Ep 74 Preet Kalsi

Luke spoke to Preet Kalsi about her musical upbringing, and her
training and subsequent work as a music therapist. The
conversation also explored the relationship between psychodynamic
and indigenous perspectives in her work.


Gurpreet Kaur Kalsi is from Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, and of
Punjabi and Kadazan (Indigenous to Sabah) heritage. She is a
music therapist and GIM therapist. She works with clients of all
ages with psychiatric and medical conditions in healthcare,
community, education, and corporate settings. Her work navigates
psychodynamic approaches with culture and Indigenous concepts
towards the dynamics of life and healing within oneself, the
community, and the environment. She has recently begun
incorporating EMDR with music therapy and GIM in the treatment of
trauma.


 


Instruments referred to during the conversation


https://youtu.be/BLFSV79KwnQ 


- the knobbed gongs that are played communally. It accompanies
the Sumazau dance at Pesta Magavau, the rice Harvest Festival in
May, and at all social events and gatherings.


 https://youtu.be/1yKZNKNZhrc


- the sompoton. played by blowing and drawing air.


https://youtu.be/kHj9Zrg_VxU


- the tongkungon - a bamboo zither for playing the 'tagung'
(gong) rhythm pattern. The strings are bamboo strips cut from the
bamboo node.


 


References


Colonialism and Music Therapy Interlocutors (CAMTI) Collective
(2022) Colonialism and Music Therapy. Barcelona
Publishers.


Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline. (2014). Balancing the Human and
Spiritual Worlds:  Ritual, Music and Dance Among Dusunic
Societies in Sabah.  Yearbook for Traditional
Music, 46:172-192.


Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline, Hanafi Hussin & Judeth John
Baptist.  (2009).  Symbolic Interactions
between the Seen and the Unseen through Gong Music and Dance in
the Lotud Mamahui Pogun.  Borneo Research
Journal, 3:221-237.


Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline, Hanafi Hussin & Judeth John
Baptist. (2009). A Conduit Between the Seen and Unseen: 
Comparing the Ritual Roles of Drumming and Gong Ensemble Music in
the Mamahui Pogun of the Lotud of Tuaran and
the Monogit of the Kadazan of
Penampang, Sabah.  Tirai Panggung.  Jurnal
Seni Persembahan, 9:98-123.


Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline & Judeth John
Baptist.  (2009).  Music for Cleansing the
Universe—Drumming and Gong Ensemble Music in the Mamahui
Pogun Ceremonies of the Lotud Dusun of Tuaran, Sabah,
Malaysia.  Borneo Research Bulletin. 40:249-276.