BRIEF BIO OF AN ECLECTIC
AUTODIDACT
A well-known figure in Malaysian
literary, musical, and theater circles,
Antares has written, directed and
acted in plays; composed and performed music live and in the studio;
and
contributed reviews and illustrations to magazines, newspapers, blogs and websites.
As co-founder, visionary and webmaster of Magick River, Antares busies
himself networking globally
with kindred spirits who share his dream of
a humanity in harmony with nature and the cosmos,
guided by ethics and
aesthetics rather than driven by economics
and politics.
In the late 1970s (under the
name "M. Eeel") Antares performed with a popular bluegrass combo
called K.D. Possum & The Flying
Fox, playing harp, mandolin, and occasionally contributing a song or two.
In 1984 he released his first
solo album, Solitary Vice (& Other Virtues), followed by 2nd
Coming in 1986.
Adoi! (a collection of
satirical essays and cartoons on Malaysian life) was published in 1989
and achieved wide national acclaim, selling over 13,000 copies.
A compilation
of Malay sayings annotated and illustrated by Antares (under the name “Kit
Leee”)
was published in 2001 as Two Catfish in the Same Hole by Times Books International,
Singapore.
In 1994 Moth
Balls (an
anthology of scatological & eschatological poems) was published
under
the Magick River imprint. That same year a limited edition CD,
The Moon
Close To My Face Is A Fish,
was issued by Angelica House, featuring
the zen poetry of Gozo Yoshimasu,
sung by Brazilian shaman-singer Marilya Corbot to original music
composed and
performed by Antares (credited as Kit Leee).
Antares relocated in early 1992
from Kuala Lumpur to the wilds of Pertak in Ulu Selangor
where he co-founded
an alternative community called Magick River and began to culturally interact
with his nearest neighbours, an indigenous rainforest tribe.
Interestingly,
that same year he collaborated with popular musician Rafique Rashid
and
ethnomusicologist Sunetra Fernando on the musical score for the milestone
children's musical,
Suara Rimba (adapted from Jungle Book
by Rudyard Kipling).
Commissioned in 1993 by Melbourne-based
dancer-choreographer Chandrabhanu
to compose music for a 30-minute freeform
contemporary work (Birthplace Reclaimed),
Antares enlisted the help
of Rafique Rashid, Sunetra Fernando, and Tim Bremser
(a visiting Canadian
musician) - and with Temuan ceremonial singer Mak Minah's diva-like performance
-
the happy result was the debut of AKAR
UMBI- a funky musical fusion
of urban and jungle spirits which proved
a great hit when the group was invited to play
at a benefit concert before
42,000 people at the Shah Alam Stadium, Selangor, in September, 1994.
AKAR UMBI proved to be a sensation
at Sarawak’s first Rainforest
World Music Festival in August 1998.
The next year the group was among
the featured acts at the festival – but three weeks after returning from
Sarawak -
and just two days before AKAR UMBI was scheduled to begin studio
sessions for a planned album -
ceremonial singer Mak Minah unexpectedly
died.
In August 2002, Antares finally fulfilled his pledge to Mak Minah
that her songs would live on
by producing a CD entitled AKAR UMBI ~
Songs of the Dragon.
From April 2000 till the end
of 2001 he guest lectured at a private mass communications college,
conducting a course called “Aesthetics,
Creativity and The Imagination.”
He also collaborated on a 52-minute
documentary (Guardians
of the Forest) on Mak Minah,
her tribe, and the devastating challenges
posed to them by a dam project in their ancestral homeland.
This was part
of a multimedia project by Magick River, recording the Temuan heritage
via a documentary,
a CD of Temuan ceremonial songs, and finally a book
on their cosmomythology
(Tanah Tujuh ~ Close Encounters with the Temuan Mythos) published in March 2007
by Silverfish Books.
In 2006, Antares produced and directed Rhythm of the Rainforest
-
an 80-minute documentary on the phenomenal Rainforest World Music
Festival
(held every July in Sarawak, Borneo)
from which a DVD was released commercially in May 2006.
His involvement in the arts has
given him valuable insights into contemporary shamanism.
Since April 1992 Antares
has lived in Pertak, Kuala Kubu Baru, in a reality affectionately dubbed
‘Magick River’ - where he focuses
his energies on healing himself and Mother Earth,
and weaning himself off a serious
addiction to Facebook.
Antares has three beautiful children:
Moonlake
(1969) and Belle (1971) from the Lotus (Lily Fu);
and
Ahau Ben (1996) from Anoora Chapek with
whom he shared the High Hut until the freak mudslide
of October
8, 1999. For 3 years they lived in a rented house in Kuala Kubu Baru
town
but since September 2002 have
returned to Pertak Village -
the new Orang Asli 'resort' situated between two magnificent rivers.
[CLICK ON ABOVE LINK TO VIEW
FAMILY ALBUM]
On August 28, 2000, Antares was
inducted into the Comic Order of Sexy Grandparents
with the advent of Max Alexander
Lüer. His second grandchild, Alisa Grace,
arrived safely on July
19,
2003, followed by her sister Hana Grace, on October 14, 2004.
Most
recent arrivals: Princess Reiya Sunshine Lüer (13 March 2006)
and Ryder Lee Lankhorst (15 January 2014).
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