S1E1 Welcome to the Listen by Heart project | A message from Jasmine H. Low

Listen by Heart | Stories from Women of the South China Sea | Peacebuilding for Mental Health

The back story

From 2003-2012, I was actively writing, performing spoken word poetry and organising poetry & music gigs in the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia circuit. Together with Jerome Kugan, Sabahan singer songwriter and then editor of a lifestyle magazine KLUE, we formed Wayang Kata in collaboration with the British Council Malaysia and Apples & Snakes UK to showcase performance poetry. Those were great days of unraveling stories from so many interesting layers of society and cultures. I had an idea back in 2006-2007 to collect and curate stories in the form of poetry, song and short stories for an audio book titled ROOMS. I recorded two original performance poetry pieces I wrote - one was performed at The Actors' Studio Bangsar and the other was a gig. I collected at a few recordings from women writers and poets, but never published it. That idea never left me, it was always there, just waiting for the right time and I think this year may be the right time to bring it alive.

In conjunction with International Women's Day and their tagline #ChoosetoChallenge for spoken word poets, this one's for all of you ladies! Read more about IWD 2021... Who has inspired all of this? A young lady by the name of Amanda Gorman at the inauguration of Joe Biden as President & Kamala Harris as Vice President of the United States of America.

This is an open call to women of Southeast Asian heritage, no matter where you're living now. I'd love to hear your stories and if you'd like to be featured on this podcast, drop me a voice message and I'll get back to you.

It began as a TEDx talk in 2015 and at the time, it was called Listen to Your Heart. I presented an idea about sound frequencies and how that research led me to realise what played importance in my own life.

I hope you'll enjoy these recordings and readings as much as I have in writing, recording and producing them. I kick off the project with readings of some of my original unpublished works and recorded conversations with my mother Shirl.

Thank you and enjoy the audio journey!

Sincerely,
Jasmine Low
#ListenbyHeart
30 March 2021 in Sydney, Australia

#ListenbyHeart | https://listenbyheart.webprojx.com

Would you have a tale to share or know somebody who does? Do you identify as a woman with heritage from the nations encircling the contentious South China Sea? Wherever you are in the world, we'd love to hear from you...

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