———— KEY FIGURES · FOUNDERS ————
Founders · The Two Tans
One inscribed calligraphy onto drums; the other set them to music. A 1986 Mid-Autumn carnival brought the two Mr Tans together, and in 1988 they jointly founded the 24 Festive Drums — a drumbeat that has resounded across the world ever since.
Tan Hooi Song
1947 – 2008
Tan Chai Puan · Xiao Man
Born 1953
COMPOSER · MUSIC EDUCATOR
Tan Hooi Song (1947 – 2008)
“Godfather of Malaysian Chinese Music” · Living National Cultural Treasure · Hainan Qiongdong → Teluk Intan → Johor Bahru
Born in 1947 in Qiongdong County, Hainan Island, he moved south with his mother at the age of six to settle in Teluk Intan, Perak, and studied at San Min Independent High School. In 1971 he graduated from National Taiwan Normal University, majoring in composition theory. In 1973 he returned to Malaysia to teach at Foon Yew High School in Johor Bahru, nurturing students for over three decades. He devoted his life to Chinese music education: in 1979 he composed and premiered modern Malaysian poetry-songs with the Foon Yew choir; in 1991 he founded the Johor Music Art Academy, formed dozens of choirs and led them at home and abroad, winning the “Hukou Cup” and Best Performance award at the Yellow River Hukou International Choral Festival in China. In 1988 he composed the music for the 24 Festive Drums and formed the world’s first troupe, turning Xiao Man’s vision into a complete stage art.
Selected works: “Awakening” (composition) · Malaysian modern poetry-songs (1979) · epic dance-drama “The Southern Road” (2000) · founder of the Johor Music Art Academy (1991)
1973 Began teaching at Foon Yew High School, Johor Bahru
1988 Composed “Awakening”; formed the world’s first Festive Drums troupe
1991 Founded the Johor Music Art Academy
2001 Received the Malaysian Performing Artist Heritage Award (Individual Achievement)
2007 Nominated for the inaugural “National Cultural Icon”
2008 Listed as a Living National Cultural Treasure; passed away on 27 July, aged 61
CULTURAL FIGURE · CREATIVE DIRECTOR · POET
Tan Chai Puan · Xiao Man (1953 – )
National Cultural Icon (2018) · Touching Chaozhou Figure (2016) · Born in Johor Bahru · Ancestral home Chaoan, Guangdong
A second-generation Malaysian Chinese, he graduated from Foon Yew High School and the Business Administration faculty of Nanyang University. Though a senior executive in the petrochemical industry, he became renowned in the Chinese community for cultural creativity. In his early years, under the pen name “Xiao Man” he created political cartoons and modern poetry, and under his own name wrote cultural columns — “Drumbeats of the Frontier Town” in Malaysia’s Sin Chew Daily and “Lights Across the Strait” in Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao. In 1986 his “Mid-Autumn Carnival” pioneered large-scale festivals in the Malaysian Chinese community; in 1988, with Tan Hooi Song, he created the 24 Festive Drums — conceiving, from nine lion drums and the 24 solar terms, the art of inscribing calligraphy on drums to symbolise the seasons. He also helped internationalise the Johor Ancient Temple deity parade and brought about the publication of many cultural and historical books.
Selected works: 24 Festive Drums (co-creator) · “Awakening” (lyrics) · Mid-Autumn Carnival (1986) · Dragon Boat Poetry Festival · “Evergreen Foon Yew” · “Song of Flower Trails” · “Like the Wind, Like the Sun” (in memory of Lim Lian Geok) · columns “Drumbeats of the Frontier Town” & “Lights Across the Strait”
1978 Created political cartoons under the pen name “Xiao Man”
1986 Initiated the Johor Bahru Mid-Autumn Carnival; one of the “Three Tans and a Yao”
1988 Conceived and founded the 24 Festive Drums
2016 Named a “Touching Chaozhou Figure” in Chaozhou, China
2018 Named a “National Cultural Icon” — the second in Malaysian Chinese community history
THE TWO TANS · THREE TANS AND A YAO
One art, made by many
From 1986, Tan Chai Puan joined musician Tan Hooi Song, dancer Tan Cheng Suay and xiangsheng artist Yao Xin Guang to advance southern Malaysian culture — together known as the “Three Tans and a Yao”. From the Mid-Autumn Carnival and the Dragon Boat Poetry Festival to the 24 Festive Drums, theirs was a cultural friendship spanning decades.
“Awakening”
1988 theme of “Nine Dances”
24 Festive Drums
1988 co-created drum art
“The Southern Road”
2000 epic dance-drama
Mid-Autumn Carnival
1986 cultural festival
QUOTES · TAN CHAI PUAN SAYS
“The Festive Drums are the rock ‘n’ roll of the East — a single beat stirs the younger generation’s love for tradition.”
“This ancient sound, sung anew by a younger generation full of vitality, has taken on a fresh face.”
“If a culture is alive, it will surely sprout new shoots, and it will surely change.”
“One day, when the world speaks of Malaysia, it will think of the 24 Festive Drums.”
— Tan Chai Puan · Founder