The MPO Composers Forum. and its impact on the performance of contemporary western classical music by Malaysian composers in Kuala Lumpur

It seems to fit the “diatonic scheme that is the basis for Western Art Music” - there is not a strangeness to what we hear in African music. Here too, it parallels European Folk music - not exactly but close enough to sound familiar. These similarities provide a bridge between the two cultures. For any kind of interaction, some common areas need to exist. The more common areas, the easier it is for two cultures to influence each other. These influences are never one way - each culture’s music is affected by the other. The resultant musical mix is a true “Fusion” music. Some African elements and some European elements finding an common ground, interacting, and producing a new music based on elements of both cultures. Similarities are not enough however. In our day of electronics, recording, radio and TV it is easy to forget that without these communication tools some other means of cultural interaction is necessary - the two cultures must be geographically close to communicate and there must be a way for each to contact and experience the others’ music ...»