The Asian Music for Peoples’ Peace and Progress or AMP3, a collective of artists with a network of socially engaged musicians across Asia is organizing a co-creative cross-cultural songwriting workshop to be held from 14-20 June, 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand.

“Sama-sama: Asian Co-Creative Gathering” will bring singer-songwriters associated with AMP3 from Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Timor Leste, and Thailand together to co-create and cross-translate songs about social, political, cultural, and other issues they and their communities face.

According to AMP3 convenor Jess Santiago: “The project will explore, assess, identify and synthesise processes of co-creation and cross-translation among artists (singer-songwriters especially) from Asia. We hope to initiate processes that may be replicated for and adapted to varying conditions facing artists and their communities in future related activities. The project will promote both artistic merit and social impact in exploring processes to be developed, and adapted, thus fostering both the intrinsic and instrumental value of Asian People’s Music.”

Filipino-Australian musician Bong Ramilo, one of the facilitators of the workshop adds: “The participants will work through structured workshops to discuss and select themes inspired by the realities of their communities and collaboratively create songs featuring diverse Asian languages and musical idioms based on these themes. They will also cross-translate songs — for example, translating a song in Bahasa Indonesia into Khmer and other languages (those of the participants) — to better popularise diverse songs across the Region.

A recording of the songs from the co-creation and cross-translation workshop is targetted for release by the end of the year.

This project is supported by the ANA – Arts Network Asia (www.artsnetworkasia.org), an enabling grant body, set up by a group of independent artists, cultural workers and arts activists from Asia, that encourages collaboration, initiated and sited in Asia and carried out by Asian artists. The workshop is also made possible with the continuing support from Focus on the Global South and the Thai Public Broadcasting System.#

 

Contact:

Jess Santiago

[email protected]

Mobile: +639175895429