FUGU is an improvisational music duo consisting of FUNG Chern Hwei (violin) and NG Chor Guan (Theremin). Commonly hailed as an unconventional duo, FUGU came into existence in 2013 and has since performed thrice in both Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and New York City (United States), where they were received with welcoming enthusiasm. With roots in Malaysia, both Fung and Ng are accomplished soloists and musicians respectively: Fung is a professional violinist based in New York City while Ng is a Thereminist and a prolific music composer and sound designer based in Kuala Lumpur.
FUGU began as an installment of the New Music Series, a series of improvisational music performances curated by Ng Chor Guan in Toccata Studio, a performing arts production collective, of which he is artistic director. Named after both musicians – FU (Fung) and GU (Guan) – FUGU is an essentially Malaysian creation: it reflects the multilingual Malaysian at large, their multiple identities and the constant brushing of shoulders with different cultures and ideas. The duo created FUGU to explore the idea of ‘limitless music’, a music fueled by their identifying as perpetual outsiders: Fung an outsider in the bustling New York City and Ng, out of the general currents in the metropolitan sprawl of developing Kuala Lumpur.
They wish to be hailed as a unique Malaysian sound, separate and yet familiar in their improvisational music, from other genres and other cultural sounds on the landscape of the Malaysian music scene. Since the conception of FUGU in 2013 they have performed several times in several cities, and caught the attention of reviewers from France and Germany; they have succeeded in distinguishing themselves as they wished. Ng believes that there is more to music than mood, emotion and atmosphere, and that music can represent a people and its era in ways possible for no other medium. In 2014 FUGU published their first CD album in New York City, self-titled FUGU, which is almost sold out in less than a year. Now in preparation of a second album, FUGU is steadfast in its commitment to itself as music resistant of label and category.
