Artist as Activist
Yii Kah Hoe is a Malaysian composer and Chinese dizi player. Bold and avant-garde, his music and composition use sounds and rhythms of many traditional instruments from various ethnic cultures. He is also active in music education and the organization of a contemporary music collective, concerts, and a festival in Kuala Lumpur.
Besides working artistically as a musician and composer, Yii has a strong commitment to environmental activism in Malaysia. In this Athenaeum appearance, Yii will address the question of whether music, and his music in particular, can be engaged with environmental protests while at the same time detached from them and stand alone as a “pure art.” He will show videos of activist performances that involve traditional Chinese music as well as contemporary takes on Chinese music and explore the impact of these performances on the movements.
A leader in his field, he served as the festival director of Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival 2009, the festival director of SoundBridge festival 2013, and the vice-president of Society of Malaysian Contemporary Composers. Yii has been a senior lecturer at SEGi College Subang Jaya, Malaysia, since 2000.
Yii is also the recipient of many international music and arts awards. His works have been performed widely in the U.S., London, Trinidad, Germany, Mexico, Paris, Italy, Russia, Australia, Bangkok, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.
Mr. Yii’s Athenaeum appearance is co-sponsored by EnviroLab Asia and the Mellon Global Liberal Arts funds.