Ep 22: Alena Murang - Sarawakian Sape Player, Visual Artist & Heritage Advocate

Alena Ose’ Murang is a Sarawakian sape player singer, teacher,
speaker, social entrepreneur, visual artist & heritage
advocate. Born in Kuching, Sarawak, to a Kelabit father, Ose
Murang and English-Italian mother Valerie Mashman, Alena and her
older brother were immersed in their local heritage from young
including dance and the local lute instrument, the sape. While
Alena has never formally studied music, she answered her calling
to be a keeper of stories for her people and in 2016, released
her first EP, Flight - a collection of traditional Kenyah &
Kelabit songs.





Since then, Alena has performed at many renowned world music
festivals including the SXSW (USA), Colors of Ostrava (Czech
Republic), Paris Fashion Week (France), Rudolstadt Festival
(Germany), OzAsia Festival (Australia), and Rainforest World
Music Festival (Malaysia). She was a youth representative at the
UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris, and UNESCO Asia-Pacific for her work
in intangible cultural heritage.





Some of the things we talked about include:


3.20: What is was like growing up in Kuching & being
immersed in the local culture including visiting villages,
studying rituals like basket weaving & hiking

6:08: How at the age of 6, Alena & her cousins began to
learn the arang kadang (long dance) & solo Hornbill dance
from her aunties, before half of them decided to pick up the sape

7:26: Getting Uncle Mathew Ngau to teach them the sape &
why that was such a contentious issue because of their
gender 

8:46: The difference between the “spirit” & “human” sape

17:45: Identity & heritage

20:13: Her love of art

21:35: Studying fine arts at the Lasalle College of the Arts

22:37: Why Alena’s fine arts teacher did not encourage her to
pursue art as a career

23:59: How she ended up on a US tour with the Diplomats of
Drum as a sape player

25:58: Her discovery of how the sape could move people

26:31: Why she became a fellow with Teach for Malaysia

28:28: How she started her social enterprise, ART4 Studio
(now known as Kanid Studio)

30:35: What led Alena to pursuing world music as a full-time
career

31:53: How Alena produced & released her first EP, Flight

33:45: Working with life coaches 

35:15: If Alena was ever plagued with imposter syndrom 

35:44: When Alena knew that she was doing exactly what she
was meant to be doing

36:44: How Alena ended up participating in the Norway Fjord
Festival (Scandinavia’s largest traditional music festival) &
Paris Fashion Week

38:47: Whether Alena ever felt she had to get out of Malaysia
to grow her musical career

41:48: Working with her village elders 

43:09: Being a part of the Small Island Big Song Austronesian
production

44:53: Why beads are so important to Alena’s indigenous
heritage

46:56: How COVID-19 has impacted Alena & her career

49:14: What listeners can do to help Alena & any other
world musician 






Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/22