SIBS Live Session Borneo - Liling - Alena Murang

Artist - Alena Murang. Song - Liling. Language - Liling is based on a Kenyah folk song, with Kelabit lyrics by Ose' Murang. Country - Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia. Session location - Upper Kelapang River, Sarawak Rainforest. “I think of what I do as an act of making our culture more relevant, rather than as preserving tradition. The latter, to me, has the notion of maintaining things in the past, whereas I see cultural heritage as the past made present.” Alena Murang. About the Artist –Alena Murang is from the Kelabit heritage one of the smallest ethnic groups of Borneo, now based in Kuala Lumpur she grew up in Long Peluan, a Kelabit Longhouse on the banks of the Kelapang River in upper Sarawak. A respected singer-songwriter, musician and visual artist, she started to play the Sape’ when she was 12 and is one of the first women to openly perform with and teach the traditional Kenyah stringed Instrument. She divides her time between her busy life in downtown Kuala Lumpur and visiting the elderly songwomen from the Kenyah and Kelabit tribes in Sarawak, Where she is learning and archiving songs, music and cultural knowledge which she shares through her concerts, presentations and recordings. Small Island Big Song is a multi-platform project uniting indigenous musicians who share an ancient seafaring ancestry across the Pacific & Indian Oceans. Recorded, composed & filmed with the artists, in the language and with the instruments of their homeland. Creating a contemporary and relevant epic musical statement of a region in the frontline of global cultural and environmental challenges. Here is a link to where you can buy these songs on Alena's CD Flight, and also find out more about her work. http://www.alenamurang.com/music