CLOSEUP
artsy nights out
26
FAHTHAI
“
I
f you can’t be a
musician, you can
at least be friends
with them.” It’s a
philosophy Fadly Bakhtiar lives by
as the programme manager of Green
Vibes, a music festival featuring
performances by homegrown and
international artists that runs in
conjunction with the Kuala Lumpur
Eco Film Festival (KLEFF). “Since
picking up a guitar at age 11, I’ve
been fascinated with music. So my
perfect KL night out involves a lot of
gigs. Actually, I’m lucky to have the
opportunity to socialise with a lot
of different creatives, like the guys
behind Kedai art space.”
Fadly readily admits that his
introduction to the environmental
sector was unconventional; he was
working for a motorsports company
when he came across founder Yasmin
Rasyid’s EcoKnights organisation.
“Working for a company that
builds race tracks admittedly isn’t
very green,” he says. “But we were
trying to see how we could offset the
activity by planting trees.”
It wasn’t long after the launch of
the film and music festivals nearly
10 years ago that Fadly switched
sides, initially serving as a volunteer
in charge of booking musicians.
“I didn’t know where to start, but
I managed to get 20 acts and I
persuaded them all to perform for
free,” he says. What started out as
a couple of small-scale events held
in university lecture halls and study
rooms gradually developed into
two of the city’s most popular arts
festivals. “In 2010, we moved into
the public space, taking up residence
at multiple venues across Publika,
from the stage at The Bee to film
screenings and workshops at Map to
activities at The Boulevard,” he says.
“This means I’m always mixing work
and pleasure. Outside of KLEFF,
you can nearly always find me here.
There are always so many exhibitions
and screenings taking place.”
This year, Fadly is overseeing both
events as programme manager: “I’m
quite nervous. It’s an honour to be
asked but it’s a huge responsibility,”
he says. “I’m also in control of
sourcing the musicians and most
will do an acoustic show. We want
to be green and host low-impact
performances as much as possible.
“There’s a festival atmosphere, but
the events are also about raising eco
awareness. There’s a real shortage
of environmental content here
and that needs to change if we’re
to have more educated and more
empowered Malaysians. That’s
why we’re strongly encouraging
local filmmakers to start producing
content. That’s the goal: to have
more local content.”
KLEFF runs from 17-19 October at
Map@Publika. It coincides with Green
Vibes at The Bee.
Fadly Bakhtiar
Programmemanager of theKualaLumpur
EcoFilmFestival andGreenVibesMusic
Festival, amateurmusicianandDJ
