ ASLI!!

Friday, August 18, 2006

Workshops begin this month at KKBS. After which it will be open scripts as well as ensuring that we have the proper cast that we need. For those interested we are still sourcing for the following cast. We want those who are willing to learn as well as able to speak and understand relatively straightforward english lingo.

a) Indian shopkeeper with a bolshy attitude : 38 to 58 ( we don't mind)

b) A sinister chinese Man who is actually malay by birth : 35 -45

c) Malay veteran actors : female and Male : 30 plus

d) Ensemble who can act, dance and sing.

If you are interested then let us know or message our pub. manager @ : 8669692

Musicians may also be needed but currently we are focusing on using who we have.


Rachael

published at: 11:20 AM

ASLI AND ALL THAT STUFF

K, in a nutshell. We are now ready to start workshops for the training of the cast for ASLI!! It will be held at the KKBS building and is aimed to teach the simple aspects needed in theatre.

I wish that we could all start doing more " for" the arts as opposed to waiting to be in something, its such a bloody lot of work getting things done for a musical and we have absolutely NO guidelines at all. At times like this I wonder if its worth it. I hope it is. But starting from scratch, is a challenge.

I do hope all the cast can handle the workshops as i am aiming to make them tough but fun.


Rachael

published at: 11:18 AM

"ASLI !!" loves Temburong!!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

I have still not fully gotten the hang of this blog friendster whatever its called thing. Technology is not my forte.

We are now getting to important bits in pre production and are pleased with the support we have received. Altho' there is still a lot of stuff to be done and currently there are only 3 of us working on the backstage preparation.

This means everything from getting sponsors, working on advertising, getting rehearsal venues, editing scripts, finalizing cast, planning dates, sitting drinking mugs of cold coffee and smoking whilst figuring out how best to do it.

See, its not like "glamorous" putting on a homegrown theatre show, I mean we don't have buckets of cash to play with for a start, plus, we are doing this to instigate something "new" for Brunei. Frankly, if we don't take a serious look at our "entertainment scene" then perhaps one day we won't have one.

We are a nation of supporters we need now to be supported too!

Brunei loves to criticize, its quite disheartening sometimes to see how adept we are at criticizing and belittling our own "artistes", we rip 'em apart verbally, bitch, insult, boo them off stage and then wonder why we don't seem to be making it internationally. Laziness is one reason lack of initiative is another we get complacent about things.

"ASLI!!" The musical is my contribution and from it we at BAKAT Arts hope to get a whole bunch of Bruneian talents together, we have managed to recruit some rather artistic wonders, some good singers, some intellectuals, all with a mind of their own and an interest to help create a couture culture.

Culture is to me a boring word. It needs to be revitalized, Culture needs updating in Brunei, ASLI!! is about remembering our identity, I have written it with a vision, I want it to be "Grease meets Phantom meets Alanis meets Project Pop meets Broadway meets Brunei"

We are raring to go, we have a good team, will fill y'all in as we go along. I want to go back to Temburong, it has the best wajid, very yummy. Also, the crab in Limbang is amazing! Maggie's Cafe by the river - really tasty and just a drive away. In the name of research I get to travel thru Borneo. Its fun. Its something that I have never done. Seriously tho, I have turned into a black peppered crab addict. Limbang is the place for a quick fix. Here in Brunei, too expensive and not available. And wajid is at the tamu in Temburong, the little old lady is there til 4pm. Buy loads!

I am totally waffling on about food.

K, enough said. I am hungry now.

From ASLI!!


Rachael

published at: 3:53 PM

Update on ASLI!!

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Thought I would give a brief update on whats been happening behind the scenes.

To say "busy" is an understatement as Bakat have been up and down to temburong, Kuala Balai and even perused thru LImbang, all in the name of getting inspiration. We have also secured the support of relevant Ministries and now we are still in the process of finalizing drama workshop dates.

See, its not like putting on a concert or a roadshow, its a Theatrical production and we want it perfect. Not a slovenly put together production, or something that resembles a canto pop dialogue to music. We want it proper.

