An Eclectic Music Collection

The other day I went through our music collection, housed in one cupboard in the sitting room, to do a spot of spring cleaning. Admittedly, it is a very, very eclectic collection. Some of this and that and the other. And apart from compact discs (CDs), I still have some 45 rpm vinyl records and many cassette tapes! Very old technology, but will still be hoarded for sentimental reasons. And I am supposedly spring cleaning? Tsk, tsk!

Some of the vinyls (CNB 2012)

Anyway this eclectic collection can still be roughly classified. Beginning with Classical music,  familiarised and appreciated since being a member of the Philharmonic Society during TKC Seremban school days in the 60s. There are more than 100 CDs, mostly a series collection published by Orbis Publishing (1992-95). Among my favourites are Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto no. 1 and his music for ballets, Chopin's piano concertos, Strauss' waltzes, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Ravel's Bolero.

Then there is the Pop/Rock music of the 60s and 70s. Especially favoured were (still are) the ballads of the Bachelor Boy Cliff Richard, also of Andy Williams (and the most beautiful Almost there), Carpenters, Simon & Garfunkel, The R'n'R King (I mean Elvis Presley), The Beatles, and compilations of the evergreen music of this era. The music of the 80s and 90s run the gamut from Cat Stevens, Scorpions, Carole King (sing: I feel the earth move under my feet ...), Boney M, Abba, Kate Bush, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, to Enya, etc., etc.

Slam 'Kesan terbukti' album

For Malay music, we have the ever familiar P. Ramlee, Saloma of the buluh perindu voice, Sharifah Aini (sing: Ooooh kuda ku lari ...), and M. Nasir. During a specially 'Malay phase' for us in the 90s, we bought and listened to the songs of Jamal Abdillah (eight albums 1992-2009), Zamani & Slam (nine albums 1994-99, and that melancholic 'Gerimis mengundang'), KRU (ten albums 1992-2001, why?) Amy Mastura (four albums 1994-2003), etc., etc..

A & B with Norman KRU at PTPM, USM (199?)

During a 'Latin phase', while trying to learn Spanish, I acquired the music of  Iglesias, not of Julio Iglesias, but his son Enrique. I remember playing the albums Vivir (1997) and Cosas del amor (1998) over and over again. But let me be truthful about it, I still do not speak any Spanish beyond "Hola, que tal?"

As for our 'World music' collection, we did buy music CDs as souvenirs of the countries visited. I still have the very first - Canta y se Feliz* - a Spanish music cassette tape from Barcelona (1975) which can no longer be played (not surprisingly). Then there are among others, Persian classical music, Carinosa; Visayan songs from Philippines, Loy Kra Thong from Thailand, Chinese Orchestra Album, Sundanese Music from Western Java, Music of  Sri Lanka, and Shinhwa's State of the Art from South Korea (2006 K-pop).

Music of the 50s, 60s ...

When we were living in  Pulau Pinang, we used to visit the Cahaya Music shop in Komtar nearly every fortnight to shop for our music. Nowadays I do still buy the occasional music CD, mostly compilations of the music of yesteryears ... the most recent, 'The Rock'n'roll Years Juke Box Gems'. Usually I listen to music while lunching but I breakfast with the birds (singing). In the evenings though, I prefer to listen to the sounds of silence, really ...

*Spain's entry in the Eurovision Song  Contest 1974

Twice Sold Books

So what do you do when you are done with your magazines? Or even your books? There are several ways of getting rid of them. Here are some suggestions.

1. Give them away to people/places that may want them. But do not be offended if no body/place want them. Because, hey, you too do not want them in the first place!

2. Sell them off to the 'Surat khabar lama' man for a pittance, because your discards also mean nothing to them except as recyclable paper. They accept everything, and the plus point is, they come to your house.

3. Sell them off to the second-hand book stores for slightly more than a pittance. But first you have to find the store, then you have to angkut (lug/carry) the stuff you want to be rid off there. Do not be surprised if they do not accept everything that you have brought. Sheesh ... after all the lugging! From my experience, many magazines that are considered 'trash', i.e. with no real feature articles (read URTV, and the like) will not be considered. So also trade magazines or those with too many advertisements (aren't most magazines full of ads anyway?)

4. If you live in Shah Alam like me, sell them off to the "Twice Sold Books" kiosk at the Giant Hypermarket in Section 13. Last year I dejunked a whole lot of magazines there and earned the very princely sum of RM27, for what originally cost us probably about RM2K!!?  But yay! I did get to reclaim the space they were occupying ... for more magazines ... of my ever growing National Geographic collection.

The 'Twice Sold Books" kiosk in Shah Alam  (CNB 2013)

Quirky postcards from Spain

My postcard collection is serendipitous. I do not purposely buy postcards to collect but usually by chance, they become part of an unorganised pile in a couple of shoeboxes.

