There are also now many new avenues for these musicians to take advantage of, for example the Carlsberg Hottracks Centerstage (catch our story on this exciting event inside), Yamaha Asian Beat, Astro�s Akademi Fantasia will launch its 2nd series in May and 8TV�s Malaysian Idol is scheduled for June 2004.
Of course, the current crop of local musicians are not content to sit on their behinds waiting to be discovered. Many are releasing self-financed and produced albums to strut their stuff. Gone are the times when �local music� meant poor recording and mediocre music, to be replaced with quality, confidence and the ubiquitous Malaysia Boleh pride.
Delve into the minds and problems faced by this new breed of musician in Dave Avran's article '2003 Local Music Review', and how some of today�s artistes have come up with innovative solutions, displaying an unerring sense of street smarts.
In keeping with this subject, we also review albums by Pete Teo, Jaclyn Victor, Disagree and Saer Ze, while featuring siblings Arthur and Genervie Kam in our rising young stars column. Of course, our other regular columns are there for your browsing pleasure as well.
As our loyal readers are fond of saying in their letters to us, we keep improving with each new issue. While we blushingly accept your acknowledgement of the fruit of our labours, it is you, dear reader, who has fashioned this website into what it is today.
Therefore I would like to end with an open invitation to you to keep your emails coming. Bouquets or brickbats, comments, suggestions, articles or photographs, we�ll accept and consider them all (subject to editing, of course).
Francis Danker
Chairman