Majulah Weekender: Watch 10 Musicians Team Up And Reveal Their Modus Operandi In The Studio
BGourd and J.SON come together in the first episode of the Majulah Weekender series (Credit: Zendyll)
Local musicians have shown admirable tenacity and resourcefulness in this time, keeping the songs coming while they wait out the COVID-19 storm. How does it all come together, though? How do producers lay down the first beat? How do vocalists turn their thoughts into a story? Shedding light on this methodology is a new video series called Majulah Weekender by the multi-faceted Zendyll, which comes with a novel twist that illuminates the scene.
RIIDEM and Elsa Mickayla team up (Credit: Zendyll)
With new episodes released every fortnight starting 30 July 2020, Majulah Weekender will feature fresh pairings between producers and vocalists as they come together to create new originals exclusive to the series. Capturing the beats and banter behind the scenes, each episode offers an inside look at the artistes’ inspirations, processes and adaptability as they manoeuvre around each other’s inclinations.
The series will roll out five episodes with five pairings, introducing the duos of J.SON and BGourd, Jon Chua JX and Hairi Eyes, RIIDEM and Elsa Mickayla, FAUXE and Shye, and DSML and Jean Seizure. You can already imagine the mish-mash of genres and styles set to surface from these collaborations from this list alone, and from what I’ve plucked out from the previews so far, the results don’t disappoint. The fruits of their labour will be subsequently released in an EP on 25 September.
How would a FAUXE and Shye collaboration sound like? (Credit: Zendyll)
Majulah Weekender is, too, an act of fortitude by Zendyll, as they themselves are pulling out the stops to keep the scene stirring. It’s also a follow-up to their ongoing Majulah Challenge that encourages musicians to pull off edits and covers of other local artistes, culminating in the Majulah Festival that’s slated to happen in 2021.
Hairi Eyes and Jon Chua JX have a new song lined up just for this series (Credit: Zendyll)
In conceptualising Majulah Weekender, Jon Chua JX, Creative Director and Founder of Zendyll, had this to say in a press release, “We realised that everyone went through a different Circuit Breaker experience. While most of us got quite down and out with our livelihoods affected, some of these musicians were able to harness all the time and energy into creative work, and had ideas that they were keen to work on. Pairing the unlikeliest of people together also made the process a lot more interesting and fun. We put together people who would never otherwise have even been friends and got them to be personal and vulnerable with each other for the weekend.”
Jean Seizure and DSML wrap up the series in September (Credit: Zendyll)
Majulah Weekender will release a new video every fortnight on 30 July, 13 August, 27 August, 10 September and 24 September 2020. Follow Majulah Festival to find out how you can watch these episodes.
