To date, Belle has dropped more than 50 cover tracks, many of them fusing ethnic music with classical, pop and/or techno sounds.
Tucked in a box which doubles up as a drawer in her music room is YouTube sensation Belle Sisoski’s collection of folk and ethnic instruments. Some are custom made while others are picked from travels with her parents.
Some of the instruments in her room are older than the 17-year-old girl herself, with forgotten stories that are now slowly being unearthed. Today, the instrument is easily one of Belle’s favourites to tell musical stories. She has used the lower pitched lute in several songs including her version of Sam Smith’s Unholy. The video has one million views on YouTube and a whopping 14 million views on TikTok.
“Some time after that, mum brought me back to our hometown in Kuching and introduced me to her Dayak friends, who in turn introduced me to the four-stringed sape,” Belle shared. “I didn’t think I needed to explain that I was Sarawakian and that it was part of my heritage. The comments were from a mix of people who claimed that I was culturally appropriating , and those who defended me. There were also fans who were just excited about the music.
“This is so they too can learn about their traditional music,” said the YouTube Silver Creator award recipient. To date, Belle has dropped more than 50 cover tracks and many of them fuse ethnic music with either classical, pop and/or techno sounds. She plays more than 20 ethnic instruments including the engkerurai that is said to be going extinct, the angklung and also kompang.
During the interview, Belle showed us how to use the rainmaker, a tube-shaped instrument of South American origin that makes a sound like ... rain hitting the ground, and creating rivulets. Belle has since worked with corporate bodies doing jingles and scores for advertisements, animated shows and even films.
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