Sunday, October 18, 2009

Pete Teo - Sifu Of Malaysian Indie Music & Film

Kota Kinabalu-born Pete Teo is a sifu of Malaysian independent music and film.

He is one of the country's 'leaders and visionaries' of culture besides the late Yasmin Ahmad (his dear friend) and Datuk Faridah Merican, the Mothers of National Unity, and film-maker and writer Amir Muhammad.

Here is his brief biography courtesy of Wikipedia.

Pete Teo is a leading English language singer-songwriter in Malaysia.

He is also an acclaimed film composer and music producer as well as an actor in new wave Malaysian cinema.

Teo has released two solo albums Rustic Living For Urbanites (2003) and Television (2006 which he produced) on his label Redbag Music.

Rustic Living For Urbanites won Best Music Video and Best Album Cover at the Malaysian Music Industry Awards 2004.

Television, a folk album filled with reflections on a media saturated world won all 3 categories it was nominated for at the same awards in 2007 - Best Album Cover, Best Music Video and Best English Album.

Teo emerged as the first non-mainstream indie artist to win big in the history of the awards.

Television became the first Malaysian record to be licensed and released in South Korea.

Teo was also the first Malaysian artiste to play at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, the United States in 2007.

In 2008, Teo produced the non-profit, multi-artiste anti-racism anthem Here In My Home.

The star-studded recording of the anthem was titled Malaysian Artistes For Unity.

The project attracted pro bono participation from over 50 Malaysian artistes and media personalities including R&B star Ning Baizura, rocker Awie, comedian Afdlin Shauki, singer-songwriter and TV host Jason Lo, actress Maya Karin, Air Asia CEO Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes and first Malaysian Idol Jaclyn Victor.

The music video for the song, directed by Yasmin and Ho Yuhang premiered at the Malaysian Music Industry Awards 2008 to a nationwide television audience.

The video became one of most viralled videos in the world.

In the same year Teo produced 4 retrospective music videos for legendary Malaysian band The Alleycats.

Teo also played live on South Korean music programmes Love Letter and EBS Space, and at the Tokyo Music Market.

He also composed and wrote the soundtrack of Yasmin's last film Talentime.

Teo has appeared in several independent films most notably James Lee's Call If You Need Me and Ho Yuhang's Rain Dogs.

He was also the music director of Ho Yuhang's film At The End Of Daybreak and acted in French film Stretch directed by Charles De Meaux and starring the late David Carradine.

In 2009, Teo produced 15Malaysia, a collection of 15 short socio-political films made by 15 film-makers including Yasmin.

The films starred prominent politicians such as Khairy Jamaluddin, Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat, Tian Chua and Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

The cyber films have attracted more than 11 million viewers, and were screened at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea.