Home / News / Self-Described “Queer Punk” Band Tingtongketz Release New Album – RESPECT! [Malaysia]

Self-Described “Queer Punk” Band Tingtongketz Release New Album – RESPECT! [Malaysia]

By on March 19, 2021

Tingtongketz, a Malaysian LGBT+ band fronted by trans woman Shika, who writes catchy, upbeat queer punk songs, has released a new album ‘Misi Destinasi’. Many of the band’s songs deal with current political issues, LGBT rights, and experiences, as well as their fondness for 80s cartoons, anime, Jem and the Holograms, videogames, and heavy metal. These are songs by and for LGBT people in Malaysia. They’re also experimenting with irama Malaysia (traditional melodies and rhythms), introducing elements of Joget and Dondang Sayang (Malay music forms) into their songs.

The band has played regularly in venues all over Malaysia alongside international bands such as Kuru Circus from India and Puncke from Croatia. In 2019 they went to Singapore for the Malaysia – Singapore LGBT collaboration concert Causegay.

We don’t often put up links to one of Hong Kong’s worst newspapers, but this article is specifically about the band and their background and thus because we want to support LGBTQ family the world over, we’re bending one of our rules so you can learn about this band. Click HERE. For example, sharing this article is immensely valuable even if for just this piece nugget that we had NO idea about:

“Shika grew up there in the 1980s and ‘90s, when Malaysia was going through the early stages of Islamisation. In the decade before, Malaysia was known as the only Southeast Asian country, apart from Thailand, where sexual reassignment surgery was legal. In the early 1980s, under increasing religious pressure, the government outlawed the surgery.”

To think that sexual reassignment surgery was legal in Malaysia even up to the early 80’s is awesome! Too bad that it was then outlawed…just let people live.

https://www.facebook.com/Tingtongketz/

UniteAsia.org is an underground Asian music news website created for the sole purpose of supporting our own world. We support all bands and genres HOWEVER we do not support nor have any sympathy for homophobic, racist, sexist rhetoric in lyrical content or band material. UNITE ASIA!
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