Known as a sape’ songstress, Alena sings in the endangered Kenyah and Kelabit languages and is the first woman to professionally play the lute instrument of the highland tribes of Borneo. Alena has carried the enchanting sounds of the sape’ to over 20 countries, from Iceland to Australia to Thailand to the USA. Also a visual artist, her artwork is inspired by her Dayak Kelabit heritage. Alena’s pieces have been showcased in venues across Taiwan, Kuching and Kuala Lumpur.

Alena’s place in the music sphere is a unique one. Standing in the intersection of the past and the present, Alena’s songs transcend the borders of traditional and contemporary art schemes, producing soundscapes that are a medley of traditional Dayak tones and rhythms of the 21st century. She sees herself first as a storyteller and expresses her words not only through contemplative music but also through video production which is apparent in her music videos Midang Midang and Warrior Spirit.

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Alena’s art, songs and tones are wholly intentional, pulling from the Kelabit stories of her community. For Alena, her art isn’t about preserving the Kelabit culture but rather actively living and breathing it through her music.  

Born in Kuching, Sarawak, to a Kelabit father and an English-Italian mother, Alena and her older brother were immersed in a mesh of cultures and environments since birth. With frequent trips to the rural interiors of Sarawak, Alena’s childhood was consumed with long hikes to waterfalls, nights in villages and staying awake through ceremonies. Alena was quick to learn that every rock, tree, mountain, bird, rhythm, and melody had a name and draws from the emotions of nature in her craft.

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At the age of six, she learnt traditional dances of Sarawak at the Dayak Cultural Foundation in Kuching, later on receiving the arang kadang (long dance) and solo Hornbill dance from her aunties. In 2000, seven girl cousins decided to pick up the sape' - the first students of their generation, and the first girls to play from master sape’ player Mathew Ngau. Alena was one of them.

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The young group of dancers and sape' players were known as Anak Adi' Rurum Kelabit, and were later on named Kan'id, cutting their debut album in 2007 - Rhythms of the Kelabit Highlands. Alena later would later train under the Saloman Gau, another sape’ master. In her early 20s, Alena rose to the call of inheriting these songs, with more certainty. Seeking out grandaunties and aunties that could teach her songs of times past; and uncles that would teach her other styles of playing the sape'.