Curator’s Note #LoyarBerkasih

Gird your loins, #LoyarBerkasih is back for the second year. Bonus: Music video in post!

Here’s a funny thing about being a curator for LoyarBurok: you spend most of your time cajoling writers to write for you, giving them much encouragement because you believe so much in their talent, yet when the time comes for this curator herself, a huge writer’s block exists when it comes to writing the Curator’s Note.

And then it hits me, this is why I enjoy curating Love Week.

It is so hard to put into words what love means to a person, whether it be a singular popular theme of romance, or something more indistinct. And so I find other more talented writers to string the words for me.

Why “Love Week” aka #LoyarBerkasih of all the possible themes out there?

I find that the idea of love itself so personal for each individual out there. I throw out the word, love and ask writers to contribute. They come back to me and ask for more direction.

I say, take it wherever you want it to go. Even if it’s anti-love. I want to pick your brain on what it means to you.

And I have never, ever been disappointed. Including by the articles that come to me without being sourced for.

Maybe it’s a mamma curator pride but every #LoyarBerkasih submission has this.. special magic. Each piece is a stand-alone. Spoken from the depths of the writer, and is deeply personal. How could you not, well, love it?

Last year’s #LoyarBerkasih submissions have made me cry, laugh and made me think. And I know they had the same effect on many of you too. After all, there is so much cynicism in the world these days, and it helps to be reminded that it is not always bleak. That there is always love, hope and light.

Sometimes, it is easier to put it in art, and once again this year, we have submissions for artists. I am excited about the illustrations submitted, including an art piece that will be auctioned off to fund youth activities in Sabah (keep an eye on LoyarBurok for more details).

This year is especially special because I wanted to hear Love in a song. And so I approached young and up&coming Sabahan artiste, Beverly Rachel to compose a theme song for #LoyarBerkasih2012.

As with all my contributors, she surpassed my expectations and not only composed a beautiful song, but also made a video. The first music video dedicated to LoyarBurok!

But enough from me, I’d let Beverly Rachel take over and lead you into #LoyarBerkasih2012 – Welcome to Love Week 2012!

[youtube]ImKzpYJdI5I[/youtube]

Fall In Love by Beverly Rachel

I hear the blackbird singing ‘true love is dead’
But when you hold me, I trust in you instead
The rustle of the wind and the calm of the cold
Can never make them understand
The rush of it all, when you finally fall
In love

Here in the dark I lay, his voice still in my mind
And here I know no one can take away what’s mine
A million years and a thousand tears
Can never make you understand
The rush of it all, when you finally fall
In love

When you fall in love a little piece of heaven is yours
And you try and change but your heart’s set in stone
Where do you go?
You’ve found home
When you fall in love

He is the song within me, when all is quiet
And though the fool I am, he won’t give up the fight
He pulls me in his arms and he never seems to fail
To save me from the hands of the world
I feel it all, and we finally fall
In love

Chorus x2

I hear the blackbird singing, ‘true love is dead’
But when you hold me, I trust in you instead