Preserving Petaling Street

PetalingStreetLantern20111, swiped from williamnyk on Flickr.

Petaling Street isn't exactly my cup of the tea with its haphazard alleys and crowds, but I do admit that it's a photographer's treasure trove of heritage sights. Having read about the Petaling Street Communit Art Project in the Star Metro, I was tempted to go take a look. It was jointly organized by the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall and the Lost Generation Space to preserve the historic value of Jalan Petaling and Jalan Sultan. It has become a priority with the MRT project casting a dark cloud of gloom over the area. Mum was also excited to go as it was ages since she was last there. SK picked us up at 5:00pm and we parked the car at Central Market before walking over to Gospel Hall Church (stopped to have air mata kucing first). The church was very generous to have borrowed out their whole compound as the focal point for the activites. Lanterns were everywhere-- Ultraman, Sailormoon and Angry Birds. Haha. According to reports, eighteen NGOs helped out to make things run smoothly. In Gospel Hall Church, a multimedia presentation was going on, crew were hand-stenciling T-shirts on the spot, asking people to sign petitions to save Jalan Sultan and giving out free lanterns and durian mochis. Activities were a little delayed to the rain and the organizers decided to move some of the performances to the stage inside the Yan Keng Benevolent Dramatic Association building. since the second floor was made out of wood flooring, only two hundred people were allowed upstairs to watch Cantonese operas and a choir of senior citizens. They were quite good.







By that time, the rain had let up a bit, but it was still drizzling. Still, everyone had to move out to the roadside to watch the next performance. Soprano Angela Chock amd tenor Lim Cheng Hock sang from the second floor window of the building opposite Yan Keng. It was a bit chaotic at first trying to make sure that the crowd didn't surge onto the busy road. Halfway through the singing, a pale, eerie gitl appeared at the third window, acting all sombre and reflective. Many in the audience felt that she looked like an apparition. :S. After the singing, there was an arty mime from the window. The artist was painted all white with a matching opera headdress complete with wedding veil. In the performance, she moved with jerky movements and exaggerated facial expressions accompanied with a jazzy French tune. Tersangat atas. Then a band of traditional Chinese percussionists from Confucian KL performed some numbers. From there, the crowd moved to the parking lot that used to be the Petaling Street chik sien tong. The stage was set at an old wall with images of old Kuala Lumpur projected on it. I loved the effect. First up was another soprano performance-- Chinese and Spanish numbers. The singer wore an evening gown, but held alof a traditional Chinese paper umbrella. Talk about contrast. To lighten the atmosphere, there was also a crosstalk performance by two guys. Very funny how they compared the economy of words for different Chinese dialects.







The highlight of the evening was a moon worshipping ceremony from a troupe of artists (led by Chong Keat Aun, an AIFM DJ) with half-painted faces, clad in batik and clogs. Started off with a guqin, flute and singing in multiple dialects. With things fired up, out came the traditional Chinese puppets for a song of worship accompanied by cool drumming and gongs. The drummer ended everything with a flourish and it was very cool watching him play. Wonderful vocals paired with projected images. After that, students from ASWARA performed the Minangkabau Randai dance with intermittent humourous sketches of the founding of Kuala Lumpur. The weird thing about the dance was that at certain intervals, the dancers would bend over and drum their hands on their sarongs. A rare sight. Haha. We watched up till a bunch of Confucian KL kids did a rendition of MJ's "Thriller" all dressed up as Chinese vampires and ghosts. But their dance had a twist with "Rasa Sayang", "Sorry, Sorry", "Nobody", "Jai Ho" and "The Moon Represents My Heart". The crowd was really worked up. Even after the performance, they lumbered off into the night. One of the ASWARA people shouted:

"Oi, jalanlah betul-betul. Jangan senget. Dah tamat la. Nanti betul-betul jadi baru tahu!"



On our way back to the car, we stopped for San Kao Yu beef noodles. Yummy stuff. Second on the list was Kim Lian Kee for their famous Hokkien mee. It was cooked with charcoal, but the chef was a migrant worker. The noodles were dry, but were too soft and lacked proper cooking time. Banned. While turning back, we turned into Jalan Hang Lekir and saw the famous mixed pork soup stall. I wanted to eat there years ago, but seeing how everything was exposed with the busses puffing out their diesel fumes, I chickened out. This time round, I gave it a try. They were already closing shop. Generous serving of pork, pig tongue, blood cake, silky beancurd, intestines and tripe in clear soup with preserved vegetables. Good stuff! That ends our night of gorging on culture and food! Save Petaling Street! If not for the culture and heritage, then for the FOOD!