A close family member was in Spain not so recently and got these rather interesting postcards for me.

The female dancers' dresses are embroidered and the layered skirts sewn and pasted on. Quirky and kitschy! But I like them anyway, so they will languish in my unorganised pile of postcards. Ole!

Snapshots: Postcards from Vietnam

A smiling bread vendor

I was sifting through some postcards (another collection!), and I found these very nice postcards that we bought two years ago* in Hanoi. So I rephoto-ed and re-captioned them and voila! Of course all credits go to the photographers, not moi.

A sea of non la (conical hats)

BOBs (boys on buffaloes) in the countryside

Uncle Ho and the Vietnam flags

Fish traps being transported to the market

3 Pigs and 2 humans on a bike

The many faces of water puppets

Note* We were in North Vietnam in November 2010

Why Do We Collect Things?

Homo sapiens, I mean we, have been collecting since forever (since we were hunters-gatherers during our evolution, say the psychologists). Some of us have evolved into 'hoarders' (there seems to be a problem there), some into sophisticated 'collectors' (whose valuable hoards/collections may be wealth generating or may even be the basis of new museums/institutions), and then there is the rest of us who may have sentiments and/or temporary obsessions over certain things.

Anyway from the myriads of reasons why we collect as we do, here are some by the experts:
1. To learn and acquire knowledge because of interest in the topic (thing?)
2. For fun and pleasure; to satisfy a sense of personal aesthetics and please personal tastes
3. To recollect memories of childhood, travel or history; to relive the past
4. For control and achievement; to show individualism and to be complete (something to do with wish fulfillment which eases deep-rooted uncertainties and other psychological mumbo jumbo ...)
5. For no rhyme or reason; just for some unexplainable 'magic' in our lives.

I do not have any valuable collections that I could bequeath a library or museum but the children can inherit some things from my temporary obsessions with crystal bracelets, charm bracelets, dragonfly brooches, and shawls. (I can almost hear them say, "Mama, thank you, but may we sell them off to Cash Converters?"). These I collected for reason no. 2, I think, except dragonflies fall under no. 5 - Magic!

My book, music and movie collections are too eclectic (and too few?) to be of importance. Again no. 2 and no.1 seems to be the reasons why they were collected. My family photo collection calls for reason no. 3 mostly. And then there are the tacky/kitschy souvenir collections of fridge magnets, snow globes, china plates, photo frames, etc., etc. ("Can we please have a garage sale, Mama?"). Reason no. 3 again, although snow globes are 'magic'.

Hmm... Reason no. 4 does not seem to appear as to why I collect, I wonder why? Do I not want to control and achieve, to show individualism and to be complete? Now, what can I collect to fulfill all of reason no. 4? What wish fulfillment do I have to ease deep-rooted uncertainties and other psychological mumbo jumbo? But then again, I guess no. 4 may be the underlying reason why we all need to collect/hoard in the first place.

Nine Blue Boxes & the Need for Dejunking

When we moved from Pulau Pinang to Shah Alam, we shifted tonnes of stuff. Today, four years later, we still have nine big blue boxes that need sorting out. Dejunking a lifetime of memorabilia (or 'rubbish' as the Chemistry Professor is wont to say) is tough work I tell you. Dejunking means getting rid of the junk, so he may have something there!

Anyway a cursory inspection, again, into the boxes reveal;
Box 1. Photos, photos, photos. Okay, these documentation of a family are valuable 'archival' material and will need to be organised into loads of albums. Or should they be somehow uploaded into a photo library in the clouds? Decisions, decisions...

Box 2. Files, files, files. These need weeding out and reduced, because really, do you ever find the particular document you are looking for? Oh, wait, I found the 1992 electric bill! Were you looking for it? But really, with so many files around, I am always too lazy to start. Urrggh!

Box 3 & 4. Newspaper cuttings, brochures. Two big boxes of yellowed newspaper cuttings? (Well, I was always hoarding 'interesting' articles from the papers and magazines, like all good/wannabe writers do.) But seriously, these should go, pronto! There's the reference library in the sky, for heaven's sake!

Box 5. Diaries, Journals. Ahh... This is the box I am now rummaging through and will provide me fodder for my blog entries. Nostalgia all the wayyyy...

Box 6. A's memorabilia & Box 7 & 8. B's memorabilia. Well, they have to do something about these. I know, I know, they are always too busy...

Box 9. Miscellaneous stuff that defy classification. What can I say? This will be the most difficult to sort and dejunk! Sometimes I feel that if this box and Box 3 & 4 disappeared in the night, nothing would be missed and no one would be the wiser. (Except me, of course!)