We are still sourcing for some cast members so, any willing " thespians" ..thats "thespians"... please do come forward. Pre production is still going on and we are all getting short tempered and bossy, especially Syl who gives me these awful things called " deadlines".

Anyways, we are doing our best, watch this space


Rachael

published at: 3:47 PM

A Message from the Editor

Sunday, June 25, 2006

by Sylvianna

Hello dear visitors.

Thank you for taking the time to visit this website, which was beautifully created by Adi Rani ( Cheers, babe! :-) )

I've been asked by my colleagues if I've quit by day job...whether I've embarked upon the arts scene full time.

Bruneian arts scene is still at its "baby stage". It will be a struggle to earn a proper living if one is to fully devote his/her time with entertainment locally. I need my day job!

A dentist by day, and 1 of the 3 executive producers for Bakat Arts Production by night, I finally have the time to leave a blog here. It's great to be on leave during the hectic school holidays. It's such a wonderful change from my monotonous daily routine at the clinic to switch to entertainment mode.

I can't sing...can't act...can't dance...but I love listening to all sorts of music. I love watching actors become totally different characters under the right direction: A soft-spoken, shy person can become a loud, arrogant arse! A camp, sissy guy can become Awang Butch! A butch guy becomes the outrageous, over-the-top, camp sissy! A strong, insensitive, callous bitch reveals that she is a little girl at heart!

I love watching the variety of movements the body is capable of: from the hard thumping and bad ass attitude of hip-hop/street/nigga-wannabe style, to the soft styles of Malay traditional dance.

Singing! Acting! Dancing! A perfect combination that only a Musical Theatre Production can do justice.

I was excited when Rachael suddenly blurts out to me while I was chilling at her house, back in March this year that she wants to do "Asli!!" - The Musical. She wants me to help her bring it together. To make it happen. Why me you wonder?

I've only organized functions including a number of 'happening!' parties, but nothing like this before. It's a challenge but it's not impossible.

Joel with his marketing & management experiences completes the trio of Bakat Arts Production- An English woman with a Malay heart, a Chinese man with bad Malay accent & of course, yours truly, a Malay woman with a not-quite-Malay name & a proud chairperson of Dental terminology for MABBIM (Majlis Bahasa Brunei, Indonesia & Malaysia) :-P

published at: 7:31 PM

Random Comments

Adi Rani's comments:

"To work with Rachael again to me is an honour, we had a blast doing other projects in the past and I'm sure this one will be another amazing journey for me and for everyone who is involved. She's one very talented individual"




Diana Latip's comments:

"I started my career with Rachael over a decade ago, and to be doing another project with her now is like second nature. I look forward to this experience and I look forward to being part of a musical cast; as a solo artiste it will be a different discipline for me to part of an ensemble"

Jenny Malai Ali's comments:

"I believe that there is no shortage of raw talent in Brunei. The question is whether this talent can be translated into showmanship and stage presence"Jenny Malai Ali ,one of the judging panel

published at: 7:10 PM

Da juice behind "Asli!!" auditions

by Sylvianna

Yesterday, June 18th was the final open auditions for "Asli!!" - The Musical. We first started open auditions In Bandar on April 20th. It has been fun & exciting scouting for fresh faces. We've been surprised with quite a number of young and old talents in Brunei.

But not all that turned up had an ounce of talent in them (no offence, ah!) We do salute all those who tried heir best during the auditions. There were a number of potentially talented folks who tried out but didn't get a part. Spare us the slandering & bitching posted in Brudirect! Read on and I will tell you what really happened during the gruelling period of auditions.

AUDITIONS @ HARVEY'S MARKET, BSB.

I dunno why we agreed on starting at 9am when certain people (let's just call them R and W) are "Dracula" by nature i.e. not blood-sucking but stays up at night & lies dormant when the sun is out! So after the usual "breakfast pelacur" i.e. coffee & cigarettes, auditions began in about an hour or so later.

