Southeast Asian artists, creatives, musicians highlighted

Apple is highlighting the creative work of five artists from Southeast Asia that it calls Dreamers, and says your iPhone wallpaper can be inspirational.

You have to wonder at the word “Dreamers,” since that arguably diminishes the hard work of these creatives. And it’s also been a hot-button word politically, harking back to previous disagreement between Apple and Trump.

But in this case the dreamers aren’t children of illegal immigrants in the US, Apple’s spotlight is on five standout artists from all around Southeast Asia. Each of the five is involved in music or games, and Apple’s spotlight leads to detailed biographies of them, and to their work.

Or it should. For Apple appears to be still updating this highlight page, and adding links.

Musicians

The very first artist profiled is film and TV composer Joy Ngiaw. Apple may have intended to link to “Wondla”, an animated series she composed for. But at time of writing, the link to her work is broken.

That’s particularly curious since Apple could have instead linked to her on Apple Music, but doesn’t. Ngiaw has three albums and two playlists on Apple Music, so while you wait for Apple to fix its TV link, have a listen.

Apple does make the point that Malayasian-born Ngiaw has broken barriers in the film and TV world, by being a woman from Southeast Asia.

It says a little less about Hindia, an Indonesian singer/songwriter who is also known as Baskara Putra. But in this case it does link to his Hindia Essentials playlist on Apple Music.

Composer Joy Ngiaw is the first to be highlighted, but that “Watch now” button doesn’t work — image credit: Apple

The last musician of the five dreamers highlighted is TangBadVoice, from Thailand. He’s described as a rapper whose work combines humor and real-world issues, and also gets an Apple Music Essentials playlist.

These musicians are excellent and it is an enormous benefit of Apple Music that we can immediately be listening to all of their work. It’s just peculiar that Apple prefers it to be an unstated benefit of the service.

Games and apps

As part of this celebration of selected talent from Southeast Asia, Apple has also highlighted the work of Riot Games associate art director, Nguyen Khanh Duy.

“I failed the entrance exam for architecture school in Vietnam,” Duy says in a linked interview. “I applied because I thought it would still allow me to practise art to an extent, but what I’ve always loved drawing are monsters and robots.”

Then lastly, Apple focuses onBandLab CEO and co-founder, Kuok Meng Ru. BandLab is a music creation platform which launched artists such as d4vd.

Harking back to the past

There’s no indication of how these individuals were chosen, but there is a subtle hint to Apple’s history with artists. For at the start and the end of Apple’s spotlight, there’s a headline “Here’s to the Dreamers.”

It’s only the smallest nod to the famous “here’s to the crazy ones” Apple ad from 1997. That, too, celebrated artists as well as campaigners, and that too was meant to associate Apple with famous people.

Jerry Seinfeld was one of them, but otherwise it’s a fair bet none of the set had used any Apple products.

Nicely, there is no mention at all of any of these Southeast Asian creatives using Apple products. There are no endorsements, and no photos of any of them holding iPhones.

But there is a link to new, free, Apple iPhone wallpaper.

“Let every glance at your phone inspire you with the special Here’s to the Dreamers wallpaper,” says Apple, “where the design captures a flourishing and vibrant dreamscape – an abstract realm where imagination nurtures dreams, and ignites the growing Southeast Asia creative spirit.”

Apple does like its wallpapers. Most recently it released ones to celebrate the opening of Apple Umeda in Japan.