These days, the professional musician known to his fans and friends as Yeatt usually only picks up his treasured instrument to clean it. But today he suddenly feels in the mood to play.

One particular song keeps coming back to him: Akhirnya, Finally, by Indonesian pop-rock band Gigi.

“The last time I played my sax in public was just before the MCO started in March. That was also the last time my band and I played together in front of a live audience,” he tells FMT.

He plays the opening notes of the mournful tune with his eyes closed, seemingly overwhelmed by mysterious and mixed emotions of relief, repentance and helplessness.

He says the lyrics speak of human vulnerability and our ignorance of our responsibilities towards our maker. “They say life is short and we are nothing without God.”

The song resonates with him especially now with the current situation, “as it reminds me that we often forget our heavenly duty with the excuse that we are too busy with our careers”.

But careers are on hold and work is scarce nowadays with all the pubs and nightlife joints closed under the movement restrictions. Venues weren’t even allowed to book bands during the recovery MCO, he says.

Yeatt’s group, the Rimba Band, was one of the hottest bands in town with a growing fanbase before the MCO cramped their style.

They had a daily gig at a local pub and were often hired to play at corporate dinners and weddings. They even had some international dates. Sadly, all their advanced bookings have now been cancelled.

“The movement restrictions are affecting us badly because our livelihood depends on performing live,” he says, adding that each band member used to make around RM4,000 a month.

“In order to pay our bills, some of us musicians have changed to selling fish or vegetables or delivering food and drinks. Others have sold their stage clothes, and some have even had to let go of their instruments just to survive,” says the saxophonist.

He was fortunate to have some savings to fall back on but with an eight-year-old daughter they are dwindling fast to the point that he will soon need to borrow money from his family, which troubles him.

Many musicians, including himself, are wondering whether the music scene will ever again be a viable source of income for them considering the difficulties they are facing now.

“The situation is bad for us in the performing arts in Sabah as there is no specific body to look after our welfare,” he says. “During the MCO, our band got no assistance from anyone. Only later in May and June did we receive help in the form of food from an elected representative with the help of Kupi Kupi FM, a local radio station.”

He says the Sabah Cultural Board (LKS) arranged special assistance of RM300 previously but that this was only for a limited number of people.

Many in the entertainment industry are severely affected because they were not registered with the Inland Revenue Board or the Employees Provident Fund and so were unable to get government assistance such as the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional.

Local singer Janrywine Liusin, who is also the Pertubuhan Orang Seni Sabah president, is thankful that LKS has come up with another round of assistance although he says it took some pleading by local performers to arrange. He feels more needs to be done to look after their welfare.

“So far there is no agency or department with a database of all the people involved in our industry which would make it easier to track artistes down and give them assistance,” he tells FMT.

“That’s why we are appealing for the government to look into this and perhaps form an agency to specifically look after the welfare of those in the arts and the performing arts.”

Janrywine reminded FMT that artistes contribute to the nation’s economy by helping to form the country’s identity through art.