The 1st was a couple of talented dancers, who we discovered afterwards referred to our resident choreographer/judge as "D Wen!" Of course, being 'kiasu' (Inda mau mau/Don't want want) we also called ourselves "D Rach!","D Jen!","D Syl! and started blowing our won trumpets...listing our own accomplishments...name-dropping (seriously, if I had a cent every time I hear Shuhaimi Baba's name, I'd be 100 bucks richer!)

Anyway, they were good but pulled out during recalls due to school commitments.

Lemme think who else didn't get in...

Quite a number only sings karaoke. We didn't provide TV/VCD karaoke combo because we are auditioning for a Musical theatre production. Of course, many didn't know what they were auditioning for, let alone what Musicals are about. We wanted to hear their pitching since Musicals will not involve microphones. We told them to stand far from the judges, pretend we are deaf & to sing from the top of their lungs.

Some comprehended straight away, some needed to be reminded so many bloody times but sadly, some just don't get it. I think one guy had a naturally small mouth, eventho he could sing. So theatre was not his destiny.

We had a talented little girl who sang the likes of Celine & Whitney but had no clue about Britney, Christina or Pussycat dolls. Mummy was always by her side, guiding her on what to sing. Her rendition of Whitney's I wanna dance with somebody was 1 of our most memorable auditions. She followed Jenny's instructions to jog & dance towards the centre with arms up & all over d place! Classic!

We doubt she really wanted to be in our Musical. It seemed like she was just fulfilling dear Mummy's dreams.

Moving on...

Acting skills were tested by improvising either a commercial or a phone conversation, thanks to our handy block of wood. Jenny invented a nifty name for a deodorant, BOGO (as in Body Odour Go away...get it?) plus an anti-dandruff shampoo, DANDRO. Rachael came up with a not-so-nifty name for cat food, called.....wait for it.....THE CAT FOOD. Oh well...

The phone conversation involved a call from a quiz show saying "U've just won a thousand/a million dollars!" but then said they got your name wrong. So a mixed of emotions were involved: the nervous wait, the eagerness & excitement of winning, the sadness, anger & frustration of the mistake)

Some were very good, some were ok but quite a few were just bad. We had some jumping for joy, with some cussing going on (which none of us minded), and pretending to call friends (which we didn't expect). That was good. But some just didn't show any emotions whatsoever when told they've won a thousand dollars (hence we changed it to a million dollars). Argh!!!

We also had quite a handful of folks who speaks English very eloquently, but mind you, "Asli!!" is a bilingual story. Their grasp of their mother language (Syl to Rachael: Yohnya!) brings tears to our eyes! So, fingers crossed that we will see improvements in their Malay.

AUDITIONS @ KB

KB auditions started a bit late on that Sunday morning after a very late night. It was difficult trying to force myself to wake up after only 4 hours of sleep but somewhat more laborious trying to wake up another person who slept for; I reckoned an hour or so. Seriously, shouting like mad to a deaf person dead to the world, 1st thing in the morning was a bitch! The van trip felt like ages but we finally arrived at KB around ten-ish.

We used Joel's father's office downstairs. It was smaller than Harvey's audition area but bless the aircon so can't complain much.

The walkway just outside was a nice spot to set up the registration area i.e. a small tent & some chairs.

As we were setting up, Joel's father asked Rachael if we had a permit to set up the tent etc. This was a scary man. I didn't wanna get involved so I just made myself engrossed with the stereo-wires-thingamajig, avoiding eye contact, figuring a way to disappear unnoticed. But still giggling inside after hearing Rachael cringe, trying to answer him...Name-dropping a few VVIPs who know about our project but still failing to impress the man. He still insists on a permit. But this was on a non-working day. Finally Joel talked to the father. Don't ask me what & how since Chinese language is alien to me. He did manage to calm him down so auditions went on.

The Kristal DJs (Keejah, Dafy, Yanti & Anna) were around cos they were there handing out AVANZA stickers. Some stalker of a certain DJ registered for our audition but disappeared when his favourite DJ left. Weirdo!

