PETALING JAYA: For a bunch of young children in Lembah Subang, the words reuse and recycle are music to their ears. Or rather, those words are the key to the music they produce in a band called Pewaris.
Their instruments are recycled materials such as glass bottles, discarded buckets and other unconventional items.
Pewaris was set up by businesswoman Noraishah Osman, or Kak Nor, to help children between the ages of seven and 12 to pass their time productively. The children are from low-income families, those categorised as the B40 group, who live in the public housing (PPR) flats in Lembah Subang.
Kak Nor is following in her late husband’s footsteps.
“He had a background in music, and he noticed that some kids were loitering around our PPR area, so he approached them to start this band using easily available and inexpensive items which could be converted into musical instruments.
“And when he passed, I wanted to continue this with the help of some of my neighbours who knew music to teach these kids,” she said.
Kak Nor, 54, said she never expected the band to take off. The original intention was to keep the children entertained and occupied. But they went on to enter competitions, which gave the children an appetite for more.
The band came in third place at the KL Stomp youth music festival in 2017 and second at the Subang Jaya City Council open recycling music competition.
“The kids enjoy the competitions and want to join more,” she said amusedly.
“We usually compete with groups from private and public higher education institutions who have more people and more instruments. We usually show up with around seven to nine kids and limited instruments,” she said.
She also noted that although the children have yet to achieve first place, they plan on realising that goal someday.
The band also gets invited to play at some small-scale events and they usually play classic Malay music. However, it changes to cater to the audience’s preferences.
“If we are performing for a Chinese New Year event, then we will slip in a Chinese classic like Gong Xi Fa Chai. We do the same for Indian events as well,” she said.
Pewaris is the successor to an earlier band she managed, called Warisan. “The members of Warisan are all teenagers now who are busy with school or work. So, we trained younger ones and named them Pewaris which means successors,” she said.
“Pewaris is important to me because I view it as a product of Lembah Subang besides food, clothes and so on. It is a brand in the form of music and culture,” she said pensively.
Besides managing her band, Kak Nor, 54, manages a kiosk selling Kitarefill cleaning products in recycled bottles of all shapes and sizes.
Kitarefill is a bulk detergent supplier established in 2012 to provide an option to prolong the lifespan of existing plastic bottles by refilling them with eco-detergent.
Customers can go to the Kitarefill Express kiosk at NZX commercial centre with empty bottles, and Kak Nor and her team fill them up with the cleaning liquids of their choice. Some of the cleaning liquids sold include dishwashing soap, laundry detergent, floor cleaner, hand wash as well as hand sanitiser.
“I believe my business and Pewaris are related because they deal with recycled materials. So, they go hand in hand with the 3R concept…reduce, reuse and recycle,” she said.
By reusing and recycling her husband’s idea, Kak Nor has helped to keep her late husband’s memory alive, while expanding on the spirit of his intentions, to help poor neighbourhood children get a lift in life through music.
Or, in the words of a popular song, the band and the young musicians form a living legacy of the leader of the band. - FMT
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