Azmyl Yunor Lecture Performance:
Stickin’ it up to The Man: why DIY touring and creative collaborations are still the best forms of sustainabilty.

Date and Time: 7th February (Friday) 20:00-

Venue: Lecture Room 1, Tokyo University of the Arts Senju Campus
(1-25-1 Senju, Adachi-ku Tokyo)

Organized by Yoshitaka Mori Lab (GA)

All welcome!

“Stickin’ it up to The Man: why DIY touring and creative collaborations are still the best forms of sustainabilty.”

As a singer-songwriter who started recording and performing in the music underground from a distance in the late 1990s – I was a student and a busker in remote Perth, Australia – I have come to learn that adaptation is an important element of sustaining not only one’s creative practices but also important in keeping oneself relevant to your audiences, no matter how niche.

As I adapted to various changes in the medium of how music is distributed and consumed (and never being signed to a label) – from cassette, to compact disc, to streaming – the musical artist now has a lot more work cut out for them: they also have to be engaging video makers and social media personalities which is the norm in our present global culture.

As a non-commercial and independent artist, I have the freedom and agency to choose how to adapt, decide which medium works for me best, and whom I collaborate with. More importantly, I have to leverage on the best resources I have at my disposal – also as a parent, a husband, an artist-researcher, an academic, a writer and a video maker – in order to make it financially sustainable for me to keep on doing what I do.

I will be sharing how the DIY punk ideology shaped my creative practices and ultimately argue that it is the best form of sustainability for both my wallet and my soul – and why performing live and touring still matters.

Azmyl Yunor Short Bio

Azmyl Yunor is a renowned Malaysian bi-lingual independent singer-songwriter, musician, writer, gig organizer, and videomaker who started out as a street musician that adheres to the “three chords & the truth” school of songwriting.

As an artist-researcher, he has published his research on the cultural politics of Malaysian music subcultures and mediated moral panics, and the overlooked histories of the Malaysian underground and independent music circuit. A founding member of several seminal underground bands in the early 2000s, his most recent solo album “John Bangi Blues” (2020) has been praised by fans and critics alike for “its raw power and lyrics that shuffle between satirical humour and a stiff middle finger.” In 2025, he will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of his breakthrough EP “Tenets” (2005) which will be re-released later in 2025 in cassette format.