Musotrees Volume 7 (Malaysia & Indonesia Issue) is available now on loremnotipsum.com. For the first time ever, Musotrees has chosen countries to be our theme. In this issue, we explore two sister Nusantara nations — Malaysia and Indonesia — and dig up narratives of its culture, people and food that bear a striking resemblance.
In Volume 7, we could only characterise a sliver of the energy and synergy of Malaysia and Indonesia, but we hope that we were able to invoke positive emotions, poetic memories, and unbridled interest in our readers’ minds and hearts. We fell in love with Malaysia and Indonesia all over again in the process of making this issue — hope you would, too!
In Pangkor Island, Malaysia, we learnt of Munir Shaari’s nation-wide journey of rediscovering his Malay roots through Misi Mencari Melayu. On the country’s East Coast, in Kuala Terengganu, we visited the Nysakapas backyard studio, where former city girl Nisa developed handmade batik terap with modern, progressive motifs. Back in our home base, Kuala Lumpur, Zeejay, Cliff and Fidella of The Alphabet Press related their success story which led to the birth of ana tomy. From the sleepy town of Behrang in Perak across the South China Sea to Sabah on the Borneo Island, our contributors offer personal anecdotes, travel experiences and unique perspectives of the country they call home.
In Indonesia, between its capital Jakarta and arts mecca Yogyakarta, we encountered authentic stories from ceramic artisans at Kandura Studio, puppet makers at Papermoon Puppet Theatre, independent print publishers of Manual Jakarta and campervan travellers Nuvantara. Jakarta and Yogyakarta may be among Indonesia’s most well-known cities, but through our contributors, we caught a glimpse of their secrets and nuances from an insider’s view.
Musotrees Magazine is an independent periodical publication that explores the element of journey and destination from independent travel, personal discoveries and photography that is inspired by Instagram. In today’s modern culture, our world is dominated by digital presence. However, we always crave for the feeling of flipping the pages of a book and inhale the fresh smell of papers. By having a printed magazine, we want to challenge ourselves by sharing our original thoughts behind our travel events through this medium. We are inspired by how Instagram bring people together and create a sense of community. This sparks the idea of Musotrees – to document stories beyond our photo uploads and hopefully serves as a source of inspiration and connection with the readers. Musotrees is developed with real stories from our journeys and most of the photos were captured using our own smartphone. The name Musotrees has no outright definition. It is derived from a combination of two words between muso and trees. These two interests initiated Musotrees and decided to be kept as the magazine title. Based in Kuala Lumpur, we aspire to connect with domestic and international readers. We also aim to engage with those who are interested in travel, photography, culture, places as well as anyone who likes independent magazine.
Content
From Behrang to Kota Kinabalu: A Trail of Memories by Ed Shamsuddin
Interview, Kuala Terengganu (East Malaysia): Nysakapas
Nusantara Flavours: Lessons from My Father by Denise Hung
Interview, Pangkor Island (West Coast Malaysia): Misi Mencari Melayu
Finding My Roots by Hana Zamri
Interview, Kuala Lumpur: The Alphabet Press
Interview, Jakarta: Kandura Studio
A Beautiful Day in Jakarta by Primo Rizky
Interview, Yogyakarta: Papermoon Puppet
Interview, Jakarta: Manual Jakarta
Interview, Yogyakarta: Nuvantara
The Enchantment of Yogyakarta by Andrea Rahardiana
Details: Musotrees – Volume 7
170 x 230 mm, 174 pages
