The Ryukyu Islands possess an incredibly rich and distinct musical heritage. From the refined court music of the Ryukyu Kingdom and traditional folk Shima-uta to contemporary songs born from social resistance and base politics. Every melody is deeply intertwined with the rise and fall of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the collective trauma of World War II, and the resilience of a people living under post-war U.S. military occupation.
This sharing session features speaker Bao Pei Lan from Taiwan and musician Sanjay Liou from Malaysia, the duo behind the popular Facebook page “𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦.” Pei Lan will share her extensive musical map, drawn from years of field collecting and learning traditional music across the Ryukyu archipelago. Through live performances, they will showcase the unique scales and textures of Ryukyuan music and explore how core values such as “nuchi du takara” (life is a treasure) are preserved and transmitted through song as a form of cultural resistance.
Begin with the southern islands, hosted within the former factory building in Penang, offering a unique perspective to explore the past and present of Okinawan sounds that continue to sing through the silences of history.
27 June 2026 (Saturday) | 8:30pm -10:30pm