Snapshots: Shawls & Scarves

Over the years one will inevitably 'collect' some 'fashion accessories' out of interest, vanity or sheer necessity. Shawls and scarves feature in many a woman's wardrobe. 'Scarves are pieces of material worn for ornament or warmth round the neck or, by women, over the shoulders or hair'.  'A Shawl is large piece of woolen material worn round the shoulders or head of a woman, or wrapped round a baby'. (Both definitions are from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary). Selendang = shawl, or rather selendang = scarf? Okay, enough semantics already, here are some snapshots (and stories) of my collection.

Some woolen shawls bought at Tie Rack, every time I passed through KLIA. Airports are 'cold' right? (Actually this is just an excuse to acquire shawls).

Some more of the same as the above, except the white and the dark pink are the only real 'Pashmina'* in my wardrobe. I also have several cotton shawls/selendang in most colours of the rainbow.

My wedding selendang - white lace. I guess it is an antique piece now! Once a bit of it was dragged through a street in Kota Baru when it got caught in the car door. (I was in KB to attend my brother's wedding). Luckily the selendang survived.

This is a Batak woven cotton shawl bought in Sumatra in 1976, (though M keeps saying it is actually a piece of 'long', or kain basahan the Iranians wear in their public baths. Excuse me, I don't think so!)

A woolen lace shawl I bought in Greece. It has been in storage for a long time but now decorates one of my bedposts because it has proven too 'itchy' to wear over the shoulders! Any remedies for this?

A rather 'loud' Kurdish silk shawl that is so big that I also use it as a tablecloth sometimes! The blue background is electric! I bought it in a street of Kermanshah, Iran from a Kurdish lady.

A Thai tie & dye silk shawl acquired during one of the Conferences attended in Bangkok. The colour is a purple pink with gold motifs.

A very sheer Chinese silk scarf with butterfly motifs. Acquired during a visit to a silk factory/shop in Beijing.

A shawl made of natural pineapple fibre and embroidered with little beads and pearls. My Filipino good friend gave me this, thank you very much. Its an exquisite treasure!

A blue/white batik Habutai silk scarf bought at the Ubud market in Bali. But you can find these aplenty in Malaysia.

A pink/grey cotton & wool shawl, bought in India last year. The motif is traditional paisley and flora.

A Spanish embroidered shawl from Madrid. I received it as a gift from a close family member, terima kasih daun keladi, kalau boleh, bagi lagi! (Bad translation: Thank you Caladium leaf, If can, give more!)

*Pashmina is the cashmere wool of the under-hair of the Himalayan mountain goats native to the Kashmir region.

A Movie Collection at SA,SA

At SA,SA* we have quite a fair number of movie titles on CDs/DVDs - about 600 on my last count. This collection is incorporated into the library shelves/cupboards both upstairs and downstairs. Most of us in the family are movie buffs and other than watching the new movies at the cinemas, and reruns on Astro, we also watch or re-watch (re-view?) movies at home. Thanks to Speedy outlets selling some movie CDs/DVDs at the bargain price of RM5 each, I always browse their bins to find titles that are 'watchable'. Sometimes I find 'gems' for RM5, e.g. Australia, The Jane Austen Book Club, Tea with Mussolini, etc. (I know, I know you can download movies from the Internet, but hey, I'm old-fashioned, and a laggard when it comes to innovations).

Although most are in English, I have quite a fair number of Malay, Indonesian, Chinese and Hindi movies. There are also movies in foreign languages like Farsi, French, German, Spanish, even Portuguese. Subtitles help a lot although the quality of translation is sometimes questionable. Even laughable at times!

My favourite movies are usually the romcoms (romantic comedies). Why? Because romance and comedy equals fun and entertainment. Nothing serious. I hate scary movies and never watch them. (Okay I admit, I have watched a few including the The Exorcist but would rather have not, really). Thrillers are fine because they put you on edge. Fantasy is okay, especially children's feature cartoons! 3D movies are fun to watch, but I wish they would enable us to do away with the cumbersome goggles. Favourite movie stars? Drew Barrymore, Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Robin Williams, and Gong Li  are among the actors that I like.

What movies have I watched and liked? The last one was a Cantonese movie called Hu Du Men. I will write about it and others in future postings of 'Movies I like'.

*SA,SA is Seri Aryan, Shah Alam

Snapshots: Then

Now and then, we think about the past and sometimes reminisce about the 'good old days', no matter what age we are. We look back at old photographs and see that change is the only constant. I especially love the black and white of yesteryears and have a small collection of photos of family and friends.



