TROUBADOURS

Who's behind Troubadours, you ask?


We are:


Tan Sei Hon, 30. Visual artist, academic, singer-songwriter. Jangly, witty, wistful.

Azmyl Yunor, 28. Makan gaji, wanderer, singer-songwriter. Folksy, wired, rocky.

Jerome Kugan, 30. Writer, poet, singer-songwriter. Haunting, punky.

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And the legend goes like this...

We've known each other now for about five years. We met around the same time, when each of us gravitated towards Peter Hassan Brown's Acoustic Jam series at Commonwealth Club. We saw each other play, were impressed, and became occassional acquaintances. Later, we saw more of each other performing separately at Pete Teo's The Songwriters Round and Joe Kidd's Unclogged.

Some of our collaborations with each other include:

TSH formed a duo called Nightdrive with JK, with TSH on guitar and JK on vox. Wrote some songs, performed at Unclogged, Apuke, and some other places. Recorded several home made tapes. Still waiting for the right moment to go into studio.

TSH, AY and Wolf performed as the three amigos for a promo campaign for a chain restaurant.

AY is a member of the Experimental Musicians and Artists Co-op of Malaysia (EMACM). JK is occassionally a guest member. EMACM is the brainchild of Yeoh Yin Pin. Other musicians associated with EMACM includes Goh Lee Kwang, Lau Mun Leng, Ron Khoo (of Furniture), Tham, Yandsen and the elusive Aziz. Every now and then, AY, RK and AZIZ appear as Ciplak.

JK organised a little gig called Merdeka Madness at Rumah Pena in 2003, where he invited TSH and AY, among others, to play.

But the cementing of the association was in 2003, when AY asked TSH and JK to go down to Singapore to play two gigs. It could've been better but it was a nice opportunity to play at the Esplanade park. Down in Singapore, the three troubadours realised that the singer songwriter scene in KL needs a big push. We discussed possible plans for the future, including going up to Ipoh, Penang and Bangkok.

Later, back in KL, TSH and JK wrote a proposal to Arts Network Asia to get money to fund a project called KL Sing Song, a regional singer songwriters dialogue and workshop. We got the money. ICOM said yes to becoming our venue sponsor. AY was one of the eight local and regional singer songwriters featured in KL Sing Song 2005.

Since then, all three of us have appeared separately at KLue's Starbucks Chill Out series. Performed at Notthatbalai Arts Fest (both). At the Sapu-Sapu 2004 series, organised by AY, at Paul's Place. Many other places around KL.

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AY is the only one of the three who has released cassettes and CDs. His latest release is the "Tenets EP". You can get it at Troubadours gigs. Also available are recordings of AY's work with The Maharajah Commission, Ben's Bitches and as Thunder Coffee Club. You can read more about AY and his songs and adventures at http://www.azmylyunor.com : or just google Azmyl Yunor

TSH is in the middle of recording his album. News is that AY and JK and other musicians will contribute. We eagerly await the end product. In the meantime, you can read up on his JK is about to start recording a new batch of songs. In 2002, he pulled the plug on a CD called "Pink Spirit". You can read about it and download some of the failed tunes at his i-bands site: http://www.i-bands.net/audiovault/bands/2129/