MEOR YUSOFF AZIDDIN
Street musician, author, 49. From Beruas, Perak.
I FIRST came to Kuala Lumpur in 1985. I lived with my sister, and went to school here. That’s when I started to get to know Kuala Lumpur.
MOST young people at that time aspire to come to Kuala Lumpur, their mission would be to reach the stars in Kuala Lumpur. Regardless of what they choose to do. At that time, the economy was just beginning to develop. And so, I was a part of the pack, with the same dreams.
KUALA LUMPUR is not a very welcoming place. KL is cruel. You have to work really hard. You can’t afford to be lazy in Kuala Lumpur.
CRUEL means, if you don’t have a job, you’ll be living on the sidewalk, homeless. That is part of the script of life in Kuala Lumpur. You decide your own fate. It’s different than living in the kampong – where you don’t have to pay rent, the cost of living is low. Here, the cost of living is very high. To rent a house will set you back between RM800 to RM1000. Even the transportation fares have increased… how many percent? Imagine if our income is RM1000, expenses alone will cost you how much? If RM10 a day, that’s RM300 a month. That’s not including the house rent yet. So, if you’re lazy, you won’t survive in KL.
KUALA LUMPUR is a center of the arts. If you want to achieve something in the arts, Kuala Lumpur is the place. This is where you have to be. Acceptance here is different than in the other states. Here, people are more open to music and the arts. Outside of town, not so much yet.
I CAN’T live off my music alone. In terms of income, yes, I can sustain myself… not rich, but just enough to survive. But one thing, you have to hustle, you have to work hard. Don’t be lazy. If you’re lazy, then you’re finished.
I FIRST started busking in KL in the early 2000. I was working at Yamaha Music then. Buskingwas always one of my dreams. Although I have a full-time job, I still love busking as it lets me fight for the genre of music I love; folk music.
THROUGHOUT my busking days, there was one incident that I remember to this day. It was 2012, and I met with this one person. I don’t know whether he is human or an angel – he gave me RM800. I have no idea why. He just gave me RM800. He’s mannerism was a bit odd, not like normal people, he was somewhat like madcap. But he gave me RM800. That incident, to me, was surreal, out-of-this-world. But this kind of thing doesn’t happen often. It depends on your luck, and how much faith you have in God.
CENTRAL MARKET was way different than what it is now. Now, it’s ‘plastic’. This is one of the things I regret most. Sometimes, our appreciation and value of arts diminish in making way for development. Now, when we go to Central Market, it’s like going to Bukit Bintang or Petaling Street. There is no difference. There should be the element of art at Central Market.
BUSKERS today are different than those back in the day. Experience is what differentiates them. Back then, nobody wants to be a busker, bro. You go and ask anybody, nobody would want to do it. It wasn’t a cool thing to do back then. Today, all the kids want to be buskers... to the point where it’s commercialized the whole game. But when you think about it, this is easy money for them. Plus, they don’t have a job anyway, right? What more with the current unstable economy.
I WON’T say that I make a lot of money from busking… but I get by. Now DBKL issues permits for those who want to busk. To me, this is one step forward. This upgrades the image of buskers. However, we cannot really just play music as we wish; there are not many places where we can do so. But at least, by issuing permits, it promotes busking as a formal job. Naturally, when the government is alright with this, society will also have a positive outlook on us. When people look at buskers nowadays, they look at us in a positive way. That, to me, is the most important thing, and that’s already a success to me. In fact, most people still don’t really understand what busking is. This is a new thing.
MY advice to anybody who has the desire to come to Kuala Lumpur is to stay in your kampong. Making a living in the kampong is sometimes better than living here in Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur holds no promises, much less dreams. If you want to come here, then be ready to work really hard. But even in the kampong, there are so many opportunities, there’s land for you to work on.
I NEVER GOT why so many people want to come to Kuala Lumpur. It’s getting more and more congested. Look at the crime... it’s all here here. And let’s not even start with the foreign workers. It’s too packed; crowded.