Tugu Drum Circle at #Urbanscapes

Usually, as the name suggested, the Tugu Drum Circle do their jamming every Sunday at Tugu Negara. This weekend, the plan changed. They were at Urbanscapes, right in the open at Medan Pasar entertaining the crowd and getting them to join as well.

It worked out great. They got all their equipments laid up on seats arranged in a big circle with the director right in the middle conducting the whole thing. Even those we couldn't drum just followed the interactions and the rest was history.

Getting the place readyEvery instrument was pre-arrangedG-Pro readyTime for a quick briefingIt went on a touch too long I thought with some of the participant already getting tired after around 15 minutes. They did jazz it up though, by playing alternate instruments and just having fun.

The most important guy was the one with the bass drum. He controls the tempo.And they get some of the sections to do a bit of a soloIt attracted a sizeable crowd and yes, there was somebody who started to dance - in a rather suggestive fashion - before being told off by security. On the whole, it was a spectacle. I wonder if my boys - Idlan especially - may be interested.

#Urbanscapes Closing Day

I returned to Urbanscapes House for the final day. They had a long list of events on the ready. Being at an open site and right smack in the middle of the city, there was no issues about access. In fact, I went there twice on the day, first alone in the afternoon to catch some music and later with Anita after dinner managing to catch the last leg of the "Open Mic Stand", a stand-up show hosted by a friend.

It was threatening to rain at late afternoon, hence the start of the festivities was delayed. The first stand-up session was done indoors instead rather than at the intended "nasi lemak" shaped stage - complete with free nasi lemak. The band started playing half an hour late but soon the schedule caught up. The weather also cleared, but the sun was shaded - which was just as well so that it was not too hot.

FluffyThe day's programThe crowd filling up the balcony at Urbanscapes House while the rigging for the concert stage was erectedPrakash was the MC for the "One Mic Stand" showsI took shelter at Central Market while things were starting, taking some tea.

There were all together 3 stand-up chows for the day - I caught the first and the last - featuring different comedians. And they were bold enough to have stand-up in Malays. The first few did not catch on, but the one - the headliner - in the final show was excellent. In fact, the last session was a riot - in the open at night - it was simply excellent. And yes, they tried giving away all the nasi lemak but there were no takers. Me and Anita was already done with our dinner.

The crowd started mingling while the stage was setThe balloons protecting us from the elementsHive of activitiesI also enjoyed the Tugu Drum Circle - where they got the public to participate - but I didn't join because of my tendinitis. More about the drums later. Security was pretty OK, and since Medan Pasar was popular with the foreign workers during weekend, the main job of the security was to make sure that there were no unwanted incident rather than true security. On the while, the whole place was safe, and I hope in the years to come, similar event was done here.

Taking Shelter

I arrived at Lebuh Ampang quite early. There was a stage already set up but nobody's playing. The comedy show I was waiting to see was some time away. And it threatened to rain.

Time to make a timely escape. Rather than going into the Urbanscapes House, I decided to walk on to Central Market. I parked myself at one of the cage and had some drinks.

Might as well order something for the afternoonI was still there an hour later with the sound of thunder ringing outside. Not the time to go yet. But the owner - a fierce-looking Chinese lady - was giving me the look. She sent her waiter a couple of times to clear my table. Luckily there were a few European visitors occupying the table next to me, and they were still there. I guess I would be pretty safe.

The weather didn't seem to let up. I was practically stuck here as I parked my car at Nu Sentral. I'll give it another 30 minutes before making my move...

The Basement Vault

After missing the basement in my first visit, I returned to see what was going on down there.

The Urbanscape House used to be a bank. And the basement was where the vault and safes were located. The vault being huge, meant that when the previous owner evacuated, they did not bother taking the vault down. Too much hard work I would've thought.

Bathed in neon lightBadass!The morning ritual ...Like this also can ....The Urbanscapes organiser decided to utilise this space into an underground alternative art scene. Coupled with dimmed and neon hues, it certainly worked the charm.

But I found the work featured in the vault itself tonne fascinating. And they could've easily been confiscated as they did not mince words. Some direct reference onto the current political scene were on offer. Subtle again, but once you got it, they certainly put their point across succinctly.

Attack of the Ah LongHey! I got that T-shirt!Many gems in there!Melayu, Cina, India dan lain-lainStop stealing Rosmah's bag!!I would've dare suggest that those posters were put in public places. You'd expect some UMNO members in red shirts to come matching in yelling at us on how much we should respect our leaders. A funny spectacle though should that happen. Especially when I saw the emblem of the Youth and Sports Ministry at the brochure. Subversive!

So, should you be visiting the Urbanscape House in the next week, please be sure to check out the basement.

Cannot be Bo(a)rdered

The first floor of the Urbanscape House had an interesting offering. A whole floor of art exhibit. And all with skateboards. Neat.

The art side of things was fascinating enough and add to that some political nuance, I must say that it was very well curated.

There were a couple of pieces which caught my eyes.

Rather neat ....Rebels ....Let's sit down ....The first one was a burger. A wooden burger, paying homage to the plain old Ramly Burger. It was well carved.

The second one was a set of nine boards attached to a wall, each with portrait of current and past political leaders, all against the current regime. Themed "Dulu Lain, Sekarang Lain" - which basically meant the wind of change - it depict how connected there were now in the current political climate.

From the offCloser .....And we have a winner ....More room ....What's next?We are all connected ....Subtle but obvious.

Most of the exhibitors had had their work featured gone and abroad before. You can tell from their polished work. Definitely worth a stop.