Thank you to all the performers who performed at the Eco Film Fest last weekend (November 1st and 2nd 2008). The crowd loved it especially when songs like "Kerbau" and "Pulau Perhentian"  were performed. Many of the performers are true crusaders for the environment. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts!

Izzy Mohamed

Izzy has been singing for 4 years now. She first started singing in late 2004. Ever since then she has been active in the singer-songwriter scene. She’s performed at Alexis, No Black Tie, KLPac, Paul’s Place, SohoKL, La Bodega and couple of other places. Izzy is sometimes accompanied by a back-up band consists of Aie on drums, Alda Tan on Bass, and Ling on keyboard. Besides singing at gigs, she also had experienced singing at weddings. Izzy sings pop, acoustic folk, alternative and sometimes jazz. Her songs are about love, life and experiences.

Ariff Akhir

Ariff Akhir is a singer, musician, songwriter and producer. He sang and played guitar for an acoustic blues band whilst studying in England and after returning to Malaysia in 1999, he performed as a solo singer-songwriter before forming the Sofa Sessions in 2004. The band released an EP, Five Songs, in late 2005. Music events that Ariff has performed at include Rock The World 7, Mont’Kiara Jazz Festival, Starbucks Coffee Music Series, KL Sing Song, Pan Global / Music Canteen road shows, Songwriters' Round and Troubadours / Doppelganger gigs. Ariff also runs his own audio production business, Purple Sound Productions. Ariff is working towards a CD of original music to be released in 2008.

Website: www.purso.net
Music preview: http://www.myspace.com/ariffakhir

JK a.k.a Jerome Kugan

JK is a writer and musician based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In April 2008, he released his electro-acoustic debut album "Songs For A Shadow" that features 11 original tracks produced by Hardesh Singh and Ariff Akhir.

JK is also working on publishing Poetika, a poetry journal. Not to mention looking for a publisher for his unpublished manuscript "Imaginary Poems".JK also works as co-organiser of Wayang Kata, KL Sing Song, Troubadours (currently on hiatus), was sub-editor of KLue and Junk magazines, and now works as the PR guy for Central Market Annex.

Website: http://jeromekugan.blogspot.com
Check out JK’s tunes at: http://www.popfolio.net and http://myspace.com/jkugan

Azmyl Yunor

No other wild-haired journeyman has been busy as a gig organizer, juggling duties on top of his singer-songwriter folker mode, gigging tirelessly year after year without fail since returning home from a soujourn as a busker Down Under. Having played everywhere from street corners to main stages, alone or with various bands for the past 10 years (Furniture, Maharajah Commission, Ben's Bitches and Thunder Coffee Club amongst other), he released the self-funded Tenets EP in 2005 to rave reviews and sales and is currently working on a full-length CD (backed by the Sigarettes) set for release soon.

Selected bibliography of works: as a solo musician, Azmyl has released three recordings: Tenets EP CD (Apr 2005) ; jikalauan (instrumental CD EP, Feb 2004); ends (Feb 2003); The Photocopy Album (Feb 2001). Azmyl contributed to Maharajah Commission's Dialogue Amoureux (2003) and Monkeys; Thunder Coffee Club's Moribund Easy (2001) and PunkRawkOHolic vol.1 (2003) compilations; and Ben's Bitches's National Disservice (2004), as part of these bands.

Website: www.azmylyunor.com
Music Preview: http://www.myspace.com/azmylyunor

Mia Palencia

Mia Palencia is a 21-year-old singer and songwriter and is by far the best jazz vocalist you can find in Malaysia. This is evident in that, since she started singing professionally 8 years ago at age 14, she has successfully commanded outstanding reviews by world-class critics and journalists from across the globe. She holds the audience spellbound for every minute, every single time. Known for her cheerful disposition, charisma and charm, she is currently the most sought after jazz artist around.

Website: www.miapalencia.com
Music preview: http://www.miapalencia.com/pages/music.aspx

Peter Brown and Markiza

Peter Brown aka Hassan is a caucasian singer-songwriter, born and raised in UK. He began writing and performing his own songs in London in the 1970s. During the course of making demos of his songs he met his future wife Markiza while playing in a restaurant. Markiza who is Malay had studied music while in school and passed her grade 8 piano. She sang in choirs while studying medicine in UK. They collaborated musically on some tracks.

Markiza and Hassan are known to perform for good causes like peace, the environment and charitable events. They made two albums which created considerable radio play but soon gave up the commercial scene and continue to play for fun and charity. Some of the albums produced by this duo include Open Secret in 1993 (released by indie label VSP) and Love & Music in 1996. Hassan then released a solo album "WARM" in 2001 on Markiza and Hassan's independent label Lemang Music.

