(Image courtesy ;Google)
Some of you might be wondering how do I know this guy. Well, I went to AvenueK to attend this event called OhhSOME Fest on 13th December 2014 (Saturday) with my friends. It was a social media festival which meant to be a festival celebrating the glory of social media in Malaysia. While waiting for the song performances, we sat at the stairs that leads to the rooftop and listened to a few talks on how to educate everyone on the who, what, why, and how of using digital & social media advertising tools in an inspiring manner. I was in awe when he started speaking. So he talked about why he writes and all that jazz. Honestly, I am so moved by listening to him that day, I even had "maybe I should start writing" thought in my mind. Lol. Anyway, below is a little bit of his biography that I took from his Facebook fan page and I did paraphrased some of the words.
A trilingual Malaysian, Jamal Raslan who can't decide between Bahasa Melayu and English as his fundamental dialect, is a poet who is an extraordinary illustration of the problem that is the current Malaysian youth – advanced, uncovered, liberal however yet attempting to discover a feeling of having a place in the personality emergency that shakes each English-talking Malay Muslim. Just as at home speaking and thinking in Bahasa Melayu and English, he used to compose solely in Bahasa Melayu as Jamal Raslan didn't think he has an English composing "voice", up to this point.
Intensely motivated by talked word writers far and wide, from pummel artists to Def Poetry to the expressive and emotive neighborhood African artists at Poet's Passport, Jamal Raslan expounds on the difficulties that the nation and its kin face in its interest for advancement and Wawasan 2020 in a manner that he hope will one day help form a unique "voice" that is Malaysian spoken word.
