KUCHING, April 1: Sarawak-born singer and songwriter Alena Murang will release her new album titled ‘Sky Songs’ on a digital platform in May 2021.
Inspired by the stories of her ancestors who lived in the skies and on Earth, the album is a journey of songs through the cosmos; a song for the warriors that watch the mist rises on the morning of battle; a song of watching the clouds to tell of a good time to migrate; a song with lamentations of thunder and the moon.
According to Alena, the album is called Sky Songs because it is a representation of her ancestors and how sacred the lives on Earth are.
“Therefore, this album is my way of preserving our beautiful heritage in the hope that it is still there for our children and the future generations to accept and appreciate”.
“I am very excited for the launch of this album. Thank you to everyone who is involved in the production of the album, my band and especially to Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia (MCMC) for supporting the local artists through its Dana Kandungan Digital (DKD), as well as the Dayak Cultural Foundation Sarawak,” she said in a press statement today.
Alena noted, she recently released two (2) singles, Gitu’an and Meno’, which are from this album.
“In this album Sky Songs, there are two (2) instrumentals, one (1) song in Kenyah language, four (4) in Kelabit language, and for the first time, a song in English. Kenyah and Kelabit are two out of many endangered languages in Malaysia,” she added.
Alena, who is also part of the Roads To Our Heritage project alongside two other local bands, Estranged and Stonebay, aim to reach out and tell the stories of the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, specifically the traditional music craftsmen.
By sharing these stories told by the native heritage caretakers, they hope that this could generate interest as well as a part of the preservation efforts on East Malaysian culture and shared across all ages, both locally and internationally.
Produced by Joshua Maran, the musicians who play on the album are Jonathan Wong Ketshin, Herman Ramanado, Jimmy Chong, Derrick Siow and Niko Coyez.
The Sky Songs physical album comes with a booklet of lyrics with English translations of the songs, stories and photos of the highland skies.
Orders are now available for Sky Songs CD and cassette from Tandang Stores (www.tandangstore.com). The album will be released on digital platforms in May 2021. — DayakDaily