3 of KB idols finalists auditioned. 1 of them made a judge weep after she belted out a Rossa song. The other 2 made us laugh with a rendition of 'Basikal Tua'. We did ask him which song in d whole wide world that he knows by heart and he said Basikal tua. He startled us by immediately singing but stopped halfway cos he forgot the words.Doh!

His friend did a hilarious version of the phone-in quiz call. After he was told he won a million bucks, he was ecstatic but he then peeped through the curtains. When asked what d f**k he did that for, he also didn't know?! Maybe he was checking that no one was outside to listen and find out that he won a million bucks.

When we auditioned an Iban boy, we asked him to sing any Iban song he knows. He started tapping his hips and sang "I...I ...I...I love you..." then Rachael stopped him saying she wanted to hear an Iban song. He said that it is an Iban song by the group, Acid Rain?! Funny choice of name for a group with a cheesy pop sound...

We saw another little girl who only sings Celine & Whitney songs. The typical songs from her parent's VCDs karaoke collections. Even when asked to sing Happy Birthday like a 5 year old, she sang it like a 40 year old!

I'm tired now. I'll write more about Tutong & Temburong next time...if I feel like it :-P

published at: 6:30 PM

Interview with the Producer/Creator of ASLI

Following the first auditions sessions held for "ASLI!!", we bring to you the inspiration and ideas of our Creator/Producer for "ASLI!!".

According to Rachael Malai Ali, her ideas of creating an ambitious venture for our homegrown Brunei Darussalam’s first musical Broadway, was initiated with her creation of BAKAT two years ago, which was then unfortunately changed to "P2F".

Instead, because of Rachael's undying passion for the love of the art and the belief in our local talents that has the potential to place Brunei Darussalam in the world map for performing arts talent, Rachael, has persistently come up with the idea of creating a theatre stage musical drama - Broadway style.

According to her, quoted "there is no such thing as a finished product when it comes to performing arts; and any serious artistes, whether singer, actor, musician or dancer etc., should continuously strive to perfect their skills." Unfortunately, there is no such platform available for our vast local talents; and therefore many artistes are left to struggle on their own. More intent with brief moments of glamour than in developing themselves to reach an international level.

It is only through continuous effort and discipline, that performers will ever stand a chance of being recognized internationally.

With "ASLI!!" the team aims to bring about the potential talent from Brunei and literally drill them in all aspects of performance art. It is hoped that with proper training, and a thorough and rigorous, rehearsal schedule that, come December it will be difficult to differentiate the "ASLI!!" stars and cast from any other international performers. "Such is the task ahead, but honestly speaking it is very plausible." Especially given that, the cast have all one thing in common - the desire to be recognized as a promising artiste.

According to Rachael's past experiences with her past creation of BAKAT or rather P2F, she has come to realize that the potential of our local homegrown talents has the ability to develop further afield to greater heights for stardom. Quote and unquote - "It all depends really on where your focus lies, and what you are hoping to achieve, which will in the end turn you into a "one hit wonder" or an artiste who continues to shine and to contribute to Brunei's artistic aspirations!" "Fame has its price!" But in the case of the P2F, many of our passionate Brunei talents were left to their own devices.

Therefore with "ASLI!!" we intend to bring out the shine of our performers and let them have a feel of the real world experience of the performance arts industry.

"There is a lot of hidden potential of our people here in Brunei!" says Rachael. "It is up to us to develop that potential into something to be proud of!"

Rachael Malai Ali is no stranger to the performing arts world. With her vast experiences and achievements under her belt, such as one of the co-founders of "Instant Cafe Theatre" - Kuala Lumpur as well as working with great names like Jit Murad, Shuhaimi Baba (the director of Pontianak, Selubong, Mimpi Moon and Lagu Ku, Layar Lara, Ringgit Kashurga), Ramli Sarip, Eman Manan, Ogy Ahmad Daud, Fauziah Nawi, Adflin Shauki, and her performance as the "Kathy" in the Malaysian drama Permatang Budi and her local contribution to the musical industry, Rachael has come this far not just to sit and watch our talents here in Brunei Darussalam go to waste, but to prove a point that we have just as much ability as anybody else; and all we need to do now is to get into action and start creating, with the view to establishing a proper workable arts culture in the country.

