Singer takes a swipe at moral policing with ‘Skodeng Blues’

Singer-songwriter Azmyl Yunor has challenged the need for the local moral police in his latest single titled “Skodeng Blues”.

He filmed an animated video for the song which has its “fictional” setting in a nighttime Kuala Lumpur scene.

“This hints at the common incidences of moral policing – with several already making news this year - both by the state and self-righteous individuals.

“The lyrics, however, are a lot more direct and the song most probably won’t find its way on the airwaves,” Azmyl (above) told Malaysiakini.

“I always found moral policing an annoying and problematic cultural trend in Malaysia which, unfortunately, persists to this day, in the hands of some self-appointed individuals,” Azmyl added.

He was hinting at recent cases of security guards denying entry to women who were allegedly dressed “indecently”.

“Skodeng” is a colloquial word for “peeping Tom” in the Malay language - a common term also used for the moral police.

Azmyl, who teaches film and performing arts programmes at a local university, said that he gives collaborators a free hand in terms of creativity.

In this case, the music video is a collaboration with LGBTQ artiste Shika, who illustrated and conceptualised the characters and filmmaker A-Jun who edited and directed it.

“This came after we discussed some basic concepts or themes primarily because I’m often amused and sometimes blown away - like this collaboration, for example - with interpretations of my songs.”

Azmyl views his music videos as a form of resistance against popular narratives of what it means to be a “musician” in Malaysia - where popular artistes often shy away from standing up to important civil and humanitarian rights causes.

This is not the first time Azmyl has tackled social issues and his “Penghasut Blues” video was released two years ago - touching on corruption cases involving former national leaders. - Mkini