Ba holding me, with siblings MN, CY & SP (1951)

 

This time my mak is holding me (1951)



Siblings R and AJ (1958)



CY and I with the elf ears (1958)

1951-1958

A Library at SA,SA

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested". Bacon, Of Studies

I have, over the years, collected books of all the above types. Let me take you on a journey through the bookshelves of our library. In all we only have about 2,000 books and a fair number of magazines. I would love to have more, but our little terraced home really has no space to accomodate anything anymore. (Time for weeding out!). Actually there are already bookshelves in all the rooms in the house. The books are not classified according to any library system (e.g. the Dewey Decimal) although I was a librarian for a long time. I prefer to classify our books according to OUR system (get my drift?)

The main bookshelves in the Library cum Guest room carries the books on Biography, Food & Cookery, Graphic art/Cartoon, Health & Wellbeing, Interior decoration (ID), Malaysiana, Philosophy & Religion, and the oversized books on everything. (Some oversized books have also spilled out onto chairs and tables in the lounge). The children's book collection here consist of B & A's picture books from their childhood years, all Roald Dahl's books, and some of Judy Blume's. The main fiction collection is also here. Magazines here are of the National Geographic and The Naturalist (Malaysian Nature Society)



The Library downstairs (CNB 2011)

The family lounge library upstairs also incorporate our CD/DVD movie collection. The books are on Botany & Gardening, Criminology (don't ask me why), Iraniana, Language & Literature, Self-help, Travel (plus History & Geography), and more fiction (including the classics). The magazines here are mostly on ID (Anjung Seri, Homes & Gardens, Homes & Living, House & Garden, Impiana, Vogue Living), Travel (Going places, Lonely Planet, Traverama) and Women's affairs (Cosmopolitan, Glam, Her World, Jelita).



The Library upstairs (CNB 2011)

The main lounge has more children's books, sharing a cupboard with more movie CD/DVDs. The dry kitchen has a shelf of the overflow from the Food & Cookery shelves in the Library. My room has the overflow of the Philosophy & Religion shelves. A's room has all the Law literature, while B's has the overflow of the Language & Literature, including many novels. I think books furnish a room quite well, don't you?

So what are my favourite reads? I love biographies, especially autobiographies, because I am interested to find out how a person has lived his/her life. (Being kaypoh, perhaps?). The most recent I have read are Cliff Richard's My Life, My Way, Sheila Hancock's Just Me, Michael Gill's How Starbucks saved my Life, and a Manga biography of Che Guevara by Chie Shimano & Kiyoshi Konno. I am in the midst of reading The Tom Hanks Enigma by David Gardner, and will embark on Tun Dr Mahathir's A Doctor in the House after this. I know, I know, I should have read it in March when I bought it at the MPH Bookstore in SACC Mall, Shah Alam.



My 'Travel' bookshelf (CNB 2011)

Travel books have a special bookshelf, now quite overflowing onto the floor! (Any librarian would chide me for this; the floor, not the special bookshelf, of course). I mostly read Food & Cookery books, not cook recipes from them! My latest acquisition, Where flavor was Born by Andreas Viestad, is about 'recipes and culinary travels along the Indian Ocean spice route'. I got this (2 in 1) food and travel book for a steal at the Borders bargain bin. Nowadays I mostly get my books from Book Xcess in PJ. But then again, I will buy books anywhere I can find what I like. And like Thomas Jefferson, "I cannot live without books". In future postings, I will share with you the books I love.

"I cannot live without books" on a T-shirt B gave me (CNB 2011)

Snapshots: Batik Sarong

I love taking photos of lots of things. Of people, food, the scenery, architectural details, etc., etc. Snapshots will be photos of everyday things around us, that happen in our lives; people we know, clothes we wear, food we eat, things we collect, things we love.

The first will be the common batik sarong (batik basahan) that we sometimes do not even give a second look but just wear it (i.e. if like me, you do wear one at home). This piece of cloth/clothing is something I never travel without. It is most versatile - wear it with a t-shirt to lepak (lounge) in, bring it to the beach with you as a mat to sit on, even to change out of your wet suit (by gripping it in your teeth to make a tent over your body!)

Did you know that it used to mean something, how you wear your batik sarong (BS)? I was at a USM Cultural Centre do once, and this lecturer explained that if you are a single female, then the kepala kain is worn at the back. A married woman wears it in front. Or is it the other way round? If it matters to you, then its for you to find out.

A favourite BS from Trengganu 

Kepala kain of the above BS (CNB 2011)

CNB (2011)

CNB (2011)

BS with pua kumbu design - a gift from Sarawak (CNB 2011)

Kepala kain of the above BS (CNB 2011)

CNB (2011)

CNB (2011)

Another BS from Trengganu (CNB 2011)

Kepala Kain of the above BS (CNB 2011)

Another favourite BS from Trengganu 

Kepala kain of the above BS 

CNB (2011)

CNB (2011)

Another BS with pua kumbu design 

Kepala kain fo the above BS

A BS from Kelantan (CNB 2011)

Kepala kain of the above BS (CNB 2011)