Singer-songwriter, sape player, and educator Alena Murang is a Borneo-born Dayak-European living in Kuala Lumpur (Maylasia), who sings in the endangered language of the Kelabit and Kenyah. Dayak are the native people of Borneo.
Alena is one of the first women to play the sape, a lute instrument from Borneo traditionally (pre-1930s) reserved for male healers.
Deeply influenced by the lives of her ancestors, coupled with influences of rock and folk, her shows are a journey of past and present, along the mighty Baram river that runs from the coast to the highlands
of Borneo, through the world’s oldest rainforest.
Alena is also a dancer, sape educator and visual artist. She was part of the revival movement of the sape’, in the early 2000s, 20 years ago, in the first batch of students from sape master and Sarawak living heritage Mathew Ngau Jau.
Currently, Alena travels to festivals throughout the world, sharing the music of her people.
Her first EP was Flight (2016), where she presented recreations of traditional Kelabit and Kenyah (two endangered languages in Malaysia) songs. For Alena it was important to do this as there were just a handful of good quality digital recordings of these lesser known songs.
In 2021, Alena released Alena released Sky Songs, inspired by the stories of her ancestors that lived in the skies and on Earth.
“The album is called Sky Songs because it is a representation of our ancestors and how sacred our lives on Earth are“, said Alena Murang.
Alena received a special recognition award (Pengiktirafan Khas) from the Sarawak State Government in March 2021.
Discography:
Flight (2016)
Sky Songs (Wind Music International, 2021)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.