Malaysia
HANDS Percussion
Read bio +01 — The Main Stage
Five nations.
One stage.
One stage.
MalaysiaJapanVenezuelaCubaUSA
Four ticketed grand concerts at the Grand Theatre, JCPAC. The festival's percussion masters share one stage — and every night is raised by a 24 Festive Drums opening. Tap any artist to read more.
The Line-upPercussion Masters
Barinas, Venezuela
La Tribu
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Japan
Seppuku Pistols
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USA / Kuala Lumpur
Steve Thornton
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Cuba
Juan Carlos Allende
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TOFA, Malaysia
The Pulse Quartet
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Selangor, Malaysia
PASEPS
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A once-only collaboration4 Masters × 3 Young Malaysians
Cuba · Venezuela · America · Malaysia — in a single piece.
Look at the top row again. Jimmy Ch’ng learnt conga from Steve Thornton, joined HANDS at seventeen, and today is our Principal Percussionist. This October he isn’t Steve’s student on that stage — he stands beside him.
And the bottom row — three young Malaysians. Mario Lim composed the primary-school set pieces “Chan Mali Chan” and “Tepuk Amai-Amai”; Isaac Marvin is a trumpeter who has played from Bangkok to Sarawak; Tasneem Bolhassan has been a working bassist since 2012.
Together: piano, trumpet and electric bass stepping into Juan Carlos Allende’s Afro-Cuban rhythm, Prof. Carlos Molina’s Venezuelan plains, Steve’s Latin percussion and Jimmy’s drums — one night, one piece, on a festival that calls itself Infinite Beats. Take your seat with us — and hold your breath.
Remember where we come fromThe 24 Festive Drums Opening
Every grand concert opens with the 24 Festive Drums — Malaysia's own, back at the absolute centre of the stage.
We honour tradition not by preserving it unchanged, but by giving it the confidence to grow and speak to new generations. Three troupes raise the curtain across the four nights.
Opening Night · Show 1
Kwang Hua Private High School
🏆 2026 National ChampionShows 2 & 3
Chung Hua High School, Seremban
Grand Finale · Show 4
Yuebeatz
Same eight acts every night. Only two things change across the four concerts:
1The opening troupe — a different troupe each day
- Fri 2 OctKwang Hua Private High School
- Sat 3 Oct · 3pm & 8pmChung Hua High School, Seremban
- Sun 4 OctYueBeatz
2The HANDS Team 2 premiere — one of two new works
- Sat 3 Oct«The Flow 心流» · Tee Leong Hoe
- Fri 2 & Sun 4 Oct«Taboo 禁忌» · Khoo Nii Hing & Lim Wei Ying
HANDS Team 1’s «Infinite 三相» (Tan Zhe Hao) plays every concert.
Everything else on the programme is the same at every show — so catching both HANDS works means coming on two different days.