Currently Hassan is putting songs together for a new solo album, and he and Markiza have been writing and performing new songs about the environment and the threat to the planet. They plan to re-release tracks from their previous Passion albums along with some new songs. Soon all tracks from their older albums will be available for free down load online.Married with two children, they now recide in Malaysia.

Tan Sei Hon

Sei Hon has previously worked as a part-time lecturer and a contributor of writings on local visual arts and artists. He was a forum facilitator as well as contributing artist to E-Art ASEAN Online (- an interactive resource for electronic art in Southeast Asia.) The project was headed by Malaysian New Media artists Hasnul J. Saidon and Niranjan Rajah and funded by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak in 1998.

After leaving Sarawak, he was involved in building an independent singer-songwriter’s scene in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His partners and him (Troubadours-KL) co-organizes’ KL Sing Song’, a yearly event that showcases local-indie singer songwriters with original material. As a former member of the visual arts collective SpaceKraft, he assisted in co-organizing ‘Chow Kit Arts Festival’ (2002), among the earliest if not the first indie multi arts festival in Kuala Lumpur. As a visual artist, he is interested in the use of art as a form of therapy and multi-arts for communities. He is currently working at the National Art Gallery of Malaysia as a curator.

Rashdan Harith

Rashdan Harith is a relative new comer to the singer/songwriter scene, started being involved in music since his teens and has moved on from imagining he is AJ from Backstreetboys to thinking he is Hetfield from Metallica, at the age of 17 under the monicker of TRAK, Rashdan released an EP that no one knew about but sold roughly 500 copies with susbstantive downloads on the then active mp3.com . Rashdan's music has been described as pop-jazz with a feel good vibe. In recent months Rashdan has been busy recording his self titled debut EP coming out soon. He has also kept himself busy playing around town with the Bedroom Musician Series, Doppleganger KL @ The Marketplace and No Black Tie, and Bijou Bazaar, Rashdan has also performed at Fete De La Musique, Urbanscapes, Time Out: On the Up, Moonshine and Feedback.com .

Myspace: www.myspace.com/rashdanh
Amp: www.amp.channelv.com/rashdanh
Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Rashdan-Harith/12905601927

Otam

Having had the opportunity to study and live abroad (Canada), Otam discovered his musical inclinatio by chance. While busking on the streets in Canada, he met Greg Saga, who later on exposed Otam to jazz. After a stint chilling with his friends, Otam then decided to head back to Malaysia and indulge in the local music scene. At 27 years old, Otam is a popular among the Indy scene for his sexy and husky voice - a favourite amongst the ladies.

Website: http://ahmadrostam.blogspot.com/
Music preview: http://www.myspace.com/otamandnovak
Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=513160322

Rendra Zawawi

Rendra's music is best describe as folk rock, with a most occasional violin twist. He is often backed by amazing music friends who would often tell him the chords he is playing. He usually tends to write memorable sing-alongs, depending on the weather. In most cases, where the band is unavailable, he is usually seen playing acoustically with the accompaniment of the violin alone. Rendra's first song was written at the age of 5 in New Zealand; a song entitled ‘Never Talk to Strangers’ after an unfortunate encounter with very mean random kiwi kids. He then took a long therapeutic break and started writing again at the age of 15, a week before a national exam, and completed his first A minor song, ‘I’m Lost’.

Often when asked, he is a songwriter first, singer second and guitarist third. He blames the English weather for whatever mellow sentiments you may find in his music. To date, he has recorded over 20 songs and enjoys the wonders of playing live all around. You can go to http://audio.xanga.com/ReggyX to listen to his other tracks not posted here.

Music preview: www.myspace.com/rendrazawawi
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rendra-Zawawi/13728364447

One Buck Short

Founded by Hafiz (previously on bass) and Rahul (guitars) in high school, this awesome foursome began their career playing shows at school events and battle of the bands competitions before coming out in the local scene. With a love for So-Cal Punk, One Buck Short has developed into one of the leading rock acts in the region.

Their debut single ‘That Day’ from their EP ‘Where Is The Mouse?!’ managed to break through to the Top 5 on the Hitz.fm Malaysian Top Ten with the band promoting their release with performances at both low-key underground shows as well as high profile shows such as ‘Rock the World IV’, ‘Rock the World V’ as well as the Asian X Games.The band was also nominated as the Best Newcomer artist in the first ever Hitz.FM Malaysian English Top 10 awards held in 2004. In 2006, the band was nominated again for ‘Best Rock’ and ‘Best Live Act’ in Malaysia. One Buck Short ended 07 with a bang, supporting My Chemical Romance on their show in Malaysia is starting 08 with a full A&P campaign to promote it’s “HALAL” release!