With "ASLI!!" such an ambitious goal will give us the opportunity and the platform for Brunei as a nation to make it happen.

Brunei Yakin!!

Drafted By:

Joel

published at: 6:18 PM

Final Asli Auditions

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

(Courtesy of Ranoadidas.com)

More auditions in BSB: Due to more enquiries , the Production team will be holding two more auditions at Harvey's Market, No 2, Spg 524, Jln Pasir Berakas, Kg Lambak Kiri on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th June from 7pm til 10pm.

Final Auditions in Temburong : Sunday 18th June from 2pm until 5pm at the Temburong Tourist Information centre at Pekan Bangar. Ethnic cultural troupes are also being sourced as ASLI!! Producers are intending to incorporate Ethnic sounds in with modern orchestration.

Those wishing to audition are reminded to bring along their biodata and a 4R Photograph. You can visit http://aslithemusical.blogspot.com/ for more details.

published at: 11:32 AM

Final auditions for Asli to be held in Temburong

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

By Kartika Rahman (Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin)

"Asli! The Musical" continues its quest to find hidden talents through auditions, which were recently conducted at the IDY Cafeteria and Pool in Pekan Tutong.

The management offered the popular venue for the sessions to support local arts.

The Bakat Arts Productions team spent a whole afternoon auditioning potential cast members, including singers, dancers and actors.

"We had different kinds of people auditioningIt was nice to see so many Bruneians interested and we had an enjoyable time, plus we may have found some promising talents who will be called for a second audition," stated one of the producers.

The Asli group will be heading to Temburong some time next month for more auditions.

This will be the final destination for audition sessions, but it is an important one, as the musical is mostly based on a family from Temburong.

The producers of Asli still need dancers and singers for its main chorus.

Those aged between 15 and 55 are very much encouraged to audition.

"So far we are doing very well, and it is going to be an exciting journey, as we put together Brunei's first Broadway-style musical," commented the creator, Rachael Malai Ali.

"It will be challenging - that's for sure, but judging from the support and encouragement we have been getting, it will be worth it."

Bakat Arts Productions will also hold performing arts workshops, which would cover acting, improvisation, voice, singing, dance, movement, body language, comedy, drama, poetry, presentation, confidence, self-esteem and speech.

The workshops are suitable for anyone interested in performing arts and especially those interested in gaining self-confidence and positive thinking.

Taught by a qualified British instructor who can speak both Malay and English, the workshop will be conducted in small groups.

Those interested may contact Bakat Arts Productions at 2391668 or 8606659, or by emailing bakatarts@yahoo.com.

For updates on Asli, visit www.friendster.com/profiles/bakatarts or www.aslithemusical.blogspot.com.

published at: 9:48 AM

More About "ASLI - The Musical"

Monday, May 29, 2006

BakatArts Family

BakatArts is currently planning to produce Brunei's first Homegrown Original Broadway style Musical Production- " ASLI!!"

ASLI tells the story of Helang, a young man of Lun Bawang descent who leaves his home in Temburong to make it big as an artiste in the big city of Bandar Seri Begawan. Helangs Father is not supportive of him leaving the village as he wants his son to continue to uphold the traditions and values so important to the Ethnic Malay people of Brunei, Helang however is determined to try his luck and, with his Mothers support he leaves.

Once in Bandar he manages to find a job and makes friends and enemies with a variety of interesting people.

ASLI is a musical, told in both English and Malay, which intends to bring to life the beautiful traditions of Brunei Culture, whilst embracing the modern cosmopolitan ideas of the country.... i.e. : trendy, zany and fun

Combining the ethnic sounds of gongs, flutes, gamelan, zapin and hadrah with the modern day lead guitars, drums and keyboards, ASLI aims to bring to life an exciting Musical of song, dance and theatre.A simple story line with an exciting cast not forgetting a happy ending is ultimately what ASLI is all about, a dash of Bruneian humor and a lot of Bruneian color should all create a performance whose very heart is ASLI!

published at: 10:10 AM