10 October 2013: Musika – Malaya’s Early Music Scene November 3, 2014 – Posted in: Newsletters

Rediscover the groundbreaking artistes that helped to shape Malay musical heritage! If the song and the melody were separated, there would be no soul, wrote P. Ramlee in Getaran Jiwa, one of his many compositions. Indeed, music in all its forms is so interminably woven into Malaysia’s history that we could never contemplate ever having being without it. From the days of bangsawan during the Malay Sultanate to the era of shellacs and gramophones, films,…

25 August 2013: Three Malay titles – Performing arts October 30, 2014 – Posted in: Newsletters

Areca Books presents three Malay titles … An Artiste for All Seasons… Trying to sum up the life of the late Mohamed Bahroodin Ahmad (or Cigku Baha to all who knew him) in a few pages is akin to choosing just three paintings to describe Rembrandt. One risks oversimplification when describing his talents – actor, teacher, performer, scriptwriter, choreographer and producer of Malay performing arts. Many remember his legendary performances which cut across social, culture…

18 July 2013: Perak Postcards – Posted in: Newsletters

The largest collection of postcards ever assembled into one volume … a masterpiece of design. There’s a scene from the movie Enchanted April where one of the characters, the cranky and feisty Mrs. Fisher, surrounded by old photographs, talks about “better times and better men.” Indeed, nothing stirs the imagination and awakens buried memories like old photographs. Distilled within those images are myriad stories and experiences all waiting to be told. Even old postcards of…

04 July 2013: My Days in the Sun – Posted in: Newsletters

Lucidly written, Dr. Soo tells his story simply and with deep sincerity. With much pleasure, I commend it to everyone. – Wang Gungwu In My Days in the Sun, a distinguished radiologist presents a candid self-portrait of his first 40 years. Mark Y.S. Soo was born in 1933 into a Cantonese family who divided their time between business interests in Malaya and Hong Kong. As a precocious child, Mark was an eyewitness to the Battle of Kampar, the Japanese occupation of…

29 May 2013: Convergence – Posted in: Newsletters

This book examines how people’s ways of life are shaped by the socio-political landscape of the places they live. Convergence proves that there is nothing more sublimely interpretive than capturing life’s subtle moments though the lens of a camera. Through carefully composed and thoughtfully compiled photographs, photographer Wei Leng Tan breathes life into difficult topics like diaspora, identity and the effects of cultural displacement. Resembling an attractive personal photo album, Convergence is filled with images…

12 Apr 2013: Prescriptions of Faith – Posted in: Newsletters

These are moving and eloquent memoirs of two remarkable lives… Sir David Todd Prescriptions of Faith is the tale of two renowned doctors’ war-torn journeys through Hong Kong to China and back, in pursuit of their medical degrees. In 1939, just before the start of World War Two, a young woman from Kuala Lumpur named Eleanor Eu sailed from Malaysia to pursue a medical degree at the prestigious University of Hong Kong. Two years later,…

20 March 2013: Lasting Impressions, Seals from the Islamic World October 27, 2014 – Posted in: Newsletters

“Masterworks in miniature, each of these seals leaves lasting impressions of the people who commissioned and used them, and the Islamic worlds in which they were created…” With over 100 vivid images of seals, letters, maps and other paraphernalia, Lasting Impressions: Seals from the Islamic World offers – for scholars and curious readers alike – a delightful and enriching education on Islamic seals: powerful symbols of persona once so ubiquitous and valued in Muslim societies.…

25 Feb 2013: Special announcement “Penang, The Fourth Presidency of India 1805-1830” – Posted in: Newsletters

In Areca Book’s newest title, Penang, The Fourth Presidency of India 1805-1830, author Marcus Langdon proves that little islands can be just as worthy of historical interpretation as major empires. Written in an easily accessible style, the book tells the story of how the tiny settlement of Pulau Pinang came to be an administrative seat of one of the most powerful trading companies in the world. In this initial volume of a three-part series, Langdon…

Remembering days of fun in the sun October 14, 2014 – Posted in: In The News, Reviews

Sometimes, we have to look through another’s eyes to see something special in the ordinary. Reading the memoirs of John Michael Broome Hughes, especially the section devoted to his time in this country, one is transported into an era where a pair of observant eyes and a powerful pen can make history come alive. The memoirs of the last British headmaster of the Penang Free School (PFS), known as Mike to his friends, is not…

Recalling a Thai Malaysian Legacy July 14, 2014 – Posted in: In The News

The history of Phuket and this region, is the late Khaw Sim Bee Na Ranong, better known on Phuket as Praya Rassada. He was the high commissioner of Phuket and the Southwestern region of Siam from 1900 to 1913. He was assassinated 100 years ago in May, 1913. To commemorate his death, a regional historical symposium and business forum was recently held in Penang. The event was entitled ‘Khaw Sim Bee Na Ranong and shared…

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