Website and Music Preview: www.onebuckshort.com

Rollin' Sixers

Rollin’ Sixers live to rock, and rock hard, drawing influences from the blues-tinged rock of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, the psychedelia of the Doors and the rock n' roll licks of Chuck Berry.

Started in mid-2003 as ‘Triple 6 Poser’ and described by KLue magazine as 'no-frills rock' (whatever that means), the band went through a change in line-up and now features original drummer Eddy (of Mojo Pin fame) on vocals and blues harp, allowing Khai (ex-Khaimano/Y2K) to focus on guitars while Jay remains on bass. Henry (also of Mojo Pin) was brought in to aid in the 6-string assault and complements the band’s sound with his own brand of guitar-slingin’ while Ian took over the mantle of drummer. Rollin’ Sixers recently made finalist in the Malaysian leg of the Global Battle of Bands 2008 (GBOB), and will be competing in the Grand Finals in November.

Website: www.myspace.com/rollinsixers

Stonebay

The name “Stonebay” came when Ojie was reading an article from Guitar World on “Surf Music” in 1995 and the word “BAY” caught his eye, while the word “STONE”, was taken from Pearl Jam’s guitarist, Stone Gossard, who is one of his influence at that time.To date, Stonebay has played nearly a hundred gigs and currently working on a full length album with recording label Junction Audio. The album is expected to be released in 2009. As “muhibbah” as they come and freely creating beautiful, big-stroke rock songs in both English and Bahasa Malaysia, Stonebay are set to emerge as the flag-bearers for the reprisal of a new urban English scene, at the same time perhaps also giving the big Bahasa-singing mainstream a run for their money.

Website: www.myspace.com/stonebaymusic , www.facebook.com/stonebay
Music preview: amp.channelv.com/stonebay , www.reverbnation.com/stonebay

Reza Salleh

A regular in the KL singer-songwriter circuit for the past 7 years, Reza Salleh's brand of heart-in-blender folk has had him performing in local acoustic shows all over the Klang Valley in Malaysia. In 2000, Reza started attending local open mic platform, Acoustic Jam, and slowly he started building a reputation in the independent scene as part of the rising wave of young singer-songwriters to grace the local stage. Soon he was a familiar face, playing in every single acoustic show in town. Equipped with a baritone voice and the tendency to write heart-felt tunes, he incorporates elements of grunge, jazz, pop rock and the blues in his songs. As for influences, he cites everything from Boyz II Men to Rage Against the Machine and Nirvana.

Website: www.myspace.com/rezasalleh

Music: amp.channelv.com/rezasalleh

Violet

Violent is the new bank on the block. Founded by local university students (Ken, Andre, Apis and Pija), they have slowly infused their eclectic styles of music and have appeared in small gigs. Expect to be entertained by Violet at Eco Film Fest.

The Corn Cake Kings

One of the best acoustic blues and folk rock acts in KL, Aznan Aziz ( guitar, vocals, harmonica) and Julian Mokhtar ( guitar, vocal ) have been performing together for more than five years. They first met at a singer/songwriter show at No Black Tie and soon found that they shared a love for old style blues, folk and classic rock. Having this common ground allows them to effortlessly blend their playing and singing. The Corn Cake Kings have performed at the now defunct Titus Blues Avenue, Little Havana, Ol’ Skool Bistro and Backyard Pub. Currently they play occasional Monday nights at Noblacktie and every Friday at Lagenda Bistro at Shah’s Motel in PJ. You can get Julian Mokhtar's management contact at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Pesawat

In 2005, Nizam Camel, Mann, Kudux and Jipie formed Pesawat under the influenced of bands like The Killers, The Swallows, We Are Scientists, R.Azmi and Pigeon Detectives. With a musical direction heading to Brit Indie Rock, they have injected some local flavor to their songs to make it sounds different from the rest.Having performed at KLUE Urbanscapes 2008 and touted in the MalayMail as the discovery of 2008, Pesawat has created a fuss in local circuit with their music and energetic live shows. Their first single entitled "Mirage" is due to release in the middle of October 2008 and has already got an airplay in the local radio station XFM. EraFM and FlyFM. Currently they are working on a full-length album with a second single to be out in November.

Website: http://www.myspace.com/pesawat