(From left) Saw Sue-Mae, Lee Hai Lin and Andrew Filmer.
PETALING JAYA: A group of classical musicians has taken to busking to raise funds to help those in need.
Calling themselves, Attune, the group busks at Publika on certain Sundays and the money raised is donated to various charities of their choice.
Its original founder, Lee Hai Lin, said the group started off as a three-member band.
"We were three friends from Penang and we used to play at the same orchestra, and we came up with the idea of playing music to contribute for charity,'' she said.
Initially, it was only the three of them until it became an open platform for musicians to come together and busk, Lee added.
The group will be performing outside the MPH bookstore at Publika on Sunday (Jan 20), starting at 2.30pm, to raise funds for canine welfare project Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better's (MDDB) sanctuary construction.
According to Lee, who is an architect by training, there will be four musicians - two violinists, a viola player and a viola da gamba player - performing to raise funds for MDDB.
Lee said, so far, Attune has raised RM43,884.10 from 36 busking projects.
From past busking sessions, Attune has donated to the Food Aid Foundation during the various seasonal floods here, Yayasan Kemanusiaan Muslim Aid Malaysia for the 2015 Nepal earthquake and the Mount Kinabalu Guides Association during the 2015 Sabah earthquake.
"We have also raised funds for the Teddy Mobile Clinic, which offers free medical care for the homeless, urban poor and those who cannot afford basic medical care, as well as Hear Me Malaysia that supports families with hearing-impaired children," said Lee.
Meanwhile, MDDB adoption coordinator Christine Lai said they were grateful to Attune for helping raise funds for the sanctuary.
"We are now putting up an extra wing for our disabled dogs at the sanctuary as we are facing some problems at our current location,'' said Lai.
She added that the initial plan was to move only the able-bodied dogs but due to current circumstances, all MDDB dogs needed to move to the sanctuary.
"So, the extra wing has become additional expenses and is a big challenge to our already depleted funds,'' said Lai urging well-wishers to support Attune's noble efforts at Publika.
Those who want to help MDDB with the sanctuary can contact Lai at 012-2414749.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
