Since its establishment in 2013, Orang Orang Drum Theatre’s core members Boyz Chew, Zyee Leow, and Damien Leow have been exploring music, dance, and theatre to develop a platform of expression for drum theatre. The word ‘orang’ means people, and the idea at the heart of OODT is to bring the arts to the people. Through interactions with traditional cultures, they explore the space between tradition and their contemporary, using 24 Festive Drums as a foundation to create a unique form of performing arts. They have participated in international music festivals such as Rainforest World Music Festival in 2023, Sziget Festival 2019, WOMADELAIDE 2020, arts festivals such as Venice Theatre Arts Festival, Venice Open Stage, Japan Setouchi Triennale APAM and the Danse en Ville Dance Festival in Belgium and Germany. In recent years, they have brought their troupe to tour many cultural and dance arts festivals in Europe, such as in France, Hungary, Serbia, and have also shared their works in Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, and China.
To date, OODT has garnered 16 nominations for the BOH Cameronian Arts Award, winning Best Music and Sound Design, Best Group Performance (2015); Best Group Performance – Instrumental, Best Musical Direction, Best Production Values, Best Music & Sound Design (2020); and Best Original Composition (2023).
OODT’s past works—独角戏/Hidup Ini Senget (2014), 众鼓歌/LaguKu (2015), The Dialogue (2017), 众鼓歌2.0/LaguKu2.0 (2019)—have always reflected on urban life.
Throughout this ten-year journey, the act of drumming has somehow led them to consider the connection between surviving and living. So, in 2021, OODT embarked on the Shan-Ka-La project—the simple, unpretentious orchard life served to refresh the heavy palate of the city’s constant symphony, allowing the drummers to sample the “natural flavours” of life. In the meantime, they continued to reflect on what it means to “drum”, and explore further possibilities contained within “drumming and living”.
