QUEEN’S GRADUATE IN MALAYSIA PLANS DECEMBER 13 ONLINE CONCERT 
07 December 2020
The global Coronavirus pandemic has resulted in it being a very hard year for almost everyone but in particular for those who work in face-to-face roles in health services, the hospitality sector and the performance arts, with musicians being particularly hard hit.
One such individual, Queen’s Music graduate and accomplished violinist Endang Hyder, hit the headlines in Perak in her native Malaysia last month when she put her high end German (Otto Jos Klier) violin on sale to raise funds to care for her ill father and to support her three children.
Posting on Twitter, Endang said that she wanted to sell the instrument and its bows for RM 20,000 (around £3,700) to help ease the financial burden on her family and to buy her father a new electric wheelchair, which she subsequently purchased from her savings.
Writing in the Malay Mail on Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 19th November, journalist Mark Ryan Raj explained:
“The story of music instructor Endang Hyder and her bid to sell her prized violin to take care of her family has tugged at the heartstrings of Malaysians who have stepped in to help out.
“Endang, 34, uploaded a post on her social media accounts two days ago, looking for interested buyers for her high-end German violin to raise funds for her father's care and to support her family.
“After her story was highlighted in Malay Mail, Malaysian social media users were quick to offer to help Endang not only raise the funds needed, but also keep her beloved violin.”
Endang, who has played violin since she was 10-years-old, sat for her Grade 8 exams under the Royal Schools of Music when she was 15, and for an Associate of the London College of Music qualification when just 19, before studying classical music at Queen’s.
While she performed professionally at home and internationally from a young age, she decided to stop doing so when her first child was born and to care for her father, Zainuddin Ottok, when he became ill in 2013. A former English teacher and lecturer, her father is a diabetic and recently became a double amputee.
Moving her performances online, Endang now has almost 100,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel. Until recently, she managed to make a living from the social media site by performing violin covers of classical and popular hit songs (such as Ed Sheeran’s Perfect), on one occasion even playing violin with her one-year-old baby Jaafar, in her arms. However, given her current family commitments and the constraints of the Coronavirus pandemic, Endang has found it difficult to get the time necessary to record.
Speaking to the Malay Mail Endang said:
“People must be thinking it’s easier to create content with everyone being stuck at home.
“But between having all three kids at home and my dad not being well, I’m only left with about an hour or two in the middle of the night to try and record my content.”
While she offers lessons for the violin, guitar, piano and ukulele, being a music teacher in the present climate has its own difficulties. Endang now has just four students as many others had to cancel lessons as a result of Covid-19.
Following the media coverage, many readers and social media followers offered to lend Endang a helping hand, with one – Hazel Sia – suggesting she host an online concert with followers paying to watch her perform an idea that has since grown into a confirmed online event on Sunday December 13.
Hazel told Malay Mail:
“The time is not fixed yet. It will probably be in the late afternoon around 4pm or 5pm and we’re planning on streaming it online on either Facebook or YouTube.
“Everyone can watch it and if you are willing or able to help more, then you can buy a ticket for RM10. If we can get 2,000 people, then that would be enough for her to reach her goal.”
If the concert is successful Endang hopes to expand her video output on YouTube which, once they start create a revenue flow, would allow her to work from home and be with children as they grow up.
QUAAM Association support
Endang’s efforts to support her ailing father have also been applauded by the University’s graduate chapter in her home country. Speaking for the membership Lee Hui Seng had this message: “We, the members of the Queen’s University Alumni Association Malaysia (QUAAM), hope that your beloved father will recover from his illness speedily and we commend your personal sacrifices and steadfast love towards the one you love.”
Endang has been humbled by the response she has received and by the kindness fellow Malaysians and others have shown her.
“I’m more than overwhelmed and excited. Now, I think I will be able to keep my violin and help my dad with his needs,” Endang told Mark Ryan Raj.
“I’m very grateful for everyone’s kindness. Hopefully, with the decreased burden on our financial situation, it will give me more time to prepare and generate my YouTube content — so I can have a passive income from it.”
You can follow Endang Hyder on her Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts where full details of the online concert on 13 December will appear in due course.
For general enquiries about this story, or to submit items of graduate news, please contact Gerry Power, Communications Officer, Development and Alumni Relations Office, Queen's University Belfast.
Image credit (main and headline): Endang Ell Zain Hyder from Facebook
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