once in a while, a concert performance comes along that completely blows your mind away. i couldn't get enough of tonight's concert at DFP (dewan filharmonik petronas).

anyone who was at DFP last night and tonight must have come out from the hall, like us, totally mesmerized over the superlative performance by korean jazz princess, nah youn sun. for the five of us, we went completely ga-ga. how could anyone who's into jazz music could possibly afford to miss such a stunning performance?

i went with winnie (of 2v1g) and her friends who are all in the music line and all of us had nothing but the highest praise for nah and her band. everyone of us thinks we had the best concert ever for the year. for me, it is one of the very best concerts in the last few years, a few notches above diana krall's concert last month.

nah has the silkiest of voice i have ever heard. it not so much of her tone but he extraordinary voice control. some singers can be soft and velvety; some can be power-packed and explosive but nah has everything. she could be tender and sweet one moment, the next moment she could be hitting the high notes and power-packing the song with so much energy. every singer (like my winnie girl) would be envious of the talents of nah. she has the most perfect of pitch; i couldn't find any faults in her singing eventho' it is a live performance. and her scatting, wow, is absolutely out of this world, i am telling you.

another thing worthy of mention is nah sang many original compositions, which normally would not elicit instant response from the crowd because they are not familiar with the tunes but nah's compositions are so good and packed a pop sensibility that even first-timers could appreciate it instantly.

nah sings a few songs in spanish, cuban and french and she even sang a convincing malay classic "jauh jauh" just to please the malaysian audience.

we met interglobal's boss, cheah mun kit there, who distributes nah cd in malaysia (see the cover above). ever the jovial guy, cheah introduced me to nah's producer, who is also called nah. i showed cheah two thumbs-up sign after the concert and cheah the joker jested "i finally met a singer who could sing as well as me!". cheah, you can't sing la!

concert like this enriches our musical life and leaves a permanent mark in our memory. i couldn't believe that i didn't invite all my friends to this memorable occasion. and audiophiles who are always talking about how good music and good singer should be - you really need to watch out for DFP's programme for future performances of nah youn sun. you can bet that i would return for her future performances.

another note. DFP's acoutics are as usual fantastic but i would prefer a bit more midrange thickness and density. i sat on the 6th row and i did feel that the mid-highs were a bit emphasized. but that's the neurotic audiophile in me talking la!

fabulous, superb, memorable, breathless, stunning, what a night!

p/s now go and get the album "memory lane" from interglobal!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

to each his/her own, few of us went to see her perform at the Penang Jazz Festival last year.. maybe she was out of form that day, but the performance was terrible.. lethargic and totally uninvolving

Anonymous said...

"another note. DFP's acoutics are as usual fantastic but i would prefer a bit more midrange thickness and density. i sat on the 6th row and i did feel that the mid-highs were a bit emphasized. but that's the neurotic audiophile in me talking la!"

I think it is the Stage 3 and cable cooking that are spoiling you Maggielurva!!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous ,it is the acoustic space.

For us audiophiles ,we could easily relate to that right?

I find DFP to have the best acoustic space in Malaysia especially for unamplified orchestra, and certainly amongst the better ones in ASIA if not the world...


Just like good Hi-fi Systems need good acoustic space, So do Singers IMO

Anonymous said...

ML,

How is her english? I find most Asians singer do not pronounce the words correctly when singing. Poor english esp in singing english titles totally put me off.

maggielurva 愛美姬 said...

anonymous 9:50am,
i checked with cheah mun kit on the penang jazz festival (he was there) and his opinion is "depends where you are seated". i guess it makes sense since it was open air. in DFP, i had the best seat and i could almost hear her breathing, that's how intimate it gets.

ken,
nah youn sun, tho' not perfect, is far better than your emi fujita, keiko lee and chie ayado in terms of english pronunciation. she lives in paris for many years.

Anonymous said...

ML,

Live in Paris? Sigh. I am surprised that Nah did not sing in french.
For me the best non-Caucasian jazz singer is Mari Nakamoto. Her voice oozes sophistication. Nobody come close to her. Not even Ayako Hosokawa.

I have only one cd of her. the TBM XRCD of album titled Mari. I am trying to get the III album which I have been told is out of print. Sigh!!

Anonymous said...

Ken,

Mari Nakamoto?Wow, that is classy!!!.Agree with you that she has a wonderful command of music.If you happen to travel to Japan you can find her CDs quite easily in most shops..

GCK said...

Ken, have a look in HMV Japan website. The only album they have is below

http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail/1973727

Thanks.

hifikaki said...

It is also my view that the DFP's acoustics are fantastic, the MPO always sounds great in it.

Btw, ML, was the vocal amplified in this concert? If so, then the audience was listening to the entire electronics chain, loudspeakers and the hall, not just the acoustics alone. The skill and preference of the technician / engineer at the controls could also come into picture in this case.

Anonymous said...

ML,
i was with cheah at the PIJF looking for the "sweet spot" and guess where was it... haha.

nah was good, she impressed me with her very wide vocal range! and that prompt me to her concert
at the DFP.

was there on monday. nah and her koren band was worth every sen! particularly the last number for the evening; the jam session with oue local bassist, Andy.

i am not sure how it sounded at row 6 but K10 was ok. but they could eq to reduce some of the sibilance. hehe.

ken,
she sang a french number and evidently, she know french. a mat salleh in front of me sang along!

hifikai,
it was nah and a 5 piece jazz band. it was amplified. and imo, the sound tech did well.